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HISTORY 



OF 



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LEXANDER, UNION AND ^OLASKl LODNTIES 



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ILLaINOIB. 



EzDiTEiD BY AArii_ii_,ij^3yL H:EisrR.3r iPER^i^iisr. 



illust:^rat:^ed. 



^G^ilRQ r GBUC 



CHICAGO : 

O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, 

183 Lake Street. 

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PREFACE. 



rp^HE history of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, after months of persistent toil and 
-*- research, is now completed, and it is believed that no subject of universal public impor- 
tance or interest has been omitted, save where protracted effort failed to secure reliable results- 
We are well aware of our inability to furnish a perfect history from meager public documents 
and numberless conflicting traditions, but claim to have prepared a work fully up to the standard 
of our promises. Through the courtesy and assistance generously afforded by the residents of 
these counties, we have been enabled to trace out and put on record the greater portion of the 
important events that have transpired in Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, up to the 
present time. And we feel assured that all thoughtful people in these counties, now and in 
future, will recognize and appreciate the importance of the work and its permanent value. 

A dry statement of events has, as far as possible, been avoided, and incidents and anecdotes 
have been interwoven with facts and statistics, forming a narrative at once instructive and inter- 
esting. 

We are indebted to John Grrear, Esq., for the history of Jonesboro and Precinct; to Dr. J 
H. Sanborn for the historj- of Anna and Precinct ; to Dr. N. R. Casey for the history of Mound 
City and Precinct, and to George W. Endicott, Esq., of Villa Ridge, for his chapter on Agricult" 
ure and Horticulture of Pulaski County. Also to H. C. Bradsby, Esq., for his very able and 
exhaustive history' of Cairo, as well as the general history of the respective counties, and to the 
many citizens who furnished our corps of writers with material aid in the compilation of the 
facts embodied in the work. 

September, 1883. THE PUBLISHERS. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



CAIRO. 

PAGE. 

( HAPTER I.— City of Cairo— The First Steamboat on West- 
ern Waters — Great Earthquake of 1811— First Settle- 
ment of Cairo — Holbrook's Schemes — A Mushroom 
City and the Bubble Bursted — Early Navigation of 
Western Rivers — Capt. Henry M. Shreve, etc., etc 11 

CHAPTER II.— Crash of the Cairo City and Canal Company 
in 1841 — The Exodus of the People — Pastimes and 
Social Life of Those Who Remain — Judge Crilbert — 
How a Riot was Suppressed — Bryan Shannessy — 
Gradual Growth of the Town Again — The Record 
Brought Down to l.So3, etc r 31 

CHAPTER III.— Cairo Platted— First Sale of Lots— The 
Foundation of a City Laid — Beginning of AVork on 
the Central Railroad — S. Staats Taylor — City Gov- 
ernment Organized and Who W'ere Its Officers — In- 
crease of Population — The War — Soldiers in Cairo — 
Battle of Belmont— Waif of the Battle-field— " Old 
Rube " — Killing of Spencer— Overflow of '58 — Wash 
Graham and Gen. Grant — A Few More Practical 
Jokes, etc., etc 47 

CHAPTER IV.— Decidedly a Cairo Chapter— Cairo and Its 
Difterent Bodies, Politic and Corporate — Cairo City 
and Bank of Cairo — Cairo and Canal C6mpany — Cairo 
City Property — Trustees of the Cairo Trust Property 
— The Illinois Exporting Company — D. B. Holbrook 
— Justin Butterfield — Recapitulation, etc., etc 67 

CHAPTER v.— The Levees— How the Territorial Legisla- 
ture by Law Placed the Natural Town Site Above 
Overflows — First Eflbrts at Constructing Levees — 
Engineer's Reports on the Same — Estimated Height 
and Costs — The Floods — The City Overflowed — Great 
Disaster, the Cause and Its Effects — The Levees are 
Reconstructed and They Defy the Greatest Waters 
Ever Known 90 

CHAPTER VI.— The Press— Its Power as the Great Civil- 
izer of the Age — Cairo's First Editorial Ventures — 
Birth and Death of Newspapers Innumerable — The 
Bohemians — Who They Were and What They Did — 
" Bull Run " Russell— Ilarrell, Willett, Faxon and 
Others — Some of the "Intelligent Compositors" — 
Quantum Sufflcit 126 

CHAPTER VII.— Societies : Literary, Social and Benevolent 
— The 'Ideal League — Lyceum — Masonic Fraternity — 
Its Great Antiquity— Odd Fellowship — The Cairo 
Casino — Other Societies, etc 155 



PAGE. 

CHAPTER VIII.— Cairo— Her Condition in 1861-1878-1883 
— The Ebb and Flow of Business and Population — 
War and the Panic Which Followed — Steamboats — 
Mark Twain — Pilots — Some Steamboat Disasters — And 
a Joke or Two by Way of Illustration, etc 160 

CHAPTER IX.— The Church History— St. Patrick's— Ger- 
man Lutheran — Presbyterian — Baptist — Methodist 
and Other Denominations — The DiflTerent Pastors — 
Their Flocks, Temples, the City Schools, etc., etc 176 

CHAPTER X.— Railroads — The Illinois Central — Cairo 
Short Line — The Iron Mountain — Cairo & St. Louis — 
The Wabash— Mobile & Ohio— Texas & St. Louis— The 
Great Jackson Route — Roads Being Built, etc., etc.... 195 

CHAPTER XL— Conclusion— The Future of the City Con- 
sidered — Her Present Status and Growth — Present 
City Oflicials, etc 217 



PAET II. 

UNION COUNTY. 

CHAPTER I.— Introduction— Geology— Importance of Edu- 
cating the People on This Subject — The Limestone 
District of Illinois — Economical Geology of Union, 
Alexander and Pulaski Counties — Medical Springs, 
Building Material, Soil, etc. — Wonderful W^ealth of 
Nature's Bounties— Topography and Climate of this 
Region, etc 225 

CHAPTER II.— Pre-historic Races— The Mound-Builders— 
Fire Worshipers — Relics of these Unknown People — 
Mounds, Workshops and Battle-Grounds in Union, 
Alexander and Pulaski Counties — Visits of Noxious 
Insects — History Thereof, etc 244 

CHAPTER III.— The Daring Discoveries and Settlements 
by the French — The Catholic Missionaries — Discov- 
ery of the Mississippi River — Some Corrections in 
History — A World's Wonderful Drama of Nearly 
Three Hundred Years' Duration, etc 2.')2 

CHAPTER IV.— Following the Footsteps of the First Pio- 
neers — Who They Were — How They Came— Where They 
Stopped— From 1795 to 1810— Cordeling- Bear Fight- 
First Schools, Preachers, and the Kind of People they 
Were — John Grammar, the Father of Illinois State- 
Craft, etc 264 

CHAPTER v.— Settlers in Union, Alexander and Pulaski— 
Lean A'enison and Fat Bear — Primitive Furniture — A 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Pioneer Boy Sees a Plastered House — How People 
Ported — Their Dress and Amusements— Witchcraft, 
Wizards, etc.— No Law nor Church— Sports, etc. — (iov. 
Dougherty — Philip Shaver and the Cache Massacre — 
Families in the Order they Came, etc., etc 27.5 

CHAPTER VI.— Organization of Union County— Act of 
Legislature Forming It— The County Seal— Commis- 
sioners' Court — Abner Field — A List of Families — Cen- 
sus from 1820 to 1880— Dr. Brooks— The Flood of 1844— 
Willard Family — Col. Henry L. Webb — Railroads- 
Schools — Moralizing, etc., etc 285 

CHAPTER VII.— The Bench and Bar— Gov. Reynolds- 
Early Courts— First Term and Oflacers— Daniel P. Cook 
—Census of 1818- County OflBcers to Date— Abner and 
Alexander P. Field— Winsted Davie— Young and Mc- 
Roberts — Visiting and Resident Lawyers — Grand Juries 
Punched — Ilunsaker's Letter — War Between Jouesboro 
and Anna— County Vote, etc., etc 301 

CHAPTER VIII.— The Press— Finley and Evans, and the 
First Newspaper — " Union County Democrat" — .John 
Grear— The "Record," "Herald," and Other Publica- 
tions—How the Telegraph Produced Drought— Dr. S. S. 
Conden— Present Publishers and Their Able Papers, etc. 318 

'CHAPTER IX.— Military History—" Wars and Rumors of 
Wars" — And Some of the Genuine Article — Revolu- 
tionary Soldiers— Mexican War— Our Late Civil Strife 
—Union County's Honorable Part In It— The One Hun- 
dred and Ninth Regiment — Its Vindication in History, 
etc., etc , 323 

'CHAPTER X.— Agriculture— Similarity of Union County 
to the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky— Adaptability to 
Stoek-Raising — Fair Associations — Horticulture — Its 
Rise, Wonderful Progress and Present Condition — Va- 
rieties of Fruit and Their Culture— The Fruit Garden 
of the West— Vegetables— Shipments — Statistics, etc., 
etc .334 

CHAPTER XL— Jonesboro Precinct — Topography and 
Physical Features— Coming of the Whites— Pioneer 
Hardships— Early Industries— Roads, Bridges, Taverns, 
etc.— Religious and Educational— State of Society — 
Progress and Improvements, etc 3.52 

'CHAPTER XII.— City of Jonesboro— Selected and Sur- 
veyed as the County Seat— Its Healthy Location— Early 
Citizens — Some who Remained and Some who Went 
Away— First Sale of Lots— Growth of the Town— Mer- 
chants and Business Men — Town Incorporated — Schools 
and Churches — Secret Societies, etc 357 

■CHAPTER XIII.— Anna Precinct— (Jeneral Description 
and Topography— Early Settlement — The Cold Year- 
Organization of Precinct — Incident of the Telegraph — 
Schools and Churches — Bee-Keeping, Dairying, etc. — 
Crop Statistics— A Hail-Storm, etc 363 

CHAPTER XIV.— City of Anna— The Laying-out of a 
Town — Its Name — Early Growth and Progress — Incor- 
porated—Fires — Notable Events— Societies, Schools and 
Churches — Manufactures — Organized as a City — Hos- 
pital for the Insane— City Finances 371 



PAGE. 

CHAPTER XV.— South Pass, or Cobden Precinct— Its To- 
pographical and Physical Features— Early Settlement of 
White People— Where They Came From and a Record 
of Their Work— Growth and Development of the Pre- 
cinct—Richard Cobden— The Village; What it Was, 
What It Is, and What It Will Be— Schools, Churches, 
etc., etc 392 

CHAPTER XVI. — Dongola Precinct — Surface, Timber, 
Water-Courses, Products, etc. — Settlement — Pioneer 
Trials and Industries — Schools and Churches— Mills— 
Dongola Village : Its Growth and Development— Leav- 
enworth— What He Did for the Town, etc 402 

CHAPTER XV II.— Ridge or Alto Pass Precinct— Surface 
Features, Boundaries, and Timber Grown— Occupation 
of the Whites — Pioneer Trials — Industries, Improve- 
ments, etc.— The Knob— Churches and Schools— Vil- 
lages, etc., etc 410 

CHAPTER XVIII.— Rich Precinct— Description, Bounda- 
ries and Surface Features— Settlement of the Whites— 
Where They Came From and Where They Located— 
Lick Creek Post (Jffice— Schools and Churches — Caves, 
Sulphur Springs, etc 414 

CHAPTER XIX.— Stokes Precinct— Topography and Boun- 
daries — Coming of the Pioneers — Their Trials and 
Tribulations — Mills and Other Improvements — Mount 
Pleasant laid out as a Village — Churches, Schools, 
etc., etc 419 

CHAPTER XX.— Saratoga Precinct— Its Formation and De- 
scription — Topography, Physical Features, etc. — Early 
Settlement— The Wild INIan of the Woods— Mills- 
Saratoga Village —Sulphur Springs — An Incident — 
Roads and Bridges — Schools, Churches, etc., etc 42-5 

CHAPTER XXL— Mill Creek Precinct— Its Natural Char- 
acteristics and Resources— One of the Earliest Settle- 
ments in the County — Pioneer Improvements — Schools 
and Churches — Villages, etc 431 

CHAPTER XXII.— Meisenheimer Precinct- Its Surface 
Features, Timber, Streams and Boundaries — Settle- 
ment of the Whites — Early Struggles of the Pioneers 
— Schools and Schoolhouses— NReligious — Mills, Roads, 
etc., etc 433 

CHAPTER XXIIL— Preston and Union Precincts— Their 
Geographical and Topographical Features — Early 
Pioneers — Where They Came From, and How They 
Lived— The Aldridges and Other " First Families "— 
Swamps, Bullfrogs and Mosquitoes— Schools, Churches, 
etc 435 



PART III. 

ALEXANDER COUNTY. 

CHAPTER I.— First Settlement of the County— The Way 
the People Lived — Growth and Progress — Geology and 
Soils — The Mound-Builders— Trinity — America — Col. 
Rector, Webb and Others— Wilkinsonville— Caledonia 
— Unity — Many Interesting Events— etc., etc., etc 44:5 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

CHAPTER II.— The Act Creating the County— How it was 
Named — Some Interesting Extracts from Dr. Alexan- 
der's Letters — The Prominent People — Col. John S. 
Hacker — Official Doings of the Courts — County Officers 
in .Succession — Ditferent Removals of the County Seat 
— Preacher Woffbrd — etc., etc 454 

CHAPTER III. — Census of Alexander County Considered — 
The Kind of People They Were — How They Improved 
the Country — Who Built the Mills — Dogs Versus Sheep 
— Periods of Comparative Immigration — Acts of the 
Legislature Effecting the County, etc., etc 466 

CHAPTER IV.— War Record— 1812-15— Black Hawk War- 
Some Account of It, and ('apt. Webb's Company — 
Roster of the Company — War with Mexico — Our Late 
Civil War — Polities — Representatives and Other 
Officials — John Q. Harmon— State Senators, etc. — Some 
Slanders Upon the People Repelled, etc., etc 472 

CHAPTER v.— Bench and Bar of Alexander County— State 
Judiciary and Early Laws Concerning It — Judicial 
Courts — How Formed — First Justices of the Supreme 
Court — Who Came and Practiced Law — Judges Mul- 
key, Baker, I. N. Haynie, Allen, Cxreen, Wall, Yocum, 
Linegar and Lansden — Local Lawyers, etc 479 

CHAPTER VI.— The Precincts of Alexander County— To- 
pography and Boundaries — Their Early Settlement — 
Dangers and Hardships of the Pioneers — Villages — 
Schools and Churches — Modern Improvements, etc 491 



PART lY. 

PULASKI COUNTY. 

CHAPTER I.— Cieology, Meteorology, Topography, Timber, 
Water, Soil, etc.— Great Fertility of the Land— Its Ag- 
ricultural and Horticultural Advantages — What Far- 
mers are Learning — Address of Parker Earle, etc 503 

CA AFTER II. — Organization of the County— The Facts 
That Led to the Same — Act of the Legislature — Estab- 
lishment of the Courts — the First Officers — Removal 
of the Seat of Justice -The Census— Precinct Organi- 
zation — Lawyers — Schools, Churches, etc., etc., etc 510 

CHAPTER III.— About Early Leading Citizens— George 
Cloud, H. M. Smith, Capt. Riddle, Justus Post^Pulaski 
in War— Black Hawk, Mexican and the Late Civil 
War— History of the Men Who Took Part— A. C. 
Bartleson, Price, Atherton— Mr. Clemson's Farm, etc., 
etc 521 

CHAPTER IV.— Agriculture— Early Mode of Farming in 
Pulaski County— Incidents— Stock-Raising— Present 
Improvements — Horticulture — First Attempts at 
Fruit-G rowing — Apples — Tree Peddlers — Strawberries 
— Peaches — Grapes and Wine — Other Fruits, Vegeta- 
bles, etc., etc 52C 

CHAPTER v.— Mound City— Early History of the Place— 
The Indian Massacre — Joseph Tibbs and Some of the 



Early Citizens of " The Mounds "—Gen. Rawlings — 
First Sale of Lots — The Emporium Company— How 
It Flourished and Then Played Out— The Marine 
Ways — Governmeut Hospital — The National Ceme- 
tery, etc ,53.5 

CHAPTER VI.— Mound City— Decline and Death of the 
Emporium Company — Overflow of the Ohio in 1S58 — 
Flood of 1862, 1867, 1882 and 188:}— Leveeing the City 
— Bonds for the Payment of the Same — A Few Mur- 
ders, With a Taste of Lynch Law, etc 55.3 

CHAPTER VII.— Mound City— It Becomes the County Seat 
County Officials— Judge Mansfield— Lawyers— F. M. 
Rawlings and Others — Jo Tibbs Again — The Press — 
" National Emporium " — Other Papers — First Physi- 
cians of the City — Schools — Teachers and Their Sala- 
ries, etc., etc .561 

CHAPTER VIII.— Mound City— Its Church History— Catho- 
lic Church — The Methodists, etc.— Colored Churches — 
Fires and the Losses which Resulted— Manufactories 
— Secret and Benevolent Societies— Something of the 
Mercantile Business — Population of the City — Its 
Officers and Government, etc 570 

CHAPTER IX.— Election Precincts Aside from Mound City 
— Boundaries, Topographical Features, etc. — Advent 
of the White People and their Settlements — How they 
Lived— Progress of Churches and Schools — Growth 
and Development of the County .=>30 



PART V. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 

Cairo :i 

Cairo — Extra ,=>6a 

Union County. — Anna Precinct 57 

Jonesboro Precinct Pi 

Cobden Precinct 118 

Alto Pass Precinct 153 

Dongola Precinct 170 

Meisenheimer Precinct 182 

Stokes Precinct 190 

Saratoga Precinct 197 

Rich Precinct 204 

Union Precinet 209 

Preston Precinct 211 

Mill Creek Precinct 212 

Anna and Jonesboro— Extra 214 

Alexander County.— Elco Precinct 21S 

Thebes Precinct 223 

East Cape Girardeau Precinct 2r>5 

Unity Precinct 239 

Clear Creek Precinct 243 

Santa Fe Precinct 247 

Beech Ridge Precinct 249 

Lake Millikin Precinct 250 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Pulaski County.— Mound City Precinct 251 

Villa Ridge Precinct 282 

Grand Chain Precinct 298 

Ohio Precinct 311 

Wetaug Precinct 319 

Ullin Precinct 326 

I'ulaski Precinct 331 

Hurkville Precinct 334 



PORTRAITS. 

Arter, D 133 

Casey, N. R 547 

Casper, P. H 241 

Clemson, J. Y 97 

Davie, Winstead 223 

Endicott, G. W 529 

Finch, E. H 151 

Gaunt, J. W 259 

Grear, John 349 



PAGE. 

Hambleton, W. L 565 

Hess, John 187 

Hight, W. A oil 

Hileman, Jacob 331 

Hoftner.C 43 

Hughes, M. L 277 

Leavenworth, E 61 

Mason, B. F 295 

Meyer, G. F 205 

Miller, Caleb 313 

Morris, James S 439 

Parmly, John 457 

Ross, B. F 403 

Satfbrd, A. B 25 

Sanborn, J. H 385 

Scarsdale, F. E 169 

Spencer, H. H 115 

Stokes, M 421 

Toler, J. M 79 

Wardner, H .• 367 

Weaver, John 475 

Williams, A. G 493 




HISTORY OF 



ALEXANDER, UNION AND I 



D 




COUNTIES. 



XX© 




PART I. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO, 



BY H. C. BRADSBY. 



CHAPTER I. 



CITY OF CAIRO— THE FIRST STEAMBOAT ON WESTERN WATERS— GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF 1811- 

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CAIRO— HOLBROOK'S SCHEMES— A MUSHROOM CITY AND 

THE BUBBLE BURSTED — EARLY NAVIGATION OF WESTERN 

RIVERS— CAPT. HENRY M. SHREVE, ETC., ETC. 



" And leaves the world to solitude and me." — Gray. 

THE earliest settlement of Cairo, on the 
promontory of land formed by the junc- 
tion of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, dates 
back only sixty-six years ago. There are 
persons yet living, not only who were born 
then, but who can even remember events of 
that time with distinctness. But these clear- 
headed old people are nearly all gone, and 
in a very few years there will be nothing left 
us but the traditions of 1817, unless the pres- 
ent opportunity is conserved, and the facts 
placed in a permanent form while it is yet 
possible to obtain them from those who not 
only saw, but were a part of the long-ago 
events that have led to the present changed 
condition of affairs. The tooth of time eats 
away the living evidences of what occurred 
more than fifty years ago with unerring 
swiftness. 

The life of a nation or city, compared to 
time, is but a breath, although it may sur- 
vive generations and centuries, and how in- 
conceivably brief, then, is the longest space 
of a single human life. 



Man's nature is such that he is deeply 
concerned in the movements of those who 
have gone before him. Whether his fore- 
fathers were wise or foolish, he wants to 
learn all he can about them; to study their 
customs, habits and general movements. 
And while those are yet left who were par- 
ticipants in the earliest gathering of a peo- 
ple in any particular locality, it is easy 
enough to sit down by the fireside and listen 
to the story of the fathers; of their trials, 
their triumphs, their failm'es, their ways of 
thought and their general actions; but in a 
moment, and before you have had time to re- 
flect upon the loss, they are all gone, and the 
places that knew them so well will know them 
no more forever; and then it is the chronicler, 
who puts in permanant form all these once 
supposed trifling details, has performed an 
invaluable, if not an imperishable, seivice. 
The proper study of mankind is man. It is 
the one inexhaustible fountain of real knowl- 
edge; and the " man" that is best studied is 
your own immediate forefathers or predeces- 
sors. To learn and know them well is to 



13 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



know all you can learn of the human family. 
To solve the complex problem of the human 
race does not so much consist in trying to 
study all the living and the dead, as in 
mastering, in so far as it is possible, the 
chosen few. 

Many thousands of years ago, preparations 
first began to be made for a habitation for 
man upon the very spot now occupied by the 
city of Cairo. The uplift of the rocks that 
formed the first dry land upon the continent 
in and about the Huron region had pro- 
ceeded slowly in their southwesterly direc- 
tion for a very long time. This was then a 
part of the Gulf of Mexico, and it was slow 
and very gradual the uplift went on, and the 
waters of the Gulf receded south of the junc- 
tion of the two rivers, and the Lower Missis- 
sippi River began to form. From Freeport 
southward, along the line of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad, there is a gradual descent to 
the valley of the Big Muddy River, in Jack- 
son County, where the level of the railroad 
grade is only fifty-five feet above that of the 
river at Cairo. At that point, there is a sud- 
den rise of nearly seven hundred feet, the 
only true mountain elevation in Illinois. It 
runs entirely across the southern portion of 
the State, finally crosses the Ohio, in the 
vicinity of Shawneetown, and then is post 
beneath the coal measures of Kentucky. 
The forces beneath the surface made this up- 
lift, and it is supposed by geologists that 
this must have taken place before the Gulf 
receded below the present junction of the 
rivers. 

Cairo stands upon an alluvium and drift of 
about thii'ty feet in depth, and while it prob- 
ably was many centuries in gathering here so 
as to rise above the face of the waters, yet it 
has been here a comparatively long time, as 
is evidenced by the immense trees of oak, 
and walnut, and many others that do not 



gi'ow in swamps or grounds that more than 
occasionally overflow, and beneath these 
great trees that have braved the storms of 
hundreds of years has been found the re- 
mains, deep in the soil, of other great forests 
that had preceded the one found here by the 
first discoverers. It takes the geological 
feons to prepare the way for man's coming, 
and man can only come when the prepara- 
tions for his reception are complete. 

Mr. Jacob Klein, the brick-maker of Cairo, 
and who has carried on this business success- 
fully the past nineteen years, determined 
three years ago to try the experiment of get- 
ting pure water by digging. He has sunk 
three wells; the first was sixty-five feet deep 
where it struck 'a heavy bed of gravel and 
promised an abundant supply of water, but 
the very dry season of three years ago his 
water supply was short. He then [had the 
second well sunk. This is 100 feet deep, 
and, like the first, stopped in the gravel. 

Not still satisfied, Mr. K. contracted for 
the third well, to be put down with a two 
and a half inch pipe. The contract called 
for a well 300 feet deep. The contractor 
went down 206 feet and stopped, and then 
Mr. Klein took up the work himself and car- 
ried it to 218 feet, when he struck the rock. 
A bed of white clay was encountered, five feet 
thick, resting upon the rock. Here, clearly, 
was once the bed of the river. From the clay, 
which is 213 feet below the surface, the strata 
are coarse sand and seams of coarse gravel 
until the alluvium of the surface is reached. 
Mr. Klein reached an inexhaustible supply of 
pure, soft water, which stands within fifteen 
feet of,_the surface at all seasons of the year, 
and for all pui'poses is as fine water as was 
ever found. It is described to be as soft as 
rain water and clear and cold, and is never 
affected by the stage of waters in ,the river. 
It never flows during a long stage of high 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



13 



water, as do the shallow wells when the town 
begins to till with sipe water. Mr. Klein is 
satisfied that from ten to twenty feet farther 
do\^n, which will pass through the rock he 
has now reached, will give him a flowing 
artesian well, and this improvement he has 
in contemplation of making the present or 
next year. This is the first real effort ever 
made here to get pure well water, and has 
demonstrated the fact that it is beneath us, 
in inexhaustible quantities and of the very 
best quality. 

Without the attention being specially 
called to the fact, there are very few people 
who would] suppose that the white man had 
come almost in what is a subm'b now of 
Cairo, and built his fort and fought the 
" redskins " one hundred and two years ago; 
yet such is the fact. Fort Jefferson is one of 
the favorite picnic resorts of the people of 
Cairo. It is only six miles below here, and 
across on the Kentucky shore. To the gay 
party starting out for a festival day, it is but 
little, if anything, more than merely cross- 
ing the river into Kentucky to go to Fort 
Jefferson. How many of all our people, es- 
pecially the young, know, when they wander 
about the place, that they are upon historic 
ground? Let us tell them something of its 
tragic story, and when they next stroll about 
in its grateful shades and resting places, let 
them look for the fast fading landmarks of 
the old fort, and remember that Mrs. Capt. 
Piggott and many other noble souls lie buried 
there; and also let them recall the heroic 
efforts of those, not only who died that jWe 
might live, but of those who so heroically 
struggled to drive back the red fiends. 

This fort was erected by George Rogers 
Clark, under the direction of Thomas Jeffer- 
son, in 1781. Jefferson was then 'Governor 
of Virginia, and, being advised the Spanish 
Crown would attempt to set up a claim to 



the country east of the Mississippi River, 
he took this step to foil the design. 

Immediately after the erection of the fort, 
Clark was called away to the frontiers of 
Kentucky, but was succeeded by Capt. James 
Piggott. 

Immigration to the fort was encouraged, 
and several families settled at once in its 
vicinity, and for a living proceeded to culti- 
vate the soil. For a short time, the settle- 
ment flourished. During 1781, however, the 
Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians became ex- 
ceedingly incensed at the encroachments of 
the whites (their consent for the 'erection of 
the fort not having been obtained), and they 
commenced an attack upon the settlers in the 
neighborhood. The whole number of war- 
riors belonging to these tribes at that time 
was about twelve hundred, including the 
celebrated Scotchman Calbert, whose pos- 
terity figured as half-breeds. As soon as it 
was decided an attack would be made upon 
the fort by the Indians, a trusty messenger 
was dispatched to the Falls of the Ohio for 
further supplies of ammunition and provisions. 

The settlement and fort were in great dis- 
tress — at the point of starvation, indeed — 
and succor could not be obtained short of the 
Falls or Kaskaskia. 

The Indians approached the settlement at 
first in small parties, and succeeded in kill- 
ing a number of the settlers before they 
could be moved to the fort. Half the people, 
both in the fort and its vicinity, were help- 
less from sickness, and the famine was so dis- 
tressing that it is said pumpkins were eaten 
as soon as the blossoms had fallen off the 
vines. The Indians continued their mm'der- 
ous visits in squads for about two weeks be- 
fore the main army of " braves" reached the 
fort. The soldiers aided and received into 
the fort all the white population that could 
be moved. 



14 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



In the skirmishes to which we have al- 
luded, a white man was taken prisoner by 
the Indians, who, to save his life, exposed 
the true state of the garrison. The infor- 
mation seemed to add fury to the passions of 
the savages. 

After the arrival of the main body of the 
savages, under Calbert, the fort was besieged 
three days and nights. Dm'ing this time, the 
suffering and misery of the garrison were ex- 
ti'emely great. The water had almost given 
out; the river was falling rapidly, and the 
water in the wells receded with the river. 
The supply of provisions was quite exhausted, 
and sickness raged to such an extent that a 
very large number could not be moved from 
their beds. The wife of Capt. Piggott and 
several others died, and were bm-ied within 
the walls of the fort while the savages were 
besieging the outside. It seemed reduced to 
a certainty, at this junctui'e, that, unless re- 
lief came speedily, the garrison would fall 
into the hands' of the Indians and be mur- 
dered. 

The white prisoner now in the hands of 
the Indians detailed the true state of the 
fort. He told his captors that more than 
half its inmates were sick, and that each man 
had not more than three rounds of ammuni- 
tion, and that the garrison was quite desti- 
tute of water and provisions. On receiving 
this information, the whole Indian army re- 
tired about two miles to hold a council. In 
a few , hours, Calbert and three chiefs, with 
a flag of truce, were sent back to the fort. 

When the inmates of the fort discovered 
the flag, they sent out Capt. Piggott, Mr. 
Owens and another man, to meet the Indian 
delegation. The parley was conducted under 
the range of the guns of the garrison. 

Calbert demanded a surrender of the fort 
at discretion, urging that the Indians knew 
its weak condition, and that an unconditional 



surrender might save much bloodshed. He 
further said that he had sent a force of war- 
riors up the Ohio, to intercept the succor for 
which the whites had sent a messenger. He 
gave the assurance that he would do his best 
to save the lives of the prisoners, except in 
the case of a few whom the Indians had 
sworn to butcher. He gave the garrison one 
hour to form a conclusion. 

The delegates from the whites promised 
that if the Indians would leave the country, 
the inmates of the fort would abandon it with 
all haste. Calbert'agreed to submit this prop- 
osition to the council, and was at the point 
of returning when a Mr. Music, whose fam- 
ily had been cruelly murdered, and another 
man at the fort, fired upon him and wounded 
him somewhat severely, 

The warriors were engaged a long time in 
council, and, by almost a seeming interposi- 
tion of Providence, the long- wished- for suc- 
cor arrived during the time in safety from 
the "Falls." The Indians had struck the 
river too high up, and thereby the boat es- 
caped, The provisions and men were hurried 
into the fort, a new spirit seemed to possess 
every one, and active exertions were at once 
made to place the fort in position for a stout 
resistance. The sick and the small children 
were placed beyond the reach of harm, and 
all the women and the ^children of any con- 
siderable size were instructed in the art of 
defense. 

Shortly after dark, the Indians attempted 
to steal on the foii and capture it; but in 
this being most decidedly frustrated, they 
assaulted the garrison and tried to storm it. 
The cannon had been placed in proper posi- 
tion to rake the walls, so when the " red- 
skins " mounted the ramparts, the .^cannon 
swept them off in heaps. The Indians, with 
hideous yells, and loud and savage demon- 
strations, kept up a streaming fire from their 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



15 



rifles upon the garrison, which, however, did 
but little execution. In this manner the bat- 
tle raged for hours; but at last the Indians 
were forced to fly from the deadly cannon of 
"the fort to save themselves from destruction. 
"Calbert and other chiefs rallied them again, 
but the same result followed; they were 
again forced to fly, and all further efforts to 
rally them proved ineffectual. 

The whites were in constant fear that the 
fort would be fired by the Indians. This, 
indeed, was their greatest fear. At one time 
a huge savage, painted for the occasion, 
gained the top of one of the block-houses and 
was applying fire to the roof, when he was 
shot dead by a white soldier. His body fell 
on the outside of the wall, and was carried 
off by his comrades. 

The Indians, satisfied they could not capt- 
ure the fort, abandoned the siege entirely, 
and, securing their dead and wounded, left 
the country. A large number of them had 
been killed and wounded, while none of the 
whites had been killed, and only a few 
wounded. The whites were rejoiced at this 
turn in affairs, as the number of Indians, 
and their ability to continue the siege, were 
■calculated to terrify them. 

With all convenient speed, the fort was 
abandoned. Many of the soldiers, together 
with settlers who had taken refuge in the 
fort, moved to Kaskaskia. They proved the 
first considerable acquisition of American 
population in Illinois. Since then, Fort .Jef- 
ferson has remained abandoned, and is now 
but marked by here and there certain shape- 
less mounds and piles of debris that are in- 
distinguishable unless pointed out to the 
stranger. But this spot will ever retain a 
great interest to Americans, at least as long 
as the struggles and privations of those who 
pioneered the valley of the Mississippi retain 
a place in the memory of the American people. 



While it is true that this first attempt of the 
white men to make a habitation and a home 
within the immediate neighborhood of Cairo 
was abandoned and the people dispersed, the 
most of them coming to Illinois and making 
their homes in Kaskaskia, it was not wholly 
a failure in behalf of civilization. The little 
band, as brave and true heroes as ever fought 
upon the immortal fields of Thermopylae, 
had accomplished a great purpose — they had 
withstood the murderous midnight attack of 
the bloody, yelling fiends and drove them 
off. They taught him a bloody lesson, yet 
that is the only school a savage will learn in. 
This siege and battle were the first great step 
in making the shores of these rivers habit- 
able, and even though the fort was dismantled 
and abandoned, it is quite true it taught the 
savage to respect the power of the white 
man. It was not a long time after this de- 
ciding battle that we find the white man in 
his flat-boats, and soon in his keel-boats, in a 
small way commencing to carry on that great 
commerce that has since so filled the rivers, 
and dotted their shores with the pleasing evi- 
dences of civilization. This commerce of 
the flat-boat, the keel boat and the pirogue, 
continued to slowly increase and perform the 
scanty commerce of the day, until finally the 
steamboat came, bearing upon its decks the 
great human revolution, that stands un- 
equaled in importance, and that will go on 
in its great effects forever. 

In 1795, William Bird, then a mere child, 
in company with his father's family, landed 
at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers. This family remained here only a 
short time, and then went to Cape Girardeau, 
where they resided, and in 1817 William 
Bird applied at the land of&ce in Kaskaskia 
and entered the land mentioned in another 
part of this chapter. This family were the 
first white people, so far as can be now as- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



certained, that ever put foot upon the spot 
now called Cairo. 

December 18, 1811. — The anniversary of 
this day the people of Cairo and its vicinity 
should never forget. It was the coming of 
the first steamboat to where Cairo now is — 
the New Orleans, Capt. Roosevelt, Command- 
ing. It was the severest day of the great 
throes of the New Madrid earthquake; at the 
same time, a fiery comet was rushing athwart 
the horizon. 

In tlie year 1809, Robert Fulton and Chan- 
cellor Livingston had commenced their im- 
mortal experiments to navigate by steam the 
Hudson River. As soon as this experiment 
was crowned with success, they turned their 
eyes toward these great Western water-ways. 
They saw that here was the greatest inland 
sea in all the world, but did they, think you, 
prolong their vision to the present time, and 
realize a tithe of the possibilities they were 
giving to the world ? They unrolled the map 
of this continent, and they sent Capt. Roose- 
velt to Pittsburgh, to go over the river from 
there to New Orleans, and report whether they 
could be navigated or not. He made the in- 
spection, and his favorable report resulted in 
the immediate construction of the steamer 
New Orleans, which was launched in Pitts- 
burgh in December, 1811. 

Could Capt. Roosevelt now come to us in 
his natural life, and call the good people of 
Cairo together and relate his experiences of 
the day he passed where Cairo now stands, 
it would be a story transcending, in thrilling 
interest, anything ever listened to by any now 
living. All fiction ever conceived by busy 
brains would be tame by the side of his truth- 
ful narrative. His boat passed out of the 
Ohio River and into the Mississippi River 
in the very midst of that most remarkable 
convulsion of nature ever known — the great 
New Madrid eaiihquake. As the boat came 



down the Ohio River, it had moored opposite 
Yellow Banks to coal, this having been pro- 
vided some time previously, and, while load- 
ing this on, the voyagers were approached by 
the squatters of the neighborhood, who in- 
quired if they had not heard strange noises 
on the river and in the woods in the course 
of the preceding day, and perceived the 
shores shake, insisting they had repeatedly 
felt the earth tremble. The weather was very 
hot, the air misty, still and dull, and though 
the sun was visible, like an immense glowing 
ball of copper, his rays hardly shed more 
than a mournful twilight on the surface of 
the water. Evening di'ew nigh, and with 
it some indications of what was passing 
around them became evident, for ever and 
anon they heard a rushing sound, violent 
splash, and finally saw large portions of the 
shore tearing away from the land and laps- 
ing into the watery abyss. An eye-witness 
says: " It was a startling scene — one could 
have heard a pin drop on deck. The crew 
spoke but little; they noticed, too, that the 
comet, for some time visible in the heavens, 
had suddenly disappeared, and every one on 
board was thunderstruck." 

The next day the portentous signs of this 
terrible natural convulsion increased. The 
trees that remained on shore were seen wav- 
ing and nodding without a wind. The voy- 
agers had no choice but to pursue their course 
down the stream, as all day this violence 
seemed only to increase. They had usually 
brought to, under the shore, but at all points 
they saw the high banks disappearing, over- 
whelming everything near or under them, 
particularly [many of the small craft that 
were in tise in those days, carrying down to 
death many and many who had thus gone to 
shore in the hope of escaping. A large island 
in mid-channel, which had been selected 
by the pilot as the better alternative, was 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



17 



sought for in vain, having totally disap- 
peared, and thousands of acres, constituting 
the surrounding country, were found to have 
been swallowed up, with their gigantic 
growths of forest and cane. 

Thus, in doubt and terror, they proceeded 
houi" after hour until dark, when they 
found a small island, and rounded to, moor- 
ing at the foot of it Here they lay, keeping 
watch on deck diuring the long night, listen- 
ing to the sound of waters which roared and 
whirled wildly around them, hearing, also, 
from time to time, the rushing earth slide 
from the shore, and the commotion of the 
falling mass as it became engulfed in the 
river. Thus, this boat, during the intensity 
of the earthquake, was moored almost in 
sight of Cairo; practically, it was at Cairo 
during the worst of the three worst nights. 

Yet the day that succeeded this awful night 
brought no solace in its dawn. Shock fol- 
lowed shock, a dense black cloud of vapor 
overshadowed the land, through which no sun- 
beam found its way to cheer the desponding 
heart of man. It seems incredible to us that 
the bed of the river could be so agitated as to 
lash the waters into yeasty foam, until the 
foam would gather in great bodies, said to 
be larger than flour ban-els, and float away. 
Again, it is still more incredible to be told 
that the waters of the two rivers were turned 
back upon themselves in swift streams, but 
these, and much more, are well-established 
facts. It is impossible now to depict all the 
wonderful phenomena of this world's won- 
der. There were wave motions, and perpen- 
dicular motions of the earth's surface, and 
there were, judging from eifects, as well as 
testimony of those who witnessed it, sudden 
risings and burstiug of the earth's crust, from 
whence would [shoot into the air many feet 
jets of water, sand and black shale. 

Just below New Madrid, a flat-boat belong- 



ing to Hichard Stump was swamped,, and six 
men were drowned. Large trees disappeared 
under the ground, or were cast with fright- 
ful violence into the river. At times the 
waters of the river were seen to rise like a 
wall in the middle of the stream, and then 
suddenly rolling back, would beat against 
either bank with terrific force. Boats of con- 
siderable size were " high and dry" upon the 
shores of the river. Frequently a loud roar- 
ing and hissing were heard, like the escape 
of steam from a boiler. The air was impreg- 
nated with sulphurous eJBfluvium, and a taste 
of sulphur was observed in the water of the 
river and the neighboring springs. Each 
shock was accompanied by what seemed to be 
the reports of heavy artillery. A man who 
was on the river in a boat at the time of one 
of the shocks declared that he saw the mighty 
Mississippi cut in twain, while the waters 
poured down a vast chasm into the bowels of 
the earth. A moment more and the chasm 
was filled, but the boat which contained this 
witness was crushed in the tumultuous 
effort of the flood to regain its former level. 
The town of New Madrid, that had stood upon 
a bluff fifteen or twenty feet above the high- 
est water, sank so low, that the next rise of 
the water covered it to the depth of five feet. 
So far as can now be ascertained, but one 
person has put upon record his observations 
who saw it upon land. This was Mr. Bring- 
ier, an engineer, who related what he saw 
to Sir Charles Lyell, in 1846. This account 
represents that he was on horseback near 
New Madrid, when some of the severest 
shocks occurred, and that, as the waves ad- 
vanced, he saw the trees bend down, and 
often, the instant afterward, when in the act 
of recovering their position, meet the boughs 
of other trees similarly inclined, so as to be- 
come interlocked, being prevented from 
righting themselves again. The transit of the 



18 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



waves through the woods was marked by the 
crashing noise of countless branches, first 
heard on one side and then the other; at the 
same time, powerful jets of water, mixed 
with sand, loam, and bituminous shale, were 
cast up with such impetuosity that both 
horse and rider might have perished had the 
swelling and upheaving ground happened to 
bui'st immediately beneath them. Some of 
the shocks were perpendicular, while others, 
much more desolating, were horizontal, or 
moved along like great waves; and where the 
principal fountains of mud and water were 
throwD up, circular cavities, called "sink 
holes, " were formed. One of the lakes thus 
formed is over sixty miles long and from 
three to twenty miles wide, and in places 
fifty to one hundred feet deep. In sailing 
over the surface of this lake, one is struck 
with astonishment at beholding the gigantic 
trees of the forest standing partially exposed 
amid the waste of waters, like gaunt, mysteri- 
ous monsters; but this mystery is still in- 
creased on casting the eye into the depths, 
to witness cane-brakes covering its bottom, 
over which a mammoth species of tortoise is 
sometimes seen dragging its slow length 
along, while millions of fish sport through 
the aquatic thickets — the whole constituting 
one of the remarkable features of American 
scenery. 

In that part of the country that borders 
upon what is called the "sunk country" — that 
is, depressions upon which lakes did not form 
— all the trees prior to the date of the'great 
earthquake are dead. Their leafless, barkless, 
and finally branchless bodies stood for many 
years as noticeable objects and monuments of 
the earth's agitation, that was to that terrific 
extent as to break them and wholly loosen 
from them the supporting soil. 

As before stated, the severest shocks were 
the first three days, but they lasted for three 



months. In many sections, the people dis- 
covered the opening seams ran generally in 
a parallel course, and they took advantage o^ 
this by felling trees at right angles, and in 
severe shocks even the children learned to 
cling upon these, and thus many were saved. 

Were we wrong in stating that the coming 
of the first steamboat to Cairo was a most 
memorable event? 

Such, indeed, faintly described, were some 
of the surroundings amid which the steamer 
New Orleans rode out of the troubled waters 
of the Ohio and into the yet worse troubled 
waters of the Mississippi River. It was 
nature's grandest exhibition. It was the 
coming of the first steamboat in such awful 
surroundings that made such a strange meet- 
ing of the excited energies of nature and a 
human thought — a silent thought of man's 
brain fashioned into a steam engine, propel- 
ling a boat by this new idea upon the West- 
ern waters! What grandeur, and awfal force 
and terror in the one, and, compared to it 
how feeble and insignificant the human prod- 
uct! How one, in its terrific grandeur, could 
change the whole face of our country in a 
moment, and make the feeble steamboat ap- 
pear as insignificant as the cork upon the 
storm-tossed ocean. A strange meeting of 
the two — those two things in the world which 
are so misread, and have been so long mis- 
understood by men! When natui'e j)uts on 
her suit of riot and force and begins the 
play of those fantastic tricks, men's souls 
are afi"righted, and they fall upon their knees 
— those, often, who never did so before — and 
their feeble voices of supplication would ap- 
pease the storm or stop the earth's throes. 
The unusual display of the forces of nature 
appal men, and they worslikip what they con- 
ceive to be irresistible power. Hence, a 
country of earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones 
and storms is very religious, and generally 



HISTOKY or CAIRO. 



19 



full of superstition. A couDtry where lurks 
danger and perils upon every hand unseen — 
dangers that accumulate like the horrors of 
the nightmare — will produce in the human 
mind little else than superstition and quak- 
ing fears; the horrible dread ingulfs them 
like a living hell, till the very soul responds 
to the hideous surroundings. Man is so con- 
stituted, he will bow down and worship what 
he fears, especially when it is an unseen, re- 
sistless power, displayed in such appalling 
force as to enfeeble and dwarf his intellect. 

The ignorant squatters along the river — 
that is, some of them — had only known that 
the first steamboat and the great earthquake 
had come here together. It was firmly be- 
lieved that it was this flying in the face of 
God, and making a boat run with " bilin' 
water," that caused the earthquake. " Pre- 
sumptuous man had boiled the water, when, 
if God had wanted it to boil, he would have 
so made it. " People had navigated the river 
in flat-boats, keel-boats and canoes, and under 
these the glad rivers went singing to the sea. 
But [man must come with his fire boat, and 
the earth went into convulsions, and terror 
and desolation brooded over the land. God 
was mysterious, and man presumptuous. 
The earth indeed trembled when He frowned, 
and man must learn to be meek and humble; 
he was but as the grass that was mowed down 
by the scythe — a breath, a passing vapor. 

But even the less ignorant of men — could 
he comprehend .that in this boat was a great 
human thought, a wonderful invention of 
man? He could see the weak hands of men 
guiding and controlling it. It's a mere toy 
and child's play, and he looks at it a moment 
in childish curiosity, perhaps smiles ap- 
provingly upon it. It's all a momentary 
pastime with him. It's too feeble to do more 
than receive a passing notice. 



Think of it! The thoughts and inventions 
of genius are the one only powerful thing 
among men — they and their effects alone 
endure forever. All else passes away and is 
forgotten. In a little while, only the' traces 
of the great'earthquake, even, can be found 
and pointed out, while the steam engine has 
been the first, the great power that has done 
more for civilization and human advancement 
in the past fifty years than all else combined. 
From this one feeble, imperfect boat has 
come the world's Armada, that now plows 
the waves of every river and sea, until the 
busy world upon the waters and its wealth 
of nations almost equals that upon land. It 
is ever present — ever living — ever growing 
in might, power and the welfare of the whole 
human family. The earthquake, in its effects 
upon mankind, compared to the engine, was 
as the mote to a world — a drop of water com- 
pared to the ocean. No one thing in the his- 
tory of the human family has so contributed to 
the good of the human race, as the engine be- 
cause it opened the way and made possible the 
sweeping advance of the past three-quarters of 
a century. Remember, since the engine came, 
the average of human life has been increased 
ten years ; man knows now, where he guessed 
and feared before. In no century, in all the 
world's history, has civilization made such 
great strides forward as this. It made possible 
all those comforts and necessities we now en- 
joy. It has lightened the labors and burdens of 
men, and given the mind a chance to work It 
has cheapened food, clothing, books and in- 
telligence itself, and is gathering momentum 
as it goes. Who may guess, who may dream 
of the yet benign and good effects to man 
that lay hidden in that gi-and and sublime 
thought of Fulton's that gave us the power 
of steam? 

Then, indeed, what a great, what an im- 



20 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



mortal thing, was the first steamboat upon 
the Western waters! What a temporary 
thing was the earthquake that received it! 

Had the 18th day of December, 1811, only 
been signaled by any one of the three events 
above referred to, it would have constituted 
it a memorable day. But the wonderful com- 
bination of events makes it out most prom- 
inently in the calendar, as a day calling up 
the most vivid and important recollections *of 
any other in the country's history. Suitable 
monuments along the river from Pittsburgh 
to New Orleans should be placed sacred to 
the memory of Capt. Roosevelt. 

As soon as the steamboat New Orleans had 
made its successful trip from Pittsburgh to 
New Orleans and return, the commerce of 
the Western waters really began to grow, and 
although it was six years after this success- 
ful steam voyage on the Ohio before a steam- 
boat attempted the waters of the Upper Mis- 
sissippi as far as St. Louis, yet Cairo soon 
began to attract the attention of river and 
commercial men as an important trans-ship- 
ping point. 

The steamboat Orleans was furnished 
with a propelling wheel at the stern and two 
masts; for Fulton believed, at that time,Jthat 
the occasional use of sails would be indis- 
pensable. Her capacity was a hundred tons. 

The first appearance of this steamboat 
upon Western waters produced, as the reader 
may suppose, not a little excitement and 
admiration. A steamboat, to common observ- 
ers, was almost as great a wonder as a flying 
angel would be at present. The banks of 
the river, in some places, were thronged with 
spectators, gazing, in speechless astonish- 
ment, at the puffing and smoking phenome- 
non. The average speed of this boat was 
only about three miles per hour. Before her 
ability to move through the water without 
the aid of sails or oars had been exemplified, 



comparatively few persons believed she could 
possibly be made to answer any purpose of 
real utility. In fact, she had made several 
voyages before the general prejudice began 
to subside, and for some months many of the 
river merchants preferred the old mode of 
transportation with all its risks, delays and 
extra expense, rather than make use of such 
a contrivance as a steamboat, which, to their 
apprehensions, appeared too marvelous and 
miraculous for the business of every-day life. 
How slow are the masses of mankind to 
adopt improvements, even when they appear 
to be most obvious and unquestionable! 

The second steamboat of the West was a 
diminutive vessel called the Comet. She was 
rated at twenty-five tons. Daniel D. Smith 
was the owner and D. French the builder of 
this boat. Her machinery was on a plan for 
which French had obtained a patent in 1809. 
She went to Louisville in the summer of 

1813, and descended to New Orleans in the 
spring of 1814 She afterward made two 
voyages to Natchez, and was then sold, taken 
to pieces, and the engine was put up in a 
cotton factory. 

The Vesuvius was the next boat in the 
record. She was built by Fulton in Pitts- 
burgh, for a company, the members of which 
resided in New York, Philadelphia and New 
Orleans. She was under Capt. Frank Ogden, 
and went to New Orleans in the spring of 

1814. From New Orleans, she started for 
Louisville in July of the same year, but was 
grounded on a bar, seven hundred miles up 
the river, where she remained until the 3d 
of December following, when, being floated 
off by the tide, she returned to New Or- 
leans. In 1815-16, she made trips, for sev- 
eral months, from New Orleans to Natchez, 
under the command of Capt. Clement. 
This gentleman was succeeded by Capt. 
John De Hart, and while approaching New 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



21 



Orleans with a valuable cargo on board, she 
took fire and burned to the water's edge. 
After being submerged several months, the 
hull was raised and refitted. She was after- 
ward in the Louisville trade, and condemned 
in 1819. 

The Enterprise was the next boat in the 
West. She was built at Brownsville, Penn., 
by D. French, under his patent, and was 
owned by several residents of that place. 
This was a small boat of seventy-five tons. 
She made two voyages to Louisville in 1814, 
under the command of Capt. J. Gregg. On 
the 1st of December in the same year, she con- 
veyed a cargo of ordnance stores from Pitts- 
burgh to New Orleans. While at the last- 
named port, she was pressed into service by 
Gen. Jackson. When engaged in the public 
service, she was eminently useful in trans- 
porting troops, arms, ammunition and stores 
to the seat of war. She left New Orleans for 
Pittsburgh on the 6th of May, 1815, and 
reached Louisville after a passage of twenty- 
five days, thus completing the first steam- 
boat voyage ever made from New Orleans to 
Louisville. But from the fact that the 
waters were very high, and she run all the 
cut-offs and over fields, etc., this experi- 
mental trip was not satisfactory, the public 
being still in doubt whether a steamboat 
could ascend the Mississippi when the river 
was confined within its banks, and the cur- 
rent as rapid as it generally is. 

Such was the state of public opinion when 
the steamboat Washington conunenced her 
career. This vessel, the fifth in the cata- 
logue of Western steamboats, was constructed 
under the personal superintendence and 
direction of Capt. Hemy M. Shreve. The 
hull was built at Wheeling, Va., and the 
engines were made at Brownsville, Penn. 
The entire construction of the boat comprised 
various innovations, which were suggested 



by the ingenuity and experience of Capt. 
Shreve. The Washington was the first "two 
decker" on the Western waters. The cabin 
was placed between the decks. It had 
been the general practice for steamboats to 
carry their engines in the hold; in this par- 
ticular Capt. Shreve made a new aiTange- 
ment, by placing the boiler of the Washing- 
ton on deck, and this plan was such an ob- 
vious improvement that all the steamboats 
on the waters retain it to the present day. 
The engines constructed under Fulton' s. pat- 
ent had upright and stationary cylinders; in 
French's engines vibrating cylinders were 
used, Shreve caused the cylinders of the 
Washington to be placed in a horizontal 
position, and gave the vibrations to the pit- 
man. Fulton and French used single low- 
pressure engines; Shreve employed a double 
high-pressure engine, with cranks at right 
angles, and this was the first engine of that 
kind ever used on the Western waters. Mr. 
David Prentice had previously used cam 
wheels for working the valves of the cylinder. 
Capt Shreve added his great invention of 
the cam cut-off, with flues to the boilers, by 
which three-fifths of the fuel was saved. 
These improvements originated with Capt. 
Shreve, but although they have been in uni- 
versal use for a long [time, their origin has 
not been properly credited to the rightfiil 
inventor. 

On the 24th day of September, 1816, the 
Washington passed over the Falls of Ohio on 
her first trip to New Orleans, and returned to 
Louisville November following. While at 
New Orleans, the ingenuity of her construc- 
tion excited the admiration of the most in- 
telligent citizens of that place. Edward 
Livingston, after a critical examination of 
the boat and her machinery, remarked to Capt. 
Shreve, "You deserve well of your country, 
young man; but we [referring to Fulton 



23 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



and Livingston's monopoly] shall be com- 
pelled to beat you [in the courts] if we can," 

An accumulation of ice in the Ohio com- 
pelled the Washington to remain at the 
Falls until March 12, 1817. On that day she 
commenced her second trip to New Orleans. 
She accomplished this trip and returned to 
Shippingsport, at the foot of the Falls, in 
forty-one days. The ascending voyage was 
made in twenty-five days, and from this voy- 
age all historians date the commencement of 
steam navigation in the Mississippi Valley. 
It was now practically demonstrated, to the 
satisfaction of the public in general, that 
steamboats could ascend this river in less 
than one-fourth the time which the barges 
and keel boats had required for the same 
purpose. This feat of the Washington pro- 
duced almost as much popular excitement 
and exultation in that region as the battle of 
New Orleans. The citizens of Louisville 
gave a public dinner to Capt. Shreve, at 
which he predicted the time would come 
when the trip from New Orleans to Louis- 
ville would be made in ten days. Although 
this may have been regarded as a boastful 
declaration at that time, the prediction has 
been more than fulfilled; for as early as 
1853, the trip was made in four days and 
nine hours. 

After that memorable voyage of the Wash- 
ington, all doubts and prejudices in reference 
to steam navigation were removed. Shipyards 
began to be established in every convenient lo- 
cality, and the business of steamboat build- 
ing was vigorously prosecuted. But a new 
obstacle now presented itself, which for a 
time threatened to give an effectual check 
to the spirit of enterprise and progression 
which had just been developed. We refer to 
the claims made by Fulton and Livingston 
to the exclusive right of steam navigation on 
the rivers of the United States. This claim 



being resisted by Capt. Shreve, the Washing- 
ton was attached at New Orleans, and taken 
possession of by the Sheriif. When the case 
came for adjudication before the District 
Court of Louisiana, that tribunal promptly 
negatived the exclusive privileges claimed 
by Livingston and Fulton, which were decided 
to be unconstitutional. The monopoly claims 
of L, and F. were finally withdrawn in 1819, 
and the last restraint on the steamboat 
navigation of the Western rivers was thus 
removed, leaving Western enterprise and 
energy full liberty to cany on the great work 
of improvement. This work has been so 
progressive, that at one time no less than 800 
steamboats were in operation on the Ohio and 
Mississippi Kivers; and here this mode of 
navigation has been carried on to a degree 
of perfection unrivaled in any other part of 
the world. 

In the year 1818, William Bird, now de- 
ceased, entered the extreme point of land on 
the peninsula formed by the junction of the 
two rivers, and known in the Congressional 
Survey as the southeast quarter of Section 
25, and all of Fractional Section 36, the two 
tracts aggregating about three hundred and 
sixty acres; but for some years the laud lay 
unimproved and neglected. From this 
ownership by Mr. Bird, the locality took the 
name of Bird's Point, by which name it was 
designated for nearly twenty years. 

Shortly after Bird's entry, a company was 
formed, at the head of which was a man 
named Comegys, and apparently in good 
faith set about the work of building a city 
here that should anticipate the wants of 
men and commerce for all time to come. 
They obtained a charter for that purpose, 
under the name and style of the "City and 
Bank Company of Cairo." This company 
foresaw the Illinois Central Railroad, and 
here, so far as the facts can now be gathered^ 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



23 



was the first tangible idea of this great rail- 
road put forth to the world. There was no 
Chicago then to build a road to; there was 
little or nothing in the central or northern 
portion of the State demanding highway 
privileges and commercial rights, and yet 
the idea was formulated that, iu the course of 
time, was worked out to a most successful issue. 
The particulars of this corporation, and its 
struggles and its end, are given in another 
chapter. Sufficient to say here, that the com- 
pany ceased to exist, and had left untouched 
the great old forest trees that covered, the 
town site when first discovered. This first 
failure had hardly attracted any public at- 
tention to Cairo. The majority who had 
come to know the country believed that a 
city would arise somewhere here on the pen- 
insula, but they were mostly convinced that 
it must be built back upon the hills, and not 
upon the point that all could see was subject 
to frequent inundations. Henry L. Webb 
and a few others, therefore, had started, as 
far back as 1817, the town of Trinity, at the 
mouth of Cache River, six miles above Cairo, 
on the Ohio River. This had grown to be a 
steamboat landing, and in very early times 
the place could boast a boat store, a tavern, a 
bar and a billiard soloon, but for ten years 
after this first abortive attempt to settle, 
" the smoke of no adventurer's hovel gave 
gloom to Cairo's canopy," and the unbroken 
silence remained with the " neck of the 
woods," where the future Cairo was to be. 

In 1828, John and Thompson Bird, the 
sons of William Bird, made the first improve- 
ment here. They selected the spot a few 
hundred feet south of the present Halliday 
House, and, bringing their slaves over from 
Missouri, threw up a sufficient embankment 
to protect a building which they erected 
about twenty-five by thirty-five feet in 
dimensions, and in a short time after the;i 



erected another building, between this and 
the river, which was about twenty feet 
square, and was placed on piles, as a security 
against the water. The first building was a 
tavern, and the latter a store, and for several 
years it was only the chance flat-boatman that 
circumstances compelled to land here and 
get a few supplies for his crew that fur- 
nished customers to these Alexander Selkirks. 
Bacon, whisky and flour were the only com- 
modities wanted by any of the customers of 
those days. The next season after the Birds 
had taken possession, a wood-chopper put up 
a shanty near their improvement, and in this 
he lived and chopped wood, and piled it on 
the bank, waiting for some boat to come 
along and want it. The wood-chopper made 
a very little impression on the big trees 
around him, and the Birds had only a small 
spot cleared and cleaned off, so as to have a 
little breathing room, as well as a place to 
receive and pass out the goods they handled. 
In 1831, only about five acres had been cut 
away, and this lay in a narrow strip along 
the banks of the Ohio, and extended no 
further north than to about where is now 
Second street. Until 1835, Trinity continued 
to be the commanding and promising point. 
In this year, Messrs. Breese, Swanwick, 
Baker, Gilbert and others began to give the 
point their open attention, and they entered 
several thousand acres of land, including all 
that portion between the two rivers up to 
and beyond Cache River. They had in view 
the future possibilities of the place as a point 
for a city, but having secured the land, mat- 
ters remained quiet for some time. The next 
step taken was on the 16th day of January, 
1836, when a charter was granted a com- 
pany, by the Illinois Legislature, to build 
the Illinois Central Railroad. 

February 27, 1837, the State of Illinois 
passed the General Improvement Bill — better 



24 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



known to the immediate posterity of these 
early statesmen as the General Insanity Bill 
— which resulted in a wide-spread bankruptcy, 
and seriously threatened, at one time, to ruin 
the State for nearly all time to come. This 
State scheme of making all the improvements 
swallowed up all charturs that had been 
granted to private parties, and, among the 
others, the charter for the construction of the 
Illinois Central Kailroad; and, as a specimen 
of what an insane State could do, the 
Legislature appropriated (not having a dol- 
lar, it seems, in the treasury) $3,500,000 for 
the building of this last-named road. 

On the 4th day of March, 1837, the Cairo 
City & Canal Company was chartered by 
the Illinois Legislature. This was the final 
act and organization that led to founding a 
city here, and of the charter and laws and the 
official acts of the company, and their 
failures, etc., we refer the reader to another 
chapter, where these matters are given in 
their order and at length. 

This company purchased, on credit, vast 
bodies of land, including the Bird tract, and 
pretty much all lands on the peninsula, to 
and beyond Cache River. The master-spirit 
of the enterprise, as soon as it was success- 
fully started, was Darius B. Holbrook, of 
Boston. The company, apparently, cared 
not what price it agreed to pay for the land; 
so the title was secured, that seemed enough. 
The daring, and doubtless unscrupulous, 
leader of this company, even in those days of 
little money and natural economy, seemed to 
talk and think of money in sums of never 
less than millions, fie expected to borrow 
immense sums, and stake these over- bar- 
gained lands as the security for the vast 
amount of money wherewith to improve the 
lands and build the city; and, remarkable as 
it may be, did so borrow money, and had 
arranged for it to be advanced by the million, 



sure enough. While such success shows 
there must have been method in his madness, 
yet his whole idea, after he had secured the 
money, was a piece of madcap folly. When 
he found it possible to find other men to 
furnish the money for him to expend, he was 
at once seized with the idea that, with money 
enough, he could build a great city, and the 
whole thing, when completed, would be as 
much of a private piece of property as would be 
a large factory, steam mill, or, for that matter, 
a block of private residences. His theory 
was to sell no property about the town, except 
the bonds and stocks. No one could buy a 
lot and build upon it and own it. You could 
not buy an inch of the city grounds; but you 
could buy the bonds, and, upon this insane 
idea, he went to Europe and hypothecated 
the city bonds to the amount of more than 
$2,000,000, and returned to Cairo with the 
first installment of this money, and com- 
menced the s^apendous work upon a stupen- 
dous scale. The only parallel to the vast 
scheme was the State's craze on the intei'nal 
improvement folly. It is amusing to conjec- 
ture what Holbrook would have done had he 
been backed by a limitless supply of money. 
He evidently would have left some wrecks 
here, the like of which the world had never 
seen, while his cold, selfish, Yankee instincts 
would have made a heavy per cent of all the 
money that passed through his hands stick 
in his fingers. Thus, in the end, he would 
have grown immensely rich; but it is not at 
all certain he ever would have erected a town 
here. 

When he returned from Europe, he issued 
a flaming address — a kind of open letter ad- 
dressed to all the world — full of as much 
fulsome nonsense and after the style of Na- 
poleon's address to his soldiers. It can only 
be guessed why he issued these flaming ad- 
dresses. He was not seeking purchasers for 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



27 



his town property, for he had nothing to sell, 
and the addresses were not got up to di*aw 
renters. The only excuse there can be for 
their existence was to brag on himself, and, 
in the common slang, " blow his own horn." 

If Cairo has had any parallel, either in its 
commencement or in much that has occurred 
in its history during its progress, we are not 
aware of it. Its very first building was a 
tavern, its second a store, and then came the 
first natural growth — the woodman's shanty. 
Then the next effort was to found a city by 
starting a wild-cat bank, and then came Hoi- 
brook and his idea of a city and the inhabitants 
all stockholders, while he and his company 
were the real owners. But Holbrook was at 
least in earnest about the building of levees 
aroiind the town, to keep out the water. As 
soon as he secured the money, he made con- 
tracts with S. & H. Howard, J. H. McMurry, 
Murphy and others, and these contractors 
brought on laborers here in large numbers. 
Many of these brought their families, and, 
in hastily constructed shanties and huts, they 
went to living, "keeping boarders, " and put- 
ting on those airs which belong to a city that 
has grown in a night. Mr. Walter Falls had 
a store on a boat, moored at the levee, but its 
capacity for furnishing supplies was wholly 
inadequate, and passing boats were called 
upon to help furnish the people with .some of 
the necessaries of life. The State also threw 
a large number of men here to work on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, so that the demand 
for flour, bacon and coffee was still increased 
to that extent that often loaded flat-boats 
would stop here, and sell out the cargoes 
they had intended for farther south. 

A population reaching 2,000 souls were 
thus thrown suddenly together, and affairs 
had much the appearance of one of those 
mining towns that jump into existence so 
suddenly, aiid sometimes seem to jump out 



quite as quickly. But the people believed 
everything was permanent; they, therefore, 
proceeded in due form to organize a regular 
form of government, and appoint the neces- 
sary oflScers to carry out its edicts. As Jus- 
tices of the Peace, Mr. Marsh and ISIr. Mc- 
Cord were chosen, and two lawyers decorated 
a couple of shanty doors with their shin- 
gles; these were Mr. Gass (good legal name) 
and a Mr. McCrillis. A post office was at 
once established, and Squire Marsh was ap- 
pointed Postmaster. In addition to being 
Postmaster, he had to receive and forward all 
mails, and in a short time this task was 
worth three or four times the whole salary of 
the office. A Dr. Cummings hung out his 
banner on the outer walls, and called the sick 
and afflicted to come to him for quinine and 
calomel.. The Catholic element, mindful of 
their religious obligations, set about the prep- 
aration of a place for the public worship 
of God. As they were limited alike in means 
and building materials, and as they desired 
to subserve only a temporary purpose, they 
satisfied themselves with a rough, board- 
roofed shanty in the depths of the convenient 
woods. In the forks of one of the trees over- 
shadowing their unpretending church build- 
ing, they suspended a bell, and this, every 
Sunday morning and evening, rang out 
through the deep woods and over the face of 
the surrounding waters the call of " Come, 
and let us worship." Such was the first 
organization of municipal, governmental and 
church matters in Cairo, as well as the first 
lawyers, and the first doctor and the first 
people. Such was the young city at the 
commencement of the year 1841. At this 
time, the firm of Bellews, Hathaway & Gil- 
bert secured a charter for iron works, and 
they opened their establishment. It was tilled 
with all the finest machineiy that could be 
procured in England. At the time, it ranked 



28 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



among the corapletest establishments of its 
kind in the United States, and as it was run 
to its fullest capacity, it gave labor to a large 
force of men. These works were erected about 
where is now the corner of Twelfth street and 
the Ohio levee. Near the iron works were 
two large saw mills, of great capacity each, 
and they were busily at work converting the 
big trees of the adjacent forest into lumber 
for building purposes and railroad timbers. 
The company had revived the old City Bank 
of Cairo — a bank of issue, and, by law, was 
temporarily located at Kaskaskia, and this 
money was scattered profusely about the 
town. By some favored arrangement, the 
money of this wild-cat bank was taken at the 
Kaskaskia Land Office, while much better 
money from Indiana and Ohio was refused 
there. The company had erected a long 
frame hotel at the point — its great length, 
and its verandas extending from one end to 
the other, all painted white, made it a con- 
spicuous landmark in approaching Cairo. Its 
landlord was a man named Jones, and in 
these flush times it was at all times thronged 
with the chief men of the town and travelers 
awaiting ^the arrival and departure of boats 
to carry them on their intended way. A 
planing mill of mammoth proportions was 
erected near the corner of Eighth and Com- 
mercial streets. Two brick-yards, each sup- 
plied with the latest patents for turning out 
brick by the many thousand daily, from dry, 
compressed earth, were erected. These were 
then located in what is called Upper Cairo. 
The company had erected a dry dock, at a 
cost of over $35,000, and notwithstanding 
a heavy force of carpenters were erecting 
buildings in every direction, yet, so urgent 
was the demand for houses of any and every 
kind, that Col. Falls had moored at the levee 
the hull of the steamer Peru, and a Mr. 
Thompson had also brought the steamer 



Asia to the wharf for the same purpose. In 
short, the entire levee soon became a compact 
mass of wharf- boat hotels, stores, residences, 
boarding-houses and business places of every 
kind. Here was a little busy city on boats 
moored to the shore. Everything and every- 
where about Cairo bespoke a^marvelous thrift 
— all was at high pressure, and the wonder 
of the age had come at last. And all over 
the land the contagion spread. Along the 
rivers, from Pittsbm-g and St. Louis to New 
Orleans its name grew, and crossing the 
Alleghanies and over the Eastern States, and, 
pushed by the great banking-house of Wright 
& Co., of London, which had taken over 
$2,000,000 in the Cairo bonds, and who were 
interested in advertising it all over Europe 
in the most unqualified and extravagant 
terms, until apparently the large portion of 
the civilized world looked, at least, and as- 
certained where this remarkable young city 
was located on the world's map. Never was 
more thorough, elaborate or expensive adver- 
tising done for any place than that for Cairo. 
Flaming prospective views of the city in 
splendid lithographs were hung upon the 
walls of steamboats, hotels, halls and other 
public places, and to all these were added 
the potency of a great young State, advertis- 
ing, by its legislative acts, this great South Sea 
Bubble, or, as Cairo was modestly then 
called in the proclamations of Holbrook, the 
" great commercial and manufacturing mart 
and emporium." 

The State had literally bankrupted itself, 
and perforce wound up its Utopian schemes. 
Its folly had very nearly universally bank- 
rupted the entire people. The whole coun- 
try was ripe for a panic and contraction, and 
the probe of a solid specie basis pricked, of 
course, the Cairo bubble, and the crash of 
tumbling air castles, and the half-completed 
real ones, carried everything with them, and 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



29 



left the Cairo City & Canal Company 
buried beneath a mountain of debris. We 
have already shown the inherent defectB 
there were in the Holbrook idea of founding 
and building a great city, but in a sketch by 
M. B. Harrell, published in 1864, he gi\es 
the following as his conclusions as to the 
immediate and remote causes of the collapse 
of the town: 

" There are many causes," he says, "which 
contributed to the downfall of Cairo, but the 
chief cause alleged is the failure of the house 
of Wright & Co., London, through whom 
the company anticipated continued loans. 
But this is by no means the sole cause. The 
suspension of work on the Illinois Central 
Railroad, the great artery of trade and traffic 
upon which so much depended, and the gen- 
eral abandonment of the system of public 
works inaugurated by the State in 1837, 
seemed to affect the public at large, and 
so seriously enervated the enterprise of Cairo. 
And, again, it is directly taught, by the his- 
tory of the whole country, that no man, set of 
men or corporation, can create and success- 
fully conduct such a monstrous monopoly as 
that attempted at the confluence of these 
rivers by D. B. Holbrook & Co. Even per- 
sonal liberty and freedom of thought were 
brought in direct antagonism to this singu- 
lar undertaking. The project amounted to 
no more nor less than an attempt on the part 
of these men to build, own and direct a city 
at the mouth of the Ohio River. At no price, 
in no shape or form, could a resident of this 
city, under the Holbrook auspices, become a 
freeholder. He could not purchase, he could 
not lease, or otherwise acquire a title in a 
single foot of ground within the proposed 
city. If he occupied a dwelling, this com- 
pany owned it, and consequently he lived in 
it only daring the pleasure of this ' Lord of 
the manor.' If ordered to vacate, he could 



not quarter himself in a hotel or boarding- 
house and bid his persecutor defiance, for 
even that was held by the all -pervading 
power. No house or hotel anywhere within 
the prescribed limits of the corporation could 
be erected or destroyed, unless Holbrook ex- 
ercised the power of controlling the manner 
and means, and designating the time and 
place for such erection or destruction. And 
his powers, or what is the same thing, 
the powers of the Cairo City & Canal Com- 
pany, terminated not here. A corrupt or an 
imbecile Legislature conferred upon that 
company the dangerous authority to establish 
all the rules and regulations for the govern- 
ment of the municipality that a Mayor and a 
Board of Councilmen, selected from amongst 
the people might, as a body, establish. It 
was for D. B. Holbrook, or what is the same, 
the Cairo City & Canal Company, to define 
offenses and prescribe their punishment; to 
declare, by fixing wharfage at a rate that 
would amount to a prohibition, that steam- 
boats should cease landing at this delta; to 
say what style of living or existing should 
amount to vagabondage, and affix the penal- 
ty; to declare a levy of taxes, and enforce its 
collection; and to expend these taxes as he 
elected, whether for the advantage of the 
public or the furtherance of the aims of his 
bantling, the Cairo City & Canal Company. 
In short, D. B. Holbrook, as the Cairo City 
& Canal Company, at a late hour in his 
career here, to wit, on the 17th February, 
3871, were clothed by the then sitting, 
thoughtless or villainous Legislatui-e of 
Illinois, with all the powers conferred upon 
the Board of Aldermen of the City of Quincy, 
as defined between the First and Forty-fifth 
Sections of the charter of that city; and these 
grants of power the same Legislature con- 
firmed for a period of ten years. It is, per- 
haps true that he never exercised any legal 



30 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



despotism, or felt any disposition to exercise 
it, but the mere reposition of such alarming 
privileges in one man, and that man charged 
with the control of the material affairs of the 
city, could have but exercised a most enervat- 
ing and destructive influence upon the proj- 
ect in hand, and of itself ultimately insured 
the overthrow and destruction of the euter- 
prise." 

From 1839 to 1841, a little more than two 
years of Cairo's first glory, there "^ was spent 
here by Holbrook's company, or the founda- 
tions laid for spending, the whole of the 
$1,250,000 that he had arranged for in 
Europe, and when to this is added the actua 1 
expenditures made by the State, and the pros • 
pective future expenditure of the $3,500,000 
by the State on the Illinois Central road, 
the wonder is [there were not more than two 
thousand people gathered here. Nearly every 
one of these must have been needed as em- 
ployes in the vast enterprises commenced 
and projected. When the work was stopped 
by Holbrook's company, the two levees run- 
ning alung the shores of each river, joining at 
the south end and forming a levee, were com- 
pleted, and were of a height and strength then 
determined by the company's engineers to be 
amply sufficient for protection from inunda- 
tion. The base of the levee was forty feet, a 
top width of twelve feet, with an easy descent 
on the outside of one foot perpendicularly to 
seven feet horizontally. In 1843, Mr. M. A. 
Gilbert constructed the cross levee. As said 
above, a splendid dry dock and ship-yai'd 
had been established, and, under the super- 
intendence of Capt. Garrison, a well-known 
river man, the steamer Tennessee Valley had 
been built, and the iron work for this vessel 
had been turned out, by the Cairo Foundry 
Works, and thus a complete vessel, of first- 
class quality, had been fitted out and wholly 
completed by Cairo skill alone. 



As the existence of Cairo, under Holbrook's 
auspices, ran only through about three years, 
and as much of that time was exhausted in 
the procurement of lands and means to im- 
prove them, and in the erection of saw mills 
and the opening of quarries and brick-yards 
to provide building materials, but few build- 
ings were erected, whether for residence or 
business houses. According to the best data 
to be obtained, we have it represented that 
the fii'st building put up by the company was 
the addition to the Cairo Hotel, situated on 
the point; then the Bel lews House was erected 
next; then the machine shops; Holbrook's 
spacious residence, on the spot now occupied 
by the Halliday House; the planing mills, 
and some twenty cottages. These, with a 
number of shanties, that stood at the mercy 
of Holbrook, as his order to tear them down 
at anytime would have been like the edict of 
a tyrant, were the sum total of Cairo's im- 
provements in this line even in this zenith of 
her glory. But a great many others were 
contemplated, and a few had been commenced 
before the crash came. An immense stone 
foundation, near what is now the corner of 
Sixth street and the Ohio levee, was nearly 
completed, upon which was to be erected the 
" Great London Warehouse, " that was to 
eclipse, in point of size, elegance and general 
finish, the monster warehouse of like name 
in the City of London. 

The intentions of Holbrook's company, in 
i-egard to future building operations, is prob- 
ably truthfully shadowed forth in the follow- 
ing extract from one of the circulars issued 
about the time when the prospects for the 
town were the fairest: 

" The demand for bailding for every pui'- 
pose and every description, encourages the 
company to use all the labor and force which 
can be advantageously employed to meet 
these applications — in fact, the conclusion is 



HISTORY OF CAIEO. 



31 



rresistible, that the proper and requisite 
number of dwellings and places for business 
ai'e only wanting at Cairo to secure a popula- 
tion equal in number and character to any 
town in the West; and it will be evideot to 
every one that the advantages which the com- 
pany possess for building are very great, 
having their own forests of timber, saw mills, 
quarries of stone, lime and brick yards, and 
every other material required is obtainable 
in large quantities, and consequently at a 
reduced price; and every kind of labor which 
can be done, to save advantage, by use of 
steam power and machinery, will be adopted 
by the company and made available." 

This is appropriately chapter one of the 
history of Cairo. Abortive as the grand 



effort, or "splurge," to use a more ti-uthful 
description of the occasion, was, it was the 
one final effort to lay the foundation upon 
which the present superstructure stands. A 
generation has passed away since that time, 
and of all the struggling, active, busy throng 
that were parties to this stirring [and hope- 
ful period, there are but very few now left 
us to tell over the story, and recall the hopes 
and fears and trials and triumphs that ani- 
mated their bosoms in those young days of 
their lives and of the city's life. The story 
is a remarkable one and full of interest, and 
contains a lesson, when properly fread, that 
none can afford to pass by unnoticed, and that 
all may contemplate with pleasure and 
profit. 



CHAPTER 11. 



CRASH OF THE CAIRO CITY AND CANAL COMPANY IN 1841— THE EXODUS OF THE PEOPLE- 
PASTIMES AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THOSE WHO REMAIN— JUDGE GILBERT— HOW A RIOT 
WAS SUPPRESSED— BRYAN SHANNESSY— GRADUAL GROWTH OF THE 
TOWN AGAIN— THE RECORD BROUGHT DOWN TO 1853, ETC. 



IN the preceding chapter we told of the 
first gathering of the people here, and on 
what a grand scale they went to work to 
build a great city. How the Cairo City & 
Canal Company literally took charge of 
everything, and, by a profuse display of 
money, and work and high wages, it in- 
duced many hundreds of people to come and 
cast their fortunes with the rising young city; 
and how in a moment, when all seemed the 
most promising and cheerful, the whole 
thing vanished like a pricked bubble, and 
leaving nothing but grief and pain for 
promised joy to the many hundreds who felt 
they had been lured into the wilds by false rep- 
resentations, and bitterness and disappoint- 



ment took the place of hope and promise" 
As already intimated, when the crash came 
there had gathered here about two thousand 
people, and they were proceeding rapidly to 
gather about them all the appliances of civil- 
ized and municipal life. A man named T. 
J. Gass, mentioned in the preceding chapter, 
was teaching the first school in Cairo. It 
was a pay school, taught in a hastily con- 
structed building near where is now the cor- 
ner of Twelfth street and Washington avenue. 
But when the failui'e of the city company 
came, everything of a public nature, and 
even every private enterprise, stopped, and 
the work of depopulating at once set in and 
went forward with almost as much celerity as 



32 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



had its gathering of people the year before. 
The post office, Col. Walter Falls, Postmas- 
ter, continued. It is said, as an evidence 
that the few left here were not writing to 
their fi'iends for 'money to get away, that his 
salary often amounted to as much as $2.15 
per quarter. The Catholic Church, the only 
one regularly established hei'e at that time, 
continued its work. The foundry tried to 
brave the storm, and continued to run when 
all else had apparently stopped forever, but 
the cross levee was not yet constructed, and 
the floods came in 1842, and, on the 22d day 
of March of that year, it put out its fur- 
naces, aod forever afterward partook of the 
universal abandonment to quietude and decay. 
Col. Falls did continue his store, on his 
wharf-boat and his wharf-boat business until 
1846 or 1847, when he quitted the town and 
removed to a place once called " Ohio City," 
on the Missouri shore, a short distance 
below Cairo. 

So rapidly did the process of depopulation 
go on that in a few months there were not 
more than a score of families left. The flam- 
ing forges, the flying wheels, the clangor of 
machinery and the "music of the hammer 
and the saw" had died away, and given place 
to a quiet that could not have been far sur- 
passed had nature set upon tbe city the very 
signet of eternitj . 

And now commenced, on the part of those 
who held unsatisfied claims against the com- 
pany, a legal effort to secure their own. 
Judgments were rendered, executions issued, 
and every article of movable property left 
or abandoned by the company, not excepting 
the fine machinery of the mills, shops and 
foundries, was seized upon and sold for a 
mere trifle under the hammer at public sale. 
The dry dock was either cut loose, or the 
high waters of 1842 swept it away in the 
flood, and as it approached the Kentucky 



shore it was seized under an execution for 
debt, sold, and taken to New Orleans and 
used at Algiers until the war, when the rebels 
converted it into one of their first formidable 
war vessels. 

For more than a year, the Cairo City & 
Canal Company, as if overpowered by their 
complete failure, appeared utterly careless of 
the wi'eck they had left behind them. The 
company had gone and chaos came, and there 
seemed to be no one left to look after or care 
for its property or its rights here. People 
moved into the houses that were deserted at 
will, where they had no landlord, no rents, 
no taxes, nor no care how soon it fell into 
decay or was used piece-meal for kindling the 
matutinal fires. The same with the land; 
whoever first fancied to take possession and 
cultivate any cleared portion, did so without 
let or hindrance. We have spoken of the 
dangerous powers the Legislature had placed 
in Holbrook's hands. Upon the sudden dis- 
appearance of this autocrat, with his excess 
of law and authority, the people were left at 
the other extreme, and possession now was 
sovereign, and, as a rule, every man was a 
law unto himself. 

Judge Miles A. Gilbert was the first per- 
son to come to Cairo after the collapse, and 
act as agent and representative of the com- 
pany, to the extent of protecting its property 
and his own, of which he had large quanti- 
ties, as well as a considerable holder in the 
stocks of the company. A detailed account 
of what he found here, and the spirit and 
moods of the people in their anger at Hol- 
brook and his company, could they be fully 
given, would read like a Western early-day 
romance. And of all the men it was possible 
to send here to speak peace to the brewing 
storm, and stay the uplifted hands of vio- 
lence, he was the only one. His unflinching 
integrity, his ripe judgment, and his mild. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



33 



and fii'm and fair ti'eatment of all questions 
that arose between the people and the com- 
pany were productive of results that must 
have saved even bloodshed at times, and at 
all times it was a protection to the property of 
the place, as well as to the angered and out- 
rag<^,d people who clamored for the pay due 
them. 

Judge Gilbert may justly be regarded as 
one of the active and leading spirits engaged 
in the early enterprise of founding the city 
of Cairo, and the only one of the early 
founders of the city now living. He was 
born in Hartford, Conn., January 1, 1810; 
came to Kaskaskia, 111., June 8, 1832, with 
a large stock <^f goods; merchandized there 
eleven years; November 17, 1836, married 
Ann Eliza Baker, eldest daughter of Hon. 
David J. ^Baker, Sr., at Kaskaskia, 111. 
April, 1843, he removed to Cairo, and took 
charge of all the property there owned by 
the Cairo City & Canal Company, as their 
agent. The company had just failed, and a 
great number of men, in consequence, thrown 
out of employment, were in a wild, ungovern- 
able state, making a great noise about their 
pay. Judge Gilbert's great-grandfather was 
Abraham Gilbert, who died at Hamden in 
1718, and was the grandson of Josiah Gil- 
bert, who, with three other brothers, came 
from Norfolk, England, to America in 1640, 
and settled near New Haven, Conn. ; so that 
Judge Gilbert's lineage is traceable dii-ectly 
back to the " Gilberts of Norfolk," England, 
whose coat of arms bore the motto Tenax 
propositi — firm of purpose; and there is, per 
haps, nothing more illustrative of this trait 
of character in Judge Gilbert, in his long, 
honorable and active life, or better illustra- 
tive of the condition of affairs at Cairo, im- 
mediately following the failure of the Cairo 
City & Canal Company, than his bold, de- 
termined and successful defense of the prop- 



erty of the company he came to Cairo to 
protect and preserve, as against the enraged 
mob of workmen he found fiercely demand- 
ing everything, and threatening an open out- 
break, and, by mob violence, to seize and 
sacrifice all within reach. This was the con- 
dition of affairs when Judge Gilbert arrived 
in the spring of 1843, and his first work was 
to set about the most active efforts to thwart 
the threatened mob. Had he reached the 
grounds sooner, it is probable he could have 
influenced the leaders and prevented an out- 
break. Here were a great number of men sud- 
denly thrown out of employment; they had 
grown clamorous and turbulent, and they de- 
termined to break into the company's machine 
and carpenter shops, a large building, 
150x200 feet in dimensions, and filled with 
the most expensive machineiy, which was 
attached to and formed part of the building, 
and in law formed a part of the realty, and 
had to be so treated as regards attachments 
or executions. The turbulents went to Judge 
Gilbert, and demanded that he allow them to 
enter the building and detach the machinery 
and sell it under execution. He had no 
authority to grant the request, and so in- 
formed them. They swore they would take 
it at all hazards, when he informed them he 
was here to protect the property, and he 
would do so against friend or foe. The 
leaders retired in great anger from the in- 
terview, and at once began to gather their 
mob. Judge Gilbert, realizing what was 
coming, selected four laboring men, upon 
whom he could fully rely, hired them and 
armed them, and the five men entered the 
building and hastily barricaded the doors and 
windows as best they could, and took their 
respective positions at ^such places as the at- 
tacking party would have to approach. They 
had hardly had time to do so when the mob, 
in great force, approached the front or main 



34 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



entrance; failing to open this, they tried the 
windows, but finding them securely fastened 
they procured a ladder. Judge Gilbert, from 
the second story window, addressed the 
crowd, and his quiet, firm, yet pleasant man- 
ner secured their close attention. lie told 
them he was their friend, and not their 
enemy; that it would deeply pain him to 
hurt or injuire any one of them in any way, 
but that he had been placed there to protect 
the property, and protect it he would, to the 
extent of his life. He advised them to go 
peaceably home, and await the results of the 
negotiations of the President of the com- 
pany, who was then in New York, and nego- 
tiating for money wherewith to pay every one 
of them every cent the company owed them. 
He showed them that they were violating the 
law, and that, instead of thus righting their 
wrongs, they were putting themselves in the 
position to be punished by law; that the law 
was his protection; it was with him in his 
effort to protect property, and this made his 
apparent helplessness and weakness strong 
enough to resist and repel even their over- 
powering numbers. He frankly told them 
they could not come into the building while 
he was alive, and that for them to kill him 
in order to get in would be murder, for which 
they would be hung. He lu-ged them to 
peaceably go away, and concluded by in- 
forming them that he would kill the fii-st 
man who entered the building. This quiet 
and sensible talk had a marked influence on 
the crowd; the leaders called them away, 
and they retired a short distance to hold a 
council. After much parleying, and a 
bounteous supply of fighting whisky, they re- 
turned to the charge, more furious than ever. 
They surrounded the building, cursing, 
swearing and howling their rage, like in- 
furiated beasts, and calling upon each other 
to kill Judge Gilbert and his four faithful 



companions and take the machinery and con- 
tents and destroy the building. The front of 
the building was upon or against the levee, 
and the rear of it stood about ten feet above 
the ground, and here was a large trap -door, 
used for the purpose of taking in and pass- 
ing out the most curaberseme articles of 
goods. The mob succeeded in breaking and 
pushing up and open this trap- door, and 
then they attempted to "boost" their men up 
through this. Judge Gilbert was at the spot 
by the time they had the trap open, and again 
appealed personally to some of the leaders 
and begged them to go away. He showed 
them he was armed with firearms and a stout 
hickory club, and told them he alone could 
kill them as fast as they could , show their 
heads above the floor, and informed them he 
would certainly do so. Several ventured to 
put up their hands and clasp the upper side 
of the floor, but a sharp rap from the hickory 
club made them quickly take them down 
again. Finally, after trying all manner of 
means to effect an entrance, they persuaded 
one poor fellow, who was much under the in- 
fluence of liquor, to let them push him up 
through the floor. He was warned, as he 
started up, not to attempt it, but, nothing 
daunted, he allowed himself to be Shoved 
forward. He received a light blow from the 
club, and it affected him so little that the 
crowd cheered and pushed him the harder. 
The club was then rained upon his head fast 
and fiiriovis, and finally he yelled in agony 
to be lowered instantly or he would be killed 
sure enough, and he was let down. This 
man's dreadful experience sobered him, and 
also seems to have had the effect of sobering 
the crowd. A feeble effort was made to call 
out other volunteers to go up, but to this there 
was no response. They began to fall away 
in small squads, but the majority lingered 
around the building until after dark, when 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



35 



they all left, and quiet reigned supreme once 
more. Judge Gilbert and his four men re- 
mained on guard all night, and it can well 
be imagined they did not even sleep by 
relays. They stayed close upon duty for 
several days, until the leaders of the mob 
(something they should have thought of first) 
advised with attorneys, and concluded a mob 
was not the true remedy for their wrongs. 

This episode is properly a history of the 
trying times in Cairo, but it well answers the 
double purpose of illustrating the temper of 
the people when Judge Gilbert came here 
to take possession of the Cairo City Canal 
Company's interests, as well as something of 
the iron there was in the Judge's nature, and 
which constituted him the right man in the 
right place. 

Judge Gilbert had the cross levee built in 
1843, and had the Ohio and Mississippi 
levees repaired, inclosing about six hundred 
acres of land, so strong and permanent that 
it secured Cairo from inundation during the 
great flood of 1844. He remained there for 
three years; was one of the original pur- 
chasers of the land, from Government, on 
which the city is now built; was identified 
with all the charter railroads and organiza- 
tions of the city, as either President, Direc- 
tor or stockholder, up to the appointment of 
Samuel Staats Taylor as agent of the Trustees 
(Thomas S. Taylor and Charles Davis). He 
then moved to Ste. Genevieve County, Mo. , 
where he had large landed interests; laid oflf 
a town thereon, and called it "Ste. Mary," 
now a flourishing village of several hundred 
inhabitants, where he has resided ever since, 
and still resides at his homestead, "Oakwood 
Villa," situated upon a beautiful hill over- 
looking the village, on the banks of the 
Mississippi River, with a splendid view of 
the river for many miles each way. He has 
been an active, energetic man all his life; 



has been for many years, and still is, though 
now over seventy-three years of age, one of 
the leading and most influential citizens of 
Ste. Genevieve County, with a high character 
for honesty and integrity, and [a kindness, 
hospitality and generosity poverbial among 
those who know him. He was elected Judge 
of the County and Probate Courts of the 
county three successive terms — twelve years 
— and so well did he manage the affairs and 
finances of the county and discharge the du- 
ties of the office that he was strongly urged 
to accept another election to the office, but 
declined. In politics, Judge Gilbert, since 
the disruption of the old Whig party, has 
been a Democrat, but strongly opposed the 
secession movement in Missouri. The first 
Union resolutions in his county were drawn 
up by him, advocating to "stick to the Union," 
and that "secession would prove the death- 
knell of slav^ery." 

In 1860, during the secession excitement 
in Missouri, the State Convention was called, 
to determine whether Missoui'i should secede 
or remain in the Union. Judge Gilbert took 
an active part in securing Union delegates 
from his district, against powerful opposi- 
tion, and it was largely through the ^influ- 
ence of his pen and management that Union 
delegates were elected from his Congression- 
al District. At the Congressional District 
Convention, it is said that he sat up all 
night, wrote the Union circular address to 
the people, got it printed, and had it circu- 
lated all over the district by 12-o' clock next 
day, and before the secessionists (and 
seceders from that convention) had their 
circular printed. 

Judge Gilbert still holds large interests in 
Cairo and Alexander County; has two sons 
living in Cairo — William B. and Miles 
Frederick Gilbert — practicing law there. 
His wife is also still living, and he has one 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



married daughter— Sarah F., wife of Thomas 
B. Whitledge, residing with him at Ste. 
Mary, and a prominent lawyer of that place. 
Judge Gilbert makes frequent visits to 
Cairo, and takes great interest in the pros- 
perity of the place, and still has a lively 
faith in the future greatness of the city. 

The presence and control uf the company's 
interests here by Judge Gilbert was a great 
surprise to many who began to look upon 
themselves as old settlers. It was the first 
intimation that the abandonment had not 
been so complete as they had for some time 
supposed. When he had completed the cross 
levee, and had so strengthened the others as 
to protect the city, even from the extraordi- 
nary high waters of the Mississippi in the 
year 1844, when Cairo was the only dry spot 
from St. Louis to New Orleans, and when 
these duties were discharged, he would re- 
turn to business that called him to other 
places, and, therefore, his government of the 
people here amounted to no more than the 
mere assertion of the company's title and 
possession to moveable property, so the 
Cairoites continued to occupy at will the houses 
and so much of the land as they pleased, 
without rents or question. And they were 
soon inclined to hoot at the idea of any one 
collecting rent from them, Was it not 
enough to live in such a place as Cairo! And 
thus they assured each other. Thus occupied, 
the property fell far short of furnishing the 
means of paying the annual taxes levied 
against it. For about thirteen years — from 
1841 to 1853 — there was little of change in 
Cairo, except that of slow decay. 

Mose Harrell is authority for the assertion 
that the little handful of people here — 
as the shelter they enjoyed, the ground 
they cultivated, and the general privileges 
they exercised, cost them nothing, — prob- 



ably enjoyed themselves. This inference is 
strengthened by the recollection that during 
all this time, they did, or had, but little else 
to do, and Harrell, therefore, asserts (he was 
one of the jolly crowd) " they enjoyed them- 
selves to a degree beyond any other people, 
so far as he knew or could hear or read about. " 
In the course of time, after the crash, the mea- 
ger population left, of about fifty souls, had 
increased to nearly two hundred, and the town 
seemed to run to wharf-boats, flats and all 
manner of water craft. The business was 
nearly all upon the water's edge, and there 
was quite a period when it really looked as 
though, as soon as the few houses rotted 
down, or were used up for kindling-wood, 
the entire population and business would 
crawl over outside the levee, and become a 
real floating city. Here were the gathering 
places, eating places, drinking places and the 
center of all the fun or excitement. People 
wanted to see the steamboats land; they 
wanted to go on board, look around, and, by 
examining the passengers, recall recollections 
of when they were innocent members of the 
civilized world. 

There were three wharf -boats moored in 
front of the town, and, strange as it may 
seem, all were doing a fair business, and 
some of them made money. The Louisiana, 
Henry Simmons, proprietor, lay about oppo- 
site what is now Second street; the Ellen 
Kirkman, Rodney & Wright, proprietoi^s, was 
just below this, and the Sam Dale, T. J. 
Smith & Co., proprietors, lay below where 
the Halliday House stands. " On the hill," 
as the top of the levee was then called, were to 
be found the Cairo Hotel, by S. H. Candee, the 
stores of B. S. Harrell and Oliver S. Sayre, 
the office of the Cairo Delta newspaper, the 
saloon of George L. Rattlemueller, and the 
bakery of George Baumgard. The five last- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



mentioned were all in the buildings erected 
by Jones & Holbrook on the ground now oc- 
cupied by the Ha Hid ay House. 

About the total population that was left 
here after the exodus, as the names were 
furnished us by Mr. Robert Baird, who was 
here as early as 1839, are the following — 
premising there are some, of course, that Mr. 
Baird cannot now recall, or has wholly for- 
gotten, and further stating the explanatory 
fact that, of all the earliest comers of Cairo, 
the only persons now living of those who 
did not leave the city in its first panic, are 
Robert Baird, Nick Devore and Mrs. Pat 
Smith — just three persons. Here is the now 
imperfect list of the 1839-40 comers : Squire 
Marsh, Constable Lee, Dr. Cummings, T. J. 
Glass, Mr. Jones, Thomas Eagan, Mrs. Pat 
Smith, D. W. Thompson, who had moved 
down the hull of the Asia and converted it 
into a wharf -boat and hotel, afterward taking 
off the cabin of the boat and moving it to 
Blandville, Ky. , where he made another hotel 
of it, which was about the first house in that 
place; Hathaway & Garrison, the latter went 
to California and grew quite wealthy; Mr. 
McCoy, who afterward went to Iowa; Dr. 
Gilpin and family, kept a boarding-house 
near where is now the corner of Sixth and 
levee; Thomas Feely, kept dairy, near cor- 
ner of Eighth and levee; Mr. Adkins, a 
butcher; Mr. Ferdon, a carpenter, whose 
grown young daughter w^as afflicted with at- 
tacks of occasional insanity. In one of these 
moods she wandered off, and some distance 
north of town she came to an old, deserted 
hut, and as it was night she entered it and 
found two deer inside, and, closing the door, 
kept them there, and in this strange company 
the girl passed the night, unharmed and in 
seeming content. The next morning she 
stepped out and fastened the door, and re- 
porting her adventure to her father, he, in com- 



pany with some friends, among whom was our 
informant, Mr. Baird, repaired to the hut and 
secured the venison; next, a Mr. Lyles, the 
father-in-law of Mr. Miles F. Parker, a 
citizen of Cairo; Mr. Shutleff, a foreman in 
the shops; Tom Brohan, a teamster and con- 
tractor; Jacob Weldon and family, his 
widow afterward marrying Judge Shannessy; 
Isaac Lee, whose son Bill was for many 
years a Cairo landmark; John Riggs, a ma- 
chinist, left here afterward and went to Cali- 
fornia; Ed McKinney, machinist; John Sulli- 
van, tailor; Mr. Kehoe, carpenter and kept a 
boarding-house; Walter Falls, kept bar at the 
hotel and afterward wharf -boat and store; 
John Addison, carpenter and boarding- 
house; John Wesley, shoe-maker; William 
Holbrook and family; Hemy Ours, baker and 
saloon; George L. Rattlemueller, saloon. 

Pat Smith married Miss Hennessy, the 
wedding taking place at the residence of 
Mrs. Weldon. It was late in the afternoon, 
and at the church door Smith left his new 
wife to go along with the crowd, while he 
went to get up his cows (he seems to have 
alwa}'s had milch cows). He got his cows, 
milked, and bethought himself to look up his 
wife, and she had gone visiting among her 
friends, enjoying herself very much indeed, 
and partly to annoy and plague her husband, 
and partly for fun; so well did she hide her- 
self that it was late at night before he found 
her, although he had traveled the town over. 

No proper history of Cairo will ever be 
written that omits the conspicuous mention 
of the name of Judge Bryan Shannessy; nay 
more, it must account well for some of his 
acts, and much of the remarkable peculiari- 
ties of character that possessed him. For 
the true history of all people is chiefly in the 
candid picturing of the extraordinary or 
leading characters, who were among the chief 
promoters or factors of that society's exist- 



38 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



ence. By this we do not mean the old notion 
of the history of a people, where the histo- 
rian had filled his whole dntj when he told 
all the minutife of the kings, princes, the 
queens and princesses, and how they were 
dressed, dined, wined, and the cost of the 
latter; how they were sick, or died, or were 
buried, or were born, or with other details 
ad nauseum. Or of battles, defeats, and 
slaughters and sieges; of famines; of church 
dignitaries and State rulers. These things, 
during the centuries alone, were history. 
Had Voltaire and Buckle not lived, this 
might have been so yet, and continued indefi- 
nitely. 

But now, the history of a people. State or 
nation means the common people as well as 
the notorious — the history of all alike. Of 
course it is impossible to individually men- 
tion each of the masses, as this would make 
it a mere directory of names, but to portray 
the extraordinary characters of those who 
were of the masses, who mingled with and 
were a part of them, who, as it were, were 
the very outgi-owth; the immediate develop- 
ment of that community itself, is to bring to 
the reader's knowledge one of the best and 
clearest hints of what the great mass of the 
people were, how they acted, thought and 
were influenced. 

Such a representative we deem Mr. Shan- 
nessy to be. He came here with the rush of 
1840, as unpretentious and unassuming an 
Irishman as the humblest knight of the wheel- 
barrow in all the crowd that were drawn here 
by the mighty schemes of the founders of 
Cairo. But there was that stuff in him, 
sometimes called fate, faith or a star, which 
made him shape his course very differently 
indeed from the common crowd. He was one 
of the very few who did not flee when the 
memorable crash of 1841 came, and reduced 
the city, in a few weeks, from a prosperous 



and busy population of over two thousand to 
less than fifty souls, with no work, no busi- 
ness, nothing, in short, to do except to oc- 
cupy'the deserted houses of the desolate city. 
Then Shannossy, like the man who said if all 
the world were dead he would go to Phila- 
delphia and open a big hotel, he opened a 
boarding-house, and in 1853, while but little 
better than cockle and jimson weeds had un- 
disputed possession here, we find him the 
happy lord of a dingy boarding-house, a 
saloon, a Squire's shop, a drug store, the 
post office and a doctor's office. There was 
nothing else in the place, or he would have 
had that. It is said the few natives of the 
place thought of calling on him to preach to 
them, but when they talked it over among 
themselves they got afraid of the fiery thun- 
derbolts he would launch at them in all his 
sermons, mixed with brogue and brimstone. 
He continued to hold office all his long life. 
When the city had waxed great, he became 
Associate County Judge, and he was Police 
Magistrate in this city so long that " five 
dollars and costs " was as natui'al to his 
tongue and his existence as breath. 

He was a shrewd, original, strong-minded 
man, who " never went back on a friend. " 
This last trait is well told by the story of a 
prominent lawyer, who desired to bring a 
certain suit, but felt doubtful about the issue; 
so he went to the Squire and told him freely 
his dilemma, and stated what he supposed to 
be the facts of the case. The Squire told 
him " that sifter would hold water, dead 
sure." The suit was brought, but on trial 
the defendant introduced evidence that utter- 
ly destroyed every vestige of plaintiff's case. 
The court finally gave, his decision in an 
elaborate and learned opinion, reasoned 
about the law, the evidence, the world's his- 
tory, the flood, the pandects, the quadrilater- 
al and the Schleswig-Holstein difficulty, and 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



39 



concluded by giving judgment for the plain- 
tiff. Everybody was amazed, even the plain- 
tiff's attorney. Afterward, to this attorney, 
he remarked: " That was a very close case, 
very close. The closest case I ever decided 
in my life. In fact, I believe the law and 
the evidence were both dead against you; but 
I never go back on a friend. " 

He loved his friends as well as he loved 
office, and he believed in being just to them, 
and this sometimes made strangers think they 
had to suffer. But altogether he was full of 
good, kind traits of charactei'. This is evi- 
denced by the fact that these outre decisions 
never alienated his friends so as to defeat 
him at an election. He reared a large family, 
of the very highest respectability, and de- 
parted this life at a ripe old age and full of 
honors, and his fame is growing greener in 
the memories of all his numerous friends 
than is that of, probably, any other man's. 

It was this decade of years in Cairo's life 
that it acquired a wide — if not a world-wide 
— reputation, as being one of the " hardest " 
places known. Partly, this was owing to the 
natural reflex swing of the pendulum that 
had been pushed too far the other way by 
Holbrook & Co., in their extraordinary 
puffing of the place in its first heyday, but 
it is doubtful if this was one of the largest 
factors that resulted in such gross injustice 
to Cairo. The writer distinctly recollects 
that the first he ever heard of Cairo and 
Mound City was in the scorching lampoons 
that at that time were passing between Mose 
Harrell and Len Faxon, on the two rival 
towns. Doubtless, like thousands of others, 
he formed his idea of the two places, 
although he knew, of course, they were the 
essence of extravagance, from these mutual 
attacks. If he stopped to think about it at 
all, he must have known that the language 
was Pickwickian in the extreme; yet, per- 



haps, like all the world, who knew nothing 
of their own knowledge, he must have sup- 
posed they understood each other's weak 
points, and made the attacks accordingly. 
For instance, the Mound City Emporium 
prints the following neighborly notice: 

"A numl)er of Cairoites, impelled, per- 
haps, by a desire to see dry land — to stand 
once more on terra firma — visited Mound 
City last Friday, on the tug-boat Pollard. 
They were a cadaverous, saffron-colored lot 
of mortals, most terribly afflicted with bad 
hats and the smell of onions. These poor 
people inhaled the pure atmosphere of our 
highlands with an almost ravenous greedi- 
ness, and on their wan features would occa- 
sionally play a flush of health as they did so 
that betokened they were sucking in a flow, 
to their physical and spiritual parts, of some 
of that strong, buoyant principle of life 
possessed by every Mound Cityite. But from 
this delightful recuperative process they 
were summoned by the tap of the boat bell. 
Descending from the elevation our city oc- 
cupies to the landing, they boarded the 
craft, and then, descending the Ohio to its 
mouth, they stopped and made a further 
descent of sixteen feet or more, which placed 
them in Cairo. A further descent of sixteen 
feet could not be made on account of heat, 
smoke and the smell of brimstone! That's 
just the distance between the two places!" 

To this the Times and Delta replies: "The 
Buckeye Belle came down from Mound City 
last Satu.rday, having on board quite a num- 
ber of people from that delectable village; 
but the quarantine officers of our city enforced 
the ordinance relative to steamboats landing 
with sick people on board, and would not 
permit her to touch, whereupon, after mak- 
ing sundry ineffectual attempts to land at 
each wharf-boat, she shoved out into the 
river, where all hands set up one indignant 



40 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



yell of flefiance, and, 'cussing,' proceeded 
back to Mound City, where, we presume, the 
passengers were remanded back to their re- 
spective hospitals." 

The Cairo paper thiis topographically talks 
of its neighbor: 

"At last accounts from Mound City, the 
principal portion of the inhabitants were 
roosting in trees. Some of them sleep with 
skiffs by their bedsides. One of these deter- 
mined not to be treed, procured two quarts 
of 'crow whisky,' some bread and bacon, and 
induced one or two inhabitants to go with 
him, and th^y have fortified themselves on 
the ' carbuncle,' or mound — the only dry 
place in the town — where they intend to 
stay until the waters subside. 

" The principal occupation of the inhabit- 
ants for the past three weeks has been every 
half hour to proceed to the river, punch a 
stick in the ground at the water's edge, see 
how much the water has come up and then 
go home and move their cooking utensils 
and * steds ' into the second stories of their 
houses. Where there are no second stories, 
'as we said before,' they 'clum' trees." 

From the same source, here are a few re- 
marks on health: 

" The Mayor of Mound City, in his inau- 
gural address, says to the Council: 'It will 
soon be your duty to purchase, and fit for 
use, a sufficient ground for a public ceme- 
tery. It will take half of the town plat for 
that purpose.' The Mayor means, we sup- 
pose, by ' fitting for use,' that portions of the 
swamp should be fenced and filled up with 
dirt, so as to give it a bottom." 

Or this: " We saw a couple betting high 
at draw poker the other night. The ante was 
two negroes, and the little one had run up 
the pot to a cotton plantation and three 
stern-wheel boats. 



" ' I'll go you the City of Sandoval better,' 
said the big one. 

" 'I'll see you with Mound City and call 
you,' said t'other. 

"'Psahw! That ain't money enough.' 
said big bones. 

" 'Well, I'll take that back, and bet you 
a keg of tar and a blind horse.' 

" ' That'll do,' said big bones, ' but don't 
try to ring in Mound City again, for I want 
to play a decent game ! ' " 

And in this way, for about three years, 
the " sparring " in the two papers went on, 
never abating in severity or intensity of ex- 
pression from the first day, until ail that 
could be said mean of the two places was 
blown upon every wind, and, upon the prin- 
ciple of the dropping water wearing away 
the hardest stone, so these persistent lam- 
poons had, doubtless, their effect upon the 
minds of the outside world. Then, to those 
who visited and saw the town, there was 
that unfinished, half-commenced hole dug 
here, and half- formed mounds thrown up 
there, that made up its quota of reasons for 
assisting any rising prejudices in the mind 
of the beholder, that also aided in creating 
prejudices against the place. Then, there 
was still another reason for the bad reputa- 
tion of Cairo, that is so curious, so extraor- 
dinary, that, were it not vouched for by the 
best of authority that was here, and knew 
whereof it affirms, we could not believe it, 
and woiild give it no notice in these columns. 
We again refer to M. B. Harrell, as authority 
on this matter, only premising that in much 
of the practical jokes he was nearly always 
in the thickest of the fray: 

" Cairo then, and up to a much later 
period, unjustly bore a hard reputation. 
Stories of fiendish murders and robberies of 
travelers stopping in the place were so cur- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



41 



rent over the country that the poor Cairoite 
who would attempt to contradict or correct 
them was laughed and derided into painful 
silence. Knowing they could not refute such 
a general and well-settled impression, they 
' turned tack,' and whenever they saw travel- 
ers exhibiting foolish apprehensions of per- 
sonal danger, they would at once set about 
operating upon them, 'just,' as they would 
say, ' to get even with them.' For instance: 

" Two consumate dandies [being ' dan- 
dies,' it seems, was the great crime they were 
guilty of] from Pittsburgh, stopped upon one 
of the wharf-boats, to await a passage to 
New Orleans, they having arrived on a boat 
that was bound for St. Louis. At once it 
became evident that these young men had 
been fed upon stories of Cairo horrors; but 
they tried fo show, nevertheless, that they 
could not be scared by anything, however 
dreadful. Both had revolvers and bowie- 
knives, but that they were unused to them 
could be told by the practiced eye of a 
Cairoite. These weapons were freely ex- 
hibited, and always worn so as partly to be 
seen while concealed about their persons. 
Diligently did these young men try to im- 
press it upon the people that they would be 
'ugly customers' in a hand-to-hand encoun- 
ter. To show that they were familiar with 
rough life, they would swear voluminously, 
and occasionally they would drink brandy, 
etc., etc." These were line subjects for vic- 
tims, and the hoodlums of the village 
gathered about them in full force, and then 
hours of confidential talk among them would 
occur — care being taken that the intended 
victims should overhear every word, about as 
follows: 

"I'll be , Tom," remarked a I'ough- 

looking customer, as he slammed down an 
empty boot box beside the counter, "I hain't 
had nothin' as has sot so hard onto mv 



feelia's as the killiu' of that boy, sense the 
day I hit my old woman in the breast with 
the hatchet. He was a smart boy, a ad, by 

, you know he was; and just to think I 

could git mad enough at him, cos he failed 
to lift the stranger's wallet, to smash his 
skull with a oar. is positive distressin'. But 
I'll tell ye, Tom — give us a drink — that boy 
Waxey shall be buried right. The human 
left into me will see to that. The cat-fish 
fed onto the old woman, but d — n the bite 
shall they git of Waxey. And now, Tom, 
have you a longer box than this? Waxey is 
five feet long, and this is only four. Hain't 
got none, hey? Well, 'tis little 'gainst a 
father's feelin's, but this box must coffin 
him. I couldn't do no better, Tom, and you 
know it, so I'll go home now and saw off his 
legsr 

Taking another di'ink, the distressed fa- 
ther (?) shouldered the box, and left the 
wharf-boat, chuckling at the effect his story 
had produced upon the strangers. 

And now night had gathered around, and 
the usual crowd collected at Louis' bar-room, 
which, it must be known, was in the store 
and adjoining the depositor}^ for baggage. 
The strangers continued guard over their 
baggage, and viewed, with trembling, the 
growing multitude. Drinking followed the 
arrival of each character, and after several 
glasses had been emptied, the following con- 
versation ensued, and all for the strangers' 
benefit, and so arranged that they could hear 
every word of it : 

"Well. Boggie, if ever thar war a nicer 
time'n last night, I'm not posted. Them two 
strangers what we hornswoggled with us, and 
who danced with Spike-foot, ain't now 'sash- 
aying' around here much. But now, Boggie, 
them men fought tigerish, I tell you! I 
didn't know, till Bob, here, told me, that we 
were a-gom' to mince 'em. I didn't, now, 



42 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



darned ef I did! And of course, jest as soon 
as he told me that we war a-goin' to mince 
'em, why, I stabbed the old one right in the 
small of the back, like. He had floored 
Wash Wiggins, and I guess was a-chokin' of 
Wash, but when he felt my knife ronch 
against his spinal bone, why, it diverted his 
attention. He cum at me savage; struck out 
thickly, and kep' me clear out of reach of 
him; but Dave, who had got a swingle-tree, 
seein' how matters was, dropped it on the old 
one's cranium, and a groan, a gurgle and a 
little splash of brains was all there was that 
followed. The old man dropped, and I, 
thinkin' he might revive and suffer, separ- 
ated his jugular and let him bleed some. 
But the other, I tell you he was a snorter! 
He knocked Clark Ogden clean through the 
winder, followed, and before anybody knowed 
it, dressed him off confounded handsome. 
As we all had nothin' to do, then, but to make 
way with this chicken, we at once set about 
it. His first cut I give him; the next punch 
you made, and then he cut dirt and humped 
himself. Zofe, there, caught him near the 
river, but havin' no weapons, he just held 
him and hollered until weapons was forth- 
coming. The swipe that let out his innards 
would 'a saved him; but Dave, you know, 
stabbed him six times afterward, all over the 
breast and body. He fell then, and right thar 
I saw him lyin' not more'n an hour ago. 
Take the scrape altogether, Boggie," con- 
tinued the speaker, casting a meaning glance 
at the strangers, " I think it just about as in 
terestin' as any we'll have 'tween this and the 
mornin'." 

Such was the substance of the rigmarole 
intended to directly affect the strangers, and 
it is easy enough to believe the assertion that 
they believed every word they heard; and 
the further fact that they had seen one of the 
desperate men steal a pocket-book from 



another's pocket (a pre-arranged affair, too), 
all combined, left the two young men ap- 
palled with horror. Even this devil-may-care 
crowd noticed, from the actions of the young 
men, that they had probably carried the joke 
too far, and there was danger of them plu ag- 
ing into the river in order to avoid the worse 
fate they felt certain was in store for them. 
It was about decided to explain the joke to 
them, but it was dangerous to approach them 
to attempt an explanation, as such an ap- 
proach would be a signal for them to jump 
into the waters. Fortunately, at this moment 
a boat approached and touched at the land- 
ing, and instantly the two young men 
boarded her, and hid themselves in the cabin 
until the boat pulled out. The vessel was on 
its way to St. Louis, and they were going to 
New Orleans, but so intense was their alarm 
that they would have taken a boat for any 
point in the world to get away from Cairo. 
It is said that a short time after this, a 
Pittsburgh paper reached Cairo, in which was 
a letter, dated from St. Louis, describing, 
with shocking details, the bloody murders at 
Cairo, which we have given above, the 
writers not only attesting that they saw them 
committed, but they had shot dead two of the 
murderers themselves, in a perilous effort to 
stay the butcheries. The story of the boy 
corpse and the short boot box went the rounds 
of the papers of the country, and in seven- 
leagued boots, the Cairo horrors traveled 
about the world. 

We have given an account of this in- 
stance pretty fully. It was only one among 
hundreds, until the horrible stories from 
Cairo had been familiarized pretty much over 
the civilized world. The Cairo people did 
all this, they said, in revenge for the many 
gross falsehoods that had been circulated 
about them and their town. It was a unique 
mode of revenge, and was of doubtful virtue, 









V 




HISTOEY OF CAIRO. 



45 



for the outside world only too readily be- 
lieved all they thus saw, but more, too, and 
it soon fixed itself in the minds of men as a 
shocking reality. Here was another cause 
of the blighted reputation of the place. 
Add this to the causes recited above, and 
when They are combined it is wonderful that 
all men did not shun the place as they 
would the lepers' grounds. There is but one 
strong reason why they did not. Caii'O was 
the one gateway between the North and the 
Scaith, and through here all must pass in 
nearly all communications between these two 
regions. This forced men to come. Even 
the timid and trembling were compelled 
thus to face the fearful imaginary dangers of 
the place, and when thus forced into the 
town, they were like the boy who finally 
saw the preacher, and remarked to his mother, 
in disgust, " Why, he's no thin' but a man;" 
so the Cairo people were found by these com- 
pulsory visitors to be nothing but human 
beings; as quiet, civil, well-behaved and 
honest as any people in the world. But 
while a slander flies upon tireless wings, 
truth crawls in gyves and hobbles, and while 
it is true that " when crushed to earth will 
rise again," yet there is no day nor hour 
fixed for the " rising " to be done, and as 
' ' the eternal years are hers, " she generally 
takes up the most of them in running down 
a lie and putting the truth triumphantly in 
its place. 

y j(The only school taught here between 1842 
and 1848 was a pay school, and only for a 
few months, by Mrs. Peplow. In 1848, a 
Sabbath school was started. It was held in 
the Cairo Chapel — an up-stairs room in the 
Holbrook House — but after a few weeks of 
meager attendance and listless interests it 
permanently closed up for repairs and the 
want of patronage. On the 4th of July, 1848, 



under the auspices of Mrs. Peplow's school, 
the town held its first national celebration. 
Dr. C. L. Lind was the Orator of the Day, 
and Bailey S. Harrell read the Declaration of 
Independence. 

This year, too, came the singing-master — 
the king of the tuning-fork, who could read 
the " square notes," and who was born with 
a hawk-nose, chewing plug tobacco, and had 
been forever trying to marry the belle sun- 
flower of every school he had taught or at- 
tended. This particular one is described as 
a " cadaverous, bacon -colored old curmudg- 
oen named Winchester. " He left the town 
in great disgust, so complete was his at- 
tempted school a failure, and it is supposed 
Cairo survived this calamity with greater 
equanimity than any of her other inflictions; 
we have no hesitation in calling his depart- 
ure a calamity, because from the above de- 
scription it will be seen he had many of the 
ear-marks of a great and good singing-school 
master, and yet he could not sing his "square 
notes" in Cairo. His experience here may 
have given rise to the little legend, "I'm sad- 
dest when I sing." 

About the only relief to the monotony of 
Cairo life began to come as early as 1848, in 
the promised revival of the building of the 
Illinois Central Railroad. The subject was 
stirred more or less at every session of the 
Legislatui'e, and when the news would reach 
Cairo of what was being done, a tremor of 
excitement would pass around, and the wisest 
heads would say, "Wait till next spring, and 
the engineers will then be along." There 
seemed to be no question of the great work 
being ultimately done. On this point there 
was neither dispute nor argument, but all 
questioning turned upon the one pivot, 
When ? And here the Cairoites centered their 
future hopes. But year by year came and 

3 



46 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



went, and no engineers showed themselves, 
and the hopes and fears of the people would 
rise and fall with the seasons. 

In the meantime, Cairo grew a little — just 
a little more than the natural increase of 
population. The few there were here found, 
eventually, plenty to do, and the steamboat 
trade had gradually grown to be of the great- 
est importance. In the winter season, par- 
ticularly when navigation on the upper rivers 
would be stopped by the ice, the people of 
Cairo would find themselves overwhelmed 
by people, suddenly stopped on their way, 
until all houses would be filled to overflow- 
ing, and often hundreds of them would go 
into camp, and be 'compelled to wait for 
weeks for the breaking- up of the ice and to 
resume their journey. Often a boat would 
thus land and parties would hire rigs and 
thus go on to Si Louis. Sometimes others 
would purchase saddle-horses, or a wagon and 
team, and depend upon selling for what they 
could get when at the end of their journey. 
The boats going and coming soon got so they 
all touched at this point, and in those days 
there were great numbers of people travel- 
ing on deck, and these would rush ashore in 
great crowds for supplies at the baker's, 
butcher's and at the boat stores. 

G]:^dually, too, Cairo came to be quite 
a re-shipping point for St. Louis, and Louis- 
ville, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh freights, and 
this gave abundant and profitable business 
to the wharf-boats. In these and a hundred 
ways, business thrived, and money was dis- 



tributed among the people sometimes in 
plentiful abundance, and there) were hard- 
working, attentive business men among them, 
and all such not only made a living, but 
generally were on the highway to independ- 
ence and wealth. The social life of the 
place was much like that of the average 
small river towns, except the wags and prac- 
tical jokers noticed elsewhere, and with this 
further and marked exception, they were a 
big, warm-hearted, hospitable, independent, 
and a mind-your-own-business kind of peo- 
ple. Perhaps no community was ever more 
wholly free from that tea-table, back-biting 
species of gossip and slander, and prying 
into other people's private afi'airs, than were 
the people of Cairo. They were a just, gen- 
erous and true people, and so marked was 
thi^ characteristic from the first, that they 
have left their impress in these respects, ap- 
parently, upon the town. The first comers 
are nearly all gone, the descendants of only 
a few remain; and yet, whosoever knows the 
people of Cairo well, may count as his friend 
many as true people as were ever got 
together before in the same sized "^commu- 
nity. I 

This concludes the second natiiral division 
in the eras of Cairo's history, to wit, the 
decade between the collapse of the Cairo City 
& Canal Company and the revival of the 
prospects of Cairo by the actual commence- 
ment of work on the Central Railroad, and, 
therefore, is an appropriate ending of the 
chapter. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



47 



CHAPTER III. 



Cairo platted— first sale of lots— the foundation of a city laid— beginning of 

WORK ON the central RAILROAD— S. STAATS TAYLOR — CITY GOVERNMENT ORGANIZED 

AND WHO WERE ITS OFFICERS — INCREASE OF POPULATION — THE WAR— SOLDIERS 

IN CAIRO— BATTLE OF BELMONT— WAIF OF THE BATTLE-FIELD— " OLD RUBE" 

— RILLING OF SPENCER — OVERFLOW OF '58 — WASH GRAHAM AND 

GEN. GRANT — A FEW MORE PRACTICAL JOKES, ETC, ETC. 



IN the preceding chapters we have traced the 
efforts to found and build a city here, and 
the social and business life of the people, as best 
we could, down to the year 1852. We found 
that from 1841 to 1851 — more properly to 1853 
— was the long period of stagnation, marked 
onl}' by the natural decaj' of time, and the 
small damages that it was possible to accrue to 
the place from a succession of high waters in 
the rivers. Miserable little levees, about eight 
feet high, girdled about the town, winding with 
the bends of the stream, or jogged into short 
angles, in the language of a Mound Cit}' paper 
of the earl}' times, the " broken ribs" levee. 
From the first attempted founding of the cit}' 
by the Cairo City & Canal Company down 
lo 1851, the company clung pertinaciously to 
Holbrook's first idea of never selling a foot of 
the land — only leasing upon the most rigid 
and arbititiry terms. The agent and attor- 
ney-in-fact of the property trustees, S. Staats 
Taylor, Esq., arrived in Cairo, September, 1851. 
He came with instructions and the power to 
inaugurate some new and healthy ideas for the 
company, and for the good of the people and 
the town. But his first and most difficult task 
was to obtain peaceable possession of the com- 
pany's property. The residents had much of 
it in possession, and so long had they occupied 
it without landlord, rents or taxes that they 
felt encouraged to treat the company's preten- 
sions to ownership with indifference and con- 
tempt. Then, other parties from the outside 



had noticed the apparent abandonment of the 
place by the company in 1841, and they 
pounced upon the rich flotsam like buzzards 
upon a dead carcass, and by all manner of 
Sheriff's titles, tax deeds, and even bogus 
deeds, attempted to secure both possession and 
title, some to the whole and some to large por- 
tions of the land within the city limits. One 
instance, called the " Holmes claim,' may 
serve as an illustration of some of the manv 
difficulties that the company encountered in 
regaining what they had apparently aban- 
doned. The company had acquired title to a 
large portion of the southern part of the city 
by purchase from the heirs of Gov. Bond. 
These heirs had made separate deeds, one of 
them, Elizabeth Bond, had executed her prop- 
er deed to her interests in the land and this 
deed Holbrook had carelessly carried in his 
pocket and neglected to put it upon the record, 
until, in the course of time, it was mislaid and 
forgotten. Holmes was a brother-in-law of 
Miss Bond, and in some way he ascertained 
Elizabeth's deed was not on record. He went 
to Thebes, then the county seat, examined 
the records, and, being duly prepared, at once 
placed a deed upon record from Elizabeth 
Bond to himself, conveying all her right, title 
and interest in Cairo. This conveyance in- 
cluded about one hundred acres in the south- 
west portion of the city. The company ap- 
pealed to the courts ; the case went into the 
United States Court, and there it stayed for 



48 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



twenty-three years before being finally adjudi- 
cated and settled. Five different trials before 
juries resulted in three verdicts in favor of the 
company, and two in favor of Holmes — as the 
boys would say, " the best three in five." 
There was no question but the chain in the re- 
cord-title was with Holmes, but the company 
based their claim and relied wholly upon color 
of title and seven years' possession and the 
payment of taxes. Upon this claim the Su- 
preme Court of the United States gave the 
compan}' the land and settled the question for- 
evex*. 

As said, 1851 dawned a new era upon Cairo. 
It came to be known that the law had passed 
the Congress of the United States that would 
at last secure the building of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad, and this was cheering news to the 
good people of the town, and of the whole 
State. In 1851, the advance guard — the en- 
gineers—put in their cheerful appearance, and 
bright and early one morning a squad of them 
were to be seen trimming out a passage way 
in the bush and undergrowth and hoisting flag- 
poles here and there, and peeping knowingly 
through instruments, and the children shouted 
to each other that the railroad had come at 
last. The almost expiring hopes of the older 
people were revived to the highest pitch once 
more. Yet the onward move of the town itself 
loitered, and, until 1854, there was no change 
among the residents, and but few accessions to 
the population or improvements of the town. 
The causes for this were the difficulties about 
the possession and titles above noticed. Here 
were three years in the historical life of the 
city that may be briefly passed over, the real 
history, if any, that was made during that 
time, was exclusively concerning the Central 
Railroad, and will be found in the chapter giv- 
ing an account of that enterprise. 

Mose Harrell, in his sketch of Cairo, justly, 
we think, insists that for the "real commence- 
ment of Cairo we are not authorized to go be- 



hind that period " (1854). The many years 
consumed by monopolies in futile attempts to 
build up the place, and the greater number of 
years of non-action, cannot be fairly added to 
the real age of the place, as during the whole 
of that time public capital and energy were 
not only not invited to come to Cairo, but ab- 
solutely' forbidden any kind of foothold what- 
ever. Fairness, then, will fix the birth of the 
city at that exact period when it became 
possible and allowable for those essential ele- 
ments of prosperit}^ to take hold of the under- 
taking, and to operate without fetter or tram- 
mel — and not before that period. 

The Agent, Mr. Taylor, had finally got such 
sufficient possession of the property, and had 
platted and laid off the town anew, that on the 
4th day of September, 1854,- the lots were of- 
fered for sale. On the morning of that- day, 
Peter Stapleton purchased the lot on the cor- 
ner of Third street and Commercial avenue, 
where he at once erected a substantial and per- 
manent residence and business house. This 
was the first sale ever made of a lot in Cairo ; 
it was the first step in the real city building 
that has gone on steadily from that day to the 
present time. The price paid for the lot was 
$1,250, not far from what the unimproved lot 
would be rated at now. This purchase was 
soon followed by others, including Mrs. Can- 
dee, John Howley, M. B. Harrell and the 
grounds on which were erected the Taylor 
House (burned down with several other build- 
ings in 1860). The people were now buying 
the lots and building up the town, and it was 
no longer Holbrook and his iron-cast monopo- 
ly ; and now the good work went on with ra- 
pidity, and within a year from the day that 
Stapleton purchased his lot, so actively had 
the work gone on, that a large number of build- 
ings were erected and in the course of erection, 
and the streets and avenues come to be well 
defined b}- the buildings that reared their fronts 
alono- the streets and at the corners. But 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



49 



at this time no improvements had been erected 
on the Ohio levee. The company saw proper 
to put restrictions here, and would onlj- stipu- 
late that no other building except brick, iron 
or stone should be built thereon. All these 
front lots were regarded as the valuable ones 
of the town. Williams' brick block had been 
put up on the levee, and it stood alone until 
quite an amount of buildings had been placed 
on Third and Fourth streets and Commercial 
avenue. Time soon demonstrated the foolish- 
ness of these restrictions, as few purchasers, be- 
fore becoming acquainted with the city, its busi- 
ness, the character and permanency of its pro- 
tective embankments, the health of the people, 
etc., felt disposed to erect either very fine or 
expensive buildings, and these barriers were 
brushed away and the lots on the levee put 
upon sale upon the same terms as the others 
of the town. 

Then came the hosts of eager purchasers, in 
response to the word that went out that lots in 
Cairo were upon the market without restric- 
tions, and upon terms that were regarded as 
just and liberal. Another proof, were any 
proof needed, that no man in New York, 
Philadelphia, or London can manage and build 
a great city either out here in Cairo or any- 
where else, where he is not present and a part 
of the community. As seen by the purchase 
price of Stapleton's lot, the property was gen- 
erally placed at a high figure, but when the 
property on the levee was thrown, unrestricted, 
upon the market, the figures were increased, 
and were, in fact, enormousl}' high ; yet the 
sales were numerous, the most bu^-ing for 
improvement, and man}' for speculation, even 
at these high figures. Then, indeed, came the 
race in putting up buildings — the wants of 
builders putting to the test the numerous saw 
mills in the county, and calling from abroad 
hosts of mechanics and laborers. A gi'eat vari- 
ety 'of business enterprises were inaugurated, 
business, both commercial and mechanical, 



grew apace ; drays and other vehicles rattled 
over the wharf and the streets, and the features 
of a 3'oung and thrifty citj' began to be visible 
ever3-where. 

In another part of this work we have given 
some account of the rather loose and inefficient 
general city government that had been adopted 
by the people, after the dethronement of the 
Czar of all the Cairos, Holbrook, and the tak- 
ing of the reins of government into the hands 
of the few jieople left here. Early in 1855, so 
rapid had been the growth of the place, and so 
apparent the growing necessity, that the 
citizens met in mass convention, in the Central 
Railroad depot, and there determined that until 
a special charter could be obtained from the 
Legislature, that the city should be incorpor- 
ated under the general incorporation laws. 

In pursuance of this determination, the fol- 
lowing were chosen, at a general election, 
Trustees for the ensuing year : S. Staats Ta}'- 
lor, John Howley, Peter Stapleton, Lewis W. 
Young, B. Shannessy and M. B. Harrell. 

This board, at once proceeded to put in place 
the wheels and pulleys and bands and cogs of 
an elaborate and complete general government. 
It enacted voluminous ordinances and fulmi- 
nated its edicts. The quiet and health of the 
city was their one ambition. Mose Harrell 
commenced to studj^, with avidity, the laws of 
hygiene under Shannessy, and John Howley 
and Stapleton purchased diagrams and charts 
of the Constitution of the United States, with a 
view, perhaps, of settling, by a great com- 
promise, the questions that were agitating the 
wharves and wharf-boats, mails, transfers, etc. 
But the people, from some inscrutable cause, 
would continue to look upon the whole proceed- 
ing as a " good joke," and the ordinances 
were not enforced — remained, in a monumental 
wa}-, a dead letter upon the journal of the 
board's proceedings. 

On March 9, 1856, imperious necessity called 
out another effort at a city Government — 



50 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



spelled with a big Gr — and another election was 
held, when, besides a Board of Trustees, a 
Police. Magistrate was elected, in the person of 
Robert E. Yost, Esq. At the first meeting of 
the board, Thomas Wilson, Esq., was made 
Pi'esident ; James Kenedy, Marshal ; Isaac L. 
Harrell, Clerk ; George D. Gordon, Wharf- 
master, and all other matters closely scru- 
tinized, to put the machiner}' of the governixient 
into successful operation. 

But again, this year, tliere was not a great 
deal of government in active play, except in 
the matter of the ordinance department ; these 
were ably composed, and they did " sound so 
grand " on the river's bank, but with the ex- 
ception of a Marshal, to run in a few unfortu- 
nates before the Police Magistrate — these two 
officers reporting, as their year's work, the 
munificent collection of fines, etc., of $355 — 
and this was added to the Wharf master's year's 
report of $331.50 wharfage, making in all, for 
those three officers, the munificent sum of 
$686.50; of itself, not a very enormous salary, 
but then there were the honors, which may 
run the sum total into the thousands. 

In addition to the fines and wharfage, the 
cit}' this year derived, from grocery and other 
licenses, $2,250.50 ; from taxes, $2,325.78. 

The entire real and personal property of 
the city then was valued, for the purpose of 
taxation, at a fraction over $450,000. There 
were twentj'-eight licensed saloons in the city, 
two billiard saloons, and nine licensed drays. 
The records tell the story of how rapidly 
a solid and flourishing city was rising out of 
the debris of the wreck of 1841, when the City 
of Cairo & Canal Company carried all down 
in its general wreck and ruin. The music of 
the hammer and the saw was heard upon ever}' 
side, and to all these was added the cheering 
scream of the locomotive whistle, and the 
heyday of flush times once more began to 
come to Cairo. 

Before passing again, however, to the 



material afl"airs of the city, we choose to incor- 
porate here the details of the most notable 
occurrence that disturbed the quiet or marred 
the dignity of Cairo. This was the mobbing 
of the desperate negro, Joseph Spencer, which 
took place in the autumn of the year 1855. A 
citizen of Cairo, George D. Gordon, we believe, 
had instituted legal proceedings against the 
negro for trespass, and a writ had been issued 
for^ his appi'ehension. It was served upon him 
and he informed the officer that he would be at 
the Justice's office in a few minutes. Instead 
of quietly submitting himself to the law, like a 
rational being, he procured a keg of powder, 
and with this under his arm he repaired to the 
court of justice. This office was in a room on 
the first floor of the Cairo Hotel, the upper rooms 
being occupied by guests, including many 
women and children. Arrived at the Squire's 
office, and seating himself upon the keg, and 
immersing the muzzle of a cocked pistol far 
into the powder, the audacious negro dictated 
his own terms to the officer, which were, that 
judgment should be instantly pronounced in 
his favor, and the suit thrown out of court, or 
he would " fire, and blow to h — 11 the building 
and every one in it ! " It was evident, from 
his wicked eye that he would do as he said, 
and scores of unsuspecting persons in the 
rooms above would have been blown to atoms. 
The hangers-on in the court room, as well as 
the officers present, adjourned themselves out 
of the doors and windows in rapid confusion. 
Word of this infernal outrage being generally 
cii'culated, a lai'ge number of citizens and 
strangers gathered, and determined that, at 
least, such a dangerous character should at 
once leave the city. The negro had a hotel 
wharf-boat moored to the shore, where he kept 
a tavern of no mean pretensions, and where 
many of the sojourners here in their travels 
have stopped and been entertained. But the 
reputation of the place was becoming infamous, 
and circumstances had caused manv to sus- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



51 



pect that in the name of caring for travelers, 
crimes of the deepest cast had long been going 
on in Spencer's boat. Strangers had been 
known to repeatedly stop there and were never 
seen or heard of again after going to bed. The 
bedrooms ran along the building on either 
side, with a hallway in the center, and it was 
ascertained that under each bed, in every room, 
was a trap-door, with the carpet so neatlj^ fitted 
over this that it could not be discovered with- 
out the closest inspection, and by this arrange- 
ment a person could enter, from the hull below, 
and pass from one room to the other without 
ever going in or out at a room door. 

Spencer was waited upon by a few represent- 
ative citizens and informed of the determination 
of the people, and at the same time he was as- 
sured that he should be safely conveyed across 
the river. The negro consented to this, pro- 
vided one or two of the delegation, whom he 
named, would go in the skiff with him, and to 
this they agreed. In the meantime a great 
crowd had gathered on the levee above Spen- 
cer's boat. Some parties in the crowd, when 
they learned that these men were going to cross 
the river with the negi'o, went to them and ad- 
vised them not to do so, and thereupon they 
declined to go, and then Spencer not only de- 
clined to go, but mocked and defied the people 
he had so signally outraged. An hour's time 
was given him for preparation to leave — then 
another hour ; but instead of employing the 
time for such an end, he used it in preparing 
himself for resistance. He now concealed him- 
self in his boat and refused to have intercourse 
with any one. The crowd grew greatly incensed 
and they determined to force the negro to leave 
at all hazards. They made a rush for the room 
where he was concealed and forced the door, 
but he had escaped through his secret trap- 
door as they entered. They were soon notified, 
however, of his whereabouts, by the report of his 
shot-gun from another room, the charge of the 
gun taking effect in the breast and shoulder of 



one of the party, producing a wound of which the 
man died some time after. We can find no one 
now able to recall the name of this man, he being 
almost an entire stranger. He was a river man, 
and either a pilot or engineer. When this shot 
was fired, the crowd rushed to the room and 
broke it open, but the room was vacant ; and 
while the assailants were bewildered about the 
negro's second strange disappearance, the re- 
port of his gun was again heard. This shot 
wounded the well-known citizen, Ed Willett,who 
was innocently on board the boat, not joining in 
the assault, but endeavoring to save the furni- 
ture. This last shot enraged the people in an 
instant into a fierce mob that cried aloud for 
blood and that now nothing else would appease. 
The boat was torn from its moorings and towed 
out into the river, and in full view of at least 
a thousand people set on fire, and in less than 
thirty minutes burned to the waters' edge. 
But while this work was in progress the desper- 
ate and now doomed negro was not idle. He 
evidently felt that he must die, but seemed de- 
termined to sell his life dearly. Upon those 
who towed his boat into the stream, upon those 
who applied the torch, and upon those who 
filled the scores of skiffs which dotted the Ohio 
River, he fired repeated rounds and scarcely ever 
without effect. Exhausting his shot or projec- 
tiles, he charged his piece with stone-coal - and 
fired that upon his assailants, as long as the 
eager flames allowed him to resist at all. And 
now the advancing element had fully shrouded 
the upper works of the boat, leaving only a plat- 
form on the stern to be enveloped. Many had 
concluded the wretched creature had perished 
in the flames, and as they were about to turn 
from the sickening sight there was a crash 
of glass heard in the great bulk of flame. In 
an instant afterward Spencer appeared upon 
the stern, in full view of the great crowd, and of 
his wife upon the wharf-boat, and, looking defi- 
antly at all, he placed his hand upon his breast 
and leaped headlong into what he then must 



53 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



have considered the " friendl}' waters of the 
Ohio." Long and anxiously the- crowd looked 
for his appearance to the surface, but the wa- 
ters had closed over him once and forever. 
Thus, calling destruction on his own head, per- 
ished the desperate negro, Joseph Spencer. 

For weeks and months afterward the news- 
papers of the country' made allusion to the affair 
as a " characteristic mob," giving*it more shapes 
than Pi'oteus, every writer who took it in hand, 
molding it exactlj^ to his own liking. Mose 
Harrell, who was an eye witness to the whole 
sad affair, and who was daily receiving in his 
exchange papers from all over the countr}^, at- 
tempted to summarize the accounts and recon- 
cile them all into one straight, consistent stor}', 
and here is the remarkable result : 

'' Joseph Spencer, an eminent colored divine, 
whose desperate character made him the terror 
of the community, and whose deeds of blood 
and acts of Chiistian piet}- gave him great emi- 
nence, was recently killed by a mob in Cairo 
under the following justifiable and bloodthirsty 
circumstances : Mr. Spencer, while conducting 
a pra3^er meeting on his boat, which was reek- 
ing in the blood of his murdered victims, was 
shot down by a disguised mob of well known 
citizens, who, without premeditation, had assem- 
bled shortly after dark on the morning of the 
bloody day for the hellish and authorized pur- 
pose. These negro drivers, who had just 
arrived on a Mississippi steamer, then seized 
him while in the act of getting down to a game 
of " old sledge" with a distinguished Method- 
ist minister from Cincinnati, tied him to a 
convenient tree, and there burned him until the 
waters of the Ohio closed over him forever. 
His boat,'upon which he remained until the last 
moment, was then towed to the middle of the 
Ohio River, where it sunk against the Ken- 
tucky shore, by applying the flaming torch to 
the cabin. 

" A more diabolical and fiendish act of mer- 
ited punishment never disgraced a community 



of incarnate fiends of high respectability more 
signally than has this act of damnable but 
richh^ deserved retribution disgraced all con- 
cerned in it, not excepting the victim himself, 
who was seen at Memphis recentl}', swearing 
vengeance dire against his sanctimonious mur- 
derers." 

Thus, from Joe Spencer to Eliza Piukston, 
the " bloody shirt" floated in ample folds all 
over the North, while the " mud-sills" and the 
"corner-stone of slaver}^" equally ripened 
and flourished at the South. And of a nation's 
throes, coming of these infinitesimal circum- 
stances, a Lincoln's fame was born, and the way 
was prepared for that " ambitious youth who 
fired the Ephesian dome," to assassinate Lin- 
coln in a theater, on Good Friday, of 1865 ; and 
the hanging of an innocent woman ; and the 
second assassination of a President, and the 
hanging of an insane man. These are the skele- 
ton, surface results, but beneath that ghastly 
covering who will ever know, who can ever in his 
wildest imaginings conceive the blighted virtue, 
the ruined names, the crushed hearts, the 
ghastly corpses, the unspeakable agony and 
woe, that ran over this people like a consum- 
ing conflagration ! It is well for the mental 
health of the human race that the charitj- of 
oblivion rests so deeply upon the sickening 
stor}^ that it ma^^ never be told. Joe Spencer 
was nothing but a wretched, desperate, igno- 
rant and brutal negro, whose life was a constant 
menace to all with whom he came in contact ; 
yet the century had been preparing the way 
for even this vile wretch, and it culminated in 
his self-sought destruction into a power for 
evil which may run on for 3'et a hundred years. 
Nothing is clearer than that it was the right 
way, the high and solemn dwiy of the people 
of Cairo to either drive off or kill the danger- 
ous, bad negro. They should have done this 
long before they did, and if it was necessar}'^ to 
kill him in order to get rid of him, he was en- 
titled to no more consideration than a snake 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



53 



or a rabid dog. But when he could stand at 
bay no longer, he placed heavy irons about his 
neck and plunged into the river, with his dead- 
1}^ gun in his hands, and, thus prepared, he 
fully determined never to rise again, but his 
conjured ghost was impressed into the service 
of aiding in the bloody preparations for the 
carnival of death that was so soon to follow 
after his destruction. 

In a preceding chapter, we had occasion to 
notice the penchant, the genius rather, of the 
young men of Cairo, that was so fully devel- 
oped in those dull 3'ears following the disper- 
sion of the people here in 1841. So ingrained 
had this become, that now, when the flush 
times again came to Cairo, and work and busi- 
ness crowded upon them from every side, they 
would steal these golden moments whenever 
opportunity presented itself to again indulge 
in their favorite pastime. 

The Legislature had organized a Court of 
Common Pleas for Cairo, and appointed Isham 
N. Haynie, Judge. He came to Cairo to hold 
his first term of court, and a court room had 
been secured in the Springfield Block. He had 
not more than fairh' opened the session when 
the " boys" opened a similar court in the other 
end of the block, and they had all the officials 
and paraphernalia of a most August court. 
The oflScer of Judge Haynie's Court would 
stick his head out of the window and call a 
juror, attorney, or witness, and so would the 
official at the moot court, only the bogus one 
would call louder, oftener, and a greater num- 
ber of names, and the bailiffs were fl^^ing 
around the streets summoning witnesses, 
jurors and parties to come into court instan- 
ter. The bogus grand jury held prolonged 
sessions, and as the bailiffs well understood 
who to summon as witnesses, and as the jurors 
well understood what questions to ask such 
witnesses, it was a roaring farce from morn 
till night, particularly the revelations they 
drew out of an old chap whose shebang was 



down on the point, and who sold ice pi'incipal- 
ly. From day to day this immense burlesque 
went on, and manj' names of the best people 
began to be compromised sadlv- Judge 
Haynie finally took notice of the matter, and a 
United States Marshal making his appearance 
with writs, frightened the " boys" seriously, 
and, in fact it resulted in driving several of 
them temporarily out of town, until the matter , 
was finally fixed up in some wa}^, and their 
thoughtless acts were excused. 

A more innocent and comical joke was 
worked off by John Q. Harmon and Mose 
Harrell. They were both young fellows, and 
Mose was clerking in his brother's store — a 
place of great resort for the old fellows who 
delighted to loaf, and chew tobacco and " swap 
lies," And absorb the heat of the stove in cold 
weather. To move these fellows from the 
warm fire and clear the store-room was the 
project set about by these boys. Harmon had 
got a supply of sand and had it carefuU}' 
wrapped in a good sized bundle, and seeking 
the time when the loafers were thickest about 
the store, he walked in with his package in his 
hand. He addressed Mose, in a -tone that all 
could hear, telling him he was going hunting, 
that he had all the powder he wanted, display- 
ing his three or four pounds of sand, and went 
on to tell Harrell that he wanted some shot and 
would pay for it in a few days, etc. 

" No sir !" said Harrell, " if you have no 
money, you cannot get any shot." 

"Well," says Harmon, "you need not be so 
short about it. I'll pay 3^ou next week." 

And from the first the words grew more 
bitter and loud, and soon the two quarrelers 
had the entire attention of the house. In the 
meantime, Harmon had wedged his way close 
up to the door of the red-hot stove, when, Lhe 
quarrel going on still, he opened the stove 
door and bitterly said : " Well, if I can't get 
any shot, I don't want any powder !" and 
heaved the bundle into the stove. Such a 



54 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



hurried exit — some of them not taking time to 
rise from their chairs to run, but tumbling 
backward and rolling to the door, and all 
were upon the streets in such a frightful race 
to get away they did not take time to look 
back at the building which every instant they 
expected would be blown sky high, until thej^ 
ran so far they were fagged out. In the 
meantime, John and Mose were fairlj' rolling 
over the floor in explosions of laughter. It 
was several days before the old loafers would 
venture within half a mile of Harrell's store. 

During the winter of 1857, the city was 
specially incorporated by the Legislature, and 
on the 9th day of March following the first 
Council, under the charter, met for organiza- 
tion and business. The' following gentlemen 
formed the Council : 

Mayor, S. Staats Taylor; Aldermen, Peter 
Stapleton, Peter NeflT, Patrick Burke, Roger 
Finn, John Howley, Harry Whitcamp, C. Os- 
terloh, C. A. Whaley, William Standing, Cor- 
nelius Manly, Martin Eagan and T. N. Gaff- 
ney. 

As the city officers were not elected by the 
people at that time, the Council elected John 
Q. Harmon, City Clerk ; H. H. Candee, Treas- 
urer ; and Thomas Wilson, Marshal. 

The Board of Aldermen disapproving of the 
work of their predecessors, b}' a simple resolu- 
tion, wiped from the books every general and 
special enactment found in force, leaving no 
vestige of the old board's wisdom or folly in 
operation, save only such enactments as con- 
ferred rights or privileges for a specified time or 
special nature. The whole city government 
was remodeled — an entire new set of ordi- 
nances, relating to ever}' legitimate subject, 
being framed and adopted. They assumed all 
responsibility, willing to take the credit arising, 
or the shower of condemnation following the 
new order of things. The charter was broad 
and liberal in its provisions, and under it, with 
very few and immaterial amendments, the 



usual work doubtless of " governing too much" 
has gone on smoothly ever since. 

S. Staats Taylor filled the office of Mayor six 
times, viz. : During 1857-58-59-60 and 63. 

H. Watson Webb was Mayor during 1862, 
being elected without opposition. J. H. Ober- 
ly in 1869. 

In 1864, David J. Baker, one of the present 
Judges of the Circuit Court, was elected Mayor. 

During the years 1857-58-59-60 and 61, 
John Q. Harmon held the office of City Clerk. 
He was succeeded by A. H. Irvin, who held it 
seven j'ears. J. P. Fagan, elected 1868 ; Pat- 
rick Mockler, 1869 ; Mockler was suspended 
and T. Nail}', appointed to fill out his term ; 
John Brown was then elected. N. J. Howley, in 
1870, held it four terms ; 1872, W. H.Hawkins; 
1875, W. K. Ackley; James W. Stewart, 1876; 
John B. Phillis, 1877 ; D. J. Foley, 1879 ; re- 
elected in 1881, and again in 1883. 

The following were the City Treasurers in the 
order in which the}- are named : H. H. Candee, 
Louis Jorgensen, John H. Brown, B. S. Harrell, 
A. C. Holden, Peter Stapleton, John Howley, 
J. B. Taylor, who held the office until 1872, 
and was succeeded by Robert A. Cunningham ; 
in 1875, B. F. Blake was elected ; then F. M. 
Stockfleth, and then B. F. Parke ; in 1879, E. 
Zezonia ; 1881, Thomas J. Curt. 

The City Marshals were Thomas Wilson, D. 
C. Stewart, P. Corcoran, R. H. Baird, Martin 
Egan, John Hodges, Jr. 

In addition to the City Marshals above given 
we may mention M. Bambrick, Andrew Kane- 
City Attorneys — H. Watson Webb, who filled 
the office for four successive terms, and was 
again re-elected in 1863 and 1864. In 1871, P. 
H. Pope was elected, and re-elected in 1872. In 
1873, H. Watson Webb was again elected. In 
1875, H. H. Black, was elected, and re-elected in 
1876 ; 1877, William Q. McGee ; 1879, W. E. 
Hendricks, and re-elected the next term. 

Police Magistrates —B. Shannessy, who held 
the office successively from 1857 to 1864, Fred- 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



55 



oline Bross was elected in 1865. In 1876, 
two Police Magistrates were elected to this 
office. J. J. Bird in 1880 ; Bird resigned and 
George E. Olmstead was electfed ; in 1881, 
Alfred Comings was elected. 

In 1863, for the first time the Council pro- 
vided for the office of Cit}' Survej'or, and the 
Board elected August F. Taylor to that posi- 
tion. Mr. Thrupp has filled the position almost 
continually. 

In addition to the Mayors above enumerated, 
Thomas Wilson filled the office in 1870 ; John 
M. Lansden, 1871 ; re-elected in 1872 ; in 1873, 
John Wood ; 1874, B. F. Blake; 1875, Henry 
Winters ; re-elected 1877 ; and in 1879, M. B. 
Thistlewood was elected and re-elected in 1881. 
The present officers jnst elected, will be found 
complete in another chapter. 

Cairo was always "diabolicallj^ Democratic," 
at least until the " man and brother" from the 
cotton-fields and jungles of the South parted 
company with the swamp alligators and tooth- 
some possoms of that region and came upon 
the town like the black ants of his native Af- 
rica. The town sits upon that point of land in 
Illinois that is wedged away down between 
what were the two slave States of Missouri and 
Kentucky. So cosmopolitan were the Cairo 
people that the}' were impatient of the bawl- 
ings and crockodile tears of the Abolitionists, 
and the equally idiotic oaths about the divine 
institution of slavery. And hence they were 
equally abused by both sides of the fanatics 
and fools. Among other most horrid slanders 
that ran their perennial course through the col- 
umns of manj' Northerh papers, was the one 
that Cairo was ready and eager to mob and kill 
every " loyal " man who happened to be found 
in the place. One flaming stor}- was added to 
the Spencer mobbing, about a little preacher 
named Ferree, who attempted to make an Abo- 
lition speech in Cairo and was odorously egged, 
etc. The whole thing was only one of the many 
slanders upon Cairo. 



In the campaign of 1856, a noted negroite, 
from the office of the Chicago Tribune, came to 
Cairo to make a Fremont speech. His paper had 
published tomes of the Cairo slanders, and 
dwelt long and lovingl}' on the Spencer and 
Ferree mobs. After the distinguished orator 
arrived in Cairo he ran his eye over the columns 
of his paper, of which he carried a file that was 
filled with sectional slanders,and he became nerv- 
ous, and actually worked upon his own fears un- 
til he began to seriously believe many of his 
own published lies. He thought the people would 
mob him. He locked himself in his room and 
sent for the Republican leaders, and informed 
them he was afraid to attempt to speak in Cairo. 
These men assured him there was no danger, 
but he would not be satisfied until nearly every 
leading Democrat in the town had been sent 
for, and they all pledged themselves and staked 
their lives upon his entire safety and immunity 
from all danger. Then, though still nervous, 
he consented to go on with the meeting. When 
the hour for the meeting had come the hall was 
packed with people, although there were not a 
score of Republicans in the place. The speaker, 
with his escort, appeared upon the platform, 
was introduced and received with hearty cheers. 
He commenced his speech, and the attention of 
the crowd was close and respectful, and upon the 
speaker's slightest allusion to anything patriotic 
or of a spread-eagle nature, prolonged cheers 
would greet his words. His exordium had been 
splendidly pronounced and speaker and audi- 
ence were en rapport, and thus encouraged the 
orator was rising to the occasion in some of the 
most eloquent slanders of the South that ever 
greeted eager and lengthened ears, when all 
at once, Sam Hall, who sat nearly in the front 
row of benches, jumped to his feet, turned 
around with his back to the speaker and facing 
the audience, and placing his hand significantly 
to his hip pocket, in a clear and distinct voice, 
said : " I'll shoot the first son-of-a-sea-cook that 
throws an egg ! " These words struck the ora- 



56 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



tor's eai'S like the crack of doom ; his big 
speech, even articulation, was frightened out of 
him ; he was so nervous that he could no longer 
stand, and silence, with an exceptional here and 
there men clearing their throats and suppress- 
ing the " audible smiles " of those who knew 
what the inveterate wag, Sam Hall, meant, was 
intense, and the speaker hurriedly passed out 
of the rear door of the hall, and made fast time 
to his hotel, and was on the first train out of 
town, and for weeks the Chicago Tribune wrung 
the changes on " Another Cairo Mob — Free 
Speech Suppressed," etc. 

Among the early and long time institutions 
of Cairo was " Old Rube," the innocent ad- 
vance guard of the whole " coon " tribe, that 
have since been inflicted upon Cairo. Old 
Rube was a rather quiet, well-behaved darkey, 
who did chores about town, acted as "mud- 
clerk " for most of the saloons, was always, 
when he could catch an audience or listener on 
the street, talking learnedly about the Scriptures, 
and had a great weakness for chicken-roosts. 
" Old Rube " was a more modest Ethiopian 
than his modern kind, at least he never at- 
tempted to turn the Cairo white children out 
of their schools, and have himself installed in 
their places. His extraordinar}'^ ideas, and his 
amusing way of putting them, made him not 
only tolerated b}' all young and old of the 
place, but they afforded much innocent pas- 
time. He was one morning doing his usual 
clerking in the new telegraph office, when it 
was run by Mose Harrell. The only telegraph 
instruments in those daj^s were the old- 
fashioned kind, that were wound up, and used 
long strips of paper. In sweeping about the 
instrument, which was wound up, in some way 
he touched it, and it commenced to run down. 
He realized what he had done and was greatl}' 
frightened as he saw the weight slowly* descend 
toward the floor. In some way he got it into 
his woolly pate that when the weight struck the 
floor an explosion would follow, and he thought 



it would blow the whole world into smithereens. 
On a full run he started to hunt Mose, and 
when he found him, told him what was going 
on. Mose in apparent fright, rushed back 
with Rube to the office, and just as they entered 
the machine had run down and stopped, of 
course, just before the weight touched the floor. 
He made Rube believe he was just there at 
the last moment, and confirmed the darke3''s 
idea and enlarged them greatl}^ b}' showing 
him how the explosion, commencing at Cairo, 
would have blown away entirely St. Louis, 
Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and in fact all 
the leading cities of the world. For the re- 
mainder of Rube's life he told over this thrill- 
ing story in which he and Mose Harrell were 
such conspicuous actors, alwa3^s adding some 
embellishments to the storj', and ever^' time 
going a little more learnedly into the scientific 
intricacies of electricity. In discussing the 
Scriptures, he evidently believed that the story 
of Jonah and the whale, and Noah and his ark, 
were about the sum total of the whole busi- 
ness. He believed it a religious duty to 
smoke a strong pipe, because had Jonah 
not had his pipe and matches in his pocket, 
after the whale swallowed him, and was swim- 
ming off for a general frolic with the other 
whales, he would never have been cast ashore. 
Explaining one day on the streets all about 
how Noah constructed the Ark, how long it 
took him, and how much material there was in 
it. The question was asked, "Where did he 
get his nails ? " " Wh}-, in Pittsburgh, of course, 
you fool you! Whar could he get 'em if not dar?'" 
He believed heaven a place made up exclusive- 
ly of chicken roosts, and where there was 
nothing higher for them to roost upon than a 
common rail fence. Every one kindly tolerated 
the ignorant and innocent old man, gave him 
always plent}^ to eat, and he dressed himself 
year in and out with the old clothes of which 
he always had an immense suppl}'. In his 
young days, he had been one of the innumera- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



57 



ble servants of George "Washington, at all 
events he had told the story until he un- 
doubtedly believed it, and he alwa3'S respect- 
full}' spoke of him as " Mas'r George." He was 
a stanch Republican from the formation of 
that party, and was a regular attendant upon 
its meetings in Cairo, yet his associates and 
friends were exclusively Democrats. He never 
expected or apparently wanted to vote, and 
sometimes, like perhaps a majority of the white 
voters, got his religion and politics so mixed 
up that he could not disentangle them. And 
often when the question was suddenly' sprung 
upon him he could not tell " Mas'r Linkum " 
from the ark, nor Noah from the whale, but, 
to his credit be it said, this mental, political 
and religious confusion but rarely took pos- 
session of the old man, except after he had 
cleaned and righted up, and purified and 
sweetened his usual morning round of the dog- 
geries. He has long since, if his theories were 
all correct, had a touch of experience of those 
other worlds, about which while here he talked 
so much, and dreamed such vague and incoher- 
ent dreams. He rests beneath the willow tree. 
Id58 — Cairo Inundated. — For the second 
time a widespread disaster overwhelmed Cairo, 
and under circumstances in some respects very 
similar to that of 1841. But this time it was 
water. On SatJurday, June 13, 1858, at about 
the hour of 5 P. M., the levee gave away on 
the Mississippi side of the town, near its inter- 
section with the embankment of the Illinois 
Central Railroad. For several days previous 
it had been predicted b}' many who had closely' 
watched the progress of the flood, and who 
were familiar with the character of the levees, 
that the town was in constant danger. The 
people were warned of the peril ; but lulled into 
a feeling of securit}- by the fact that during the 
fifteen years past they had escaped submersion, 
and by assurances of the reckless that all was 
safe, they paid no attention whatever to the 
warning regarding it, only as the bugbear of 



panic-makers. As a consequence, the flood 
came upon many of the people unexpectedly, 
leaving them only time to escape with their 
lives. 

The break, it is now known, resulted from the 
defective construction of the works b}' the un- 
principled contractor who made the embank- 
ment. The water was more than a foot below the 
top of the levee, and up to the moment of the 
break gave no sign of the coming disaster. 
The waters rushed through with a great roar, 
carrying with them the embankment in great 
sections, and in places with such force and 
violence as to uproot trees and stumps in its 
course. 

A force of 500 men were as soon as possible 
placed upon what is known as the " Old Cross 
Levee," an embankment running fi'om the Ohio 
to the Mississippi in the upper portion of the 
city, with the hope that they would be able to 
fill up the openings which had been cut on the 
line of the streets and stop the flood of this 
embankment. But the waters poured in so 
rapidly and came with such a strong current 
that this attempt was reluctantly but necessa- 
rily abandoned. 

A lady resident, still of the cit}- of Cairo, 
who was here at the time, gave the writer a 
most graphic description of the scenes imme- 
diately following the break in the levee. Gen- 
erally the women and children only were at 
the houses — the men at their business, many 
trying to move their goods and perishable arti- 
cles to safe places in upper stories, where they 
could get these, and yet many others were out 
upon the levees trying in vain to stop the 
waters. It was after 6 o'clock when a man 
came galloping down the main street, horse 
and rider covered with mud and calling out at 
the top of his voice, " The levee is broken — 
flee for your lives !" In a few minutes the 
waters were seen stealing along the sewers and 
low places in the streets, winding about the 
houses and the people like an anaconda. The 



58 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



poor women and children were generally wring- 
ing their hands and crying in utter helplessness. 
She says she saw one poor woman with a piece 
of stove-pipe under one arm and a cheap look- 
ing-glass under the other, on her way to the 
Ohio Levee, followed by a brood of five or six 
children, and all weeping in the greatest dis- 
tress. Confusion was turned loose, and while 
all were in the greatest fear and apprehension, 
yet it was those whose houses were low, one- 
storied concerns and in low places, that death 
to them and their little dependent ones seemed 
staring them in the face. Generally those who 
were in houses of two stories concluded to stay 
at home and were busy moving everything into 
the second story. 

Soon through the streets in great force came 
the muddy waters, carrying upon its bosom logs, 
fences, trees and lumber, and presenting a scene 
that oppressed the stoutest heart ; and night 
settled upon the sad scene, and in the darkness 
and soon in the water itself, were families mak- 
ing their way to the Ohio Levee. By daylight 
Sunday morning, there was no dry land to be 
seen inside the levees, and by noon of that day 
the waters inside were of the height of the 
rivers. As far as the eye could see the spec- 
tator behold naught but a sea of turbid water 
and a scene of confusion and ruin. 

Some of the one-stor}- buildings in the low 
grounds of the town presented only their roofs 
above the water ; a few light and frail ones 
bad left their foundations, and yet a few others 
had careened, while every building of this 
character had been abandoned at an eai'ly hour 
by their occupants. 

In ever}' quarter of the city skiffs, canoes 
and floats of every kind plied industriously 
from house to house and were engaged in re- 
moving women and children, furniture, goods, 
etc., to the Ohio Levee. The plank walks were 
sawed into convenient sections and used as 
floats, and every imaginable species of craft 
were improvised for the occasion. 



Altogether about 500 persons were driven 
from their homes, and the little strip of the 
Ohio Levee, the only dr}' spot for miles around, 
was crowded with men, women and children, 
dogs, cattle, plunder, wagons, cars, etc., from 
one end to the other. Every nook and corner 
of the warehouses were crowded to excess 
with the houseless and their plunder, and the 
cars on the railroad track were all similarly 
occupied. Many made their wa}' in rafts 
and skiffs and also left on steamboats for the 
highlands, and many of these stood aloof from 
" health and fortune " by making their absence 
permanent. 

Some families were made destitute by the 
flood, but these were so promptl}- provided for 
by the more fortunate citizens that no real 
cases of suffering ensued. Charity was offered 
the people from other cities, but the pluck}- 
Cairoites said "No ; we can and are providing 
for our own people." 

We can get no reliable estimate of the dam- 
age financially that the people of the town suf- 
fered. Many poor people whose loss in dollars 
and cents was small, yet to ihem it was great 
because it was their all. But under the cir- 
cumstances, and considering that the visitation 
was upon the entire town, and each one lost 
more or less, the aggregate was not large, not' 
near so large in property as in the disrupting 
of established business, the destruction of cbu- 
fideuce and the general bad odor it attached to 
Cairo's ah'eady grievous burdens in this respect. 
It was the suffering by the cit}', as a cit}-, that 
brought more damage than all the water in- 
flicted. The general revulsion that followed, 
the depreciation of property-, the loss of con- 
fidence — these formed a sum of damages that 
cannot be estimated in dollars. 

There was no perceptible rise in the rivers 
after the breaking of the levee, and the waters 
began rapidly to recede. In less than two 
weeks the city was dry again, and every day 
the citizens were returning to their homes; logs 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



59 



and rubbish were cleared from the streets, 
houses were repaired andrepainted, and fences 
re-built, and but a few months had passed 
when the prominent marks of the flood had 
been cleared awa}' — wiped out forever. 

The two years following the submersion of 
Cairo formed probably the most trying period 
of her histor3^ Real estate dropped its former 
high figures, and purchasers could buy at al- 
most their own figures, but the shock public 
confidence had received prevented investments, 
and business being in a measure deadened, there 
was no incentive for improvement strong 
enough to move to action those who had for- 
merly invested. Rival interests eagerly pro- 
claimed the downfall of the city, and confident- 
ly predicted it would never attempt to rise 
again, and there were man}' in Cairo and out of 
it who were ready to believe the blow had 
proved effectually crushing. But the repair- 
ing, widening and strengthening the levees and 
expending vast sums in this work, soon created 
a better feeling at home and helped to inspire 
confidence abroad, and by the end of the sec- 
ond year after the overflow, property had about 
regained its former value and the business of 
the place its accustomed tone; and as time 
wore on, and the heights and proportions of 
the levees increased, confidence in the habita- 
bleness of the locality gained its original 
standard. 

In 1861, Cairo had recovered wholh' from 
the overflow, and her population had increased 
to a little over 2,000 souls, the census of 1860 
showing a population for Alexander County of 
a little over 4,000. The town had recovered 
slowly, but its foundations had been solidly 
built and the levees had been made the strong- 
est and safest in the world. 

In April, 1861, the great civil war was fully 
inaugurated. The majority of the people 
of Cairo " knew no North, no South, no East, no 
West, but the Union, the whole Union, one and 
inseparable, now and forever." They had 



hoped, up to the last hour, that in some w&y 
the bloody issue would be spared the countr}' 
once more. A military compan}-, armed and 
uniformed, and composed of nearly all the 
3'oung men of the town, met and drilled at 
their hall regularly ever}- week. They met one 
evening, and after their usual exercises they 
engaged in a social meeting and talked over 
the then absorbing subject of the war. It was 
evident that it was then up6n the country. 
Lincoln had called for 75,000 troops, and 
Seward had proclaimed that it would be fought 
out in ninety days. Several of the Cairo braves 
made " talks," and the meeting finally passed 
some " armed neutrality " resolutions and ad- 
journed. During all that night the incoming 
trains were freighted with United States sol- 
diers, and when the Cairo soldiers got up in the 
morning, the streets and woods were full of 
them. And the Cairo company never met 
again. It is due the Cairo boys to say that 
about every one of them joined the Union 
army, and, still more to their credit, it is said 
that every one of them rose to honorable, and 
many of them to eminent promotions. 
The immediate eflTect of the occupation 
of the place by the militar}' was to check im- 
provements and paralyze business. This 
largely resulted from the fact that some of the 
early commandants of the place were ignorant 
fanatics, and who proposed to ti'eat every 
Democrat as a traitor, and visit all with a 
heavy hand. Then, the further fact, that 
neither the Government nor troops had any 
money here at that time, and the business 
means of the city were absorbed in advancing 
supplies on credit. But when the Government 
commenced distributing money here to the 
troops and its creditors, then a far more grat- 
ifying condition of affairs was at once inaugu- 
rated. Our merchants, mechanics and laborers 
were reimbursed for what they had advanced, 
and at once an unusual activity not only 
marked every department of business, but new 



60 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



branches of trade were introduced, the old 
ones were multiplied and a vigor, which had 
never before been felt, characterized the entire 
city. Cairo was the great gateway between 
the North and the South. It was a military 
post of vast importance. Thousands of soldiers 
were stationed here, forts erected, and 
still other thousands of soldiers were 
daily passing through the place. Green- 
backs were plenty and morals became scarce. 
Many unblushing outrages, which were never 
punished, were committed upon citizens by 
the demoralized soldiers. But the war adver- 
tised Cairo more than had all else in her his- 
tory as an important and commanding point 
on the continent, and business and capital was 
attracted here in an unparalleled degree. And 
by the spring of 1863, Cairo was, for the third 
time, in the glories of flush times. New houses 
were going up on every hand that were always 
rented before finished, and, for a village, often 
at enormous figures ; but the new-comers were 
on a race for some place to shelter their fam- 
ilies, and they rarely hesitated about the price 
of the rent. Everybody was making money, 
and spending it freel}' and lavishly. The evi- 
dences of this were well given in the swarms of 
gamblers that came here and were busy 
pl3'ing their vocation, until finall}', so systemat- 
ically were they robbing the soldiers, that rigid 
military orders were issued in regard to them, 
and some were put in irons. 

Gren. Prentiss came here, we believe, in 
charge of the first arrivals of soldiers, and 
assumed the command of the post. He was 
superseded by Gen. Grant, who was here so 
long that he almost became a citizen. He had 
his oflflce in the bank building, on Ohio levee, 
now occupied as a law office by Green & Gil- 
bert. The present old settlers of Cairo all 
came to know Grant quite well while he was 
here. John Rawlins came here with Grant and 
was his factotum in office headquarters, and 
Washington Graham, a citizen and business 



man of Cairo, was Grant's factotum outside. 
Graham had extensive business ambition, and 
he was shrewd enough to know and under- 
stand Gen. Grant and quickl}- formed the 
closest intimacy with him. He spent his money 
on the General like a prince, and he was soon 
the power behind the throne. He bought the 
best of cigars by the wholesale, and constantly 
kept the liquid commissary department at 
headquarters abundanth' supplied. Wash- 
ington Graham, had he lived during the war, 
would have, beyond doubt, extended his in- 
fiuence and power just as Grant was advanced 
along the line of promotion. He wa^a man of 
genial nature, strong social powers, and shrewd 
sense — exactly the kind of man who liked to be 
the power behind the throne, and wielding that 
power, when opportunity' offered, to put money 
in his purse, and to make the fortune of his 
friends and pull down remorselessly his 
enemies. He soon became essential to the 
Grant party in all its junketing on the rivers, 
and was a member of headquarters' mess on 
the steamboat in the expedition to Paducah 
and to Fort Donelson. Grant liked him and 
his liberal ways from the first of their acquaint- 
ance, and when he was stricken down with con- 
sumption and went to his friends in 
St. Louis to die, it must have seemed to 
Gen. Grant a serious affliction. The 
General must have loved all jolly, liberal men. 
No man in the world could play his role better 
than Washington Graham. Gen. Grant's family 
were here for some time with him, and had 
living-rooms across the hall from his head- 
quarters. At that time the family seemed to 
be ver}^ plain, unpretending people. Bill 
Shuter's extensive establishment was the alma 
mater of much of the enthusiastic patriot- 
ism of those days, as well as some of the 
early strategic movements of the war in the 
West. 

Among the first militar}- movements of Gen. 
Prentiss after he was placed in command of the 






a/?/&mj^^ 



HISTORY OF CAino. 



63 



forces at Cairo, numbering 4,800 men, was to 
forraall}' demand ttie arms of the Cairo Guards. 
As the company had dissolved into the air im- 
mediately upon the coming of the soldiers, the 
General could find no one to respond to 
his flag of truce demanding an unconditional 
surrender of the ordnances. But he found the 
keys to the armory, and the deadl}^ weapons of 
war were taken possession of in the name of the 
United States and turned over to arm the 
Union soldiers. 

The next and much more important move- 
ment was to look out for the steamers C. E. 
Hillman and John D. Perry, which he had been 
notified by Gov. Yates had been loaded with 
arms and ammunition and were on their way 
South with their cargoes. When the boats 
reached Cairo they were boarded and brought 
to the wharf A large number of arms and 
ammunition were seized and confiscated — a pro- 
ceeding, at the time informal, but it was after- 
ward approved by the Secretary of War. 

Gen. Grant's first battle in the war was Bel- 
mont, Mo., a point nearly opposite Columbus, 
Ky., where the rebels were in strong force, and 
had detached a small portion of the Columbus 
forces to occupy Belmont. Gen. Grant conclud- 
ed it would be an immense piece of strateg}^ 
to capture Belmont, and thus relieve that por- 
tion of Missouri, and to some extent intercept all 
communications between the rebel forces of 
Kentucky and Missouri. So a fleet of boats 
sailed down the river, and a part of the force 
marched down by land from Bird's Point — 
the force from the river to land and attack in 
front, and the land force to come up in the rear, 
and thus pocket the enemy. The whole scheme 
was well devised, and the river force, reaching 
the grounds long before the land force, and 
so eager were officers and men for blood 
and glory, that they at once attacked. The 
river forces were under the immediate com- 
mand of Gen. Grant. They were hastil}' 
deployed from the boats, a short distance above 



Belmont, formed in battle line, opened fire, and 
charged upon the enemy's encampment and 
captured it. But the tents were empty, mostly, 
and all hands were in deep indignation at the 
enemy for running away in such a dastardly 
manner. And the soldiers fell to work ripping 
up the tents, and prying into the culinary aflfaii's 
of the enemy's camp, and exulting over their 
easy victory. Just when they had become 
prettj' well scattered over the grounds, the 
enemy suddenly emerged from the woods, and 
at short range, opened a galling fire. The ad- 
vance of the land forces just then appeared, 
and for a few minutes the battle raged fiercely 
— the rebels charged, and the Union forces fled 
to the boats, and in a dreadfully un-dx'ess-pa- 
rade fashion, and amid flj'ing bullets the boats 
were loaded and steamed back to Cairo. From 
the manner in which the boats had been sprin- 
kled with shot, from buckshot to birdshot, and 
from many of the wounds in the clothes of the 
federals, the enemy must have been mostly 
armed with shotguns and fowling pieces. The 
land forces continued to return in straggling 
squads, to Bird's Point for a week, as some of 
them got lost in the river bottoms. The fed- 
eral forces had simply walked into a trap that 
had been set for them, and they escaped b}' the 
" skin of the teeth." 

An incident of this battle is worth relating. 
When the Union forces captured the enemy's 
camp, as stated above, they found nobody at 
home, but the}' did find a female baby 
about three months old, slee{)iug peacefull}' on 
the bare ground, amid the roar of battle and 
the whistling bullets that played thick and fast 
all around it. There was no one to claim it, 
and a good Cairo citizen took the babe in his 
arms and brought it to Cairo, where it was 
taken in charge by Father Lambert, and a 
home provided for the little trophy of war. 
Nothing could ever be learned concerning the 
child, although every exertion was made to do 
so. It was duly christened a Christian, and 

4 



64 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



named " Belmont Lambert." The supposition 
is, that in the attack and firing upon the camp, 
the mother of the child had been killed, and as 
the father must have been a rebel soldier, it is 
probable he was killed in this battle, or in 
some other soon after, and it may be that no 
one of this father, mother and babe ever knew 
what became of the others. We know nothing 
of the history of Belle Lambert, after she was 
provided for here iij Cairo, as an infant. If 
alive now, she is a grown woman, twenty-two 
years old. What a dream the strange story of 
her life must be to her. How she must have 
employed heavy hours of her young life in 
peering at every lineament of her features in 
the glass, trying to discover traces of her un- 
known father and mother, and having fixed 
them in her mind, as she supposed, how eagerly 
would she scan every strange face she met, in 
the vain hope, in all this multitude, of finding 
the long-lost and ideally formed and loved 
mother or father. Is there a mother's heart in 
all the world that is not melted at the story of 
this lost babe — the little angel waif, found un- 
harmed in the midst of slaughter and blood — a 
little flower of peace and love, sleeping sweetly 
amid all its hideous surroundings. 

But to refer again, briefly, to the Belmont 
battle : There is a part of that story that is 
furnished us by a prominent and reliable gen- 
tleman of Cairo, William Lornegan, who was 
acting mate on the transport, Montgomery, that 
has never been told in print, and that will some 
day be essential to the truth of history. He 
saj'S that one afternoon while the Montgomery 
was anchored in front of Cairo, Wash Graham 
came on board and ordered the Captain to coal 
at once, and drop down to Foi-t Holt,on the Ken- 
tucky side, and that when he received the signal 
from the flag-boat he was to swing out into the 
stream and follow. The Captain asked Graham 
what the signal was to be, and was answered, 
"five whistles." Then, for the first time, word 
passed around with the crew that they were 



going to attack Columbus. Before that, they 
supposed they were going to be loaded with 
soldiers, and take them to Cape Girardeau, as 
they had made a trip or two of this kind al- 
ready. These troops, it was afterward known, 
were to march by land, and come upon Bel- 
mont, in conjunction with the water forces, and 
the Bird's Point forces. A force had been sent 
out from Fort Holt to make a similar detour 
upon Columbus from the east. Thus, by three 
columns, a land force on each side of the river 
and a fleet of transports and two gunboats by 
the river, the two places, Columbus and Bel- 
mont, were both to be captured. In accordance 
with instructions, the flag-boat passed down by 
Fort Holt about 4 o'clock, P. M., and gave the 
five-whistle signal, and the fleet of five trans- 
ports and two gunboats sailed down the river. 
Going about half waj' to Columbus, they round- 
ed to and tied up for the night. The next 
morning the fleet dropped down in full view of 
the Columbus bluffs, all over which were 
mounted the rebel cannon, commanding the 
river. About 9 o'clock in the morning, the 
forces were disembarked, and were marched 
toward Belmont. The gunboats dropped down 
a short distance below the fleet, and fired upon 
Columbus, the guns from the fort promptly re- 
sponding, sending their balls, from the first shot, 
closel}' about the transports — one ball falling 
just at the stern of the Montgomery, and splash- 
ing the water over the deck. The fleet moved 
out from this point, and took a position two 
and a half miles further up the river in a safe 
bend, an^l there listened at the progress of the 
fight at Belmont. The opening musketry was 
not of long duration, and then there was a long 
cessation, and the firing again commenced. 
Mr. L. tells us that he saw nothing of the fight 
at Belmont, and only learned from hearing the 
soldiers talk about it, that the enemy threw a 
force across th6 river from Columbus, and re- 
newed the fight. He says the first signs he 
noticed from the battle-o;round was about sun- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



65 



down, when two soldiers appeared at the boat, 
one leading and helping the other, who had 
been wounded in the arm. They reported that 
the rebels had crossed over from Columbus, and 
were " cutting our men all to pieces." The 
transports at once dropped down to the point 
where they had landed the night before, so as 
to permit our forces, whom they learned were 
in full retreat before the enemy, to get on 
board. By the time they had landed it was 
dark, and bj^^ this time, our forces were coming, 
pell-mell — rank and file — officers and privates, 
in one indiscriminate mass on board the boats. 
In the confusion, some one from the hurricane 
deck gave the mate the order to haul in his gang 
plank and cast loose. This was onh' done, 
when the Captain of the boat ordered the gang 
plank run out again, so as to permit the fast- 
coming soldiers to get on board. This was 
done, and then almost immediatel}' the order 
was again given to cast loose, and this was 
obej^ed, and the boat steamed up the river. 
The whole fleet was on its way, and the banks 
of the river were lined with rebels, pouring 
a hot fire into the boats. The rebels sent 
a battery across a bend up the river, intend- 
ing by this movement ' to capture or sink 
the entire fleet. As good fortune would 
have it, they only reached their position 
just as the boats passed, but so closely 
had they pursued them that they fired a num- 
ber of shots at the fleet. Mr. L. thinks that 
had the fleet been delayed thirty minutes longer, 
the capture of the Union arm}- and fleet would 
have been complete. A number of soldiers 
were left on the bank, and they made their way 
to Bird's Point, as best they could, and for days 
and days these stragglers were coming in. Mr. 
L. sa}' s the fact of our forces not all being able 
to get on the boats was painfully manifested to 
his mind at the time b}' a conversation he 
heard Gen. Logan have with some other officer. 
Logan denounced what he called deserting these 
men to their fate, and was insisting; the fleet 



should return and lake them on board. Mr. L. 
says when he heard this, he made up his mind 
he would swim ashore and walk home, rather 
tlian go back. 

Wash Graham seems to have been the acting 
Admiral of the fleet, and so far as its actions 
were concerned,he managed his part of the battle 
with skill and success. Upon the return of the 
army to Cairo, ever3'body seemed to be laboring 
for several days under a general kind of nebulous 
demoralization. But in a short time the troops 
were called back to Cairo, Bird's Point and Fort 
Holt, and the most of them put upon transports 
and sent to Paducah, Ky. The history of 
Grant's expedition up the river and the fights at 
Fort Henry, Heiman and Fort Donelson are a 
part of the war history of the country, and 
are not properly to be considered as an essential 
part of the history of Cairo ; although Cairo 
was the base from which the expedition started 
and on which it relied for material support. 
And although it is also true that there are men 
still living in Cairo who were in that expedition; 
and who were boat officers on the boat that car- 
ried Gen. Grant, Wash Graham and staff, and 
whose recollection of much of the behind-the- 
curtain facts that took place on that boat, are 
essential to the truth of histoiy, 3'et we do not 
care to lumber the stor3' of the city of Cairo 
with them, but to the war historians who are to 
come — those who do not care to write a partisan 
account of the war, there may be found val- 
uable mines of truth among the war survivors 
at Cairo. 

In another chapter, we give a tolerably broad 
insinuation of the kind of men among the first 
commandants of the post Cairo had during the 
earh- war times. Col. Boohfort was a crank 
and in his dotage ; he was a sill}' old vicious 
creature, threatening everybody — "I'll have 3'ou 
shot, sir ! Have you shot ! " or in his more 
rational moods threatening to put them in irons. 
He had a whole company of his own men ar- 
rested one da}- and was going to have them shot 



66 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



as usual, because in riding by their camp he 
heard them singing " My Mary Ann, " when it 
turned out that that was his wife's name. A 
Cairo butcher's team ran away one day and at 
full speed, the driver trying his best to stop 
them, they ran across his parade -grounds, and 
when the old man saw his sacred grounds thus 
sacrilegiously invaded, he screamed at the poor, 
helpless driver as far as he could see him, " I'll 
have 3'ou shot ! Arrest that man ! etc. " The 
people, however, soon learned that he was as 
vain as he was weak, and they wound him 
around their finger by a little fulsome flattery 
and bragging on him as being the greatest Gen- 
eral in all the world. Yet his presence was a 
dreadful affliction to the plaqe. The}^ 
greatly feared and despised him, and there 
were few in the town but that rejoiced when he 
was taken away. His successor was, we believe. 
Gen. Meredith, of Indiana — a soldier and a 
gentleman, and better still, a man of good sound 
sense. His presence gave cheer and hope again 
to the people, and once more men could go and 
come from their homes to their business with- 
out fear and trembling. The result was, the 
business and the prospects of the town were 
soon in the most flourishing condition. Then, 
some of the commandants of the post in the 
town were sometimes cursed with painfully offi- 
cious and dishonest Provost Marshals. x\nd 
when one of these fellows was in command of 
the Provost guards that patroled the city, and 
did police duty, he had it in his power and some- 
times did perpetrate scandulous outrages upon 
private citizens. They were blackmailers, 
clothed with power to compel terms from their 
victims. The people had to appease these sharks 
b}' frequent voluntary subscriptions to bu}' pres- 
ents from their admirers, in tha way of fine 
swords, horses, watches, and champagne, cigars 
and whisky. These subscriptions were taken 
up by passing around a subscription paper, and 
each man would put down his name and not 
less than $5, and thus he paid his tax 



to be let alone so that he could carry on his 
business. It is incredible how many ways these 
rascals could invent to bring men face to face 
with the alternatives of blood-money, or iron 
manacles. A specimen that may illustrate all: 
A large lot of rebel prisoners were passing 
through town, after the Fort Donelson fight, 
and they were standing in front of the business 
houses on the levee; the weather was wretched, 
and the poor creatures were the picture of dis- 
comfort ; they wanted clothing, food, and, es- 
pecially, tobacco. At a tobacco store where 
several prisoners had begged a little tobacco, 
two or three rebel officers entered and wanted 
some of the weed, and all the money the}' had 
was Confederate bills. The tobacco was given 
to them, onl}- a few plugs, and the Confederate 
money was taken as a curiosity. The Provost- 
Marshal a few days after arrested the members 
of the firm and fined them $100 for 
taking Confederate money. They paid the 
bill, and, of course, the Government never saw 
a cent of the money. " Oh, patriotism ! patriot- 
ism ! what atrocities have been committed in 
thy name." Another instance of legal honesty 
will suffice for our purpose, without any further 
reference to the thousands of others of a char- 
acter incomparably worse : An official ap- 
proached a merchant and wanted to buy forty 
or fifty suits of clothes. He said he did not 
care what they were so they were cheap, very 
cheap, anything, any style, second-hand or 
rebel captured uniforms, or anything else that 
could be classed as suits. The goods were 
promptly got ready for delivery at about $2.50 
a suit. The officer looked at them, took them 
and instructed the merchant to make out his 
bill at $22.50 a suit. And upon his pa3ing in 
cash the difference in the real price and the 
bill, he received his voucher for the whole 
amount. 

When the Union forces wrested the Missis- 
sippi river from the grasp of the rebels, and 
made this o;reat highway again a free channel 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



67 



of travel and commerce, then, indeed, were the 
floodgates of prosperity once more opened to 
Cairo, and the town as the gatewa}' between the 
Mississippi Valle}' and the South was the busiest 
place of its size on the continent. On ever}' 
train and on every steamboat the tide of hu- 
manity poured through the town. The steam- 
boats, freighted to the ver}- waters edge, going 
and coming, filled the rivers, and day and night 
they were struggling and almost fighting for 
room at our wharves to load and unload their 
cargoes. The Ohio levee, from one end to the 
other, was covered with freight in great rows 
and piles in bewildering quantities. The marine- 
ways and docks from here to Pittsburgh were 
building boats as fast as they could, and every 
day, almost, new and elegant ones rounded to 
at our wharf, and j-et they were wholly inad- 
equate to carry the immense merchandise that 
was awaiting shipments. The railroads were 
taxed until they cried " peccavi ! " And it is a 
well-known fact that propert}^ amounting to 
millions of dollars awaited shipment over the 
Illinois Central Railroad, at stations where there 
being no room in the depots, it was exposed to 
the weather and rotted. To all this there came 



a corresponding horde of people to Cairo — per- 
manent and temporary sojourners. The hotels, 
boarding houses, tenement and everything in 
the shape of a house was crowded to suflfocation ; 
new houses were at once being rapidly con- 
structed and the universal cry was for more. 
Rents went to fanciful figures, and in a short 
time it was impossible to tell bowman}" people 
were here. Lots, leases, houses, rents and 
nearly all Cairo property went balooning awaj' 
in a gay style — sailing up and up as grandly 
and to as dizz}' heights as a Fourth of July 
orator's eagle. As said, the transient pop- 
ulation was immense. In 1864, it was even es- 
timated, counting the floating population, that 
there were nearly 12,000 people here, although 
the vote at that time had never reached a thou- 
sand. In other words, the population was 
estimated greater then than the census has snice 
shown it to be, although the last general elec- 
tion showed there were over 1,800 voters. In 
other words, the census of 1880 shows a pop- 
ulation of a little less than 10,000 people. And it 
is estimated now that the actual number of in- 
habitants here is a fraction over 12,000. 



CHAPTER IV. 



DECIDEDLY A CAIRO CHAPTER— CAIRO AND ITS DIFFERENT BODIES POLITIC AND CORPORATE- 
CAIRO CITY AND BANK OF CAIRO — CAIRO AND CANAL COMPANY — CAIRO CITY 
PROPERTY— TRUSTEES OF THE CAIRO TRUST PROPERTY— THE ILLINOIS 
EXPORTING COMPANY — D. B. HOLBROOK— JUSTIN BUTTER- 
FIELD— RECAPITULATION, ETC., ETC. 



AT a time simnltaneous with, or just prior 
to, the coming of the nineteenth century, 
the delta formed by the junction of the Mis- 
sissippi and Ohio Rivers began to attract the 
attention of far-seeing men, as one of the 
future important points upon the continent. 
And from the time the first white man's eyes 



ever beheld it, 210 years ago, as Joliet and 
Marquette and their little party, consisting 
of five men besides themselves, floated around 
the point of land that forms the exti'eme 
southern limit of Illinois, and with joy and 
gladness beheld the beautiful blue Ohio 
River, and by this, their marvelous voyage 



68 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



of discovery, placed this great Mississippi 
Valley under the ijegis of France and Papal 
Christendom, and thereby inaugurated that 
tremendous world's drama that continued 
during more than ninety years, in which 
France and the Church were such conspicuous 
actors ; we say, from this date on, the little strip 
of land on which the city of Cairo stands at- 
tracted the attention of men, and presented 
something of its prospective importance to the 
entire Christian world. At the time of its 
discovery, nearly all nations were more or 
less involved in wars of conquest and in- 
vasion — those mighty struggles for suprem- 
acy in civilization, that were the most im- 
portant factors in the present advanced state 
of mankind, and especially that splendid 
civilization that has been spread broadcast 
over the world by the Anglo-Saxon race. 
Hence, for more than a century after the dis- 
covery of the point of junction of the two 
great rivers, situated almost in the center of 
the inhabitable portions of the continent of 
North America, its transcendent importance, 
in a military point of view, were studied and 
well comprehended by all the military 
powers of Europe. Its wonderful undevel- 
oped and almost unclaimed commercial value 
and inexhaustible productions were but little 
considered until the long Revolutionary war 
had been fought out, and peace had begun to 
win those triumphs that have resulted in the 
present rich and prosperous nation of more 
than fifty millions of people. 

A large number of incorporation acts, dat- 
ing back even to the Territorial times of 
Illinois, have been enacted, and a somewhat 
extended notice of these legislative doings 
is made of great importance, from the fact 
that in the attempt to make laws for found- 
ing a city here there resulted the most im- 
portant legislation, in both the State Legis- 
lature and the Congress of the United States, 



for the entii-e State of Illinois, that have 
ever been placed upon the statute books; 
wise laws, that have brought Illinois from 
a sparsely settled, bankrupt and unpromis- 
ing waste and wilderness, to the position of 
the first State in the Union in many of the 
leading agricultural products, as well as in 
railroads and all that tends to make a rich, 
prosperous and happy people. 

On the 9th day of January, 1818, the Ter- 
ritorial Legislature concluded the time had 
come that imperatively demanded that a city 
be founded here, and on that day it passed 
an act for the incorporation of the "City and 
Bank of Cairo in the State of Illinois;" the 
incorporators, consisting of John G. Comyges,_ 
Thomas H. Harris, Thomas F. Herbert, 
Shadrach Bond, Michael Jones, Warren 
Brown, Edward Humphreys and Charles "W. 
Hunter, who had entered a certain tract of 
land between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers 
and near the junction of the same. This 
land included Fractional Sections 14, 15, 22, 
23, 24, 25, 26, and the northeast fractional 
quarter of Section 27, Town 17 south. Range 
1 west, and contained about 1,800 acres. 
The act of incorporation is ushered into the 
world by the following grandiloquent stump 
speech: " And whereas, the said proprietors 
represent that there is, in their opinion, no 
position in the whole extent of these Western 
States better calculated, as it respects com- 
mei'cial advantages and local supply, for a 
great and impoi'tant city, tlian that afforded 
by the junction of those two great highways, 
the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. But that 
nature, having denied to the extreme point 
formed by their union, a sufficient degree of 
elevation to protect the improvements made 
thereon, from the ordinary inundations of 
the adjacent waters, such elevation is to be 
found only upon the tract above mentioned 
and described. [It must be borne in mind 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



69 



that this is one way of putting it that the 
town site only commenced at the north line 
of Bird's land, which was not included in 
the town plat.] So that improvements and 
property made and located thereon [no sem- 
blance of levees then made] may be deemed 
perfectly safe and absolutely secure from all 
such ordinary inundations, and liable to injury 
only from the concurrence of unusually high 
and simultaneous inundations in both of said 
rivers, an event which is alleged but rarely 
to happen, and the injurious consequen«5es of 
which it is considered practicable, by proper 
embankments, wholly and effectually and 
permanently to obviate. And whereas, there 
is no doubt that a city erected at, or as near 
as practicable, to the junction of the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers, provided it be thus 
secured by sufficient embankments, or in 
such other way as experience may prove most 
efficacious for that purpose, from every such 
extraordinary inundation, must necessarily 
become a place of vast consequence to the 
prosperity of this growing Territory, and, in 
fact, to that of the greater part of the in- 
habitants of these Western States. And 
whereas, the above-named proprietors are 
desirous of erecting such city, under the 
sanction and patronage of the Legislature 
of this Territory, and also of providing by 
Jaw for the security and prosperity of the 
same, and to that end propose to appropriate 
one-third part of all money arising from the 
sale and disposition of the lots into which 
the same be surveyed, as a fund for the con- 
struction and preservation of such dykes, 
levees and other embankments as may be 
necessary to render the same perfectly 
secure; and also, if such fund shall be 
deemed sufficient thereto, for the erection of 
public edifices and such other improvements 
in the said city as may be, from time to time, 
considered expedient and practicable, and to 



appropriate the two-thirds part of the said 
purchase- moneys to the operation of bank- 
ing. And whereas, it is considered that an 
act to incorporate the said proprietors and 
their associates, viz., all such persons as 
shall, by purchase or otherwise, hereafter 
become proprietors of the tract above men 
tioned and described, as a body corporate 
and politic, while it guarantees to all those 
who may become freeholders or residents 
within the said city the fullest security as 
to their habitations and property, will at the 
same time concentrate the views and facili- 
tate the operations of the said proprietors 
and their said associates in rendering the 
said city secure from all such inundations as 
aforesaid, and in promoting the internal 
prosperity of the same. " After this extraor- 
dinary line of whereases, the Legislature pro- 
ceeds to regularly incorporate the " City and 
Bank of Cairo" — the city to be here, at the 
junction of the rivers, and the bank tempo- 
rarily to be, and transact business in, the town 
of Kaskaskia, giving the body corporate the 
title of the " President, Directors and Com- 
pany of the Bank of Cairo," requiring John 
G. Comyges and his associates, within the 
space of nine months from the passing of this 
act, to proceed to lay off, on such town site, 
a city, to be known and distinguished by the 
name of Cairo; which shall consist of not 
less than 2,000 lots, each lot being not less 
than sixty-six feet wide and 120 feet deep, 
and the streets of said city to be not less than 
eighty feet wide, and to run, as near as may 
be, at right angles to each other; that the 
price of the said lots shall be fixed and 
limited at $150 each, and appropriating the 
money arising from the sale of lots as fol- 
lows. Two-thirds part thereof, that is to 
say, the sum of $100 on each lot sold, shall 
constitute the capital stock of the bank; 
dividing the capital stock into twice as many 



70 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



shares as there are lots, the one-half of which 
shares shall belong to the purchasers of said 
lots, in the proportion of one share to each 
lot, and the remaining of the shares shall 
be the property of the said John G. Corny ges 
and his associates, their heirs and assigns, in 
proportion to the interest they may hold in 
the same respectively; the remaining one- 
third part of the purchase-money to consti- 
tute a fund to be exclusively appropriated to 
the security and improvement of said city; 
the said Corny ges and associates are author- 
ized to appoint so many commissioners as 
they may deem necessary, to receive sub- 
scriptions for the purchase of lots; they are 
required, upon any person applying to 
make such purchase of subscription, to direct 
the person so applying to deposit to the credit 
of the Bank of Cairo, in the Bank of the 
United States, or in the nearest chartered 
bank, one-third of the purchase money, in 
three and six months' payments. Then it 
provides that no subscription shall be re- 
ceived from any person for more than ten of 
said lots. When 500 lots have been sub- 
scribed for, the Commissioners are to call a 
meeting of such subscribers at Kaskaskia, and 
elect from their body thirteen Directors, who 
were to hold office one year, and then these 
Directors are to choose, by ballot, a Presi- 
dent; authorizing them to prescribe by-laws 
and regulations, and defining the duties of 
the officers; the Directors are at once to dis- 
tribute by lot among the subscribers, the 
number each is entitled to receive, and to 
make deeds therefor upon full and final 
payment, and they are imperatively required 
to receive all moneys deposited to their credit 
in other banks, and thereupon to "commence 
their operations as a banking company." 
Provision is then made that the total amount 
of debts which the bank may at any time 
owe shall not exceed twice the amount of 



the capital stock actually paid into said bank; 
making the bills of credit, under the seal of 
the corporation, assignable by indorsement, 
as well as making all bills or notes which 
may be issued by the corporation, in pay- 
ment, though not under seal, binding and 
obligatory as upon any private person or per- 
sons; the bank is required to make half-year- 
ly dividends of profits; requiring each Cash- 
ier, before entering upon the duties of his 
office, to give bond and security to the amount 
of 110,000, and each clerk in the bank to 
give like bond to the amount of |2,000; lim- 
its the interest on loans made by the bank 
to six per cent. It then provides for the ap- 
pointment of three of the Directors, a Com- 
mittee, to have the charge and management 
of all that portion of the purchase moneys 
above set apart, and appropriated as a fund 
for the security and improvement of said 
city; and which fund, or such portion there- 
of as the said Committee shall deem proper 
and advisable, shall be invested in stock of 
said bank, the said Directors being author- 
ized and required to add to the capital stock 
so many shares as shall be sufficient to take 
in the same, at the par value of the stock. 
Section 20 explicitly requires that it shall be 
the duty of the Directors, immediately after 
their election, to appoint three persons not 
of their own body, but who shall be remov- 
able at the pleasure of the Directors, who 
shall be citizens of Illinois, and even res- 
idents of Cairo, if competent and judicious 
persons can be found in the city, who shall 
be styled " The Board of Security and Im- 
provement of the City of Cairo," which 
boai'd, or a majority thereof, shall, under 
the sanction of the Directors of the said 
bank first had and obtained, direct and 
superintend the construction and preserva- 
tion of such dykes, levees and embankments 
as may be necessary for the security of the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



71 



city of Cairo, and every part thereof, from 
all and every inundation which can possibly 
affect or injure the same; and the erection, 
fiom time to time, of such public works and 
improvements as the state of such fund will 
justify. They are authorized to increase the 
capital stock, but it shall never exceed the 
sum of $500,000. Section 23 commands 
that the corporation shall not at any time 
suspend, or refuse payment in'gold and silver 
for any of its notes, bills or obligations, nor 
any moneys received on deposit in the bank 
or in its ofiSce of discount and deposit, and 
if at any time such default is made, then 
the bank shall forfeit 12 per cent per annum 
from the time of such demand. The twenty- 
fourth and last section declares this to be a 
public act, "and that the same be construed in 
all courts and places benignly and favor- 
ably." 

Such was the grand scheme of the Illinois 
Territory for founding here a city. To some 
extent, it was running counter to the world's 
experience, namely, to start the bank and 
the embryo city at one and the same time, 
and require the bank to build the city and 
the city make rich and strong the bank. It 
was a species of legislative financial wisdom 
that might be likened unto the old saying of 
making one hand wash the other. They pro- 
longed their vision into their future and our 
present time, and dreamed golden day-dreams 
of all Illinois — at least all the part of it 
south of Kaskaskia. They thought, perhaps, 
of Romuhis and Rome and the she- wolf ; of 
St. Petersburg and Peter the Great; of Ven- 
ice and her gondoliers, and her soft moon- 
light and music; of Alexandria, in Lower 
Egypt, with her great forests of masts in her 
harbor, and her temples and towers and 
steeples and minarets glittering in the morn- 
ing sun — the proud mistress of the world, in 
wealth, commerce, intelligence, prowess and 



glory — and their souls were fired with no 
less an ambition than to rival and surpass all 
these, and, therefore, to found and build here 
a great and eternal city. They knew of the 
Egyptian Cairo, lying midway between Eu- 
rope, Asia, the Mediterranean Sea and the 
north of Africa; of St. Petersbui'g, where the 
Gulf of Finland, , the Black Sea and the 
White Sea, the Baltic and the Caspian pour 
in their wealth upon [her, through the Dnie- 
per and Dniester, the Neva, the Dwina and 
the Volga, with all their ten thousand reser- 
voirs, by the help of her great canal system, 
giving her a direct navigation of 4,000 miles, 
from St. Petersburg to the borders of China. 
They looked upon New York and her vast 
navigation; upon New Orleans, whose waters 
drained a great empire. They, doubtless, 
unrolled the world's map, and 'there noticed 
that there are certain points that engage the 
attention of mankind; that theseTpoints are 
centers of civilization, and in all time they 
have been found where vast bodies of water 
meet, and large, populous and fertile terri- 
tories converge, giving the most favorable 
conditions for colonization, supply and de- 
fense. There cannot be a doubt that, in the 
estimate they put upon the natural point at 
Cairo, they were wholly correct, however 
much they may have been mistaken in the 
legislative machinery they deemed it wise to 
put in motion to start into being the young 
city. 

John R. Comyges was the moving and mas- 
ter spirit in the inception and origin of the 
" City and Bank of Cairo" scheme. He at- 
tended upon the Legislature, and unfolded 
his vast enterprise in such glowing terms that 
that body made haste to grant his every re- 
quest. He must have inspired those won- 
derfully-constructed " whereases " that were 
enacted into a law. And it must have been 
his busy brain that conceived the dashing 



72 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



idea of first founding a wild-cat bank in the 
wild jungles, the oozing marshes and among 
the festive frogs of the Delta, and upon this 
South Sea Bubble to lay the foundation of a 
great city, wliere men should " build for the 
ages unafraid. " 

This, the earliest effort to start a city here, 
to fix a " base whereon these ashlars, well 
hewn, may be laid," although so generously 
aided by the Tei-ritorial Legislature, came to 
naught, by the death of Comyges, just as he 
was about to visit the capitalists of Europe, 
to enlist their aid and interests in the grand 
and promising scheme. The company had 
entered the land on the old credit system, 
and had surveyed and platted the town, and 
were pushing eveiy department under favor- 
ing prospects, when the sudden death of their 
organizer and leader, when there was no one 
to take his place, spread such general doubts 
and dismay among the stockholders, that the 
enterprise collapsed and passed away, and 
the title to the land reverted to the Govern- 
ment. 

A part of the interest that now attaches to 
this original Cairo Company is the record it 
made as to the knowledge men possessed 
sixty-five years ago, as to the high waters in 
oui' rivers, and how much we have learned by 
the intervening experiences between then and 
now. In the prospectus, it stated to the world : 
"It remains only to be shown that the want, 
in this tract, of sufiicient material elevation 
presents but an inconsidrable obstacle to its 
future greatness. To prove this fact, it be- 
comes necessary to advert to the provisions 
contained in the charter and the report of 
the Surveyor, Maj. Duncan, who, at the re- 
quest of the proprietors, undertook to run 
the exterior limits and to ascertain the eleva- 
tion of the ground; from which i-eport' it 
will appear that an embankment of the 
average height of five feet will secure it 



effectually against the highest swells in both 
rivers. It may here be proper to state that 
much of this tract is already high, and quite 
as eligible for warehouses and other build- 
ings as many of the most flourishing stations 
on the Ohio." They carefully estimated, 
from their engineers' reports, that $20,000 
would build all the levees around Cairo to 
forever secure it against any possible waters 
in the rivers. 

Cairo City & Canal Company. — On the 
4th of March, 1837, the Illinois Legislature 
incorporated Darius B. Holbrook, Miles A. 
Gilbert, John S. Hacker, Alexander M. Jen- 
kins, Anthony Olney and William M. Wal- 
ker as a body corporate and politic, under 
the name of the "Cairo City & Canal Com- 
pany;" giving the usual powers of a charter 
company, and to own and hardle real estate, 
but providing that " the real estate owned 
and held by said company shall not exceed 
the quantity of land embraced in Fractional 
Township 17, in Alexander County, and the 
said corporation are hereby authorized to pur- 
chase said land, or any part thereof, but 
more particularly the tract of land incorpo- 
rated as the city of Cairo, and may proceed 
to lay off said land, or any part of the land of 
said Township 17, into lots for a town, to be 
known as the city of Cairo, and whenever a 
plan of said city is made, the company shall 
deposit a copy of the same, with a full de- 
scription thereof, in the Recorder of Deeds' 
ofi&ce in the C unty of Alexander. * * * 
And the said corporation may construct 
dykes, canals, levees and embankments for 
the security and preservation of said city and 
land and all improvements thereon, from all 
and every inundation which can possibly 
affect or injure the same, and may erect such 
works, buildings and improvements which 
they may deem necessary for promoting the 
health and prosperity of said city. And for 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



73 



draining said city, and other purposes, said 
corporation may lay off and construct a canal, 
to unite with Cache Kiver, at such point of 
such river as the company may deem most 
eligible and proper, and may use the water of 
said river for said canal, running to and 
through said city of Cairo, as said company 
may direct. * * * * The capital stock 
of the company shall consist of 20,000 shares, 
and no greater assessment shall be laid upon 
any shares in said company of a greater 
amount than $100 each share. And the im- 
mediate government and direction of the 
affairs of said company shall be vested in 
a board of not less than five Directors, who 
shall be chosen by the members of the cor- 
poration in manner hereinafter provided, a 
majority of whom shall form a quorum for 
the transaction of business; shall elect one 
of their number to be President of the 
Board, who shall also be President of the 
company. * * * * The President and 
Directors for the time being are hereby au- 
thorized and empowered, by themselves or 
their agents, to execute all powers herein 
granted to the company, and all such other 
powers and authority for the management of 
the affairs of the company not heretofore 
granted, as may be proper and necessary to 
carry into effect the object of this act, and to 
make such equal assessments, from time to 
time, on all shares of said company as they 
may deem expedient and necessary, and 
direct the same to be paid in to the Treasurer 
of the company; and the Treasurer shall give 
notice of all such assessments, and in case 
any subscriber shall neglect tn pay his as- 
sessment for the space of thirty days due 
notice by the Treasurer of said company, the 
Directors may order the Treasurer to sell 
such share or shares at public auction, after 
giving due notice thereof, to the highest 
bidder, and the same shall be transferred to 



the purchaser, and such delinquent subscriber 
shall be held accountable to the company for 
the balance. * * * * a. toll is hereby 
granted and established, for the benefit of 
said company, upon all passengers and prop- 
erty of all descriptions which may be con- 
veyed or transported upon the canal of the 
company, upon such terms as may be agreed 
upon and established, from time to time, by 
the Directors of said company. That the 
company shall not be authorized by this act 
to erect or construct any dam or dams upon 
or across Cache River, for the pui'pose afore- 
said, until they shall first have obtained the 
consent of the County Commissioners' Court 
of Alexander County, which consent so ob- 
tained shall be entered upon the records of 
said court; and whenever the route on said 
canal shall be located, the company shall 
have recorded a plan and description thereof 
in the office of the Recorder of Deeds and 
the office of said County Commissioners' 
Court, in Alexander County. The said com-* 
pany shall be holden to pay all damages that 
may arise to any person or corporation, by 
taking their land for said canal or any other 
Ijurpose when it cannot be obtained by volun- 
tary agreement, to be estimated and re- 
covered in the manner provided by law, for 
the recovering of damages happening by lay- 
ing out highways. When the lands, or 
other property or estate of any femme- covert, 
infant or person non conijyos mentis, shall be 
wanted for the purposes and objects of the 
company, the guardian of said infant or per- 
son non compos mentis, or husband of such 
femme-covert, may release all damage and 
interest for and in such lands or estate 
taken for the company as they ,might do if 
the same were holden by them in their own 
right respectively This act shall be deemed 
and taken as a public act. It shall continue 
in force for the term of twenty- five years 



74 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



from the passage thereof. The final section 
requires that unless $20,000 is expended on 
the canal within five yearS from the date of 
the act, it shall be forfeited. In February, 
1839, the Legislature amended that act as 
follows: "That the said Cairo City & 
Canal Company shall not be obliged, as au- 
thorized by its charter, to lay off and con- 
struct a canal to unite with Cache River, 
should the same be deemed injurious to the 
health of the city — and the twelfth section of 
said act, which requires a certain amount to 
be expended on said canal within five years, 
is hereby repealed." 

We have given verbatim enough of this 
remarkable charter, in its ultimate results 
one of the most important that was ever 
granted by the State of Illinois, for the 
reader to see for himself that it is one of 
two things, namely, either the most amazing 
in the complete simplicity of its author's 
ideas, or Machiavelian in its transcendant 
ability to hide the iron hand beneath the vel- 
vet glove. No State document was ever 
drafted that could look more innocent, and 
at the same time appropriate to itself com- 
plete and sovereign and autocratic powers, 
in the name of building a canal from the 
mouth of Cache River to and through the 
city of Cairo to the extreme southern point 
of land. If the company ever thought of 
building a canal from the mouth of Cache 
through the city, they would not only have 
to curve it several times on its, route, to keep 
the canal from running into the river, but 
they must have known they would Lave to 
erect great and strong artificial levees on 
both sides of their canal to prevent both rivers 
from rushing from their long-occupied beds, 
with an angry roar, souse into the canal. On 
the other hand, if they never did contemplate 
building the canal, then, indeed, is its mas- 
terly shrewdness patent at a glance. Cer- 



tainly, even an Illinois Legislature would 
have discovered the cat in the meal-tub had 
the incorporators gone before them and 
asked for a charter to found a city, and, 
without any canal attachment, asked for such 
complete powers of the right of eminent 
domain over private property, real and per- 
sonal! If they ever intended to build a 
canal, they were soon cured of that hallucina- 
tion, as is shown by the amendment of 1839, 
which simply permits the whole canal scheme 
to be dropped, and yet leaves all the great 
powers that were originally granted the com- 
pany intact. So far as can now be ascer- 
tained, the company never abused or exer- 
cised to the ill of any one these powers con- 
ferred by the charter. If there was a pur- 
pose lurking beneath the fair face of the 
fundamental law of the new city, it, perhaps, 
was not in the idea of its author to use it to 
wrong or oppress any private citizen, and it 
would only be invoked as a last resort to pro- 
tect the vital welfare of the future city. 

As stated above, this Cairo City & Canal 
Company charter became a law March 4, 
1837, and not March 4, 1838, as probably 
the compositor made Mose Harrell say, in a 
sketch of early Cairo that he published a few 
years ago. The date is important, because 
on June 7, 1837, "The Illinois Central Rail- 
road Company," which had been incorpor- 
ated January 16, 1836, and authorized to 
construct a railroad, commencing at or near 
the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers, and extending to Galena, released all 
its rights back to the State of Illinois, con- 
ditioned, however, that "the State of Illinois 
shall commence the construction of said rail- 
road within a reasonable [time, and to com- 
mence at the city of Cairo and build north 
to Galena." 

On the 27th day of June, 1837, there was 
an agreement entered into between the orig- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



75 



iual Illinois Central Railroad, by A. M. 
Jenkins, its President, and the Cairo City 
& Canal Company, by D. B. Holbrook, its 
President, by which it was stipulated the 
railroad to be constructed by the Illinois 
Central Kailroad " shall be commenced at 
such point in tho city of Cairo as the Cairo 
City & Canal Company may fix and direct. 
This release of the Central Railroad of its 
franchise back to the State was caused by 
the wild craze that had taken possession of 
the entire State on the great intei'nal im- 
provement system, that so quickly landed the 
Commonwealth in bankruptcy, and abruptly 
stopped all State progress for several years. 
This was a sad and severe lesson to the 
young State, but probably in the end it was 
for the best. On the same day of the above 
agreement, namely, 26th June, 1837, the Cairo 
& Canal Company having obtained, by 
purchase, the lands in Town 17 south, Range 
1 west, on a portion of which had been laid 
out the city of Cairo, mortgaged the entire 
property to the New York Life Insurance 
& Trust Company, to secure certain loans 
and moneys advanced by English capitalists. 
The release made by the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company was accepted by the 
State, on the conditions imposed, and the 
State commenced at Cairo the construction 
of the railroad, which the railroad company 
had been authorized to construct to Galena; 
and the Cairo City & Canal Company 
pressed forward the improvements it was 
making, upon which, up to February 1, 
1840, it had expended, of borrowed money, 
about $1,000,000. It had erected mills, 
various workshops and houses for its em- 
ployees, and there had congregated here about 
1,500 souls. But on Februaiy 1, 1840, the 
great internal improvement system, which 
had been inaugurated by the infatuated State 
Legislature of 1837, was x-epealed, and the 



work upon the Illinois Central stopped, after 
the State had expended, as stated, over 
$1,000,000. While the bursting of this 
bubble seriously crippled, financially, the 
entire people of the State, it was especially 
disastrous at Cairo. ' It was the work upon 
the railroad that had brought the people 
here, and when not only the State was bank- 
rupt, but the Cairo City & Canal Company 
was insolvent, the railroad defunct, the 
banker of the company in England had 
failed, and all work and improvements were 
abandoned, the people fled, and desolation 
brooded over the town, where now "the 
spider might weave, unmolested, his web in 
her palaces, and the owl hoot his watch song 
in her temples." 

On March 6, 1843, the Legislature passed 
an act to incorporate the Great Western 
Railway Company. While this was a rail- 
road charter, authorizing the construction of 
a railroad upon the line of the original 
Illinois Central Railroad, yet it was, in fact, 
a re-incorporation of the Cairo City & 
Canal Company. After the enacting clause, 
it says: " That the President and Directors 
of the Cairo City & Canal Company (in- 
corporated by the State of Illinoisj and their 
successors in ofiice be and they are hereby 
made a body corporate and politic under the 
name and style of the ' Great Western Rail- 
way Company,' and under that name and 
style shall be and are hereby made capable, 
in law and equity, to sue and be sued, de- 
feud and be defended, in any court or place 
whatsoever, to make, have and use a common 
seal, the same to alter and renew at pleasui'e, 
and by that name and style be capable in 
law of contracting and being conti acted 
with, of purchasing, holding and conveying 
away of real estate and personal estate for 
the pm-poses and uses of said corporation; 
and shall be and are hereby invested with 



76 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



all the powers, privileges and immunities, 
which are or may be necessary to carry into 
.effect the object ,and purposes of ^this act, as 
hereinafter set forth; and the said corpora- 
tion are hereby authorized and empowered to 
locate, construct and finally complete a rail- 
road, commencing at the city of Cairo, 
thence north by way of Vandalia, etc.," 
almost exactly as specified in the charter of 
the original Illinois Central Railroad. 

This act of incoi-poration was merely the 
grafting into the Cairo City & Canal Com- 
pany a railroad franchise, which in no single 
clause diminished the original powers of the 
Cairo City & Canal Company, but enlarged 
and extended them throughout the entire 
length of the State. So completely were the 
two companies made one. indeed, so fully was 
the railroad merged into and absorbed by 
the canal company, that the officers of the 
city company, including the President and 
Directors, were made the officers of the rail- 
road by the legislative act. It should be 
borne in mind that the State had expended 
over $1,000,000 in work upon the Illinois 
Central Railroad, and all this was turned 
over to the Cairo City & Canal Company 
and the Great Western Railroad (all one and 
the same thing) and this was turned over to 
the new company in the following rather 
loose language, in Section 12 of the incor- 
poration act: "The Govei'nor of this State is 
hereby authorized and required to appoint 
one or more competent persons to estimate 
the present value of any work done, at the 
expense of the State, on the Central Rail- 
road; also of any materials or right of way; 
and whatever sum shall be fixed upon as the 
value thereof, by said persons, shall be paid 
for by the company, in the bonds or other 
indebtedness of the State, any time during 
the progress of the road to completion, and 
any contract entered into under the seal of 



the State, signed by the Governor thereof^ 
shall be legal and binding, to the full intent 
and purpose thereof, on the State of Illinois." 

Section 14, with equal State liberality and 
vagueness, goes on to specify that whenever 
the whole indebtedness of the company shall 
be paid and liquidated, the Legislature of 
the State of Illinois, thereafter then in 
session, shall have the power to alter, amend 
or modify this act, as the public good shall 
require, and also that of the City of Cairo 
& Canal Company; and the eleventh section 
of the act incorporating the said Cairo City 
& Canal Company, which limits its charter 
to twenty years, be and the said section is 
hereby repealed, and this act be and is de- 
clared a public act, and as such shall be 
taken notice of by all courts of justic > in the 
State, etc. 

Two years after this, March 3, 1845, the 
Legislature repealed the act incorporating 
the Great Western Railroad Company. This 
repealing law like all other legislation upon 
that subject, was no doubt passed at the in- 
stance of the railroad company, or rather of 
the Cairo City & Canal Company. On its 
face, it has the appearance of a design to 
give back to the State all its rights and 
privileges except those pertaining to the 
founding of a city here and the construction 
of a canal from Cache to and through Cairo. 

But on February 10, 1849, the Legislature 
passed another law, which repealed the re- 
pealing act, and starts out by saying that 
the President and Directors of the Cairo City 
& Canal Company, under the name and 
style of the " Great Western Railway Com- 
pany," chartered March 6, 1843, and that 
William F. Thornton, Willis Allen, Thomas 
G, C. Davis, John Moore, John Huffman, 
John Green, Robert Blackwell, Benjamin 
Bond, Daniel H. Brush, George W. Pace, 
Walter B. Scates, Samuel K. Casev, Albert 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



77 



G. Caldwell, Humphrey B. Jones, Charles 
Hoyt, Ira Minard, Charles S. Hempstead, 
John B. Chapin, Uri Osgood, H. D. Berley, 
Henry Corwith, I. C. Pugh, John J. Mc- 
Graw, Onslow Peters, D. D. Shumway, Jus- 
tin Butterfield, John B. Turner, Mark Skin- 
ner and Gavion D. A. Parks be associates 
with said company i;Q the construction of 
said railroad, and are empowered and 
reinstated, with all the powers and privileges 
contained in said act of incorporation, 
and are also subject to all restrictions 
contained in said act of incoporation — the 
act in force March 3, 1845, which repealed 
the charter of the company, to the contrary 
notwithstanding. This reviving act then 
proceeds to extend the privileges of the Cairo 
City & Canal Company in a most liberal 
manner. It authorizes them to construct the 
Great Western Railroad from the termina- 
tion set forth in the said charter, at or near 
the termination of the • Illinois & Michigan 
Canal to the city of Chicago. Section 3 is 
important enough to give it entire, as follows: 
"And the right of way the State may have 
obtained, together with all the work and sur- 
veying done at the expense of the State, and 
materials connected with said road, lying be- 
tween the termination of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal and Cairo City, are hereby 
granted to said company upon conditions as 
follows: Said company shall take posses- 
sion of ^said road within two years of the 
passage of this act, and as far as practicable 
preserve the same from injury and dilapida- 
tion; and said company shall, within two 
years from the passage of this act, expend 
$100,000 in the construction of said road, 
and $200,000 for each year thereafter, until 
said road shall have been completed from the 
city of Cairo to the city of Chicago. 

Sec. 4 The Governor of the State of 
Illinois is hereby authorized and empowered 



to contract with and agree to hold in trust, 
for the use and benefit of said Great West- 
ern Railway Company, whatever lands may 
be donated or thereunto secured to the State 
of Illinois by the General Government, to 
aid in the completion of the Central or Great 
Western Railroad from Cairo to Chicago, 
subject to the conditions and provisions of 
the bill granting the lands by Congress, 
and the said company is hereby authorized 
to receive, hold and dispose of any and all 
lands secured to said company by donation, 
pre-emption or otherwise; subject, however, 
to the provisions of the eighteenth section of 
its charter. [This clause was to the effect 
that all lands coming into the hands of the 
company, not required for use, security or 
construction, should be sold by the company 
within live years, or revert to the Govern- 
ment.] Provision was then further made that 
the Governor should, from time to time, as 
the company progressed with the work, des- 
ignate in writing the proportion of such 
lands donated by Congress to be sold and dis- 
posed of. 

In order to complete the list of incorpo- 
ration acts, that had a direct reference to the 
owners and proprietors of the city of Cairo, 
it is proper here to explain that on January 
18, 1836, the Legislature incorporated the 
Illinois Exporting Company. The act states 
that "all such persons as shall become sub- 
scribers to the stock hereinafter described, 
shall be and they are hereby constituted and 
declared a body politic and corporate. " It 
proceeds to enable the President and Direct- 
ors of the company to "carry on the manu- 
facture of agricultural products; erect mills 
and buildings; export their products and 
manufactai'es, and enter into all contracts 
concerning the management of their prop- 
erty. The capital stock is $150,000, and 
may be increased to $500,000; meetings and 



78 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



general places of business of the company to 
be at Alton; may select any other place of 
business; may erect mills, etc., in any county 
in the State, by permission of the County 
Commisisoners' Court. James S. Lane, 
Thomas G. Howley, Anthony Olney, John 
M. Krum and D. B. Holbrook are appointed 
Commissioners to obtain subscription to the 
capital stock of the company; any one could 
become a subscriber by paying $1. Provided, 
the provisions of this act shall in no case 
extend to the counties of Edgar, Green and 
St. Clair, etc., etc. 

On September 29, 1846, in consequence of 
the general and financial disasters, resulting 
from panic and widespread bankruptcy 
throughout the commercial world, the parties 
interested in Cairo, the mortgagees, judg- 
ment creditors, owners in fee and otherwise 
interested, after a series of consultations, 
agreed and did form and create the " Trust 
of the Cairo City Property," conveying the 
property to Thomas Taylor, of Philadelphia, 
and Charles Davis, of New York, as Trustees. 

On May 10, 1876, the Trustees of the Cairo 
City property, having expended in making 
material improvements about Cairo $1,307,- 
021.42, of which $184,505.64 was expended 
upon the levee running along the Ohio River, 
and $149,973.23 upon the levee running 
along the Mississippi River, and $70,445.06 
upon the protection of the Mississippi River 
bank, and $571,534.08 upon general improve- 
ments, and $330,553.41 upon taxes and as- 
sessments, found themselves unable to pay 
two loans obtained from Hiram Ketchum, 
of New York — one on October 1, 1803, for 
$250,000, and the other on October 1, 1867, 
for $50,000, to secure which, mortgages, of 
the dates given, had been executed. The 
mortgages were, therefore, foreclosed, and 
the property of the Trust of the Cairo City 
Property sold to the bondholders under the 



mortgage, and a new, and the present, trust 
was formed, called the Cairo Trust Property, 
under the control and management of Col. 
S. Staats Taylor and Edwin Parsons, the 
Trustees. 

On the 14th of February, 1841, the Legis- 
lature passed an act conferring upon the 
Cairo City & Canal Company "all the 
powers conferred upon the Board of Alder- 
men of the City of Quincy, as defined be- 
tween the first and forty-fifth sections of the 
charter of that city," and these grants were 
confirmed for ten years. 

It is possible there were other laws passed 
for the benefit of the many charter companies 
that depended and hinged upon the Cairo 
City & Canal Company, but we have not, 
so far, found them. But in all these acts 
and doings, one fact is distinctly seen: Many 
people believed that it was all, practically, 
the work of D. B. Holbrook, and that, as a 
rule, up to the time that his path was crossed 
by Judge Douglas, the names of D. B. Hol- 
brook and the Cairo City & Canal Company 
were practically one and the same thing. 
He was certainly a man of great activity of 
intellect, shrewdness and untiring industry, 
and while all conceded him this, yet many 
deemed him utterly selfish, and indifferent 
to all interests except his own, and that he 
was a shrewd and dangerous marplot, who 
brought evil to Cairo by his reckless greed 
of power and money. In speaking of the 
crash that came upon Cairo in 1841, Mose 
Harrell, among other things, enumerated, as 
the chief cause thereof, to have been the fail- 
ure of the banking-house of Wright & Co., 
London, through which continuous loans to 
the City Company were anticipated; the sus- 
pension of work on the Illinois Central Rail- 
road, upon which so much trade depended, 
and the general abandonment of the system 
of public works inaugurated by the State in 



J-- 



^ 





.^, Jo^^i^'l^^ 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



81 



1837, and he says: " Possibly another reason 
was the monopoly of which Holbrookwas the 
head. Under his rule, no person could be- 
come a freeholder in the city; ground there 
could not be purchased or leased; all the 
dwellings were owned by the company; no 
one could live in the city, unless at the pleas- 
ure of Holbrook, as even the hotels were the 
property of the company. More than that, 
the company were empowered (with) all the 
rules and regulations for the municipal gov- 
ernment, such as a Mayor- and Common 
Council might establish. The company could 
declare a levy of taxes and enforce its col- 
lection, and could expend the money as it 
chose." In a letter published in the New 
York Herald, and of date October 3, 1850, 
we extract the following: " In 1835, Mi'. D. 
B. Holbrook, originally from Boston, pro- 
cured from the Legislature of the State of 
Illinois his first charter for the Cairo City 
& Canal Company, and he also procured a 
charter for the Central Railroad Company, 
from Cairo to Galena. He subsequently ob- 
tained a third charter, for the Illinois Ex- 
porting Company, with authority to carry on 
transportation by land and water, and to in- 
sure against risks from tire and water, and 
to carry on manufacturing business gener- 
ally. He also purchased and revived a de- 
funct bank charter, known as the Cairo Bank, 
and one or two others I cannot specify. Mr. 
Holbrook at once organized the Cairo City 
& Canal Company; took the stock himself, 
and had himself elected President; also or- 
ganized the Central Railroad Company, by a 
nominal payment of 11 per share (which was 
never paid in, but a note given in lieu of the 
money), and elected himself President. He 
also organized the Illinois Exporting Com- 
pany, in the same mode; and also organized 
the Cairo Bank, and put one of his instru- 
ments at the head of it. Subsequently, D. 



B. Holbrook, as President of the Cairo City 
& Canal Company, entered into a contract 
with D. B. Holbrook, as President of the 
Central Railroad Company; and D. B. Hol- 
brook, as President of the Central Railroad 
Company, further contracted with D. B. Hol- 
brook, of the Illinois Exporting Company, 
and D. B. Holbrook, as President of that 
company, contracted with D. B. Holbrook, as 
President of each of the other companies, 
that each of said companies might exercise all 
and singular, the rights, privileges and 
powers conferred by law upon either; by 
which all companies were to be consolidated 
into one, and exercise the several powers con- 
ferred upon each. * * * * jn 1836, 
the Illinois Legislature adopted its mam- 
moth system of internal improvement, and 
among other enterprises, commenced the 
construction of a Central Railroad as a State 
work, Mr. Holbrook having sui-rendered 
his charter for that purpose. After having 
spent about 11,000,000 on |the road, the 
credit of the State failed, and the system was 
abandoned. A charter was subsequently 
granted by the Legislature to the Cairo City 
& Canal Company, by which that company 
was authorized to construct the Central Rail- 
road. At the last regular session of the 
Legislatm'e, while a bill was pending before 
Congress, maki ng' a grant of land to the 
State, in aid of the construction of the rail- 
road, a law was passed, transferring to the 
said company the right of way, and all the 
work which had been executed by the State 
at the cost of $1,000,000, together with all 
the lands which had been, or should here- 
after be, granted by Congress to the State in 
aid of the construction of said railroad. 
How this act was passed remains a mystery, 
as its existence was not known in Illinois 
until Judge Douglas brought it to light in a 
speech at Chicago in October last. In that 



82 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



speech, Judge Douglas denounced the whole 
transaction as a fraud upon the Legislature 
and the people of the State, and declared 
that he would denounce it as such in the 
Senate of the United States, if an application 
was ever made to that body for a grant of 
land, whilst the Holbrook charters, and es- 
pecially the act referred to, remained in 
force." 

The letter proceeds to give an account of 
how Judge Douglas finally compelled Hol- 
brook and his company to execute a complete 
release of their charter to the State, and 
then says: "But for the execution of the re- 
lease by Mr. Holbrook, and the surrender of 
all claims to any railroad charter, or rights 
and privileges under any act of the Illinois 
Legislature on the subject, the grant of land 
would never have been ^made by Congress. 
Thus it appears that Mr. Holbrook has no 
charter for a railroad in Illinois, and no 
claims to the lands which have been granted, 
unless the State of Illinois refuses to accept 
the release, or makes a new grant to D. B. 
Holbrook, which, unless its members are 
crazy, it Is not likely to do. I have deemed 
it necessary to make this exposition of the 
facts in the case, in order ^^that capitalists in 
New York and elsewhere may not labor under 
erroneous impressions in regard to so impor- 
tant a matter, affecting alike the honor of the 
State of Illinois and that of Congress." 

A full and complete account of the nego- 
tiations, correspondence, etc., that ^resulted 
in this important transaction, will be found 
in another chapter in the account of the 
building of the Illinois Central Railroad. 
We give here these extracts from the letter of 
"An Illinois Bondholder," merely to show 
the tenor of the attacks that were in that day 
made upon Holbrook, and the wide and pro- 
found sensation the appearance of this ex- 
traordinary financier made all over the coun- 



try. The reader ^can now readily see there 
are many historical inaccuracies in the let- 
ter, yet, at the time it was published, it was 
a strong document, and had evidently been 
carefully prepared by some one who had 
studied well the subject. It is possible the 
writer was a jealous rival of Holbrookes, and 
one who conceived that his own success could 
only be accomplished by first pulling down 
Holbrook and his company. Certainly, there 
is too much feeling displayed in these attacks 
upon this remarkable man by his cotempo- 
raries, to cause all their statements about his 
unholy purposes to be now implicitly re- 
ceived, and given to the world as attested 
facts. A patient and impartial investigation 
of the times, and the general circumstances 
surrounding D. B. Holbrook and his asso- 
ciates in the Cairo City & Canal Company, 
leads to the conclusion that they were seek- 
ing sincerely to improve the great West, and 
to build here in Illinois great cities and rail- 
roads, and that neither the glory nor the 
blame, nor the wise and beneficial acts, nor 
the mistakes of the company properly be- 
longed wholly to Holbrook, as were so widely 
charged in his day of activity here. His aS: 
sociates and co-incorporators in the Cairo 
City & Canal charter were among the most 
eminent, patriotic and just men in the State 
in their day. They have mostly passed from 
earth, and all have ceased from the active 
struggles of life, and of Breese, and Casey, 
and Judge Jenkins and Miles A. Gilbert, the 
only one living, and the many other co- 
laboi'ers in the early work of improvements 
in Illinois, their untarnished ^memories will 
ever remain a rich legacy to the people of 
Illinois. Thejinger marks of these men will 
ever remain upon the early history of the 
State. Each one of them worked in his own 
chosen or allotted sphere, yet in harmony 
with his other incorporators, and together 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



»3 



they thought out and worked out causes here, 
whose effects will endure perpetually. 

As remarked in the early portion of this 
chapter, the act granting the charter of the 
City of Cairo & Canal Company was the 
first step in attracting the attention of many 
of the leading men of the nation to this great 
natural commercial point, and that attention 
once arrested, and the lakes of the North and 
the waters of the great rivers at once made 
plain the fact that they must be joined 
together by railroads, had set busy minds to 
thinking how this immense work could best 
be done, or, for that matter, done at all. 
Men were studying the maps with the care 
and diligence which warriors give these 
things with reference to their marches, re- 
treats or battle grounds. 

In the latter days of Judge Breese's life, 
he claimed that he had promulgated the idea 
of a Government land-grant in aid of the 
constrviction of the Illinois Central Railroad. 

There is an abundance of evidence that 
not only Judge Breese, but that many others 
were giving it close attention. But, com- 
mencing with Judge Breese, and following 
along all the now existing records, letters 
and publications, we find they, one and all, 
fell short in the full completion of the idea 
of a land donation in this: They advocated 
donating the lands by pre-emption, and not 
as in the form the act was finally passed by 
Judge Douglas as a direct and absolute 
transfer of the title in fee to the railroad, 
upon its conforming to the prescribed condi- 
tions. Nearly all the people of Illinois had 
discussed the subject in social life, in the 
pi'ess and in public meetings held in ,the 
counties along the route of the proposed 
railroad, but the pre-emption-donation idea 
only prevailed, and the first time the thought 
of a direct title in fee was put forth by 
Mr. Justin Butterfield, Januaiy 18, 1848, in 



a public meeting of the citizeDs of Chicago, 
which he had called for the purpose of con- 
sidering the feasibility of constructing a rail- 
road to connect the Upper and Lower Mis- 
sissippi with the Great Lakes of the North, 
and to recommend to Congress that a grant of 
lands should be made to the State of Illinois 
for that purjDose. The meeting was presided 
over by Thomas Dyer, Esq., and Dr. Brainerd 
acted as Secretary. Col. K. J. Hamilton, 
Justin Butterfield, M. Skinner, A. Hunting- 
ton and E. B. Williams were appointed, by 
the chair, a Committee to report resolutions, 
and they reported the following, which had 
been prepared by Mr. Butterfield, which 
were unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That the great and almost in- 
credible increase in wealth, population and 
commerce of the great valley of the West, 
during the last ten years, as clearly exhibited 
by oflficial reports submitted to the Congress 
of the United States, appears to re(iuire. on 
the part of that enlightened body, a corre- 
sponding attention to its wants an 1 necessi- 
ties. 

Resolved, That the grant of public lands 
by Congress, for the purpose of opening or 
improving avenues of commerce in their 
State jurisdiction, has been approved by the 
wisest and most experienced of our states- 
men, and has been eminently beneficial to 
the States and the Union. 

Resolved, That a railroad, to connect the 
Upper and Lower Mississippi with the great 
lakes, would be a work of great importance, 
not only to the agricultural and commercial 
interests of the State, but to all portions of 
the United States interested in the commerce 
of the lakes and the Western rivers. 

Resolved, That, in a military point of view, 
as well as for the speedy and economical 
transportation of the mails (objects eminent- 
ly connected with the general welfare and 
common defense), such a road would be un- 
questionably of national importance, and 
therefoi'e deserving of aid from the National 
Legislature. 

Resolved, That our Senators and Repre- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



sentatives in Congress of the United States 
be requested to use their best exertions to 
secure the passage of a law, granting to the 
State of Illinois the right of way and public 
lands, for the constr action of a railroad to 
connect the Upper and Lower Mississippi 
with the lakes at Chicago, equal to every al- 
ternate section for five miles wide on each 
side of said road. 

Upon these resolutions, Mr. Butterfield de- 
livered an able address, which he read from 
manuscript; from which we make the fol- 
lowing extracts: "The locomotive, whose 
speed almost annihilates time and distance, 
has introduced a new era in travel, in trans- 
portation and in commercial interchanges. 
It is in successful operation in most of the 
nations of Europe, and in most of the Ameri- 
can States, Illinois excepted — a level, cham- 
paign country, better adapted by natm*e for 
its use than any other State or country of 
equal extent in the world. Why we should 
be so far behind the age, in the adoption of 
this great improvement, it is unnecessary 
now to inquire. Suffice it to say, that in the 
years 1836 and 1837, when we were compara- 
tively weak and feeble in population, in pro- 
ductive industry and pecuniary resources, we 
madly and wildly rushed into a gigantic and 
ill-digested system of internal improvements 
altogether beyond our ability. We projected 
more than thirteen hundred miles of railroad; 
we borrowed millions of money, and sowed 
it broadcast; our money was soon expended, 
and our credit gone; in the great re-action of 
1839 and 1840, desolation swept over the 
land, and the moldering ruins and crumbling 
monuments of public works are all that now 
remain of our once magnificent system of in- 
ternal improvements. * * * * 

" The extent of steam navigation upon the 
Mississippi and its tributaries is rising of 
16,000 miles, giving a coast of over 32,000 
miles, * * a large portion of which is as 



fertile as the Valley of the Nile, and capable 
of sustaining a population as dense as that 
of England, and is now settling and im- 
proving with unparalleled rapidity. The 
Middle and Eastern States, and many of the 
nations of Europe, are the great hives that 
are sending forth their swarms to populate 
our Western lands; year after year, in ever- 
increasing numbers, they come, and truly 
demonstrate that ' Westward the march of 
empire takes its way.' But who can foresee, 
who can calculate, the immense trade, travel 
and commerce that will be done upon the 
Western lakes and rivers when their banks 
and coasts shall be settled with half the 
density with which Europe is populated ? 

" It is proposed to construct a railroad to 
connect the Uppor and Lower Mississippi 
with the Great Lakes; this railroad to com- 
mence at the confluence of the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi Rivers at Cairo. * * * * 

"Cairo is the most favorable point for the 
southern terminus of this road, as the navi- 
gation of both the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers, above Cairo, is often obstructed by 
ice in the winter and by low water in the 
summer; but from Cairo to New Orleans 
there is an uninterrupted navigation all sea- 
sons of the year. * * * * The railroad 
is important to our national defense. I be- 
lieve it is regarded by military men, that in 
case of a war with a mai'itime power, like 
England, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, 
and that portion of our country bordering 
upon Canada in the north are our weakest 
frontiers; and in the event of such a war, it 
will be necessary for our defense to marshal 
our naval forces, so as to maintain our mari- 
time ascendency in the Gulf and on the lakes. 
That it is viewed in this light by the Govern- 
ment, may be inferred from the fact that 
about three years ag<i the project of the 
United States constructing a ship canal, be- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



85 



tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, 
was agitated in Congress, and resulted in 
the Secretary of the Navy sending out one of 
our most distinguished naval commanders, 
and the chief of the Engineer Corps, to in- 
vestigate the practicability of the meas- 

11Y»/1 7^ 7^ ^ ^ 

" We ask the Government to make a dona- 
tion of public lands to the State of Illinois, 
to aid in the construction of this railroad, 
equal to every alternate section, for a space 
of five miles wide on each side of it. * * * 
We do not ask for this land to be given to 
any private or chartered company, that they 
make gain or speculation out of it, but we 
ask for it to be donated to this State, in 
trust, to be used in the construction of a 
great public work, that will shed its benefits 
upon the whole of our common country, that 
will bind us together in the golden bands of 
commerce, and be our greatest blessing in 
time of peace, as well as our surest defense 
in time of war." * * * 

The address concludes with the following 
sentence : " In the winter season there ac- 
cumulates upon the hands of our merchants 
produce to the amount of about one-half mill- 
ion of dollars, which lies dead-weight upon 
their hands for three or four months, until 
the opening of the navigation of the lakes. 
Our merchants, in the meantime, receive in- 
formation by telegraph of the rise and fall 
of produce, but cannot avail themselves of 
the benefits of the lightning, either to buy 
or Bell. Here the produce is, and must re- 
main, under the inexorable decree of nature, 
locked up b> the ice. Construct this rail- 
road, give Chicago a southern outlet for her 
produce in the winter, and it is all she asks." 

The resolutions adopted by this meeting, 
and the speech made by Mr. Buttertield, 
were printed in pamphlet form, and were 
sent to the different counties along the line 



of the proposed road, with requests that pub- 
lic meetings should be held at each county 
seat, for the purpose of ci-eating a public 
sentiment in favor of the Congressional land- 
grant project, and of requesting the Illinios 
Delegates in Congress to support it. This 
work among the people of Illinois, in order 
to influence to activity the members of Con- 
gress, was necessary and proper, and attended 
with much labor and considerable expense, 
and the preceding circumstances that brought 
both of these about were the following: The 
Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania, 
located at Philadelphia, had become the 
owner of large interests in Western real es- 
tate, as well as a large number of the bonds 
of the Cairo City & Canal Company, and the 
holder of much of the land of the company 
as security for loans advanced. It was, there- 
fore, largely interested in Cairo. In the 
year 1843, it sent its confidential clerk, S. 
Staats Taylor, to the West, to look after its 
interests. Mr. Taylor made his headquarters 
in Chicago, and had his office, during that 
time, with Justin Butterfield. This, prob- 
ably, was the main caitse of deeply interest- 
ing the latter in the railroad project from 
Chicago to Cairo. Then, the bank's interests 
in the West caused it to take a deep concern 
in the progress of the State of Illinois, and 
especially of Cairo and its vicinity, and it 
therefore provided the necessary funds to de- 
fray these first and necessary expenses. In 
fact, it is now well understood that the start- 
ing point in the building ot the Central road 
and the city were made oi'iginally a tangible 
fact and the expenses defrayed in getting the 
law passed by Congress, by the hypotheca 
tion of a strip of land in the city of Cairo, 
running from river to river, and long known 
as the "Holbrook strip." This strip of land 
is what is now Tenth street to Twelfth street, 
inclusive. 



86 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



Mr. Justin Butterfield was one of the 
large-minded, public-spirited men of Illinois, 
who was profoundly interested in the de- 
velopment and welfare of his adopted State, 
and while he did not lay claim to the patern 
ity of the advanced idea that perfected the 
land-grant to the I'ailroad, and made it such 
a great and complete success, yet as he had 
stated to his office companion, Col. Taylor, 
he had first heard the idea advanced at some 
of the county meetings he had held, and his 
active mind was ready to take it at once in its 
entirety, to see its value and to boldly and 
ably push it forward to its final triumph. 
Certainly, the Centi-al road had no better or 
abler friend than was Justin Butterfield, who, 
singularly enough, was the Commissioner of 
the General^Land Office during the building 
of the railroad, and in that position was con- 
stantly called upon to guard the State's, the 
road's and the Government's interest in the 
matter of the land grant of the road. Prob- 
ably for his incorruptible discharge of these 
duties, he was savagely attacked in some of 
the public prints, and on April 24, 1852, he 
repelled these slanders in an open letter to 
the country, which opens with the following 
explanatory sentence: "During the past 
and present months, various publications 
have appeared in the Chicago Democrat 
(John Wentworth's paper), charging J. 
Butterfield, Commissioner of the General 
Land Office, with having been actuated by 
deadly hostility against the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company; of unwarrantably delay- 
ing and procrastinating the adjustment of 
the grant of lands; of attempting to kill the 
Chicago branch, by deciding that it should 
have diverged from the main trunk at the 
junction of the canal and river at Peru, and 
that the act of the Legislatui'e, providing 
that it shou.ld not diverge from any point 
north of 39 degrees, 30 minutes, was void; 



and of corrui^tly making various other de- 
cisions in the progress of the adjustment of 
that grant, adverse to the rights of that com- 
pany, from which an appeal was taken to the 
Secretaiy, and Mr. Butterfield overruled in 
all his objectious; but that things went on 
so slowly, that the Directors of the company 
laid their case before the President, who at 
once ordered Mr. Butterfield to put the whole 
force of his office upon the work, if necessary 
to its execution; and that after this Mr. B. 
changed his whole course of conduct, etc. " 

After giving this summary of the charges 
against him, he proceeds to say in reply: 
" Had these publications been confined to the 
scurrilous sheets issued by the notorious 
editor of that paper, I should not have 
noticed them; but these falsehoods are told 
with siich apparent candor and circumstan- 
tial detail, that some respectable papers, I 
observe, have been imposed upon, and copied 
them." He then gives a brief and succinct 
history of the grant, and the transactions un- 
der it, and then sums up the six distinct 
falsehoods in the charges, denies and refutes 
them in detail, and thus concludes his inter- 
esting letter: " The route of the old Central 
Railroad, as established in 1836, was from 
Cairo, via Vandalia, Shelbyville, Decatur, 
Bloomington, Peru and Dixon, to Galena; it 
did not touch within about one hundred 
miles of Chicago. 

" A project was devised and published, in 
the latter part of 1847, for a railroad leading 
directly from Cairo to Chicago, and from 
thence to Galena, recommending an applica- 
tion to Congress for a grant of lands to be 
made to the State, in alternate sections, to 
aid In its construction. Judge Dickey, 
James H. Collins, Thomas Dyer and hun- 
dreds of other citizens of Chicago and other 
portions of the State, will recollect who was 
the author of the project! To whom did 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



87 



the newspapers of that day ascribe it? 
Who, at his own expense, got up and circu- 
lated petitions far and wide to Congress 
for a donation of lands to the State for this 
purpose ? Who called the first meeting that 
was ever held in the State on the subject of 
a railroad direct from Cairo to Chicago? 
An address which I had the honor to make 
on that occasion, giving my views of the im- 
mense importance of the work and urging 
its prosecution, was published and circu- 
lated. 

" Those who have, for years past, known 
my sentiments and humble services in favor 
of internal improvements, and especially for 
a direct communication between Chicago 
and Cairo by railroad, can judge of the prob- 
ability of my having attempted to strangle 
the project on the eve of its accomplishment! 
The charge emanates from one whose name 
and character, wherever he is known, is a 
sovereign antidote for all the poison he can 
distill. 

" Although famous at the Capitol, in the 
adjustment of ' Congressional stationery,' in 
which vocation 'he can't be beat,' he is evi- 
dently a great novice in the adjustment of 
railroad grants." 

Recapitulation. — In their chronological 
order, we give the corporation acts, as they 
were passed by the different Legislative bod- 
ies, that had in view the building of the 
city of Cairo, and that are referred to at 
length in the preceding part of this chapter. 

January 9, 1817 — John G. Comyges and 
associates were incorporated by the Territo- 
rial Legislature of Illinois, as the "President, 
Directors and Company of the Bank of 
Cairo," and authorized to build a city upon 
the lands entered by them. 

January 16, 1836— D. B. Holbrook, A. M. 
Jenkins, M. A. Gilbert and others were in- 



corporated by the Legislature of Illinois as 
the " Illinois Central Railroad Conjipany," 
authorizing the company to construct a rail - 
road, " commencing at or near the mouth of 
the Ohio River, and thence north, to a point 
on the Illinois River, at or near the termina- 
tion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal," with 
the privilege of extending the road from the 
Illinois River to Galena. 

February 27, 1837 — Act passed by the 
Legislature^^ of Illinois, " to establish and 
maintain a General System of Internal Im- 
provement," and "providing for a Board of 
Public Works," and directing and ordering 
the construction of a railroad from the city 
of Cairo, at or near the confluence of the 
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to ^some point 
at or near the southern termination of the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal, via Vandalia, 
Shelbyvi lie, Decatur and Bloomington, thence 
via Savanna to Galena, and appropriating for 
the construction of said railroad the sum of 
$3,500,000. 

March 4, 1837— A. M. Jenkins, D. B. Hol- 
brook, M. A. Gilbert and others were incor- 
porated as the Caii"o City & Canal Company, 
and were authorized to purchase and sell land 
in Township 17 south. Range 1 west, in Alex- 
ander County, and to build a city thereon, to 
be called the city of Cairo. This act 
amended February, 1839. 

June 7, 1837— The Illinois Central Rail- 
road Company released and' gave back to the 
State the right to construct " a railroad, com- 
mencing at or near the confluence of the 
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and extending 
to Galena, conditional, however, that the said 
State of Illinois shall commence the con- 
struction of said railroad, within a reasonable 
time, from the city of Cairo." 

June 26, 1837 — An agi-eement entered into 
between the Illinois Central Railroad, by its | 
President, A. M. Jenkins, and the Cairo City 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



& Canal Company, by D. B. Holbrook, its 
President, that the railroad to be constructed 
by the Illinois Central Railroad Company 
" shall commence at such point or place in 
the city of Cairo, as the Cairo City & Canal 
Company may fix and direct." 

June 26, 1837— The Cairo City & Canal 
Company mortgaged its lands in Township 
17 sovith, Eange 1 west, of the Third Principal 
Meridian, on a portion of which the city of 
Cairo had been platted and laid out, to the 
New York Life Insurance & Trust Company, 
as security for loans secured from English 
capitalists. 

February 1, 1840 — The act to establish 
and maintain a General System of Internal 
Improvements, passed February 27, 1837, 
was repealed by the Legislature, and the 
work on the Illinois Central Eailroad 
stopped; building a city here stopped, and, to 
complete Cairo's disasters, the company's 
banker in London failed, and the Cairo City 
& Canal Company were hopelessly bankrupt, 
and the nearly fifteen hundred people that 
had gathered here dispersed, and desolation 
brooded over the land. 

March 6, 1843 — The President and Direct- 
ors of the Cairo City & Canal Company were 
incorporated as the Great Western Railway 
Company, and authorized to construct a 
railroad, " commencing at the city of Cairo, 
in Alexander County, 111., and thence north, by 
way of Vandalia, Shelbyville, Decatur and 
Bloomington, to a point on the Illinois 
River at or near the termination of the 
Illinois & Michigan Canal," and to extend 
the main road to Galena. 

March 6, 1845 — The last above-mentioned 
act repealed by the Legislature. 

September 29, 1846— The bondholders, 
creditors and owners of the City of Cairo & 
Canal Company franchise, organized The 
Trust of the Cairo Property, and all the com- 



pany's property in Town 17 south. Range 1 
west, was conveyed to Thomas TayJor, of 
Philadelphia, and Charles Davis, [of New 
York, as Trustees of the Cairo City Prop- 
erty. 

February 10, 1849— The President and 
Directors of the Cairo City & Canal Com- 
pany, with others, rechartered and rein- 
stated as the Great Western Railway Com- 
pany, with all the powers conferred by the 
act of March 6, 1843, and the Governor of 
the State authorized to hold in trust for the 
Great Western Railway Company whatever 
lands might be donated or thereafter secured 
to the State of Illinois b_y the General Gov- 
ernment to aid in the construction and com- 
pletion of the Illinois Central or the Great 
Western Railroad from Cairo to Chicago. 

December 24, 1849 — Release executed by 
the Cairo City & Canal Company to the State 
of Illinois, of the charter of the Great West- 
ern Railway Company, upon the condition 
that the State would build "within ten years 
from January 1, 1850, a railroad from Cairo 
to Chicago, and that the southern terminiis 
should be the city of Cairo. 

September 20, 1850 — An act of Congress, 
granting to the State of Illinois the alternate 
sections of land, for sixteen sections in 
width, on each side of the railroad and its 
branches, for the constiaiction of a railroad 
from the southern terminus of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal to a point at or near the 
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, 
with branches to Chicago and Galena. 

September 20, 1850 — Release by the Cairo 
City & Canal Company of the charter of the 
Great Western Railway Company to the 
State, and the acceptance of the same by the 
State of Illinois. 

February 10, 1851 — The act of incorpora- 
tion of the Illinois Central Railroad passed 
by the Legislature, and providing for the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



89 



conveyance to Trustees the lands donated by 
the General Government to the State. 

June 11, 1851 — An agreement between the 
Illinois Central Railroad and the Trustees of 
the Cairo City Property, for the railroad to 
construct and maintain levees around the 
City of Cairo, in consideration of conveyance 
to the railroad company of certain lands in 
the city of Cairo, specifying the levees were 
to be about seven miles long, and to inclose, 
about thirteen hundi'ed acres of land on the 
point, 

September 15, 1853 — The city of Cairo 
was platted and laid out and recorded by the 
Cairo City Property, and the first lot sold to 
Peter Stapleton. 

October 15, 1853 — Deed executed by the 
Trustees of the Cairo City Property, to the 
Illinois Central Raikoad, for the land speci- 
fied in the agreement of the road to construct 
and maintain levees. 

May 31, 1855 — An additional agreement 
entered into between the Cairo City Property 
and the Central road, by which the road 
agreed to "construct and maintain new pro- 
tective embankment, to prevent the abrasion 
of the Mississippi levee." This agreement 
materially changed that of June 11, 1851. 

June 12, 1858 — This new embankment, 
constructed on the Mipsissippi River, gave 
way, and the city was inundated. 

October 12, 1858- The Illinois Central 
Railroad, having i-estored the levees to the 
condition they were in before the overflow, 
were informed that the reconstruction of the 
levees did not fulfill their agreement, and the 
road was notified to widen and strengthen 
the works to at least a width of twenty feet 
on the top of the levees, with a slope on each 
side of one foot perpendicular to five feet 
horizontal, and the entire levees to be raised 
two feet higher than the old levees. 

October 29, 1858 — Formal notice given by 



the Trustees of the Cairo City Property to 
the Illinois Central road, that, in conse- 
quence of the road's failure and refusal to 
strengthen the' levees, according to their con- 
tract, the Trustees would at once proceed to 
do the work and hold the railroad company 
responsible for the reimbursement of all 
costs of the same, with interest. 

October 1, 1863 — Mortgage executed, by 
the Trustees of Cairo City Property, toBiram 
Ketchum, Trustee, to all the property of the 
Trust of the Cairo City Property, as a secur- 
ity for a loan of $250,000. 

October 1, 1867 — An additional mortgage, 
by the same parties last above-named, upon 
the same property, for an additional loan of 
150,000. 

July 18, 1872 — Suit commenced by the 
Cairo City Property against the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad, for $250,000, money expended 
by the city company upon the levees. The 
suit was compromised by the payment by the 
railroad of $80,000, and the conveying back 
by deed to the Cairo City Property, of 397 
acres of the 487 acres that had been conveyed 
to the railroad, in consideration that the road 
would construct protective levees. By this 
settlement, the railroad was released from 
any further obligations in regard to the 
levees. 

May 10, 1876— The Cairo City Property, 
being unable to pay the loans negotiated in 
1863 and 1867, the mortgages were fore- 
closed, and the property of the Trust sold to 
the bondholders under the mortgage. 

January 20, 1876 — A new Trust formed, 
called the Cairo City Trust Property, under 
which the property is now managed by S. 
Staats Taylor and Edwin Parsons, Trustees. 

The finale of all this is, there was much 
more legislation than city or railroads con- 
structed. It is an evidence that the way 
cities are built is not by cunning or strong 



90 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



legislative acts, but by strong, enterprising, 
busy men; not by powerful, speculative cor- 
porations, but by independent individuals; 
not by anticipating the incoming rush of the 
thousands who make it a metropolis, and dis- 
counting in advance the per capita profits of 
their coming, but by voluntary acts of each 
one, actinof in ignorance and unconcern of 



what the future is or may be of the place — 
the busy, enterprising men of small capital 
and vast energy. These are the broad and 
strong foundations of all great cities that 
have ever yet been built in this country. It 
is the antipodes, in everything of a movement 
to found a city, to be, when completed, the 
property of a chartered corporation. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE LEVEES— HOW THE TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE BY LAW PLACED THE NATURAL TOWN SITE 
ABOVE OVERFLOWS— FIRST EFFORTS AT CONSTRUCTING LEVEES— ENGINEER'S REPORTS ON 
THE SAME— ESTIMATED HEIGHT AND COSTS— THE FLOODS— THE CITY OVERFLOWED 
—GREAT DISASTER, THE CAUSE* AND ITS EFFECTS— THE LEVEES ARE RECON- 
STRUCTED AND THEY DEFY THE GREATEST WATERS EVER KNOWN. 



IN the preceding chapter we have at- 
tempted to give a succinct account of the 
many charter and other corporation laws 
passed in reference to founding the city of 
Cairo, commencing with the first act of the 
Illinois Territorial Legislature, of June 9, 
1818, and in chronological order tracing 
these acts down to date. Following this, in 
the natural order, would be a similar account 
of the construction of the city's levees, from 
the first little rude embankments of William 
Bird around his little trading house, to the 
present more than seven miles of the finest, 
and probably the most solid, protective em- 
bankments in the world. 

In the year 1828, John and Thompson 
Bird brought their slaves over from Missouri, 
and built an embankment around the hotel 
that then was the solitary building in Cairo; 
v^hich stood a short distance below the pres- 
ent Halliday House. It was a frame build- 
ing, about twenty-five by thirty-five feet in 
dimensions. This levee seems to have ful- 
filled its purposes well, and for years kept 
out the waters. The same partifes soon after 



erected another building, for a store, and as 
this was just outside the levee, it was perched 
on posts that were high enough to keep it 
from the raging waters. 

For the particulars of the next attempt to 
construct levees we are indebted to the now 
venerable Judge Miles A. Gilbert, of Ste. 
Mary's, Mo., who gives us his recollections 
of the acts and doings of the old City & 
Bank of Cairo Company. He says: " John 
C. Comyges, the master spirit of this enter- 
prise, had just perfected his plans to go over 
to Holland, and bring to Cairo a shipload of 
Dutch laborers, to build the dykes or levees 
ai-ound the city, when he was taken sick and 
soon died, when the other incorporators, 
becoming discouraged, the enterprise was 
finally abandoned. In those days (1818), the 
public lands wei-e purchased from the Gov- 
ernment, under a credit system of $2 per 
acre — 50 cents in cash paid, and $1.50 on 
time. If the $1.50 was not promptly paid 
at maturity, the land reverted to the Govern- 
ment, and the 50 cents per acre paid was 
forfeited, and the land became again subject 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



91 



to entry. In 18B5, Judge Sidney Breese, 
Miles A. Gilbert and Thomas Swanwick re- 
entered these lands, the object being to revive 
the old charter of the City & Bank of Cairo 
Company, of 1818, w^hich had not yet expired 
by limitation of its charter. In order to gain 
influence to effect this purpose, Miles A. Gil- 
bert and Thomas Swanwick sold an undivided 
interest to Hon. David J. Baker, Hon. Elias 
K. Kane, Pierre Mesnard and Darius B. Hol- 
brook. " [Then follows an account of the 
chartering of the original Illinois Central 
Railroad, and the Internal Improvement Sys- 
tem, and the final release of the railroad 
charter to the State. For particulars see pre- 
ceding chapter. — En.] " Judge Gilbert in- 
forms us that one of the conditions of the 
Central's release to the State was, the State 
should build a road upon the proposed line 
and establish a depot in the city limits, and 
the city company was to deed the railroad 
ten acres of land for depot purposes, which 
deed was duly made. 

"In 1838, D. B. Holbrook, the President of 
the Cairo City & Canal Company, went to 
England and negotiated a loan or hypotheca- 
tion of the company's bonds, to the amount 
of 155,800 pounds sterling. On his return, 
he revived and organized the Cairo City 
Bank, which was, as required by law, for the 
time being, located at Kaskaskia, when work 
was commenced at Cairo upon a large and 
extravagant scale. Anthony Olney was ap- 
pointed General Superintendent. A large 
force was set to work, building the levees 
around the city. 

" Foundries, machine shops, workshops, 
boarding-houses and dwellings went up as if 
by magic. But in the midst of this general 
and cheerful prosperity, the banking-house 
of Wright &Co., of London, failed. The im- 
mediate cause of the suspension at Cairo 
was the failure of Wright & Co. to meet the 



drafts then drawn on them by the Cairo City 
& Canal Company, and that were on their 
way to England. Had the failure been post- 
poned sixty days longer, and the existing 
drafts been honored, the Cairo Company 
could have met all its contracts thereafter 
incui-red, by a little prudence, and the com- 
pany have been made self-sustaining. D. B. 
Holbrook made every effort in his power to 
raise means to pay and secure those whom 
the company owed at Cairo, but distrust had 
seized every one, and the result was the com- 
pany, bank, and all woi'k suspended. Fol- 
lowing this, recklessness and mob law 
reigned supreme" — idleness, rioting, de- 
moralization and drunkenness held sway, 
and the seething, roaring mob were as a den 
of mixed wild beasts, where only the fierce 
and bloodthirsty passions were manifested or 
to be met. Here was the rapidly gathered 
together young city, of about two thousand 
people, plain laborers mostly, many skilled 
mechanics, boarding-house keepers, engineers, 
merchants, traders, contractors, and the 
women and children. Their incipient city 
fringed along the banks of the Ohio Kiver, 
where the great old forest trees had been 
felled along the edges of the river bank to 
make room for this little border of mosaic 
work of civilization in the far West. The 
young town was in all its bewildering new- 
ness and freshness — that unfinished confusion 
on a fresh bank of earth here, a ditch there; a 
rough, stumpy, newly blazed road or trail, 
hardly yet cut by its first wagon tracks, lead- 
ing nowhere; newly-built houses dotted here 
and there as though dropped at random from 
the skies, without reference to their ever tak- 
ing their positions in streets or regularity, so 
new, too, were they, that a blanket, a piece of 
cai'pet or a quilt did duty for a door, and upon 
every hand were other still newer houses in 
every stage of building, from the few half- 



92 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



hewn logs that lay scattered over the ground 
and obstructing the passage-ways, to those 
with the new board roof being nailed on; 
workshops, boarding-houses, hotels, foun- 
dries, in short, a great city was almost 
magically being built in the wild forests, 
and simultaneously a great railroad was 
being built in the city, and happy and busy 
men were working out this apparently inex- 
tricable confusion, and bringing order and 
symmetry out of disorder, when the crash 
came, and hope and confidence fled from the 
people; all labor instantly ceased, and whole 
families swarmed from their homes, cabins 
and tents, after the fashion of angry bees 
when a stick is thrust into their hive. Hol- 
brook's fair promises were scouted, the law 
of the land ridiculed, and pell-mell the mob 
commenced an indiscriminate sacking of all 
public or city company property. They 
mostly must have found but little comfort in 
this, as there was little or nothing that could 
be converted to private use that would be of 
any value, and hence the robberies or appro- 
priations must often have been after the 
fashion of the soldier, who started on the 
march to Georgia, and the first day out dis- 
covered the highways and the by-ways, the 
fields and the woods were full of bummers, 
who were stealing everything as they went. 
Piqued at his being behind ^the early birds, 
he looked about him for something to steal, 
when the only thing he could find left was a 
plow. This he shouldered, and in happiness 
resumed his march. After tugging in sore 
agony and distress under his load of loot for 
a few miles, he overhauled his elder patriotic 
brother, stranded by the wayside from a 
grindstone that he had appropriated a few 
miles back. These two patriots, as it is right 
and proper they should be, are now on the 
penson list, for permanent disability — not 
for wounds received in battle, but for strains 



in transporting from the Southern Confeder- 
acy the sinews of war. 

Mr. Anthony Olney, the Superintendent, 
attempted to stay the storm and protect the 
property, but soon saw how futile his efforts 
were, and he quit serious efforts in that di- 
rection. He died a short time after this. 

Soon those to whom the Cairo City & 
Canal Company was indebted began to make 
efforts to collect their money by law. They 
attached everything they could find belonging 
to the company, which was sold at public 
sale for a mere trifle. For nearly two years 
the place was abandoned by all the repre- 
sentatives of the company, and the mob and 
the officers of the laws had effectually dis- 
posed of all the company's property. 

In 1838, just previous to the commence- 
ment of the improvements noted above, the 
city company issued the following circular: 

" The President of the Cairo City & Canal 
Company, having made arrangements in 
England for the funds requisite to carry on 
their contemplated improvements in the city 
of Cairo, upon the most extensive and liberal 
scale, it is now deemed proper to ""give pub- 
licity to the objects, plans and other matters 
connected with this great work, in order that 
every one who feels an interest or has pride in 
the success of this magnificent public enter- 
prise, may properly understand and appre- 
ciate the motives and designs of the project- 
ors. 

" The company, from the commencement 
determined to withhold fi'om sale, at any 
price, the corporate property of the city, un- 
til it should be made manifest to the most 
doubting and skeptical, the perfect practica- 
bility of making the site of the city of Cairo 
habitable. This being now fully established, 
by the report of the distinguished engineers, 
Messrs. Strickland & Taylor, of Pennsyl- 
vania, and also by that of the principal en- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



93 



gineers of the State works of Illinois, the 
company are (?) proceeding in the execution 
of their (?) plans, as set forth in their pros 
pectus, viz.: To make the levees, streets 
and embankments of the city; to erect ware- 
houses, stores and shops convenient for every 
branch of commercial business; dry docks; 
also buildings adapted for every useful me- 
chanical an manufacturing purpose, and 
dwelling-houses of such cost and description 
as will suit the taste and means of every 
citizen — which course has been adopted as 
the most certain to secure the destined popu- 
lation of Cairo, within the least possible 
time. The company, however, wish it fully 
understood, that it is far from their desire 
or intention to monopolize, or engage in any 
of the various objects of enterprise, trade or 
business which must of necessity spring up 
and be carried on with great and singular 
success in this city; it being their governing 
motive to offer every reasonable and proper 
encouragement to the enterprising and skill- 
ful artisan, manufacturer, merchant and pro- 
fessional man to identify his interests with 
the growth and prosperity of the city. When 
the company makes sales or leases of prop- 
erty, it will be on such liberal terms as no 
other town or city can offer, possessing like 
advantages for the acquisition of that essen- 
tial means of human happiness — wealth. 
The President of the company is fully em- 
powered, whenever he shall deem it expedi- 
ent, to sell or lease the property, and other- 
wise to represent the general interests and 
affairs of the company." 

This proclamation was the work of the 
President, Holbrook, and it was the aims, 
hopes, ambitions and intentions of the cpm- 
pany, as he was willing and eager for all the 
world to see and know them. In this mani- 
festo, Mr. Holbrook feels constrained, in the 
name of the company, to say, " that it is far 



from their desire or intention to monopolize 
or engage in any of the various objects of 
enterprise, trade or business, Avhich must of 
necessity spring up, etc." It was only after 
the calamitous crash came that people re- 
membered there had been anything really 
said in the President's circular except that 
" the President of the Cairo City & Canal 
Company, having made arrangements in 
England for the funds requisite to carry out 
their contemplated improvements in the city 
of Cairo, ii.pon the most extensive and liberal 
scale, etc." 

The subject of "funds" was all that caught 
the eye of the hopeful comer to Cairo, and 
the liberal and extensive works of buildino- 
the foundations of the city, that caused the 
money to pour out to the people in a golden 
stream, were abilndant evidences to all the 
world that the company had not only got the 
money, but were honestly putting it to the 
purposes for which they said " they had 
secured it " in their circular. But in the 
great financial wreck, that carried down such 
a wide circle of public and private enter- 
prises, and that came like a clap of thunder 
from a clouldess sky, the larger portion of 
the laborers that suffered from the visitation 
looked no further for the source of their woe 
than to Holbrook and his circular. And no 
doubt that here was the origin of the distrust 
of this man and his schemes, that eventually 
widely spread, and entered deeply into the 
minds of men all over our country, even to 
that extent that his usefulness ceased, and 
he returned to his Boston home to retire- 
ment from his struggles, to privacy and 
death. 

When Holbrook got the money from Eng- 
land, he put his engineers at once to work 
to ascertain the wants of the town site in the 
way of protective embankments from the 
waters of the two rivers that laved the three 



94 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



sides of its shores, and when they reported, 
he put 1,500 laborers upon this work, which 
he was pushing vigorously when the crash 
came. The levees along the two rivers had 
been regularly made and joined together at 
the southern extremity, but the cross levee 
on the north, to connect the two levees on 
the shores, and thus encircling the entire city, 
had not been constructed, and thus, practically, 
all the work completed was of little or no 
value without the completion of the north 
cross-levee. 

As stated above, the Cairo City & Canal 
Company, and their Superintendent, Mr, 
Olney, had abandoned the town and their 
property, and, eventually, so did nearly all 
the '2,000 people that had gathered here, 
and so complete was this exodus that it is 
stated less than fifty of them permanently re- 
mained. These seem to have been an easy, 
devil-may-care class of men, who found 
themselves the happy possessors, and for all 
purposes of use and occupation, the owners 
of a great young city, or the half -finished 
ground-plans thereof. 

The sudden coming together of what all 
the world thought to be a young and prom- 
ising great city was equaled (»nly by its sud- 
den, alm'>st complete desertion when the 
storm of adversity broke upon it. 

The completed improvements in the town 
were the iron works of Bellews, Hathaway & 
Gilbert, which were supplied with the best 
English machinery, which were in full oper- 
ation, and turning out much valuable prod- 
ucts. This institution continued its busi- 
ness, running its machinery to its full capac-, 
ity until the 22d of March, 1842, when the 
floods of that year, owing to the unfinished 
condition of the levees, washed it away. This 
flood at the same time swept away the dry 
dock, which had been erected at a cost of 
over 135,000, when it was seized by credit- 



ors, taken to New Orleans and sold. The 
City Company had made a large addition to 
the Cairo Hotel, which was thronged with 
guests at all times, many of them being 
tourists, attracted here by the wide name and 
fame of Cairo. Two large saw mills were 
turning out building lumber and steamboat 
timbers. A three-story planing mill was 
running to its fullest capacity. This was 
situated on the corner of Eighth street and 
the Ohio levee. The sieamer Asia and the 
hull of the steamer Peru had been moored in 
front of the city, and were made into wharf- 
boats and hotels. Holbrook had erected a 
spacious and elegant residence on the spot 
now occupied by the Halliday House. The 
company had erected twenty neat and com- 
modious cottages during the season of 1841. 

Then the numerous shanties, cabins and 
pole-huts, together with the unfinished levees 
and an unfinished railroad, were the heirlooms 
that became the possessions of the happy-go- 
lucky fifty people that remained here amid 
the general wreck and ruin. 

In April, 1843, Miles A. Gilbert was ap- 
pointed Agent of the Cairo City & Canal 
Company, to take possession, care and gen- 
eral control of its property in the city. The 
condition in which he found matters upon his 
arrival here, the mood and temper and claims 
of the peopte, the lawless spirit of the mob, 
and their primitive notions of the vested 
rights to everything that their occupancy had 
given them, the episodes Mr. Gilbert en- 
countered, that drove him to that " last re- 
sort of nations," a">'e fully told in the bio- 
graphical sketch of hina in another part of 
this work. 

As soon as Mr. Gilbert had vindicated his 
right to the possession and conti'ol of the 
property, he j)ut a force of laborers at work 
constructing the cross- levee, from the Ohio 
to the Mississippi levee, and this was com- 



HISTOKY OF CAIRO. 



95 



pleted during the year 1843. He also re- 
paired, strengthened, raised and leveled 
the old levees running along the river banks. 
The levees, as now completed, inclosed 
about six hundred acres of ground. Their 
average height above the natural surface of 
the land was between seven and eight feet. 

Their efficacy as embankments to keep out 
the waters is well told in the following ^rom 
Mr. Miles A. Gilbert: " They kept out the 
great flood in the Missisippi of June, 1844. 
Cairo was the only dry spot in the river bot- 
toms to be found between St. Louis and 
New Orleans. That season, 1 had a field of 
corn, of many acres, planted inside the Cairo 
levee, which grew to maturity and ripened 
into a good crop, although the water sur- 
rounding the city was about eight feet higher 
than the surface of the corn-field." 

The flood in the Mississippi Biver of the 
spring of 1844 was historical, aad remains 
to this day, as marking the extreme height 
to which the waters of that river have attained 
since its discovery. The writer remembers 
standing upon the high bluffs opposite St. 
Louis, when the waters of the river stretched 
from the base of the hills like a great sea, 
and as he looked west over the expanse of 
waters, could see no dry land except Monk's 
Mound, which was covered with domestic 
animals. From Alton to New Orleans, the 
river extended from the hills on one side to 
the hills on the opposite side, and probably 
averaged in width between fifteen and 
twenty miles. The destruction of human 
life, the devastation of property, in all this 
strip of wide country, for twelve hundred 
miles, was appalling. Houses, fences and 
buildings of all kinds were washed away, and 
a wide track of desolation marked the whole 
course of the river— -except within the levee 
of the city of Cairo. Here, Miles A. Gil- 
bert's field of corn was vigorously pushing 



up its heads, to look and smile, perhaps, 
upon the angry fljod that suri'ouuded it. 
What a triumph for the young city, to fol- 
low, as it did, so closely in time upon the 
tracks of the financial disaster that had swept 
over it, and against which no levees or em- 
bankments could protect it! What a laurel 
wreath it was for Miles A. Gilbert and his 
co-laborers in their heroic determination to 
overcome all obstacles, and build a city here! 

From the hour that Mr. Gilbert finished 
and inclosed the city with a levee, there 
has come to the town no disaster from the 
high waters in the Mississippi River; and 
yet the highest floods ever known in that 
river came while the levees were so con- 
structed and finished by Mr. Gilbert, and 
before they had been raised to their present 
height, which is an average of about twelve 
feet above the surface of the ground all 
around the city, or, in other words, five feet 
in height had been added to the original 
levees. 

It is a well-established fact that even the 
first levees built here would have been an 
abundant protection from any waters in the 
Mississippi Kiver. While this wonderful 
river, in its onward surge to the sea, defies 
and baffles the puny arm of man to guide, 
check or control it, yet nature has so arranged 
the topography oE the country, thiough 
which the river runs between this point and 
St. Louis, that its greatest floods can do 
no harm at Cairo. At Grand Chain, the 
river has cut its bed down through the solid 
rocks many hundreds of feet, and the great, 
water-seamed cliffs stand facing each other, 
forming the narrowest point, and the highest 
perpendicular rocky bluffs on either side of 
any other place in^ the Lower Mississippi. 
This aarrow gorge holds back the water 
above, and allows it only to pass through in 
such quantities, that the wide bottoms that 



96 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



commence here take them ofif as fast as they 
can come. 

"While this is true of the Mississippi River, 
it is not the ease with the Ohio River. The 
same Grand Chain crosses the Ohio, and 
passes into Kentucky a few miles above here; 
yet the river channel has not been so con- 
fined by steep, rocky shores, but, upon the 
contrary, there is quite a sufficient space for 
the waters in uninterrupted ^volume, even at 
the highest stages. 

But recent experiences teach there has been 
a materia] change in the frequency and force 
of the high waters, especially in the Ohio 
River. The great freshets in the Mississippi 
are usually known as the " June rise," and 
generally come from the melting snows in 
the Rocky Mountain regions, while the Ohio 
River is almost wholly influenced by long- 
continued heavy rains in the Mississippi 
Valley. Since 1860, the drainage of the en- 
tire agricultural country in the Valley has 
been greatly increased, until lagoons and 
marshes and ponds that ouce held the rain- 
fall, and allowed it to pass off only by 
evaporation, are now dry and well-tilled 
farms. So wide and thorough has general 
drainage been inaugurated, in surface, and 
subsoil and tile drainage, that it must greatly 
affect the gathering of the waters to the large 
rivers, and is, no doubt, one of the large 
factoi's in producing the change that has 
taken place in the annual freshets in our rivers. 
Still another alleged influence is the clearing 
out of the forests all over the counti*y,and thus 
taking from the atmosphere and the soil one 
large source of gathering and holding back 
the waters. But this last theory is somewhat 
fuddled by the often- advanced philosophical 
idea that the cutting away of the forests re- 
duces the rainfall, and hence the great 
droughts which so severely afflict the country 
at now frequent intervals- One or the other. 



perhaps both, of these theories are false, yet 
there is one thing well established, namely, 
that a heavily- timbered country always be- 
speaks a large rainfall there, while the treeless 
desert as certainly tells of a cloudless sky 
and no rainfall. So, if the trees do not pro- 
duce an increase in the rain, the rain cer- 
tainly does increase the tree growth. 

When Miles F. Gilbert had completed his 
levees around the city of Cairo, in 1843, he 
had walled the waters out, and fenced in the 
ragged squad of fifty men, women and chil- 
dren that constituted the population of the 
forlorn city. This tattered remnant of peo- 
ple had taken and held possession of the 
houses, and the first choice of hut, shanty, 
cottage, Holbrook's handsome i-esidence, or 
mill, or factory, was to the swift of foot, who, 
when the exodus commenced, could get there 
first, and acquire ownership by possession. 
They evidently looked upon Mr. Gilbert with 
some distrust and ill-will, as he was " not 
regular" in this; he claimed there were yet 
property rights here of the Cairo & Canal 
Company, and he further believed in the 
majesty and supremacy of the law of the 
land. Be gave his time and labored faith- 
fully, never, for a moment, so doubting his 
eyes and senses as to lose faith in the future 
great destiny of Cairo. From 1843 to 1851 
did he continue thus to " hold the fort, " 
and protect the town and build up its inter- 
ests. In those eight long years of decay and 
dilapidation, the population increased only 
from 50 to 200 souls. Except for the 
efforts of Mr. Gilbert, there was an interreg- 
num here, and a prostration of the hopes of 
the town quite as profound as was the finan- 
cial and commercial panic in the country 
generally. And all over the West this pros- 
tration lasted until the passage by Congress 
of the bill for the building of the Illinois 
Central Railroad, in February, 1851. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



99 



April 15, 1851, S. Staats Taylor succeeded 
M. A. Gilbert, as Agent of the Trustees of 
the Cairo City Property. At that time, only 
about fifty acres, along the Ohio River, near 
its confluence with the Mississippi River 
were cleared. The rest of the gi'ounds were 
mostly covered with a dense growth of tim- 
ber. The buildings and other improvements 
made by the city company, from 1837 to 
1842, had nearly all fallen and decayed, or 
been removed. Only a few buildings re- 
mained, and they were in a tumble-down 
condition. The Central Railroad had made 
arrangements to commence the construction 
of its road, and desiring privileges within 
the city of Cairo, and the right of way from 
the north to the south limits of the town, on 
June 11, 1851, Thomas S. Taylor and 
Charles Davis, the Trustees, living in New 
"Sork, entered into a contract with the rail- 
road company to construct and maintain 
levees around the city. The consideration 
paid the railroad, in addition to the right of 
way through the city, was 487 acres of land, 
this land mostly on each side of the track 
and the levees around the city, with certain 
tracts extending to the rivers on each side of 
the city. This agreement provided that the 
railroad company should encompass the city 
with a levee or embankment of adequate 
height to exclude the waters of the rivers 
at any then known stage or rise of the same; 
that this embankment or levee should be so 
formed or graded as to furnish a street or 
roadway, as nearly level, transversely, as 
might be deemed proper, of not less than 
eighty feet in width, and, beyond the street 
or roadway, to slope toward the river, on a 
descent of one foot in five, to the natm-al 
surface of the land, which [slope was to have 
been continued toward the river, to low water 
mark. 

As this agreement and contract was event- 



ually the most important to the city com- 
pany, to the town and to the railroad, and 
led finally to misunderstandings and lawsuits 
between the two companies, and to much dis- 
cussion and disputes among property holders 
in the city, and as they have never been 
properly understood by the many interested 
therein, we give them here entire, together 
with the correspondence arising therefrom 
between the railroad, the city company and 
the property holders: 

" AGREEMENT. 

" The Illinois Central Railroad Company, 
with the Trustees of the Cairo City 
Property. June 11, 1851. 

" Memorandum of an agreement made pro- 
visionally, this 11th day of June, 1851, be- 
tween Thomas S. Taylor and Charles Davis, 
of the first part, and the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company of the second part. 

"1. It is hereby mutually agreed, that 
proper deeds, conveyances and instruments 
necessary to secure the performance of this 
agreement, shall be executed by the respect-, 
ive parties hereto, when prepared in due 
form of law and with accurate descriptions. 

" 2. It is also agreed, that the site of 
Cairo City, substantially as shown on a map 
thereof made by H. C. Long, dated June, 
1851, and annexed hereto, 'shall be estab- 
lished by the parties of the first part, and 
maintained by them against the abrasion and 
wear of the waters of the rivers, and that all 
the constructions, of whatever nature, for the 
purposes of forming, maintaining and pro- 
tecting the site of the city, shall be made by 
and at the cost of the parties of the fii'st 
part. 

" 3. It is agreed, that this site shall be 
encompassed entirely by a levee or embank- 
ment of adequate height to exclude the 
waters of the rivers at any stage or rise of 
the same now known, to be established, for 

6 



100 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



the purposes of this agreement, by the en- 
gineers of both parties, which shall be so 
formed and graded as to furnish a street or 
roadway as nearly level, transversely, as may 
be deemed proper, of not less than eighty 
feet in width, and, beyond the width 
adopted for the level street or roadway, to 
slope toward the rivers, on a descent of one 
foot in five, to the natural surface of the land 
— which slope is to be continued toward the 
river, to a point to be selected by the en- 
gineers at low water mark; but a level sur- 
face (transversely) may be introduced between 
the slope of the levee or embankment and 
the slope down to the low water mark, in case 
the width of the bank between the water and 
the levee should make it necessary or expedi- 
ent, and it should be so arranged by the en- 
gineers of both parties. All of which em- 
bankment, or levee, or slopes, and inter- 
mediate level, if any there be, shall be 
made, formed and graded by and at the cost 
of the parties of the second part. 

" 4. It is agreed, that the location of the 
levee or embankment shall be such as will 
supply, from the excavation and removal of 
the earth forming the slope to the low water 
mark, all the earth necessary for the forma- 
tion, grading and construction of the levee 
or embankment, with only such variations in 
the places as the engineers of both parties 
may agree upon as absolutely necessary. 

" 5. It is agreed, that when the levee 
street is formed and graded, of a width of 
not less than eighty feet on top, and the 
slope of the levee wharf formed and graded, 
that the same shall be considered as com- 
pleted under this agreement, and that no 
further protection or construction, such as 
paving, planking, etc., shall be required of 
the parties of the second part; but all re- 
pairs, works or constructions which may 
thereafter become essential or necessary for 



the preservation, maintenance and repair 
of the levee or embankment shall be made by 
and at the cost of the parties of the second 
part; and such as may be essential and neces- 
sary for the preservation, maintenance and 
repair of the level in front of the levee or em- 
bankment, and of the slopes or levee-wharf, 
shall be made by and at the cost of the parties 
of the first part, except in front of those parcels 
of land to be appropriated to the parties of 
the second part, extending to and into the 
waters of the rivers, where the level, slopes 
or levee- wharf shall be maintained and re- 
paired by and at the cost of the parties of 
the second part, but not so far as to dis- 
charge the parties of the first part from the 
agreement to establish and maintain the site 
of the city No. 2. 

" 6. It is agreed, that the parties of the 
second part may, whenever they may see fit, 
lay down, construct and operate a single or 
double line of rails, of such form or rail, 
gauge and manner of construction as they 
may deem judicious, upon or along the levee 
or embankment or any part thereof; and 
may use the same for the transportation of 
passengers, goodf and merchandise, by steam 
or other power — subject only to such reason- 
able and just rules and regulations, as to 
the use of their tracts, as may be made and 
inaposed by the proper authorities of Cairo 
City for the time being, but no rules or reg- 
ulations shall be imposed, or if imposed 
need be respected, which, in elfect, would 
essentially effectually impair or entirely de- 
stroy its right of constructing and operating 
the tracks on the levee or embankment. 

" 7. It is agreed, that cross-levees or em- 
bankments shall be made and maintained by 
and at the cost of the parties of the second 
part, of adequate height and width for the 
purposes proposed for them, which shall 
cross from the levee or embankment on the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



101 



Mississippi to that on the Ohio, one of them 
on and upon the strip of land marked on the 
map A, and the other on the strip of land at 
the northern boundary of the city, marked 
B; but no public streets or highways are to 
be laid out upon these levees or embank- 
ments, except to cross the same nearly or 
exactly at right angles; and the tracks and 
rails laid thereon are not to be subject to any 
rules or regulations other than those which 
are imposed upon the parties of the second 
part by their act of incorporation and the 
laws of the land. 

" 8. It is agreed, that the parties of the 
second part shall proceed with due diligence 
in the construction of the crosslevee or em- 
bankment on the lower strijD marked A, and 
of the levee or embankment below the same, 
and entirely around the point of the city, at 
the confluence of the rivers, as shown on the 
map; but that they may postpone to such 
time as they may deem reasonable and 
proper, the construction of the cross-levee or 
embankment on the upper strip of land, 
marked B, and the levees or embankments 
to connect with those previously constructed 
on the lower portion of the city. 

"9. It is agreed, that the parties of the 
second part may locate their railroad ^from 
the northern line of Cairo City, upon the 
line of the width of roadway [shown on the 
annexed map, being 100 feet, to a point to 
be established and fixed by the engineers of 
the two parties, in the northern line of the 
cross strip of land, marked A on the annexed 
map, and below and south of that point on 
and over all the land colored blue on said 
map, to be surveyed and described by metes 
and bounds; and also on and over all the 
lands colored blue on the annexed map, 
above the northerly line of the strip marked 
A, on each river to the northerly line of the 
city; and also on and over the strip of land 



marked B, including in the preceding de- 
scription the station lots, depot grounds and 
levee wharves shown on the said map. 

" 10. It is agreed, that when the above 
location shall have been made according to 
law, that the deeds of release and cession 
shall be made, executed and delivered by the 
parties of the first part, to the parties of the 
second part, in the consideration of the agree- 
ment on their part for the construction and 
maintenance of the levees, embankments and 
slopes above described, of all the lauds and 
premises to Avhich reference has heretofore 
been made, and which are to be particularly 
surveyed and accurately located and de- 
scribed, to hold the same absolutely in fee 
simple, for the uses and purposes of the said 
railroad and its business, and for the trans- 
portation of passengers, goods and merchan- 
dise and the station accommodations, storage, 
receipt, delivery and safe keeping of the 
same, and for the machine and repair shops, 
engine and car houses, turn-tables, water 
tanks, and generally for all the wants and 
requirements of the railroad service, so long 
as the said parties of the second part shall 
continue to use, occupy and operate the same 
for the pui-poses above intended. 

"11. It is agreed, that the parties of the 
second part may lay down, maintain and 
operate their lines of tracks and rails, upon 
the above-described lands, in such manner 
and form as they may deem proper; and may 
use thereon steam, or other power of any 
kind, subject only to the general liabilities of 
land-owners as to the use of their property, 
but exempt from any special rules or obliga- 
tions imposed or attempted to be imposed by 
the parties of the first part, or any and every 
grantees or grantee of the Cairo City Proper- 
ty. 

" 12. It is agreed, that the tracks or lines 
of rails of the parties of the second part, 



102 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



to be laid down on the strip of land, of 100 
feet in width, running entirely around the 
city, shall be laid, as nearly as may be, at 
and under each street crossing, upon the 
natm-al level or grade of the land, in order 
to gain as much elevation as possible under 
the bridges to bo erected by the parties of 
the first part, and each at every street cross- 
ing, but the grade may vary from the natural 
surface at all other points, as the parties of 
the second part may see tit. 

"13. It is agreed, that the cross streets 
are to be located by the parties of the first 
part, across and over the strip of land men- 
tioned in the preceding article, with a spare 
of at least 400 feet between them; and are 
to be graduated so as to cross the strip of 
land on bridges, with at least sixteen feet 
above the rails of the parties of the second 
part, for the passage of engines, and that no 
crossing shall be laid out to ci'oss the tracks 
in any other way 'than with sufficient space 
below it for the passage of engines, and that 
no crossing through or upon any of the sta- 
tion or depot lands. 

" 14. It is agreed, that the parties of the 
first part are to build and maintain all 
the bridges or street crossings, at their ex- 
pense and cost, and that the parties of the 
second part az'e to drain and protect the strip 
of land above-mentioned, by sewers, drains, 
culverts and fences, at their expense and 
costs. 

" 15. It is agreed, that the parties of the 
second part shall release and convey to the 
parties of the first part, all their right, title 
and interest of, in and to a certain depot lot 
in the city of Cairo, containing ten acres of 
land, conveyed to them by the State of 
Illinois by deed dated the 24th day of 
March, 1851, and also of, in and to all the 
roadway of the railroad heretofore located 
in the city of Cairo and also conveyed to 



them by the above-mentioned indenture, so 
far as the same may not be included within 
the boundaries of the lands and premises, 
which are intended to bo conveyed to the 
parties of the second part, under this agi'ee- 
ment. 

" 16. Finally, it is agreed, that in case 
of the necessity of any further covenants 
or arrangements, to carry out the pui'poses 
of this agreement, or explanatory of the 
same, but not essentially to impair or mod- 
ify the same, that both parties will proceed 
to adjust and execute the same, in the full 
spirit of mutual confidence in which this 
agi'eement has been negotiated and settled, 
and that in the event of any misunderstand- 
ing or disagreement of any kind, or in any 
way connected with this agreement, its pur- 
poses and objects, that the points of disagree- 
ment and dispute shall be reduced to writ- 
ing, and in that form submitted to the arbit- 
rament and decision of thi'ee referees, to be 
chosen in the usual manner." • 

This agreement was duly signed by Robert 
Schuyler, President of the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company, and by T. S. Taylor and 
Charles Davis, Trustees of the Cairo City 
Property. 

In addition to the foregoing vast consider- 
ation of lands and privileges granted to the 
Illinois Central Railroad Company, 5,000 
shares of the Cairo City stock were conveyed 
to the order of the Directors of that com- 
pany, by the Trustees of the Cairo City Prop- 
erty, as appears by the following extract 
from a circular published by them in Novem- 
ber, 1854, for the information of the share- 
holders, and of all others interested, or wish- 
ing to become interested therein: 

"In the year 1851, the Trustees made the 
most advantageous arrangements for the 
property, by which they secured the con- 
struction of the Illinois Central Railroad, 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



103 



from Cairo, as its southern terminus, to 
Chicago and Galena; and by which they 
also secured the completion of the levees of 
the most permanent character, and inclosing 
the whole site of Cairo, by the said Illinois 
Central Railroad Company, and at its ex- 
pense. These arrangements were perfected 
by the Trustees, by an authorized expend- 
iture or issue of 5,000 new shares in the 
'Cairo City Property,' and by donations of 
the land at Cairo needed for railroad and 
other purposes." 

On May 31, 1855, the following additional 
memorandum of an agreement was made and 
entered into between Thomas S. Taylor, of the 
city of Philadelphia, and Charles Davis, of 
the city of New York, Trustees of the Cairo 
City Property, of the first part, and the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad Company of the 
second part: 

" Whereas, the said parties did, on the 
11th day of June, 1851, make and enter into 
% certain agreement with each other, relative 
to the 'deeding and conveying certain prop- 
erty at Cairo, by the said first to the said 
second party, and in consideration thereof 
for the construction of certain levees and 
woi'ks, for the protection of the said city of 
Cairo from the waters of the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi Rivers, by the said party of the 
second part; and 

" Whereas, the said deed and conveyances 
have been executed, delivered and accepted, 
and a part of the levee to be constructed, on 
the Ohio River, had been begun and partly 
completed, and in other respects said con- 
tract remains to be executed; and 

" Whereas, for the purpose of obviating 
misunderstanding, as well as because re- 
monstrances seem to render it expedient, it 
has been deemed best to modify the said con- 
tract in one or two particulars, as well as to 



render more clear its meaning in others; 
now, therefore, 

" This Indenture ivitnesseth, That, for the 
consideration named in said agi'eement, and 
in consideration of the premises, and of $1 
by each of the parties hereto paid to the 
others, the receipt whereof is mutually con- 
fessed, it is agreed by the said parties as fol- 
lows, to wit: 

''^ First. The said second party agrees that 
the levee on the Ohio River, now under con- 
struction, shall be completed to low water 
mark, which has been designated and fixed 
by the engineers of both parties, at a point 
forty -two feet below the grade line of the 
levees, as soon as the condition of the river 
will permit, and the paving in front of the 
lots of land conveyed by the first parties to 
the said second parties, under the agreement 
of the 11th of June, required to be done by 
the parties of the second part before men- 
tioned, shall be prosecuted and completed by 
the second parties with all convenient dis- 
patch; and the first parties shall, in like 
manner, prosecute and complete the pave- 
ment in front of the remainder of the said 
levee, when completed as above. 

" Second. The said first party agrees, that 
the completion of the remaining parts of the 
levee agreed upon and described in the said 
agreement of June 11, and the constiniction 
of which was therein undertaken by the said 
second parties, as is herein agreed, but Id no 
way modifying the said original agreement in 
this respect, except as to the time of con- 
structing and completing said levees, and 
that upon the condition of the construction 
of protective embankments, as hereinafter 
agreed. 

" Third. The said party of the second part 
agree to maintain in good repair the protec- 
tive embankment, now existing, from the 



104 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



point of the confluence of the Rivers Ohio and 
Mississippi to the old cross embankment, to 
the height of the newlj- constructed levee on 
the Ohio River, except so far as the engineers 
of both parties shall deem it advisable to 
deviate fi'om the present course of the same; 
and in case it shall be deemed advisable to 
deviate from it at any point, the , new em- 
bankment required to be constructed by the 
said direction shall be constructed and main- 
tained by the said party of the second part, 
to the same height and in the same manner as 
tliey are required to maintain the present 
embankment. 

" The said second party shall and will also 
construct and maintain a new protective em- 
bankment upon the Mississippi River, from 
a point at the westerly end of the old cross 
embankment, to be fixed by the engineers of 
both parties, upon a location to be determined 
by said engineers, to connect with the track 
of the Illinois Central Railroad, at or near 
the strip of land marked 'A' upon the ndap 
or plan fixed to said agreement of the 11th 
of June, A. D. 1851; and the mark to be re- 
quired for the construction and repair of the 
embankments herein mentioned, shall be com- 
pleted before the 1st day of December next. 

" Fourth. The embankments above pro- 
vided, but which are only provisional and 
temporary, substituted for the levees agreed 
to be constructed by the said second parties, 
shall be maintained and kept in repair by 
the said party of the second part, until the 
levee-: by them agreed to be constructed shall 
be built in the manner and form as prefaced 
in the said agreement of 11th June, 1851. 
And the said second parties agree to construct 
and complete the said levees as fast as ^the 
business of the Illinois Central Railroad i-e- 
quires the extension of the track over and 
upon any portion of the bank of the Missis- 
sippi River, which is to be protected by such 



embankment, whether upon the levee or on 
the inner track, and. shall in like ^manner 
construct a similar levee or levees, upon the 
banks of the Ohio, between the land by the 
strip marked 'A' upon the said map or plan, 
and the levee already constructed upon the 
bank of said river, as the business of the 
city of Cairo shall require it, and the parties 
of the first part, or their successors, shall re- 
quire it to be done. 

******* 

^^ Eighth. The parties of the second part 
shall examine the Mississippi bank, on the 
tract of land conveyed to them for a station, 
and take all necessary steps to protect the 
same from further abrasion until the con- 
struction of the permanent levee?, according 
to the said agreement of the 11th June, 1851, 
at their own expense. 

" They shall, in like manner, examine and 
protect the point of the Mississippi Jliver, 
where the abrasion has affected the old em- 
bankment, and do what is necessary to pro- 
tect it for the same period, at their own ex- 
pense. 

" They shall also survey the Mississippi 
River banks opposite the point nearest the 
Cache River, and shall do at their ex- 
pense, what is in the report of the smweyors 
necessary to protect the same from further 
abrasion or inroads; provided such work shall 
not exceed in expense the sum of $20,000; 
and provided also, all the work herein pro- 
vided for, as well as the said provisional 
temporary embankment, shall be constructed 
under the joint superintendence of the en- 
gineers of the two parties, and be proceeded 
with as early as practicable." 

This agreement concludes by specifying 
that the original agreement is to remain in 
full force, except where modified by this. 

It is then duly signed and acknowledged 
by W. H. Osborn, President of the Illinois 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



lOo 



Central Eailroad, and by the Cairo City 
Property. 

There were many causes occurring, be- 
tween the dates of this first and second 
agreement, that led, finally, to the adoption 
of the additional and explanatory second 
agreement between the two interested par- 
ties, the leading ones of which are yet the un- 
written though important part of the city's 
history. 

In accordance with the terms of the first 
agreement of 1851, the Illinois Central Eail- 
road, in a short time after the adoption of 
the articles, proceeded about the woi'k of 
making new levees, and to construct these ac- 
cording to the terms of the contract. 

In order to the better understanding of 
the work done by the road, it is proper to ex- 
plain that the levees, as completed under 
the supervision of Miles A. Gilbert, were 
constructed near the banks of the two rivers, 
ai-d circling and coming together at the south 
upon the line now occupied by the levee. 
The north cross-levee was upon a ridge of 
ground commencing near the present Illinois 
Central Railroad stone depot (about Tenth 
street), and running directly west to the Mis- 
sissippi River, inclosing about six hundred 
acres. By the contract with the Central 
road, the north cross- levee was to be ex- 
tended, or cai-ried north, so that the levees 
would inclose about thirteen h,undred acres 
of ground, or to the position substantially as 
cow constructed. 

The new levees along the rivers were lo- 
cated inside the old levees, and, where prac- 
ticable, their dirt was used on the new ones. 

The President and Directors of the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company were, unques- 
tionably, in good faith anxious to fulfill their 
contract; construct strong and really protect- 
ive levees; stop the abrasion of the natural 
bank on the Mississippi side, and further the 



interest of their road and the city, and help 
build a great city here. But their work upon 
the levees soon began to drag; to meet un- 
accountable obstructions; to work at loose 
pm-poses, and often to assume the appear- 
ances of undoing good work that had been 
before done, and tearing down instead of 
building up. This inexplicable coui-se of 
circomstances would often menace the very 
existence of the city; greatly astound and 
exasperate the Cairo City Property, as well 
as the President and Directors of the Central 
road. 

The secret of these studied wrongs that so 
greatly injured the city, and from the evil 
effects of some of them it has hardly re- 
covered yet, was this: The Chief Engineer 
of the Central Railroad — a man named Ash- 
ley — and it is alleged other officers, and 
among them R. B. Mason, the Superintend- 
ent, had conceived a daring scheme of specu- 
lation, whereby they purchased a great deal 
of real estate in and around Mound City, 
and in order to make this valuable they un- 
dertook to destroy Cairo, and thereby make 
Mound City the actual terminal point of the 
road. And Engineer Ashley evidently an- 
ticipated that his official position in con- 
trolling the work in Cairo would enable him 
to carry out this purpose. 

That such was their cunning scheme, which 
Ashley boldly attempted, is strongly evi- 
denced by this incident, as well as many 
others that occurred in the year 1854, as 
follows: 

A contractor upon the levee work, named 
Dutcher, brought on a force of six hundred 
or more laborers to work on the road and 
levees, and commenced to cut down the old 
levees, and, as he stated, for the purpose 
of erecting the new ones. But the new ones 
were left with great gaps, and often there 
were long stretches where there were no ap- 



106 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



pearance of new embankments going up. 
In the meantime, the high waters began to 
come down the rivers, and the agent of the 
Cairo City Property began to realize that 
Dntcher was exposing the city. He said all 
he could to change the course of the work, 
but Dutcher would only promise and do noth- 
ing. When it became plain something must 
be done quickly, Mr. Taylor employed 300 
men to work at night, and bank off ,the ris- 
ing waters, where the levees had been cut 
down. They would go to work in the even- 
ing, when Dutchei''8 men would quit work. 
After this had gone on two or three nights, 
Mr. Dutch er claimed the city company were 
interfering with his work, and he abandoned 
his contract, and turned adrift his force of 
600 men, all of whom, of course, were given 
to understand that the city company had 
brought about the troubles. On the third 
night, when the night laborers repaired to 
their work — the waters every moment now 
becoming very dangerous — they found their 
works and tools in the possession of a mob of 
Butcher's men, and they were vowing and 
swearing that no man should do a strcike of 
work unless their whole force was also em- 
ployed, and paid at the rate of $3 each per 
night. Such was the emergency, that even to 
delay and parley was to sacrifice the town, and 
the agent of the Cairo City Property ordered 
one and all to go to work. They did so, and 
this disastrous mob attack, at a critical mo- 
ment, when it could not be resisted, was after 
all, the means that saved the city and kept out 
the waters. The strip of levee between the 
old and new levee was the weak spot in the 
works, and so rapidly did the waters come 
during the night, that on this place the men 
worked for hours in water over twenty inches 
in depth. To understand this, it is neces- 
sary to state that there was an old levee out- 
side of this, and that when the water broke 



over the outside levee, it came to the new one 
in a swirl or circle, so that the tendency of 
the current was not over the new levee. But 
so great was the emergency, and, thanks to 
the mob, so abundant were the laborers, that 
men were placed upon the endangered spot, 
and actually so thickly were they crowded, 
that human flesh formed an embankment, and 
kept back the waters until dirt was placed 
there, and the levee made high and^ strong 
enough to stay the waters. The riotous labor- 
ers lingered about the town, often threatening 
the men at work on the levees with violence; 
openly threatening to burn and destroy the 
town, and they were several times caught at- 
tempting to cut the levees and let in the 
water. The regular laborers had armed, as 
well as they could possibly, with pistols and 
guns, and one night the rioters tired a num- 
ber of pistol shots in the direction of the 
workmen, and it is most fortunate that they 
did not hit or hurt any of them, for the rea- 
son that the laborer's had their instruction 
to pay no attention to their assailants unless 
some of their men were hurt, and in that 
event to charge upon them and spare not, 
but kill all they came to. Many of the peo- 
ple in the town took sides against the com- 
pany, and turbulence continued to spread and 
intensify and grow, and finally the company 
telegraphed to St. Louis for a few boxes of 
muskets, and when the mob saw these arrive, 
and noticed they were taken to the com- 
pany's oflice, the next morning the roads, the 
by-ways and the brush, even, were full of 
Butcher's laborers, with their .little bundles 
on their shoulders, getting out of town as 
fast as they could. Dutcher, when he threw 
up his contract, repaired to the nearest hills, 
up the line of the railroad, and there awaited 
news of the drowning or burning of Cairo, 
and vapored and blowed his wrath at the 
town, threatening to sue and collect many 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



1C7 



millions of dollars damages for interfering 
with his contract work. 

There are many other circumstances that 
go to establish the fact that Ashley was not 
only disloyal to the railroad company that 
employed him, but that he was willing to 
sacrifice not only Cairo, but the best inter- 
ests of the road in his schemes of speculation 
and selfishness. So plain did this eventually 
become, that the authorities of the railroad 
became aware of his tricks, and they per- 
emptorily and curtly dismissed him from 
their service. Instead of the city company 
being sued and made to pay immeasurable 
damages for employing this large force of 
men to work at night and save the city, the 
agent, Mr. Taylor, made out a bill against the 
road for every dollar he had expended, and 
the road paid it, because it was convinced 
that, instead of interfering with Dutch er's 
contract work, the company, by their agent, 
was simply doing the work the road had 
bound itself, by solemn contract, to do. 

Strange as it may seem, this dastardly at- 
tempt to destroy the town, and probably all 
in it, was not understood at the time by the 
people; in fact, many so completely misun- 
derstood the daring moves of the unholy con- 
spirators, that they not only did not see how 
they and theirs had been saved, but they took 
sides, and many were vehement partisans of 
Ashley and his followers. They believed that 
the city company had stood about the town 
like a dog in the manger, and refused to let 
the railroad build the levees; and when the 
arrival of the muskets had dispersed the riot- 
ous laborers, and driven them in panic away, 
there were citizens left to take up their quar- 
rel, and threaten the city company. 

Another par incident, only on a more ex- 
tended scale, was when the United States 
Marshal came down from Springfield to serve 
writs upon the " heads of the town " — lead- ' 



ing citizens, as it were, who, like pretty 
much all of the residents, were defiant tres- 
passers upon the company's property, and 
the few leaders of whom the company had 
commenced proceedings against in the 
United States Court. When the Marshal ar- 
rived, there was a flutter of excitement, and 
the mutterings of the threatened storm were 
all around the sky. But the Marshal was 
quiet and gentlemanly; in truth, he seemed to 
be about the only one not heated with great 
excitement. He waited upon the parties for 
whom he had writs; told them that he was 
going up the river for two days, and then he 
would return, and they must give bail, or 
he would be compelled to perform the pain- 
ful duty of putting them in jail. That night, 
a meeting of the people was called; some 
brave, short speeches were made, and finally 
the meeting resolved that the city company 
had no right nor title to any property within 
the city, and that they ivoiild not obey the 
ivrits of the United States Court. Here was 
insurrection and civil war! Or, as it turned 
out, a roaring farce, that surpassed the Three 
Tailors of Bow Street, when they issued 
their proclamation to an astonished world, 
and announced that " We, the People of 
England, etc." 

When the oflBcer returned, and the 
" rebels " took a second look at him, they 
concluded to recognize his writs, and, under 
solemn protests, gave bail and escaped the 
bastile. 

The embankments constructed by the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, under their contract, 
did not prove to be protective embankments 
or levees. On June 12, 1858, they gave way, 
and the city was inundated; this inundation 
was the result solely of the imperfect con- 
struction of the embankment. Logs and 
stumps had been put in the levees, and this 
furnished a route for the waters until the 



108 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



dirt became so soft and giving,that it ceased 
to be an obstruction to the waters, and the 
flood came. This destructive overflow led to 
the following correspondence between the 
Illinois Central Railroad Company and the 
Cairo City & Canal Company, and which 
furnishes the only complete explanation of 
the facts, and the views of the different in- 
terested parties at the time that we can now 
procure : 

July 13, 1858, Charles Davis, Esq., one of 
the Trustees, addressed the President and 
Directors of the Central road, substantially 
as follows: " The recent inundation of Cairo 
has particularly directed the attention of the 
Trustees of the Cairo City Property to their 
agi'eements with the Illinois Central Rail- 
road Company, relative to the construction 
and maintenance of levees or pi'otective em- 
baukments around the city of Cairo. 

" At the time of making those agreements, 
the Trustees understood, and have ever since 
understood, and have uniformly and repeated- 
ly been advised by various counsel, that 
these agreements were, on the part of your 
company, not only a legal undertaking to 
construct levees or protective embankments, 
to the extent and in the manner prescribed in 
said agreements, but were also a continuing 
and perpetual legal undertaking to maintain 
the same after they had been constructed. 

" The Trustees have received, both from 
their beneficiaries and from purchasers of land 
at Cairo, very many expressions of regret that 
the levees and protective embankments have 
proved insufficient for the purpose of their con- 
struction, and very many statements of great 
actual and prospective loss and damage to 
such beneficiaries and purchasers, and many 
inquiries whether the Illinois Central Com- 
pany had performed their agreements before- 
mentioned. Their beneficiaries have com- 
municated to the Trustees the opinion of said 



beneficiaries, that the duty of the Trustees to 
the said beneficiaries required them to de- 
mand, and by all means in their power to en- 
force, a full and continual performance of 
said agreements, and urgently request the 
Trustees to give immediately, and in the fut- 
ure continue to give, their attention to this 
matter. 

" Without now adverting to any omissions 
in the past, the recent inundation has done 
much damage to the levees and embankments, 
which, under said agreements, it is the duty 
of your company to repair. The Trustees 
have a telegram from Mr. S. S. Taylor, 
dated at Cairo, 6th inst. , informing them 
that the sewers were all open, and a portion 
of the city dry, so that work on the levees 
and embankments could be resumed. 

" The Trustees do hereby, in conformity to 
the requests of their beneficiaries, and in as- 
sertion of their rights under said agreements, 
request the President and Directors of the 
Illinois Central Railroad Company to repair 
the damage which has been done, and also to 
perform at once whatever ha& been omitted 
that is required to be performed, under said 
agreements for the construction and main- 
tenance of levees and protective embank- 
ments around the city of Cairo. 

"When the Trustees consider the importance 
of the performance of these agreements to the 
compamy itself, but much more 'when they 
consider the innu^merable and the very heavy 
liabilities to which the company is needlessly 
exposed by every omission to perform agree- 
ments of such general and public concern, 
the Trustees can scarcely believe that the 
President and Directors of the company will 
delay unnecessarily, or even voluntarily 
neglect to do all that the company has by 
said agreements undertaken." 

To this, under date 15th July, 1856, Mr. 
Osborn, the President of the Central road, 



HISTORY OF CAIKO. 



109 



replies, acknowledging the receipt of the let- 
ter, and stating " it is the intention of the 
company to repair ^the damage occasioned 
by the late freshet to the works at Cairo, as 
far as is incumbent upon it under the con- 
tracts with your company. I am not aware 
of any omission in the performance of the 
contract, and do not understand that clause 
of your letter which requests this company 
to perform at once whatever has been omit- 
ted that is required to ^ be performed under 
said agreement for the construction and 
maintenance of levees and protective em- 
bankments, etc." 

Under date 22d, the same month, Mr. Os- 
born again writes to Mr. Davis, and among 
other things says: " I am desirous to meet 
the views and wishes of your shareholders, 
but the difficulty is the ready money. Capt. 
McClelland has decided to accept, if not al- 
ready done, the proposition of Mr. Edwards, 
to whom the price of the unfinished work was 
referred, payable, $5,000 upon the Ist day 
of September, and the balance (about $6,000) 
on the 1st day of December. If you will be 
good enough to postpone those payments un- 
til the 15th of January, I will at once give 
directions to have a force make the repairs 
to the levee and embankments with all prac- 
ticable dispatch." 

On the same day, by written communica- 
tion, Mr. Davis accepted the terms and con- 
ditions proposed by Mr. Osborn. 

Under same date, S. Staats Taylor, in re- 
ply to letter of inquiry from the Trustee, Mr. 
Davis, writes: " I would state that, in my 
opinion, an embankment twenty feet wide on 
the top, with a slope on each side of one foot 
perpendicular to five (or even four) feet 
horizontal, would be sufficiently strong to 
resist the pressure of any water that could be 
brought against it, provided it was properly 
constructed. The late higrh water at Cairo 



has demonstrated that the levees are not high 
enough, and to make them safe in this par- 
ticular they should be at least two feet (if 
not three feet) higher. Where the levees 
were up to grade, the water in the Ohio was 
within one foot seven and a half inches of the 
top of the levees, and on the Mississippi side 
it was still higher, bringing it within a 
very few inches of the grade. 

" I have reason to believe that the embank- 
ment at the place where it broke was ren- 
dered weak and insecure by logs being buried 
in or under it, and a considerable portion of 
the new protective embankment, both on the 
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, was con- 
structed without the natural surface being 
properly prepared by grubbing and plowing, 
so as to allow the artificial embankment to 
amalgamate and firmly combine with the 
natural ground. From a neglect to do this, 
the water during the late high v.-ater perco- 
lated, and found a passage in many places in 
considerable quantities, between the artificial 
embankment and the natural ground. This 
neglect to properly prepare the ground ex- 
isted at the time of building the new levee 
on the Mississippi last winter, and the ground 
was not only not grubbed or plowed, but 
large stumps were allowed to remain in that 
levee, and are there now, notwithstanding my 
notification at the time to Capt. McClelland 
that they were so allowed to remain there. 
The contractor emj^loyed by the railroad 
company last winter was detected by myself 
in burying large logs in that embankment, 
not merely allowing those to remain that had 
fallen, when the embankment was to be con- 
structed, but actually rolling others in from 
other places. When detected, those that 
were in view were removed, but as a portion 
of the embankment was constructed before 
his practices were known, the probability is 



no 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



that others are yet in the embankment, de- 
tracting, of course from its strength and 
security. " 

A communication from Mr. S. S. Taylor, 
which was read at the meeting of the Trustees 
on the 29th September, 1858, is, to some ex- 
tent, a semi-official account of the overflow 
of the town in 1858, and as such deserves to 
be placed upon a permanent record. It is 
dated Cairo, September 6, 1858. " After the 
last meeting of the stockholders, in Septem- 
ber, 1857, our city continued to increase in 
population, and improvements continued! to 
be made, the improvements, owing to the 
financial crisis, being fewer in number than 
during the previous spring and winter. The 
increase in population was, nevertheless, 
greater than at any previous period, every 
house and structure capable of protecting 
population from the elements becoming filled 
to repletion. This increase continued dur- 
ing the winter and spring, so that at the 
municipal election in February last, in which 
there was no such particular interest taken 
by the people as to bring out a full vote, 
there were over 'four hundred votes polled, 
and at the same time it was known that there 
were about two hundi-ed and fifty residents 
who did not vote, some by reason of not 
being entitled, and others for want of inter- 
est. 

" It was thus ascertained, with a consider- 
able degree of accuracy, that at the time of 
the election in February last, we had at least 
650 men residents here. It is generally con- 
ceded that one in seven of a population is a 
large allowance of voters, in many places it 
not being more than one in ten. But giving 
us the largest allowance, and that may be 
proper, inasmuch as in a new place there is 
always a preponderance of men, this calcula- 
tion will afford us a population of 4,500. 
Shortly after this time, some inconven- 



ience from the accumulation, of water within 
our levees began to be felt. This accumula- 
tion arose from excessive rains. These rains 
interfered somewhat with the filling in and 
grading of the Ohio levee, and in the early 
part of December we were obliged to close 
our sewers, from the waters in the rivers 
having risen to a level with their outside 
mouths, and, with the exception of a few 
days in the early spring, they remained 
closed until they were re-opened after the 
overflow. 

" This state of things continued until, and 
was in existence at, the time the breach in 
our levees occurred on the 12th of June last. 

" As you are aware, this breach, whereby 
the water was first let into the town, oc- 
curred on the Mississippi, at the point where 
the levee on that river leaves the river bank, 
on the curve toward the Ohio River, and 
about half a mile from the junction of the 
two levies. 

" At this point where the crevasse first oc- 
curred, the levee was very high, the filling 
of earth being not l^^ss than twelve feet high. 

" In the neighborhood of the crevasse, the 
soil appears to be sandy, and an undue quan- 
tity of that kind of soil may have entered 
into the composition of the levee at that 
point. An inspection of the crevasse also 
shows that the ground was not properly 
prepared for the reception of the embank- 
ment, it not having been properly grubbed, 
as appears by the roots and stumps still 
standing in it, in the ground where the em- 
bankment is washed off. When the levee 
broke, no one was in sight of it, that I can 
ascertain. Capt. McClelland, the Vice Presi- 
dent and Chief Engineer of the Central Rail- 
road and myself had passed over it on foot 
within two hours before it occurred, and a 
watchman, whose duty it was to look after it, 
was over it about twenty minutes before, but 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



Ill 



to none of us was there any appearance of 
weakness. After leaving the location about 
twenty minutes, and being distant less than 
one- fourth of a mile, the watchman heard the 
roaring of the waters running through the 
crevasse, and when I reached it, three- fourths 
of an hour afterward, the water was running 
through to the full width of 300 feet, and in 
an unbroken stream, as if it was to the full 
depth of the embankment. The probability 
is, I think, that, aided by the stumps and 
roots in the embankment, and it is possible 
some other extraneous substances, the water 
had found its way through the base of the 
embankment, and had so far saturated it as 
to destroy its cohesion with the natural 
ground below, and then the weight of the 
waiers on the outside had pushed it away. 

" As you are aware, when the contracts for 
building the different divisions of ]the Illinois 
Central road were originally let, in June, 1852, 
that for the construction of the lower cross- 
levee and the levees below it, on both the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers, was included in the 
letting, and was given out to ^Mr. Richard 
Ellis. Under this conti-act, work was com- 
mencfid and prosecuted at various points, on 
both the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, from 
September to December, 1852, when the con- 
tractor failed, and the work was abandoned 
until December, 1853, except on that por- 
tion along' the Ohio River above the freight 
depot. On that section it was continued, 
with a view, apparentl}', of constructing an 
embankment for the accommodation of their 
railroad track, rather than for the purpose of 
protecting the toivnfrom inundation, the em- 
bankment having been built in the same 
manner as their ordinary railroad embank- 
ments. The instructions given by their en- 
gineer in charge of their work at the time it 
was done were the same as those issued in 
other cases for the construction of railroad 



embankments, viz., that while the fillino- 
was over four feet, the stumps were not to be 
removed, and no grubbing done, and I am 
told by the engineer in charge at the time 
the work was done that these instructions 
were followed, and that the embankments 
along the Ohio River, above the freight de- 
pot, was thus built without the stumps being 
removed or grubbing done. A portion of this 
bank, at or near the curve on the Ohio, near 
the junction of the levee, is quite narrow, 
and after our late experience I should think 
it was far from being secure. 

" At the time of the overflow, a very large 
portion of our population were obliged to go 
away, from inability to procure accommoda- 
tions here. Some, who had two-storied 
houses, remained in the upper story, but 
most were obliged to deeert their dwellings. 
The population thus mostly scattered into 
the neighboring towns and country, with the 
exception of those who procured accommoda- 
tion on the wharf and flat-boats and barges 
at the levee. A lai'ge portion of those who 
thus went away have already returned ; others 
are coming back daily, and if employment to 
justify their return can be found, I am sat- 
isfied the great bulk of our population will 
shoitly be back here again. I think our 
population is at least three thousand now, 
if not more. 

" Early in the last spring, the foundry 
buildings took fire, and were entirely con- 
sumed. The ^^establishment was just begin- 
ning to transact a very successful and pro- 
fitable business. < 

" During the last spring, a good ferry was 
established between Cairo and the adjoining 
States of Missoiiri and Kentucky, by the 
Cairo City Ferry Company, and a good steam 
ferry-boat furnished, which makes regular 
trips between those States and Cairo, bring- 
ing trade and produce to it. Before the de- 



112 



HISTORY OF CAIEO. 



struction, by the late high water, of the prod- 
uce of the farms alonof the rivers, a very 
perceptible increase in the business of the 
city took place from this cause, and a re- 
suscitation of the business of the adjoining 
country on the opposite sides of the river 
will, by the aid of the ferry, be attended with 
a corresponding effect here. 

" Portions of the roads in the adjoining 
States are so far finished that, by the 1st of 
November, we shall have a continuous rail- 
road from here to New Orleans, with the ex- 
ception of the river travel between here and 
Columbus City, sixteen miles from here." 
This I'oad is now finished, with the exception 
of two gaps, of eighteen and six miles re- 
spectively, and these are being rapidly filled. 
A steam ferry-boat will commence running 
from here to Columbus, on the 1st of the 
next month, in connection with this road, 
and when the road is completed, as it will be 
by November 1, we shall be within two days' 
travel of New Orleans. 

" The first section of the Cairo & Fulton 
Railroad, in Missouri, is now pushed for- 
ward with energy, and that portion between 
Bird's Landing, opposite here, and Charles- 
ton, a village about fourteen miles from the 
river (Mississippi), will be in operation by 
the 1st of December next. Charleston is a 
thrivin gvillage, in a well-settled, well-culti- 
vated and flourishing section of Missouri, 
and our connection with it by railroad will 
tend to increase considerably the business 
and trade of our town. As you are aware, a 
road was cut out along the bank of the Ohio 
River to Mound City last fall, and a bridge 
across Cache River was commenced then, but 
has been delayed since by the high water. 
The construction of this bridge has been 
since re-commenced, and the contractor in- 
forms me that it will be ready for use one 
week from next Saturday. This will give us 



a good road to Mound City, and, by connec- 
tion with roads there, will give us free com- 
munication with the country and villages be- 
yond, and thus give us a good deal of trade 
from those quarters. 

" In consequence of the great destruction 
of property by high water in the countiy 
about us, the farmers have but little to sell, 
and this, connected with the general depres- 
sion of trade, has made it rather dull here; 
notwithstanding which, some improvements 
are still going on in our city. The distillery 
which was commenced last spring is being 
pushed to completion, and will be ready for 
operation by the 1st of next month. Two 
houses — one a dwelling, twenty-five by forty, 
two stories high, the other for a German 
tavern, twenty-five by seventy-five, and three 
stories high — both commenced before the 
overflow, are in process of completion. Two 
others, one twenty-five by seventj' and three 
stories high, have been contracted for and 
begun since the overflow, and are nearly 
finished; and one other, a dwelling-house, 
contracted for since the overflow but not yet 
begiin. 

" The work of macadamizing the Ohio levee, 
and building the protecting wall at the base, 
has so far advanced, that about one thousand 
feet of the wall, extending from the lower 
side of Fourth street to the lower side of 
Eighth street, has been completed, and for 
about six hundred feet in length additional, 
the broken rock is placed for about one 
hundred and twenty- five feet from the top of 
the levee. The grading of the levee with 
earth, within the same limits, has also been 
prosecuted, as the waters in the rivers would 
permit. A few weeks of favorable weather 
and a favorable stage of water would enable 
us to complete the whole of the grading and 
macadamizing of the whole of the 1,000 feet 
above the passenger depot. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



113 



" Most of this rock work was done pre- 
viously to January 1, 1858, when the com- 
munication with the quarries was interrupted 
by ice in the jNIississippi; after this difficulty 
was removed, the water was so high as to 
cover the quarries, and has continued so un- 
til the last week, with a brief interval, dur- 
ing which we were enabled to get down two 
barge loads of stone, and last week the water 
had so far receded at the quarry as enabled 
us to make regular trips with the steamboat 
and barges. During the spring and summer, 
the water has been too high, most of the 
time, to admit of much work on the filling 
and grading of the Ohio levee, between the 
depots, according to our arrangements with 
the i-ailroad company, to complete for them the 
unfinished work. But at intervals, we were 
enabled to do something, and worked moder- 
ately, as the weather and water would per- 
mit, until, within the last four weeks, when 
we have pushed the work vigorously. 

" The bank building belonging to Gov. 
Matteson has been {completed for several 
weeks, but there do not appear to be any in- 
dications of an early opening of the establish- 
ment, although T am told the note-plates 
have all been prepared, the officers engaged 
and all other arrangements completed months 
ago for the opening. This delay is to be re- 
gretted, especially as, if the ground had not 
been occupied by Gov. Matteson, or rather if 
his declared intention had not gone abroad 
through the whole country round about, a 
good bank would have been established here 
last fall, by Mr. E. Norton, one of our old 
citizens, in connection with his brother, the 
Cashier of the Southern Bank of Kentucky, 
established at Russellville, Ky. 

" In conclusion, it is very evident that 
had the Illinois Central Railroad constructed 
the levees, as they should be constructed, and 
not have substituted for them the common 



railroad embankments, that this interruption 
to the onward progress of Cairo would not 
have taken place." 

Some robust correspondence was inaugu- 
rated by the Cairo property owners of 
Springfield, 111., after the overflow of June, 
1858, and as they discuss some questions 
that have been mooted by our people at vari- 
ous times, we give extended extracts from 
both sides of the discussion. 

On the 17th June, 1858, J. A. Matteson, 
Johnson & Bradford, R. F. Ruth, John E. 
Ousley, W. D. Chenery, H. AValker, T. S. 
Mather and fifteen others of the leading 
citizens of Springfield, addressed a joint-letter 
to S. Staats Taylor, " Resident Agent," from 
which letter we extract such sentences as 
these : " We are apprised most fully of the 
great calamity which has befallen Cairo. 
Had we supposed such ruin possible, we 
could never have been induced to expend the 
large amounts of money which we have, nor 
could we have used our influence as an in- 
ducement for others to do so. 

" The large sum of $318,000 has been ex- 
pended by ourselves) and others of Spring- 
field, in the purchase of property and its 
improvement at Cairo; and the people of 
Springfield themselves, under the strong as- 
surances made to them by the Cairo City 
Company, have invested, and induced others 
to invest, no less than from $150,000 to 
$200,000 in buildings alone. 

" By this calamity, which might have been 
prevented if the company had thrown around 
the city such complete protection as they 
were bound by interest and by legal con- 
tract with purchasers, to do, this property 
has been rendered comparatively valueless. 
Nothing but prompt action and judicious 
plans, on your part, can save your city and 
your property alike, with that of others, from 
utter ruin, or at least from such a set-back 



114 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



as will require the work of years to regain. 
" Already is the sentiment fast gaining 
ground upon the public mind that Cairo is 
hopelessly ruined. This sentiment must be 
at once met, and contradicted at whatever 

cost. 

******* 

" We feel that the company are both legal- 
ly and morally hound to fully restore those 
who have sustained the damage to their 
former position before the flood. Independ- 
ent of their legal obligations, we deem it to 
be the highest interest of the company to 
institute the most prompt and vigorous 
measures, not only to restore to those who 
have suffered loss, but to so act as to satisfy 
the public mind at once that the company 
themselves are not disheartened, but that they 
are ready, promptly, to do justice to every ODe 
who has sustained damage by the overflow of 
water. * * * * in our judgment, the 
company should seek to inspire all those who 
had made Cairo their home, and who had 
made improvements there, however trivial 
in amount, that they will be immediately 
aided and fully restored to their property. 
This would establish confidence against 
which no tide could successfully flow. But 
this must be done promptly; must be done at 
once. The people who have settled there 
should not be suffered to scatter, if possible 
to prevent it. They should be aided and en- 
couraged at once with the idea that the 
storm is over, and the floods are past ; they 
shall be made good again, and their future 
secured beyond a contingency, 

" Many of the subscribers to this letter 
own stock in the Cairo Hotel Company, and 
we think that, as soon as the waters subside, 
you ought to rebuild the fallen building, at 
least to a point to where the company had 
carried it before the levee gave way. * * 

" Public sympathy might now be relied 



upon to a large extent. Cairo, though worse 
afflicted, has been overtaken by a calamity 
which has befallen almost every city and 
town in the Mississippi Valley to a greater 
or less extent. This superior affliction may, 
by timely action, be made to bear rather 
favorably than otherwise; and the waiers of 
public opinion, which now inundate the pros- 
pects of Cairo, may be made to subside as 
rapidly as those of the Mississippi will retire 
now that the storms are past." 

The object of this carefully constructed 
letter, signed by so many of the leading men 
of Springfield, was to get money from the 
company to compensate them for damages 
sustained. 

The company, however, in substance, an- 
swers as follows: 

"1. There was no such contract ever made. 
Honest opinions and conscientious represent- 
ations were made, of which the parties pur- 
chasing were always able to judge, having 
the city of Cairo with all its defenses before 
them, and all the agreements with the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company lying open for 
their inspection. 

" 2. Ample confirmation is found here, as 
to the mischievous character of the news- 
paper reports complained of. 

"3. All that is recommended and more 
will be done. See the resolutions adopted at 
the meeting of September 29, 1858. 

" 4. The gentlemen whose names are af- 
fixed to this letter will find their leading views 
corroborated by the proceedings referred to 
above, though the facts relied upon, the 
points urged and the legal questions in- 
volved, are very differently understood by the 
Trustees and their Counsel. 

" 5. The population have not been suffered 
to scatter, as will be seen by the report of 
the General Agent, and the most liberal 
course of action has been recommended by the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



117 



Executive Committee, and authorized by 
34.000 votes." 

Other, and, if possible, stronger letters, 
were written the company by N. W. Edwards 
and also by William Butler, President of the 
Cairo City Hotel Company. Then, July 8, 
185S, Mr. William Butler, President, and 
James C. Conklin, Secretary, addressed a 
joint- letter to S. S. Taylor, and in it they 
say: " We notice the stockholders of Cairo 
City are requested to meet at Philadelphia 
on the 15th inst. We presume one of their 
objects is to take into consideration the 
course of action to be adopted by them con- 
cernincf the damages which resulted from the 
recent flood. In behalf of the Cairo Hotel 
Company, we desire they should not only 
consider the communication heretofore trans- 
mitted by us to you, which was general in its 
character, and had reference, more partcular- 
ly, to what might be deemed politic on the 
part of the Cairo City Company, but we wish 
to propose now, more distinctly for their con- 
sideration, the position of the Cairo City 
Hotel Company. 

" In the publications made by the Cairo 
City Company, under date of January 1 5, 
1855, and in their pamphlet issued in 1856, 
various inducements were held out to capi- 
talists to invest at Cairo City ; and the strong- 
est language was used in regard to the sta- 
bility and permanency of its levees. It was 
said that they would afford a complete pro- 
tection from overflow at any stage of water, 
however high; that the expense of the levees 
was provided for by the Trustees of the City 
Property, that it would entirely encompass 
the city, and was to be eighty feet wide on 
the top, and that an inundation was an 
impossibility, and that human ingenuity 
had successfully opposed a barrier, even to 
the chance of an overflow, and that gigantic 
works had marked the Rubicon which even 



the mighty Father of Waters could not 
overstep. 

' ' These works, it was represented, had 
been commenced, and progress had been 
made in their construction, ' for the interests 
of property holders." * * * * 

These representations were published to 
the world, and extraordinary efforts were 
made to impress the minds of the community 
that Cairo was beyond the reach of any con- 
tingency arising from floods, until the con- 
viction was well-established, and it was gen- 
erally believed that the Cairo City Company 
had effectually provided against any danger 
that might be apprehended from this source. 

The events of the last few weeks, however, 
abundantly testify that said embankments 
were not secure, that the company had not 
fully pretected the interests of property hold- 
ers in said city, etc., etc. * * * * 

In consideration of the premises, the un- 
dersigned, in behalf of the hotel company, 
would respectfully represent to the stock- 
holders of Cairo City, that said stockholders 
ought to assume the responsibility of said 
loss and damage, that this is the just and 
reasonable view of the case, and that the 
claim of the hotel company is not only 
founded upon sound reason and good faith, 
but that, by the established rules of law. the 
Cairo City Company and their Trustees are 
bound to indemnify the hotel company for 
all the losses sustained by reason of the in- 
sufficiency of the levee to protect the city. 

To this the Board of Directors and the 
Trustees answer substantially as follows, in 
addition to previous answers to similar com- 
munications from parties in Springfield: 

1. All the promises were prospective, and 
founded upon a justifiable belief. 

2. And this, their belief, 'wns founded 
upon all past experience, upon careful sur- 
veys, many times repeated by eminent engi- 



118 



HISTOIIY OF CAIRO. 



neers, and upon the testimony of unimpeacli- 
able witnesses. Their expectations were 
well-founded, and not unreasonable, as the 
adverse parties knetv, and acknowledged by 
their acts, for they were able to judge for 
themselves, and asked for no other deed than 
that which had always been given. And 
what, after all, do the Trustees promise in 
the publication cited? Only that certain 
things "would be done" thereafter; and 
that, when done, there would be no possible 
danger from overflow. And they say the 
same thing now. They expected the levee to 
be completed by the Illinios Central Rail- 
road, as promised a?zd paid for ; and they 
tried, in every way, to have it done, short 
of bringing them into a court of law, while 
under overwhelming embarrassment; and if 
they had fulfilled their undeiiaking, it is 
clear, beyond all question, as the foregoing 
documents prove, that Cairo would not have 
been flooded in June last, notwithstanding 
the unexampled rise of both rivers. * * 

4. Under all the circumstances, the fault 
being that of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
and not of the Cairo City Property or their 
Trustees, would this be a just or reasonable 
expectation? etc., etc. 

The shareholders of the Cairo City Prop- 
erty, as per call noticed above, met in Phila- 
delphia on the 15th of July, 1858, and, 
among other proceedings, passed the follow- 
ing resolution: 

" Resolved, That the Executive Committee 
be requested to confer with the President and 
Directors of the Illinois Central Railroad 
Company, to ascertain if some arrangement 
cannot be made to repair the damage to 
Cairo, and if that cannot be accomplished, 
then to request the Trustees of Cairo City 
Property to authorize the agent, S. Staats 
Taylor, to cause the proper repairs to be 
made, and to institute legal proceedings 



against the railroad company for the amount 
expended, and for all damages sustained by 
the overflow caused by the neglect of the said 
railroad company. 

The shareholders had appointed an Execu- 
tive Committee, to consider matters in refer- 
ence to the inundation of Cairo. This com- 
mittee held a meeting in New York, and in 
their report they say: " Believing that they 
could not properly and thoroughly discharge 
their duty, under the resolutions referred to, 
without a personal examination of Cairo, and 
the General Agent, Mr. S. S. Taylor, being 
of opinion that a visit by the whole Execu- 
tive Committee, or by a sub-committee of this 
board, would greatly encom-age the people 
of Cairo, tned to allay their apprehensions, 
and check, if it did not put a stop at once 
and forever, to the mischievous falsehoods 
and gross exaggerations which, under a show 
of authority, and as admissions made by par- 
ties deeply interested in the reputation and 
welfare of Cairo, were gradually taking pos- 
session of the public mind, both at home and 
abroad, your committee delegated Mr. Bald- 
win, of Syracuse, and Mr. Neal, of Maine, 
to visit Cairo, and make such personal inves- 
tigation upon the ground as would enable 
them to report understandingly upon the 
present condition and wants of the city. 
* * * And to take such immediate meas- 
ures as might, in their judgment, be needed 
for the safety of the city, before the whole 
board could be brought togfether. " 

When this sub-committee arrived in Cairo, 
they looked carefully over the gi'ounds, and 
on the 6th of August, 1858, a public meeting 
of the inhabitants of Cairo was called, with 
a view to a full understanding of all ques- 
tions at issue; and of this meeting the com- 
mittee said in their report: 

" The meeting was large, for the popula- 
tion, and very quiet, and the addresses of 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



119 



your sub- committee, together with explana- 
tions and assurances, in behalf of the share- 
holders and proprietors, were well i-eceived. 
It was stated that shareholders, to the 
amount of nearly two millions and a half, 
at the par value of the stock, were assembled 
at Philadelphia, on the 15th of July, where 
they chose an Executive Committee of six, 
who afterward chose from their number two, 
as a sub-committee to visit Cairo in person, 
look into the condition of the city and the 
wants of the people, and report at the next 
yearly meeting, on the 29th of September. 

" The people of Cairo were encouraged to 
believe that, if they were faithful to them- 
selves, the Trustees, and shareholders and 
proprietors wei-e determined to pursue a 
liberal course of action, and they might con • 
sider the C. C. P. pledged to the full amount 
of all their interests in Cairo to carry out 
whatever they believed to be for the advan- 
tage of all parties; and the meeting ended at 
last with mutual congratulations and assur- 
ances that Cairo should not be left to the 
guardianship of treacherous friends or un- 
principled foes; but to the watchful care of 
those who had something at stake in her rep- 
utation and welfare." 

The sharp bend in the Mississippi River, 
just belcw the north line of the city, throws 
the water almost straight across to the Illinois 
shore, and the abrasion of this shore threat 
ened to cut its way, eventually, entirely across 
to the Ohio River, unless in some way con- 
trolled. Between the years 1875 and 1880 
the General Government expended on the 
protective works on the Mississippi, opposite 
this city, the sum of $113,351.43. This woi'k 
extends along the face of the river bank, from a 
point below where the Mississippi River levee 
runs away from the river bank at least three- 
quarters of a mile, to a point up the river at 
least two miles above the upper limits of the 



city. When the water is at a low stage in 
the Mississippi, the current thrown, as stated, 
against the Illinois shore, begins to under- 
mine the banks, which are nearly always 
perpendicular and composed mostly of de- 
posits made by the silt-bearing water of the 
river in flood times. This undermining proc- 
ess goes on at the surface of the water, un- 
til the superincumbent mass of the bank falls 
into the river, and is carried away by the 
stream. Then the undermining process 
commences again, and proceeds to precisely 
similar results. In this way, at this point, 
the river has heretofore undermined the 
banks of the Mississippi River, dropping 
them slowly into the stream, and iinally 
digging under j)ortions of the levees and 
carrying them away into the river. Here has 
been one of the severest problems in the mat- 
ter of protecting the city from the waters, 
this erosive -action in low water going on re- 
gardless of any possible heights of levees 
placed upon the shores. This abrasion of the 
shore has necessitated the building of a new 
levee on the Mississippi side, about a mile in 
length, which is of an average of twelve feet 
high, measuring from the surface on which 
it is constructed; is twelve feet wide on the 
top, with a slope on its outside of one foot 
perpendicular to five feet horizontal, and on 
its inside of one foot to two and a half feet, 
making an average width of fifty feet; and 
its top is fifty-four feet above low water 
mark. The average height of the other 
portions of the levee, standing on the bank 
of the Mississippi River, from its junction 
with the new levee on the bank of the Ohio 
River, is one foot and three inches above 
the high water mark. This is measuring 
only to and not including the ties uf the 
Cairo & St. Louis Railroad track. The 
Cairo & St. Louis Railroad has the right of 
way along its top, from the Ohio River to a 



120 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



point beyond and outside of where the new 
levee makes a junction with the levee owned 
by the Trustees. Where this right of way 
exists, the railroad company is obliged, by 
reservations and penalties in its deed, to 
maintain the levee at its original height, of 
fifty-three feet and three inches, and to its 
original width on top of sixteen feet. 

There has been much work done, by the 
United States Government and by the Trust- 
ees of the city company, in protecting from 
the erosive action of the current the Missis- 
sippi River bank. The manner of doing this 
was to place large mattresses, made of wil- 
lows and tree branches; these were loaded 
with rock, and sunk to the bottom, at the 
bank where the current was cutting un- 
der the superstructure, and upon this mat- 
tress was then sunk another one, and another 
one on top of that, until a stone wall was 
formed for the waters to beat against, extend- 
ing from the bottom of the river to above 
the surface of the water. There were about 
two miles and a half of these stone -anchored 
mattress walls constructed, extending north 
from a point nearly opposite "the lower end 
of the new levee. On the top of these mat- 
tress-walls, medium sized stone were placed 
against the bank, to nearly the top fhereof, 
thus facing the river bank with a stone re- 
vetment. Previous to this work being done 
by the Government, the city company had 
some years ago revetted nearly three-quarters 
of a mile in length. So there is now standing, 
against the face of the bank of the Missis- 
sippi, and extending from a point below 
where the levee runs away from the river, up 
the river about three and a half miles, to a 
point about two miles above the upper limits 
of the city, the revetments extending from 
the bottom of the river, and up along the 
face of the shore from fifty to sixty feet. 
There has been here expended $196,806.49, 



o^ which $113,351.43 was by the General 
Government. 

July 18, 1872, after the Trustees had spent 
large amounts of money in widening, raising 
and strengthening the levees, and had 
brought suit for $250,000 against the Central 
I'oad for money thus expended, which suit 
was eventually compromised and 397 acres of 
the 497 acres were re-conveyed by the rail- 
road to the city company, and the payment 
of $80,000 in money, and the release to the 
Cairo City Property all its original rights to 
the collection of wharfage, etc. And the 
railroad was released from all obligations in 
reference to maintaining and repairing the 
levees, except that portion actually occupied 
and used by them. 

In 1878, in consideration of the vacation of 
Levee street, above Eighteenth, by the city, 
and the granting of privileges upon the 
same to the Illinois Central road, the road 
deeded the 100- foot strip, running from 
Thirty- fourth street to the point, and parallel 
with the Ohio levee to the city. 

The City Council recently ordered the 
Ohio levee to be raised, commencing with a 
raise of two feet at or near the stone depot, 
grading to the present height at Second 
street, and with this increase of the height of 
this levee, the entire levees of the city will 
be above the highest water mark ever known. 
The Hon. D. T. Linegar, the present mem- 
ber of the Illinois Legislature, has secured 
the passage of two bills, that are now attract- 
ing the attention of the people of Cairo. 
The titles of the bills indicate largely the 
purpose of the same — the Levee Bill and the 
High Grade Bill. The fundamental idea of 
the two evidently is to enable the city to raise 
the levees and the lots within the city limits 
to any height or grade they may wish. We 
are informed that the levee bill authorizes 
the city authorities, whenever they shall 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



121 



deem it necessary for tlie protection of the 
city, to order the owners of any part of the 
levee to raise and strengthen the same, in 
such manner as the city may think best, and 
upon a failm'e to comply with this order, the 
city may proceed and do the work, and sell 
the property and pay its bill, and nearly a 
similar authority is given as to all lots, 
whether they belong to public institutions or 
are private property. 

The remarkably high waters of 1882 and 
1883 go to show that probably from one foot to 
eighteen inches should be added to the 
levees around the city, and, as soon as possi- 
ble, revetments extending entirely around and 
against the embankments of both rivers, and 
thus made strong and permanent, and Cairo 
need never fear or dread any high water that 
can ever come against its bulwarks. 

The city has triumphantly passed through 
the flood crisis of the two years of 1882-83, 
that poured out the greatest floods of water 
ever witnessed in the rivers at this point; 
and it is now a remarkable historical fact 
that the only town from the source of the 
Ohio River to the mouth of the Mississippi 
River, that passed unscathed and unharmed 
by the floods, was Cairo. The rivers, north 
and south of here,' bore devastation upon 
their raging bosoms. Pittsburgh, Cincin- 
nati, Louisville, New Albany, Lavsrenceburg, 
Shawneetown and many other places have 
sufl^red immeasurably from the high waters 
of the past two years. Often, the floods in 
the Mississippi have so crippled and confined 
the business of St. Louis, that at intervals it 
was prostrated. But Cairo, so widely be- 
lieved by many to be the worst water-afflicted 
city in the United States, has experienced 
none of the troubles of the other river towns. 
The past two years, the early spring freshets 
have driven thousands from their homes in 



Cincinnati, Louisville, Shawneetown and 
other places; business houses were flooded 
and washed away; and manufacturing estab- 
lishments were compelled to "shutdown;" 
railroad communication with them was de- 
stroyed, and " the widespread distress filled 
the land with its wail, and the charity of the 
nation was appealed to for aid for the flood 
sullferors. With a flood-line marking a height 
never before attained by any of the floods of 
the past, the citizens of Cairo, while taking 
all precautions to keep the great levees which 
surround her intact, have transacted their 
business, but little disturbed by the threaten- 
ing waters. Not a mill nor a manufacturing 
establishment of any kind has been " shut 
down" for a moment on account of the 
floods, and the Illinois Central Railroad, 
which makes connection here with its south- 
ern division by a " transfer steamboat " for 
New Orleans, has never missed a train, or 
been compelled to abandon any of its track 
for a single hour. No cry of distress has 
ever gone out to the country from the people 
of Cairo, but when the last waters Avere high- 
est, and the croakers against Cairo were 
loudest, a public meeting of the people re- 
sponded to the cry for help from their neigh- 
bors al. Shawneetown by a cash subscription 
of $1,000. The truth is— established by the 
severest test ever known — that Cairo, the 
much maligned and slandered Cairo, is, in 
any flood that may or can come down the 
rivers, the city of refuge — the place of safety, 
and the only reliable one, from St. Louis or 
Pittsburgh to New Orleans. 

On the 26th of February, 1882, the flood- 
line at Cairo was fifty-one feet ten and a half 
inches above low water mark. On the 26th 
of February, 1888, exactly one year to a day, 
the flood-line at Cairo was fifty-two feet two 
inches above low water mark. In these two 



123 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



unprecedented stages of water, as before re- 
marked, Cairo was the only river town that 
passed unharmed. 

People wonder, and muse, and talk much 
about these two years, and their great waters, 
and the conclusion is a common one, that it 
is the general sj-stem of draining in all the 
country north of this, both open and tile 
draining, the cutting of the forests and open- 
ing the sluice-ways for the surface water, 
that has been one great cause of the higher 
waters in late years than was ever known 
formerly. Again, it is said that the towns 
and railroads and other improvements upon 
the river banks, tend to confine the waters, 
and thus swell the height of its flow; and the 
fact is cited that where a few years ago were 
ponds and pools of water, sometimes stand- 
ing the whole season through, are now often 
well-tilled farms, with a drainage so perfect 
that no water ever remains more than a few 
hours upon any of its surface. It looks rea- 
sonable that there is something in these 
theories — there probably is — but the fact 
that the waters were higher at the source of 
the river than here at the mouth (of the 
Ohio), would go far to contradict this theory. 
At Cincinnati this year (1883), the water was 
five feot higher than ever before known. As 
early as the 12th of last February, the rise 
in the Ohio had utterly paralyzed business, 
and had deprived 20,000 working people of 
Cincinnati, Covington and Newport of the 
means of livelihood. Five square miles of 
Cincinnati were covered with water from one 
inch to twenty feet deep. Many lives were 
lost, and many millions of dollars worth of 
property was destroyed, and along the Upper 
Ohio hundreds of thousands of people suf- 
fered inconvenience or loss from the wide- 
spread river overflows. In the Kentucky 
bottoms, opposite Shawneetown, the water 
was three and a half feet higher than ever 



before known since the settlement o^ the 
country; while at Cairo the water of the year 
only exceeded that of last year by three and 
a half inches. There must have been other 
causes than cuttingr the trees or draining:, 
for the floods of this year (1883), one pecu- 
liarity of them being that thoy were re- 
stricted to no particular locality, but seem to 
have been general, and to extend nearly over 
the whole world. The long-continued rains 
in the valley of the Ohio, that fell upon the 
frozen and ice covered grounds, where not a 
drop was absorbed into the earth, and started 
the raging torrent at the fountain-heads, 
were the palpable, prime cause of the unusual 
waters. In Europe the rain-storm started 
that did so much damage here. It flooded 
the Theiss and Danube, the Rhine, in Ger- 
many, and the Rhone and all the rivers of 
France, and sent them, like the Ohio, boom- 
ing out of their banks and doing widespread 
damage. The course of the storm across the 
Atlantic could be distinctly traced to its out- 
burst in the region of the Upper Ohio and 
the lakes, and spreading rapidly all over our 
continent, until every section, often the most 
retired villages, far up in the mountains, and 
miles away from any lake or river, seemed 
scarcely safe. Indeed, one of the most awful 
calamities of the long list of disasters of this 
year was that which took place out in the 
open prairie near Braidwood, 111., where the 
rain had piled up the waters three feet into 
a lake, which, breaking through a mine, 
drowned the unfortunate miners within. 
Every tributary of the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers was rising at the same time; the 
Allegheny, Monongahela, Licking, Kentucky 
and Cumberland were all at flood-tide; the 
Wabash was out of its bed^ and carrying de- 
struction on its course. The rivers pouring 
into the lakes were also raging; the Miami 
flooded a large portion of Toledo; the Cuya- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



123 



hoga has twice this year inundated Cleve- 
land, and even the Atlantic slope tells the 
same sad story, and in the far West it is 
again repeated. 

We have told of the inundation of Cairo 
in 1858. The damage to the property of the 
town, except the falling of the hotel wall 
(and that was evidently from the imperfect 
building of the foundation more than the 
water) did not amount to $1,000. There was 
not a house, excepting the merest shanties, 
that was materially injured. The largest 
sufferer, in a pecuniary way, was Bailey Har- 
rell, whose stock of goods was injured to the 
extent of a few hundred dollars. The people 
of Cairo felt no suffering from actual want, 
and indeed they refused any outside aid 
when such assistance was tendered them. 
In one sense, the actual and material injury 
to the place was most insignificant and tri- 
fling; and yet, in another sense, by a singular 
chain of circumstances, it was almost an ir- 
reparable calamity to the interests of the city. 
In the most exaggerated way it was blown 
in the face of all the world, until men 
never after heard of Cairo except to 
shudder or shrug the shoulders, and 
either express the sentiment or believe it, 
that its very name meant floods, and drown- 
ings, aDd wreck and ruin. There is not a 
river-town from St. Louis ^or Pittsburgh to 
New Orleans but that has suffered from in- 
undations incomparably worse than has Cairo, 
and yet their raging waters are hardly passed 
away when the people seem to forget it all, and 
their calamity is not again whispered until 
the next high water and its devastation. 

We have shown how trifling and insignifi- 
cant was the only overflow Cairo has ever 
had since she has been walledabout by her 
levees. In contrast to this, look at the fol- 
lowing description, by an eye-witness, of the 
Upper Ohio in last February: 



" The proportions of the calamity that is 
upon the people of the Ohio Valley are hour- 
ly increasing. There are suffering, desola- 
tion and death in each inch of the awful rise 
of the river upon a stage of water absolutely 
without precedent, and the details of distress 
which called for sympathy in the floods of 
Europe, except as to loss of life, are largely 
repeated in this section to-day. * * * * 
For thirty miles, beginning with the upper 
suburb of Cincinnati, and ending with Law- 
renceburg, Ind., twenty-five miles below, the 
damage, destitution and distress are unparal- 
leled in American history. Below Lawrence- 
burg, and £o Louisville [equally true if he 
had said to Cairo — Ed.] the situation is the 
same. Beginning with the upper suburb of 
Cincinnati, on the Ohio side, are Columbia, 
Pendleton, Fulton and ^ then Cincinnati, 
Sedamsville, Biverside, Fernbank, Lawrence - 
burg, Aurora, Rising Sun, Patriot, Vevay 
and Madison. On the Kentucky side are 
the towns of Dayton, Bellevue and Newport, 
and Covington, opposite Cincinnati, Ludlow, 
Bromley, Petersbui'g, Hamilton, Warsaw, 
Ghent, Carrollton, Milton, Westport and 
Louisville. At Patriot and Vevay, the river 
is five or six miles wide, and at all these 
points it simply extends from the Ohio to the 
Kentucky hills, covering all the rich bottom 
lands. Its average width is from one to two 
miles — a sea of yellow waters. At all these 
points more or less damage is done. No 
statistics are available, but a cool guess 
would place the number of people either 
homeless or imprisoned, at not less than 
50,000. There are 15,000 at Newport alone, 
and 5,000 in Lawrenceburg; at Louisville, 
New Albany and Jeffersonville, it is in many 
respects even worse. 

" The east end, up in Fulton and Colum- 
bia, has eight feet of water flowing through 
the main street. Many houses have been 



134 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



swept away, and many more are expected to 
follow. If the weather was not warm "and 
pleasant, the suffering would be intense. 
The water is five miles wide from Columbia 
to the other shore of the Little Miami River, 
and all the houses on the bottom have disap- 
peared, not even the roofs being visible. 
Western avenu«», on the western side of the 
city, along Mill Creek Valley, has been de- 
clared unsafe, and travel on it is stopped. 
The American Oak & Leather Company's 
tannery, the largest in the world, was sub- 
merged at 1 o'clock this morning (February 
15). Along Mill Creek Valley are most of 
the packing houses. One packer has 3,000,- 
000 pounds of meat under water, and from 
10,000,000 to 15,000,000 pounds of dry- 
salted meats are in the same condition. No 
one has dared to make an estimate of the 
total loss here (Cincinnati), but they will be 
millions." 

Of Lawrenceburg, Ind., an official report, 
among other things, specifies : " There never 
was," so they report, " in all history of the 
floods in the Ohio Valley, a city, town or 
hamlet so completely at the mercy of the an- 
gry element as is Lawrenceburg. For three 
days, the citizens were almost without a 
morsel to eat. In the lower portion of the 
city, everything is destroyed, save the dwell- 
ings, and they, of coui'se, must be badly 
damaged. , Hundreds of the houses are from 
ten to fifty feet under water. The people, 
driven from their homes, fled to the public 
buildings. All they possessed is destroyed. 
We steamed alongside the court house, 
woolen mills, churches, furniture factories 
and public school buildings. All of the 
above-named buildings were crowded with 
people rescued from watery graves. 

" In the large and more secure residences, 
families have been driven to the second and 



third stories. On the principal streets, the 
water ranges from seven to twenty-five feet 
deep. Few of the merchants saved any of 
their goods, and although precautions were 
taken, yet nearly all furniture is ruined. A 
great many houses in low lands have been 
swept away, and houses and contents are lost 
forever to the owners. 

" The damage to factories cannot be esti- 
mated. In the city there are a great many 
furniture factories, all of which had on hand 
large stocks of lumber; in many cases this 
has all been swept away. 

" The machinery in some, if not all. the 
factories and mills, has been badly damaged, 
and mostly ruined. The county records have 
all been saved, they having been carried to 
the top stories of the court house. The rich 
and the poor are upon a common level, and 
indiscriminately huddled together. In one 
part of the court house, death was claiming 
its victims, while in another new lives were 
being ushered into the world, * * * * 
The reports of the condition of the people 
have not been exaggerated. In fact, the half 
has not been told. The entire city, with a 
population of some 5,000, are in want, and 
are at the mercy of the public. Distress ex- 
tends from one end of the city to the other. 
The town has been without communication 
with the outside world for days, except by 
boats, and no regular packets are running. 
The telegraph offices are flooded, and the 
wires are down. The telephoDe office is in 
several feet of water. In short, there is not 
a dry square foot of ground in the place. 

" The situation of the citizens of Law- 
renceburg, imprisoned in the court house, is 
constantly growing more dangerous. Added 
to the irregularity of the food supply, and 
the crowded quarters, is the possibility that 
the court house may collapse, from the un- 



HISTORY OF CAIEO. 



125 



dermining of its foundation by the flood of 
waters. Should that occur, the loss of life 
certainly will be great." 

We forbear to extend these sad and har- 
rowing details, nor have we given the worst 
side of the picture, as drawn by correspond- 
ents who visited the different towns along 
the Ohio River. 

While this terrible page of ' history was 
being written of every river town above this 
point, Cairo was peacefully and securely pur- 
suing her avocations; her railroads making 
their regular trips; not a wheel in any of 
her factories impeded for even a moment. 

The ordinary business of the day was 
transacted in confidence and safety. No one 
was alarmed even in Cairo, except the negroes 
and a few nervous and timid " tenderfoots," 
who, when they would go upon the levee and 
look out upon the broadest expanse of waters 
they had ever seen, would quake, for fear 
Cairo's great levees would give way, and no 
Noah's ark was at hand to take them in. 
AVhile Cairo was the one dry spot, the city of 
refuge to which came the sufferers from 
above and from below, the -following appeal 
to the world's charity-was being issued from 
nearly every town fi'om here to Pittsburgh : 

Shawneetown, 111., via Evansville, Feb. 24. 
To Marshall Field & Co., Chicago: 

Our people are overwhelmed with the most ap- 
palling misfortune ever visited upon any locality. 
The Ohio River is five feet higher than ever known, 
and still rising. Our wealth has gone down with 



the angry waves. Hundreds are destitute, penni- 
less and suffering. We must have help. The river 
is from three to thirty-five miles wide, and carrying 
utter destruction before it. The loss in this imme- 
diate vicinity will reach $350,000 at least. We ap- 
peal to the charitable for assistance in this time of 
need. We have been under water for nearly three 
weeks, and it will take four weeks for it to subside. 
(Signed) Swoppord Bros., 

Allen & Harrington, 
M. M. Pool, 
ThOxMas S. Ridgewat, 
I. M. Millspaugh, Mayor. 

The very next day, February 25, Cairo sent 
out the following: " The river was fifty -two 
feet one inch at 6 P. M. , and on a stand. 
Our levees are holding out splendidly, and 
no fears of trouble from that source are ex- 
pected." 

While Cairo deeply deplored the calami- 
ties to her sister towns, and was ready and 
did lend a generous and helping hand to the 
sufferei'S, yet why should she not rejoice in 
that prudent care and forethought that 
placed these strong battling walls around 
her, that defied the angry waters, and un- 
shaken, stood guard over the peaceful slum- 
bers, the lives and the property of her peo- 
ple? 

The oft-repeated question, can levees be 
built that will secure your town against any 
water ? has been most triumphantly an- 
swered, both in the year 1882 and 1883. It 
is no longer a theory nor a guess, but a 
demonstration, as plain and strong as Holy 
Writ. 



136 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



CHAPTER YL 



THE PRESS— ITS POWER AS THE GREAT CIVILIZER OF THE AGE— CAIRO'S FIRST EDITORIAL 
VENTURES— BIRTH AND DEATH OF NEWSPAPERS INNUMERABLE— THE BOHEMIANS— 
AVHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID— " BULL RUN" RUSSELL— HARRELL, 
WILLETT, FAXON AND OTHERS— SOME OF THE "INTELLI- 
GENT COMPOSITORS"— QUANTUM SUFFICIT. 



" A history which takes no account of what was said 
by the Press in memorable emergencies befits an earlier 
age than ours." — Horace Greeley. 

IN the order of making settlements in the 
Mississippi Valley, it was the hunter and the 
trapper, the trader and the merchant, the ham- 
let, village or the mushroom cit}'^, and then the 
newspaper. Here it waited not, like of old, for 
that ripened civilization that was supposed to 
come of the centuries, that left people hungry, 
if not perishing, for that rich, juicy and nutri- 
tious mental pabulum that the editor was 
always supposed to furnish. 

The Press is the Third Estate in this coun- 
try — it has been called the palladium of Amer- 
ican liberties. One thing is quite certain, that 
the wisest and best thing our forefathers did 
was to establish a " free press," nominally, if 
not actually. True, it is absolutely free so far 
as the Government is concerned, but sometimes 
it is not so free from military dictation or from 
mob rule, and a few instances have occurred, 
in the history of the country, where there has 
been a foolish, violent and fanatical public sen- 
timent, grossly wrong in all its parts, that has 
crushed out the truth, and actually suppressed 
the only true friend the people had — the local 
press. But in return, the press can saj' it has 
committed outrages upon the public quite as 
often or oftener than have wrongs been perpe- 
trated against it. The averages, say, are even ; 
then if two wrongs can make a right, a reason- 
able justice has been done, and the great pal- 



ladium remains, and the Government did wisely 
foresee the eventual wants of mankind in this 
respect. And under the benign rays of their 
wisdom, the American people enjoy a free press, 
and this means free speech, free schools, free 
religion, and, supremest, and best of all, free 
thought ; for here is where the world has suf- 
fered most, because as a man's thoughts are 
the highest part of him — that which makes 
him the superior to the ox that grazes upon 
the hill — it is here that he can suffer infinitely 
the most ; where wrongs may be inflicted that 
are inelfaceable, incurable and shocking. For 
it was thought, and nothing else but thought, 
that has produced the present civilization and 
all its joys and pleasures — all that marks the 
diflerence in us and those miserable crea- 
tures who once were here, owning and possess- 
ing all this grand country, and whose mode 
and manner of life maj' all be drawn from the 
simple fact that they would bury the live wife 
in the same grave with the dead husband. 
This is a historic fact, although it occurred 
among a prehistoric people. They had no 
free speech, free press or free thought. They 
may have had a strong government, a govern- 
ment of iron and lead, and the}' may have wor- 
shiped that government as dutiful children 
worship a cruel father, but they have never 
had a free thought, except one of the basest 
kind, but the fact remains that they were a 
despicable people, because they had none of 
that civilization that eventuates in a free press. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



137 



It was the great invention of movable tj'pes 
that has made the present greatness of the 
press possible. " The types are," remarked 
one of the greatest men the world has pro- 
duced, "as ships which pass through the vast 
seas of time, and make ages to participate of the 
wisdom, illuminations and inventions, the one 
of the other ; for the image of men's wits remain 
in books, exempted from the wrongs of time, 
and capable of perpetual renovation, neither 
are they fitly to be called images, because they 
generate still and cast their seeds in the minds 
of others, provoking and causing infinite action 
and opinions in succeeding ages. We see, 
then, how far the monuments of wit and 
learning are more durable than the monuments 
of power or of the hands. For have not the 
verses of Homer continued twenty -five hundred 
years or more, without the loss of a syllable or 
letter ? during which time, infinite palaces, 
temples, castles, cities, have decayed or been 
deiliolished. That whereunto man's nature 
doth most aspire, which is immortality or 
continuance ; for to this tendeth generation, 
and raising of houses and families ; to this 
buildings, foundations and monuments ; to 
this tendeth the desire of memory, fame and 
celebration, and in effect the strength of all 
other human desires." The types do infinitely 
more than this ; they are men's highest source 
of unalloj'ed enjoyment in this world. They 
may be made to contribute more to his real 
pleasures than anything else. While the}' are 
the most enduring thing of life, the joy and 
pleasures they bring, which they give for the 
asking, they give food and pleasure to the 
mind. For in life what pleasure equals that of 
the acquisition of new truths ? This is not 
only the greatest pleasure to the healthy 
mind, but it is the most enduring. It is the 
perennial fountain of knowledge, where the 
thirsty mind may drink deeply, drink draughts 
of which all the nectar the gods ever quaflfed 
are but puddle water. And it is not alone to 



the mind thirsting for the deep draughts of 
knowledge that its blessings are confined, but 
it gives equally to all — the thinker, the worker, 
the idle, the dissolute, the rich, the poor, the 
king and the outcast, aye, even the wretched 
leper to whom the work of the types are all in 
this world that can save him from a living 
tomb. It is the philosopher's touch-stone, the 
Aladdin's lamp, the genial ray of sunshine 
that penetrates all dungeons, that will go and 
abide forever wherever human life can exist. 
In the dingy printing office is the epitome of 
the world of action and of thought — the best 
school in Christendom — the best church. Here 
is where divine genius perches and pauses, and 
plumes its wings for those lofty flights that 
attract and awe all mankind and in all ages — 
here are kindled and fanned to a flame the fires 
of genius that sometimes blaze and dazzle like 
the central sun, and that generate and renew 
the rich fruitage of benign civilization. The 
press is the drudge and pack-horse — the 
crowned king of all mankind. The gentle click 
of its types is heard around all the world ; 
they go sounding down the tide of time, bear- 
ing upon their gentle waves the destinies of 
civilization, and the immortal smiles of the 
pale children of thought, as they troop across 
the fair face of the earth in their entrances and 
exits from the unknown to the unknown, 
scattering here and there immortal blessings, 
that the dull blind types have patiently gath- 
ered, to place them where they will live forever. 
It is the earth's sj'mphony which endures, which 
transcends that of the " morning when the stars 
sang together," and when its chords are swept 
by the fingers of the immortals, it is the echo 
of those anthems that float up forever to the 
throne of God. Of all that man can have in 
this world, it is the one blessing, whose rose 
need have no thorn, whose sweet need have no 
bitter. It is freighted with man's good, his hap- 
piness and the divine blessings of civilization. 
By means of the press, the lowliest cabin equals 



128 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



the lordliest palace in the right and authority 
to bid enter its portals, and be seated in the 
famil}' circle, the sweet singer of Scotland — the 
delightfully immortal Burns — who died at 
thirty-seven, and over whose grave his mis- 
taken, foolish countrymen were relieved of the 
poor outcast and sot ; they thought they were 
burying an outcast, when the clods that 
covered his poor body hid the warm sunlight 
of Scotland. Or bid the crowned monarch of 
mankind come in, and with wife, children and 
friends tarry until bed-time, and tell the real 
story of Hamlet ; or Lord Macaula}^ will la}^ 
aside titles and dignity, and with the poor 
cotter's family hold familiar discourse in those 
rich resounding sentences that flow on forever 
like a great and rapid river ; or Charles Lamb, 
whose heart was saddest, whose wit was sweet- 
est, whose life was a mingling of smiles and 
tears, and let him tell the children and the 
grandsires the story of the invention of the 
roast pig ; or Johnson, his boorishness and 
roughness all gone now, in trenchant sentences 
pour out his jeweled thoughts to eager ears ; 
or bid Pope tell something of the story of man's 
inhumanity to man ; or poor, poor delightful 
Poe, with his bird of evil omen, croaking, 
croaking, " nevermore !" Or Dickins, George 
Elliott, Bunyan or Voltaii-e, or any of the 
thousands of others, when all may be fed to 
fullness. 

Thanks, then, a million times thanks, to our 
dear old Revolutionary sires for giving us the 
great boon of a free press. If our Government 
endui-es, and the people continue free, here will 
be much of the reason thereof, for, mark you, 
freedom, though once never so well established, 
will not maintain and prepetuate itself, because 
by the laws of heredity that lurks in every man, 
more or less, the latent customs or habits or 
mental convictions of a barbarous ancestry 
leave the seeds of monarchy and despotism. 
True, the Americans have this (speaking in 
reference to a democratic form of government) 



less than any other people in the world ; they 
are farther removed from an ancestry that 
worshiped under kingly rulers — an ancestry 
that perhaps honestly worshiped an autocrat 
and that would have almost let out its own 
blood, had they known they would produce a 
posterity that would cease to worship at the 
same shrine, or even emigrate to some foreign 
country, and learn to detest and hate all im- 
perial pretensions. Hence, we say, the 
xlmerican people have this tendency to return 
to monarch}' less than any other people in the 
world, and yet even here it is as true now as 
when uttered, that "eternal vigilance is the 
price of liberty." The press, therefore, is 
essential to the perpetuation of free institutions 
in America. 

That the press can do no wrong, it is not our 
intention in the remotest way to assert. So 
great an institution, so varied its interests, 
so numerous its controllers and its guides, that 
it would be a foolish man indeed who would 
even hope that it ever would become infallible. 
A wise people, therefore, will jealously watch 
it, while it is standing upon the watch-tower, 
hunting for the ambitious usurper to catch and 
slay him. This is the very genius of free 
institutions — vigilance and untiring watchful- 
ness upon the part of all. 

But it is of the coming of the press, the 
printers, the editors, the writers, publishers, 
and others brought here in connection with the 
press, even including that strange creature, 
who always accompanies those pious and verj^ 
moral gentleman, the " devil," that it is our 
purpose to immediatel}' speak. They were 
altogether a remarkable set, who published 
remarkable papers, and some still more remark- 
able articles. They, as has always been the 
case ever^'where, had their differences, their 
quarrels even, but be it said to their credit, no 
matter from what cause it came, the disputes 
never resulted in anything more serious than a 
few bitter paragraphs, and then their injured 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



129 



honor was appeased, and the entente cordiale 
once more prevailed. Here the whole thing 
was like the rise and fall of the Roman empire, 
except there was more of them. Cairo reached 
the astounding population of 2,000 souls before 
an attempt was made to start a paper here — 
something that could not possibly happen now, 
as probably 300 is the extreme limit that the 
lynx-eyed printer of this age will allow to 
gather together without starting at least one 
paper, and often two. In the year 1841, just 
when Cairo was in the zenith of her first term 
of greatness and just before she fell from that 
height and past to her first nadir, that one Mc- 
Neer came here and brought a small press and 
started a paper. It was in the first flush times 
of Cairo, when Holbrook was the master and 
autocrat of all, when his company were spend- 
ing mone}- by the millions, and were building 
everything and doing everything. McNeer was 
a stranger to aflfairs, and showed his utter want 
of judgment by not asking Holbrook if he 
might come. Indeed, worse than this, when 
he started his paper he had the audacity to 
criticize that great ruler, and he soon acknowl- 
edged his error by leaving town and taking his 
paper with him. The unholy monster monopol}'^ 
had crushed him, and no other daring advent- 
urer followed, for the simple reason that in a 
few months the dynasty, the town, and ever^^- 
thing pretty much about it had gone much 
worse bursted and crushed than had poor 
McNeer. 

In June, 1848, Add Saunders established the 
Cairo Delta, neutral in politics, and although 
Cairo had only 142 souls, yet the breezy new- 
ness of such a thing soon gave him a circula- 
tion of 800 copies. But whether because he saw 
the storm coming or from what cause we do not 
know, he closed the concern in October, 1849, 
left Cairo, went to Evansville, and consolidated 
with the Evansville Journal. 

And then another interregnum occurred in 
the newspaper world of Cairo. This continued 



until April 10, 1851, when Frank Rawlings, of 
Emporium, or Mound City, started the Cairo 
Sun here. It was full of good enough Democ- 
rac}', but was supposed to be really in the inter- 
ests of the Emporium City Company, if not 
actually started by it. This was a company 
started at Mound City for the purpose of break- 
ing down Cairo and building the great city at 
that point. It was this perhaps as much as 
anything else that caused the paper to die of 
starvation just one j'ear to a da}^ from the time 
of its starting. There are now pretty strong 
evidences that this was the true fact in the case, 
as, within the year of the paper's publication, 
Gen. Rawlings, the father of Frank, had come 
to Cairo, and in the name of some tax-titles or 
Sheriff's deeds or a combination of these and even 
other things, had tried to capture the entire town 
of Cairo, or a larger portion of it. An old settler 
here still remembers seeing the old General in 
solemn state carefull}' ride around the cit}-, 
taking possession of his demesne. If there 
were other instances at all similar to this it 
makes it plausible that the good people of Cairo 
feared that " my son Frank" was really little 
else than a well-got-up sp}'. 

Just here it should be noted that it was a 
singular fact that the Cairo & City Canal 
'Company, or perhaps better to say Holbrook, 
in all his vast schemes of grabbing after rail- 
roads, canals, wild cat banks and the greatest 
commercial city in the world and untold mill- 
ions of hard dollars from Europe, and what 
little else the balance of mankind had, should 
never have thought to start a paper in his own 
private interest. Was this the fatal spot in 
the heel where he was at last wounded unto 
death ? A personal organ in those daj'S prob- 
ably had not been tried, but this is precisely 
the reason it ought to have suggested itself to 
Holbrook. 

Cairo Times. — After another reign of silence 
from the news world, Len G. Faxon and W. 
A. Hacker started the Cairo Times. Hacker was 



130 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



the heavy editor, while Faxon, with a dreadful 
long-pointed sharp stick, stirred up the animals. 
The paper was a weekly, and of the old bour- 
bon barefooted Democrac}- — the kind that 
would have cried out to its million readers, at 
the outbreak of the war (it never had 300, you 
know) to maintain an armed neutralit}' and 
save the nation from bloodshed and war. 
Hacker had good talents, but he was not a 
journalist ; he did not seek to be one. He was 
a politician and a lawyer, and he soon retired 
from the newspaper to his favorite pursuits. 
On the other hand, journalism was as natural 
to Faxon as water is to a duck, and there was 
but one thing that ever prevented him gain- 
ing the highest eminence in his profession, and 
that may best be designated as general insta- 
bility. " He was a fellow of infinite jest," and 
a sharp and vigorous pen, but as to using it he 
preferred to be with the boys. He made no 
professions to profundity of writing, but he was 
always sparkling and readable. He did not re- 
main a very long time in Cairo, but perhaps as 
long as he has remained anywhere since he be- 
came a Bohemian, and after leaving here he 
has drifted about the world and fiuall}' is now 
in Paducah, Ky., where he went in his 
regular trade, and after making himself the 
master bantam of that town, we believe he 
dropped his faber and is now seeking other and 
more promising schemes. But it is not worth 
while to bid him adieu yet from the profession, 
for almost any moment you may hear of him 
breaking out afresh in some new, strange and 
most unexpected journalistic waj-. But we 
have not concluded our account of Faxon in 
Cairo j^et, which we will now proceed to do. 
He severed his connection with the Times earlj- 
in the year 1855, being with the paper a 
little less than one year, and Ed Willett, the 
poet, journalist and erratic young man, took 
his place. And it was then Hacker & Willett 
who were steering the Times along the troubled 
waters of the journalistic sea. They continued 



the publication until the following November, 
when the paper was merged with the Delta, and 
Hacker, so far as we know, retired forever from 
the vexations, the trials, the strains and glories 
of the editorial life., And as we will say no 
more of Hacker in this department, we will dis- 
miss the subject of his ability, st3ie and excel- 
lence as a writer by quoting the remark of 
" Mose" Harrell, in a published account of the 
press of Cairo in 1864. In speaking of this 
very paper that we have just followed to 
its grave, he says : " This hebdomadal was 
Democratic in politics, every number betraying 
the impress of the engaging ponderosity^ of 
Hacker's pen," etc. — the " engaging ponderosi- 
ty"_^is rather neat, but of Mr. Hacker in his real 
place in life, we will have occasion to speak at 
more length when we come to the chapter on 
the bench and bar. 

Cairo Delta.— On the 4th of July, 1855, 
Faxon started this paper. It had but little 
politics in it, but it wielded a free lance for 
every comer, and poked and prodded and put 
on a long-tailed coat and would tread majesti- 
cally- around dragging this behind and begging 
some man to tread on it. It had onl}- a short 
existence of four months, when Faxon, dis- 
covering what he lacked in Willett, and Willett 
discovering certain essential qualities him- 
self in Faxon, the}- wooed and wedded and' 
joined their two papers together, and this 
happy union resulted in the 

Times and Delta. — xlnd so ancjther paper 
was launched upon the journalistic sea, the 
first issue of which was in November, 1855. 
It flourished finch- under its dual title, because 
it combined the materials of an almost certain 
success in its publishers. The publication con- 
tinued until 1859. 

Cairo Egyptian. — Established in 1856, by 
Bond & McGinnis. This was Ben Bond, the 
youngest son of the first Governor of Illinois, 
who was one of the earliest men to see here in 
Cairo great future possibilities. His faith in 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



131 



the place perhaps induced Bew to come here 
and try the wheel of fortune in what turned 
out to be a rash venture. The paper was of 
course an uncompromising Democrat in poli- 
tics. It could hardly have been anything else 
with the name of an}^ one of the numerous 
Bond boys to it. The paper soon passed to 
the control of S. S. Brooks, and its name 
changed to the 

Cairo Gazette, and its publication con- 
tinued under this rather brilliant newspaper 
man for nearl}' two years. Brooks, when he 
closed out his paper interest here, went to 
Quincy, 111., where he established the Her- 
ald, in which he made an extensive reputation, 
which reputation, our recollection is, was some- 
thing after the style of G. D. Prentice, that is, 
in Prentice's double meaning paragraphs. 
In 1858, Brooks sold out to John A. Hull and 
James Hull, and they continued the publica- 
tion until the month of August, 1859, when it 
was purchased by M. B. Harrell, who published 
the paper until the spring of 1864, when he 
sold it out to the Cairo News Company, a Ke- 
publican concern, organized chiefly by the 
efforts of John H. Barton. 

Cairo Journal — A Grerman paper, the 
first of the kind attempted here, was issued 
in 1858. A weekly paper and the few Gei*- 
mans there were hex'e to patronize it valued it 
quite highly, yet it lingered in a state of great, 
destitution and died after a few months. 

Cairo Zeitung. — Its name tells its nativity 
This was a semi-weekly paper, issued from the 
office of the Gazette in 1859. It was an am- 
bitious little Dutchman, as is evidenced by the 
fact that it started in as semi-weekly. It fair- 
1}" " donnered de wedder" the first few weeks 
of its existence, but it was all to no purpose, it 
sickened and died, aged four months, and its 
happy shade is now in the krout business in 
the happy hunting grounds set apart for deaid 
Cairo papers. 

Egyptian Obelisk. — In 1861, William Hunter 



and a few other infatuated souls, concluded 
Cairo was ripe to be Christianized by a great 
daily Kepublican paper, to let in some light 
upon Egyptian darkness. As this was a free 
country — all except Cairo, which was intensely 
Democratic — no one interfered with their gi- 
gantic project, and upon a fixed hour it was 
launched upon an astounded world. Its rug- 
ged course of life lasted through just two 
issues, when its little slippers were put away, 
with the consoling remark, " whom the gods 
love die young." 

Cairo Daily News — A Republican paper, es- 
tablished in 1863, by a joint-stock compan}^ 
the head of which compau}', the writer's rec- 
ollection is, was John W. Trover. This was 
quite a pretentious, and in many respects, a 
paper that was a credit to Cairo. It was prob- 
ably the first paper in the town that ever took 
the Associated Press dispatches. It had a 
general and local editor, and published con- 
siderable river and financial news. But its 
specialty was the army and navy and " loyalty," 
with a strong penchant for watching the trait- 
ors, or which was then the same thing, 
the Democrats. It piped its own loyalty, and 
the arrant treason of every one who differed 
from it. Its first editor was Dan Munn, known 
far and wide as a brother of Ben's. Dan was 
an offshoot of the remarkable establishment 
that flourished here as a part of the great war 
times, known as the house of Munn, Pope & 
Munn. To Dan's credit be it said he never 
was a journalist. His forte la}" in other direc- 
tions, and in a ver}' short time he retired and 
was succeeded as editor b}' John A. Hull, 
whose industry soon showed that there was a 
marked change in the department. Hull never 
was brilliant, because he did not have much 
faith in that kind of editing, and to this day 
we believe that if an^'thing could have made 
the Neios a success, it was the steady-going, 
even-tempered mode of editing pursued by 
Mr. Hull. 



132 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



Before the paper was a year old, it became 
apparent that Trover was rapidly tiring of 
footing the deficiency bills, and the News com- 
pany notified the boys in the office, or at least 
action to that effect was had, and the usual 
process of rats deserting the ship was again 
enacted in the world's history. 

At one time Birney Marshall and James 0. 
Durff ran it until the first week's bill for the 
Associated Press dispatches came in, when they 
declared the great house temporarily closed. 
Still others were induced to put in enough 
money, and when it had good luck it would 
run a week, and then again twentj^-four hours 
would wind it up. But finally, in 1865, at a 
little over the age of two years, and filled with 
more changes and vicissitudes than any similar 
thing that ever existed, it breathed its last. 
It had been dead so long before it acknowl- 
edged it that it is doubtful if it ever had any 
funeral. Marshall and Durff both died a few 
years ago in Memphis. 

Cairo Democrat — By Thomas Lewis, a daily 
and weekl}' Democratic paper. The office was 
removed from Springfield, 111., to this 
place, and the publication of a nine-column 
dail}' paper commenced on the 3d day of 
August, 1863. 

This was about the first effort to establish a 
I'eal metropolitan daily paper, giving all, even 
the great), amount of war news then prevalent 
in the country. It was brought here at great 
expense, run with a full force of editors, re- 
porters and printers, and was published under 
great disadvantages. Cairo was literally a fort 
of the Union Army, the town full of soldiers and 
under martial law ; provost guards were the 
police of the town, and a military man was not 
only Mayor and Grovernor, but supreme auto- 
crat, whose will was law even unto death, and 
there were onl}- a few of them who doubted his 
own ability, not only to discharge his military 
office, but to edit at least all the Democratic 
papers published within the United States. 



The result was there was sometimes that kind 
of meddling that was exceedingly unpleasant 
to publishers. Orders would come some- 
times daily, either from the Provost Marshal's 
office, or from headquarters, giving directions 
how to run the paper, what to publish and 
what not to publish. Practicall}^, j'ou were 
paying the heavy expenses of a printing office, 
and some one else was editing it — such edit- 
ing as it was. At times an order would come 
— a standing order, mark you — to submit all 
matter intended for the paper to inspection, 
before it could be printed. 

The writer hereof remembers an amusing in- 
cident of those strange times. He had written 
and published a short, sill}' story about a man 
who kept a pea-nut stand on the street, and 
how he first " knocked down" the profits^ and 
finally the capital and clandestinely closed his 
establishment and crawled under the sidewalk, 
just beneath where his store had been, and left 
his creditors to whistle. Then went on with a 
lot of stuff about how all the first detectives in 
the world were put upon the fugitive's tracks, 
chartering steamers, railroads, telegraphs, 
etc., and how they peered around and peeked 
into the North pole in the pursuit, and how he 
lay snoring under the sidewalk all the time. 

It is hard to imagine anything more silh' to 
be put into print, but there may have been 
some excuse at that day, from the fact that 
some man had just defaulted in New York for 
a large amount, and supposing he would flee 
to the uttermost parts of the earth the detec- 
tives acted accordingly. Whereas, in fact, he 
only moved to a new boarding house, and 
rested there content. It seems he could not be 
found because he had not fled. 

For this the writer was jerked up and asked 
to explain it all. He frankly confessed that it 
was wholly meaningless — confessed upon his 
sacred honor it was not a cipher dispatch to 
the Southern Confederacy, and was ready to 
swear with up-lifted hand, that he thought if 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



135 



Jeflf Davis ever was compelled to read it, or by 
any chance should read it, that it would kill 
him in five minutes. 

This happy explanation closed the doors of 
the threatening bastile, with the happy victim 
on the outside and not inside. 

We cannot here enumerate all the annoyances 
that it was possible to and that actually were 
thrown in the way of the publication of the 
Democrat, but they were many, vexatious and 
sorelv trying. But just here we wish distinct- 
ly to remark that it was not a universal prac- 
tice with the military to act such silly roles. 
The commanding officer was often changed, 
and it may be said, on behalf of the majority 
of them, that they were intelligent and clever 
gentlemen, and from all such there was no 
more annoj'ance than from any private gentle- 
man. Indeed many of them were of that cult- 
ured and agreeable kind that all the society 
people of Cairo much enjoyed their sta}' among 
them. But when the meddlers did come, their 
folly was only the more illy borne b^- the con- 
trast that the others made. 

Mr. Lewis is entitled to all the credit that 
can come of persistence in the face of such 
obstacles as we have named. Of course, there 
were many others, but so there are under any 
circumstances in starting an enterprise of this 
kind. 

The paper had a warm support throughout 
all Southern Illinois, and a partial support from 
both Kentucky and Missouri, but in these two 
last-mentioned places there were so few mail 
facilities, and there were guerrillas frequently 
in those localities, that the circulation of the 
paper was in that direction infinitesimal. 
Without giving figures, it is probably a fact 
that the daily and weekly Democrat, within a 
year of the commencement of publication, had, 
combined, the largest circulation of any paper 
published in Cairo. 

The first editor v^s H. C Bradsby, assisted 
in the local department by C. C. Phillipps, and 



John W. McKee. Mr. Bradsby continued in his 
position about one year, and having accepted a 
position of correspondent of the Missouri Re- 
publican and afterward the Chicago Times, re- 
tired, and was succeeded by J. Birney Mar- 
shall, of Kentucky. Mr. Marshall continued for 
some months as editor, and, retii'ing, was suc- 
ceeded by Joel G. Morgan, who came here for 
that purpose, from Jonesboro, 111., and 
after a short time Mr. Morgan retired and was 
replaced by John H. Oberly. 

The paper lived along until 1878, when it 
passed into the hands of a joint-stock 
company and joined and consolidated with the 
Cairo Times. The new concern retained the name 
of Cairo Democrat, H. L. Goodall, General 
Superintendent, and John H. Oberly, editor. 

It was the hope of its friends that this ar- 
rangement would relieve both papers of all em- 
barrassments and make one strong, self-sus- 
taining paper. It was ably and expensively 
operated under the new arrangement, and cer- 
tainl}- a common, strong effort was made to 
make a paper that would draw to itself a good 
support. But after the first month, its very ex- 
istence was precarious, and after fifteen 
months of heroic struggles it was sold by the 
Sheriff, and John H. Oberly became the pur- 
chaser, and thus ended the long struggle for 
existence by a daily paper in Cairo, the long- 
est made by any of the hosts that have come, 
flourished their brief hour and expired. 

The War Eagle — Was a soldier's paper pub- 
lished at Columbus, Ky., by H. L. 
Goodall, who moved the entire concern to 
Cairo in 1864, and made a vigorous, spicy 
little Republican paper of it. It was so suc- 
cessful and was attracting so wide an influence, 
that parties here induced Mr. Goodall to en- 
large his sphere of action, which he did by pur- 
chasing a fine outfit for a large office, moving 
into new and spacious quarters (from the 
Eagle's roost in the barracks). And the en- 
larged new paper was the 



186 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



Cairo Times — A daily Republican paper, 
commenced in the latter part of 1866. The 
Eagle was a little unpretentious weekly, but 
the Phoenix that rose from its ashes, was a 
large, handsome, well -constructed daily. The 
paper was well patronized, but we very much 
doubt if Mr. Goodall ever saw the day, after 
the first six months, that he was glad of the 
change. The Times had none of the Eagles 
scream. Maj. Caffrey was its general editor — 
a man of considerable ability, a strong Repub- 
licai^ and good fellow. He remained with Mr. 
Goodall until politics had ceased to be a feat- 
ure, when he sought other pastures. At latest 
accounts he was in Kansas City, Kan., pub- 
lishing a weekl}' Republican paper. 

The Union — A Republican weekly, started 
in 1866, by H. L. Goodall, as a side-show, per- 
haps, to his great and flourishing daily. The 
editor of this inoffensive political organ was 
Mr. Hutchinson. It was soon sold to J. H. 
Barton and its publication discontiniied. 

The Sunday Leader — A literary paper, 
started in 1866, by Ed S. Trover, issued every 
Sunda}^ morning. There were many marks of 
real merit about this periodical. The sole 
writer for it was its editor, but he was well 
known in the city from his position of local on 
the News, where he had made his mark as a 
promising boy. 

City Item — A little five-column weekly local 
paper, was started into existence in the early 
part of 1866, by Bradsby & Field (Bourne). 
It was independent in politics and pretty much 
everything else. It was only intended to cir- 
culate in Cairo. 

This paper was the suggestion of John Field, 
who had for a long time been foreman in the 
Democrat office, and, leaving that place, he 
went to Bradsby with his scheme ; that he 
would do all the work, Bradsby to do the 
writing ; to rent a case in one of the printing 
offices and hire the press work done. It was 
to be all original matter, set solid, and to con- 



tain no "ad" more than ten lines long, and no 
display advertisements. It was no serious 
eflfort at a paper, and by common consent, the 
whole community looked upon it as a joke, 
and that reall}' was about all there was of it, 
and it was perhaps luck}' for the criminal that 
this was so. It lived something over a 3ear 
and then quit. 

Olive Branch — By Mrs. Mary Hutchinson, a 
family paper, with an olive wreath about its 
brow. It lived about one year. It commenced 
and died in 1867. 

Cairo Times. — Revived in 1868, by H. L. 
Goodall. A stx'ong daily and weekly Repub- 
lican paper. Its regular publication continued 
until the early part of 1871, when Mr. 
Goodall evidently tired of the newspaper busi- 
ness in Cairo, wound up his concern, sold out 
all Cairo interests ^nd went to Chicago. 

Cairo Daily Bulletin — A Democratic paper 
started by John H. Oberly, in November, 1868. 
J. H. Oberly, chief editor, M. B. Harrell, as- 
sociate. The paper started under most favor- 
able and promising circumstances, but just as 
its promise seemed fairest, the office and con- 
tents burned to the ground, and to add to its 
calamities there was no insurance on the con- 
cern. This fire occurred in December, 1868, 
when the establishment was only a little more 
than a month old. An entire new outfit was 
immediately procured and the publication re- 
sumed, and is to this day still a daily morning 
paper. 

The reader can hardly imagine what a joy 
and relief it is to at last come to one in the 
long line that is aliA^e, prosperous and happy. 
The long preceding list is so much like a call- 
ing the roll of the dead, that the change from 
the funeral to the festival is inexpressibly 
pleasant. 

Mr. Oberly and Harrell continued to push 
the paper successfully for some years. Its 
job department had grown to large proportions 
and eventually promised to support well the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



187 



newspaper part of the establishment, but in 
1878, matters began to grow perplexed and 
embarrassments began to beset the institution. 
Among other calamities, the j'ellow fever had 
visited the town and all business was pros- 
trate. 

About this time the arrangements were made 
to lease the office to Mr, Burnett, the present 
proprietor. This took effect July, 1878, and 
it is probable the absolute stoppage of the 
paper was thus avoided. Mr. Burnett con- 
tinued as lessee until Januar}^ 1, 1881, when 
by pui'chase he became the absolute and sole 
owner, in which position he has not only been 
able to make the paper self-sustaining, but has 
so carefuU}' attended to matters that it is rapid- 
ly becoming a first-class paying property. 

Mr. Burnett has worked his way from "in 
charge of the circulation," in March, 1868, to 
that of sole owner and proprietor. For two 
years he was book-keeper, and was then made 
general manager. This position he held until 
1867, when he left the office and took employ- 
ment in the Illinois Central Railroad office, in 
this city, where he remained about eighteen 
months. He then returned to the office of the 
Bulletin as lessee. The first 3-ear's earnings of 
the institution were slightl}' in excess of ex- 
penses, even after deducting considerable 
necessary additional materials ; the second 
year was not so good, but b}' this time Mr. 
Burnett had so systematized matters that it 
has been eas}' sailing in placid waters since. 
It is located on the levee in the proprietor's own 
building, and the constant additions and im- 
provements being added will soon make it one 
of the leading solid institutions of the kind in 
the country. 

The first few years after Mr. Burnett took 
control of the BuUetin, it was edited by M. B. 
Harrell, and, when the latter went to Chicago, 
the editorial work was done by Mr. Ernst 
Theilecke, who was connected with the office 
for a long time. Mr. Theilecke is now in Lock- 



haven, Penn., and occupying much the same 
position there that he did here. 

The present local and assistant writer upon the 
Bulletin is Mr. E. W. Theilecke, who has oc- 
cupied his present place the last two years. 
He is quite a young man, who gives every evi- 
dence of usefulness and ability. 

In as few words as we could possibly make 
it, this is history of one of the very few success- 
ful papers of the many started in Cairo. It 
leaves this as a demonstration and conclusion : 
When the papers of Cairo eventually come in- 
to exactly the right hands, they then, and then 
only, become permanent and valuable institu- 
tions. 

Cairo Sun — A weekly Republican paper, 
started by D. L. Davis in 1869. After running 
it a few months as a weekly, it took the form 
of a daily paper, and in this shape in a short 
time was sold by Mr. Davis to the Joy Bros., 
who continued the publication until January 1, 
1881, when, for some I'eason best known to the 
publishers, they voluntarily killed off the Sun 
and started a new paper, the JVews, which 
worked along in fair weather and in foul just 
one year, and ceased to exist January 1, 1882. 

Radical Republican — Its name indicates its 
political proclivities, was issued for a short 
time from the Sun office. Its publisher was 
Louis L. Davis. It never had much vitality, 
and perished in 1880. 

The Three States — Colored ; politics un- 
known. Died Februar}-, 1883. 

Gazette — Colored ; W. T. Scott, proprietor 
and publisher. A weekly paper that is one of 
the few that has not ceased to exist. 

The Camp Register — A daily sheet for sol- 
diers mostl3^ Was published during May, 
June and July, 1861. 

The Dally Dramatic News — Was published by 
H. L. Goodall during the winter of 1864-65 in 
the interests of Crump & Co., the builders and 
first proprietors of the Cairo Atheniieum. 

Cairo Paper — A vigorous and able Demo- 



138 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



cratic paper, established b}- M. B. Harrell in 
1871. Not liking the name, be changed it in a 
short time to Cairo Gazette, and thus returned 
to his first love in the Cairo papers. In this 
style the publication was continued until 1876, 
when it was sold by the proprietor and moved 
to Clinton, Ky. 

Cairo Daily Argus — Independent daily pa- 
per, by H. F. Potter, publisher, and Walt F. 
McKee, editor. Was first issued in its present 
form November 15, 1878. Seventeen years 
ago, Mr. Potter took possession as owner and 
publisher of the Mound City Journal, which 
he has conducted from that da}' to this success- 
fully. Eight years ago, deeming his old fields 
of operations somewhat circumscribed, and 
looking about for an opportunity to enlarge 
them, he conceived the happy idea of a combi- 
nation of Cairo and Mound City interests, and 
so he issued the Cairo Argus and Mound City 
Journal, the work being done at the commence- 
ment in the Mound City office, with a local 
agent and office in Cairo, but no printing mate- 
rial in Cairo. In one year after starting this 
enterprise he moved his office to Cairo, and 
continued the publication, simply reversing the 
local office and the printing office as to their 
places. After the office was in Cairo a few 
months, the title of the paper was changed into 
the Argus- Journal, and was still issued at Cairo 
and Mound City weekly. Then, as above 
stated, in 1878, November 15, he issued directly 
the Cairo Daily Argus, and still continues to 
publish the Mound City Journal, which, upon 
the appearance of the Daily Argus, resumed its 
old name, and, certainly, a very high compliment 
to Mr. Potter's foresight, the Journal, through 
all its marrying and journeyings, retains every 
one of its old Pulaski County friends, and at 
the same time had so managed its Cairo patrons 
to the weekly paper that when tlie daily was 
started it already' had its subscription list made 
up. Mr. Potter's past experience, his good, 
strong judgment, his energy and faithfulness to 



his business, and his known integrity, deserve 
an ever-increasing success in his venture into 
a field where so man}', so bright and so worthy 
have heretofore nearly one and all completely 
failed. He well understood all these failures 
before he looked toward Cairo as a field of 
operations. He had known Cairo as well daily 
for the past twenty yeai's as though he had 
been a citizen during all that time. He knew, 
personally, all of these men, and had watched 
their wrecking, and, doubtless, it is well for him 
he had the benefit of others' sad experience, as 
it enabled him to lay his plans the better, and 
the caution he has displayed when he was eight 
long years in reaching the point of having a 
daily paper in Cairo shows a species of method, 
determination, sound judgment and persistence 
of purpose that is certainly a sufficient guaran- 
tee to the people of Cairo that they need not 
hesitate a moment in giving his concern their 
fullest confidence. We mean by all this that 
they need not fear to trust the man or his busi- 
ness, and they need not be influenced b}- the 
many failures in the lives of paper publications 
the}' have seen, and, therefore, class the Daily 
Argus as being only another one that, in a short 
time, is to follow in the already beaten track of 
the many. 

His selection of an assistant and editor has 
been equally fortunate with his other move- 
ments in the establishment upon a permanent 
basis of his paper. We refer, of course, to 
Walt F. McKee, than whom no more reliable 
man lives. He has resided in Cairo since boy- 
hood, and during nearly all that time has oc- 
cupied responsible and confidential positions 
for organizations and institutions, which are 
known to give trust only to the most trust- 
worthy. Mr. McKee entered the office of the 
Argus with but a limited knowledge of the bus- 
iness, but as his employer foresaw he would 
learn, and he has learned until to-day he is 
quite as well informed of the duties of his 
position as are those who consider themselves 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



139 



the par excellence leaders and teachers in this 
most trj'ing and arduous profession. 

We gladly dismiss this long column of dis- 
mal failures, consisting of over thirty papers, 
only three of which are now living to gladden 
the e^'es of their friends. But should we drop 
the subject and pass to other themes, and sa}' 
no more than we have said of the men who 
were the actors and doers in this cui'ious news- 
paporial world, the list would be but a skeleton, 
and not a pleasant one at that. 

The Bohemians. — We confess we can find no 
other word under which we can group the au- 
thors, correspondents, editors, reporters and 
contributors, who were of and at one time a 
part of Cairo, so well as the one we have 
adopted. Could we group these as one fair 
picture and show the people who it is that has 
come and gone, attracted to Cairo, some of 
them, in the hunt of permanent homes and bus- 
iness, others brought. here as war correspond- 
ents at the time when Cairo was the great 
central news point in the United States, others 
here permanently as the representatives of 
many, in fact, nearly all the great leading 
dail}' papers of the country. We say, had we 
the pen and the necessai'y facts to make this 
grouping, the people would rise from the perusal 
amazed if not delighted. But the knowledge 
of these men by the writer of these lines is 
imperfect, as some of them he never knew, and 
many othei's, whom he vividly remembers the 
faces and their peculiar cast of mind, their 
names have passed out of mind. 

The first man nearly in point of time, cer- 
tainly in point of fame, who visited Cairo " to 
write," was Charles Dickens. He was here in 
1842. He took his notes, went home and wi'ote 
Martin Chuzzlewit. So far as his attempt to 
describe Cairo itself is concerned it is like 
everything else Dickens wrote — fiction. But 
there are some things he said he saw here that 
can hardly be in his usual strain of extrava- 
gance. For instance, any old settler can tell 



3'ou that the first crash in Cairo had come be- 
fore Dickens' visit and that like a stricken city 
the decimation of people from 2,000 to less 
than fift}- had come like a cyclone from a cloud- 
less sky. The historian, too, has no hesitation 
in telling j^ou that the few left could not oc- 
cup3' the houses, and that when the canal com- 
pany failed they were left with almost nothing 
to do. Still there is scarcely a doubt that no 
matter how bad Dickens found matters, his pen 
would have been palsied if he had not " lied 
just a little." The writer has not seen the 
work in which he tells how Mark Tapley visited 
Cairo and had the ague, and how he and his 
companion were visited by the leadmg politi- 
cian and stump speakers of Southern Illinois ; 
how the stump speaker talked in the '• Home- 
in-the-Settin'-Sun " style, and then spit over the 
prostrate Martin, at a crack in the floor ten 
feet awaj^ and^hit the crack, and assured him he 
might lie eas}' on his blanket, as he would not 
spit on him, etc., etc. When we read all this 
rather coarse kind of stufi" as a boy, we thought 
it rather smart and funny. Mark and his friend, 
it seems, came to Cairo in order to have the 
chills — all the way from England. A long dis- 
tance to come for what they could have pro- 
cured a much stronger article of thousands of 
miles nearer home. But they were here for 
that purpose, says the veracious author, and 
while here they described the kind of acquaint- 
ances they associated with and formed. Now 
any Cairoite can to-day go to Loudon and find, 
if his tastes so run, an infinitely worse crowd, 
more vile, more squalid, dirtier, and in short 
the very abomination and indescribable dregs 
of humanity. What a ti'aveler's eyes sees de- 
pends upon the traveler, much more than on 
what is spread before him, panorama-like as 
he moves along. Out of all the Southern Illi- 
nois and Cairo people the traveler met and 
associated with here, there is not the picture of 
one that any here would read and say that is 
so-and-so, even Maj. Challop, the Home-iu-the- 



140 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



Settin'-Sun fellow, the leading politician with 
whom the travelers conversed in a very 
idiotic fashion on Grovernment, is an unrec- 
ognizable, not known to a living soul ; but when 
the traveler walked ashore and describes the 
emptj' building (they were certainly here in 
1842), and says " the most abject and forlorn 
among them was called, with great propriety, 
the Bank and National Credit Office. It had 
some feeble props about it, but was settling 
deep down in the mud, past all recover}-." 
That is not a very extravagant picture of the 
real case of Holbrook's bank and where it went 
to. So deeply was that South Sea Bubble hur- 
ried, exploded or evaporated, about the very 
time Dickens penned these lines, that its ghost 
has never been seen even in the region or at 
the hour when " graveyards yawn." And if 
Dickens was right about its settling in the mud 
and ooze, so be it. One thing is certain, this 
is the onl}- real account of what did ever be- 
come of that enormous swindle. 

The man next in order, and, perhaps, the 
next in celebrity, who was at one time a tempo- 
rary resident of Cairo, was W. H. Russell, bet- 
ter known all over this country as Bull Run 
Russell, the celebrated war correspondent of 
the London Times. He was stationed here in 
1861, and because he was an Englishman, or 
because he represented the far-off London 
Times, or because this country just at that time 
was deeply engaged in playing sycophant for 
fear of the growl of the English lion, or ma}'- 
hap for all these reasons combined, our mast- 
fed military commanders in and about Cairo 
were doing the very best toadying to this John 
Bull that they could conceive of. They must 
have supposed that Bull Run would write to 
the Queen, and especially mention the fact that 
Colonel or General So-and-so was a great friend 
of England, and the only way to keep him in a 
good humor and prevent his getting " mad " 
and eventually eating Britain's Isle, would be to 
recognize him or the United States, or both, and 



not to recognize Jeff Davis, who was all the 
time hanging on a " sour apple tree." For all 
this coarse, clums}', and rather disgusting syco- 
phanc}', Russell wrote to the London Times 
fairly taking the hide off these fellows, describ- 
ing them, giving the names of many of the 
most prominent, as coarse, vulgar, ignorant 
louts, who smelt of the stables, even through 
all their new, cheap tinsel and military toggery. 
He criticized unmercifull}^, and, no doubt, 
justly, their display of military knowledge in 
ever}^ department. In the high privates of the 
army he thought he could plainly see the germ 
from which a strong army might be made, but 
evidently in the commanders he could not 
speak of them without thinking of the toad}'- 
ing they had just been giving him, and his 
patience was at once gone. 

As to the natives, or the home talent, or 
the native casual Cairoites, we may divide 
them, for convenience' sake, into the two fol- 
lowing natural divisions: the ante-bellum 
crowd, and then the remainder to the pres- 
ent day. 

And of the first, we may designate M. B. 
Harrell, L. G. Faxon and Ed Willett as the 
three names that always come to the lips 
when speaking of the early newspapers. 
CertainlJ', three more distinct characters, in 
the same line or profession, never met. They 
may be said to have practically been here 
together from the very first, and of all these, 
Harrell, so far as we can learn, was here some 
time before the other two were. He must 
have been here early in the " forties." His 
brother, Bailey Harrell, was one of the very 
earliest leading merchants here, and "Mose," 
as he is more widely known than by any other 
designation, was, perhaps, a boy about bis 
brother's store when he was quite young, and 
it is reasonable to suppose that he took his 
first lessons in composition in copying or 
finally writing advertisements for the store. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



141 



We only claim to be guessing at all this, but 
if here was where he got his education, then 
he went to a school that has been seldom 
equalled. In the old files of a Cairo paper, 
we find an advertisement of B. S. Harrell's 
store, and the whole thing convinces us that 
either Mose or Bailey wrote it. 

There were but two merchants here, rivals, 
and both doing business under the same roof. 
One was a Yankee, the other Harrell. The 
Yankee brought on a large stock, and adver- 
tised in the Cairo Delta, that he had bought 
his stock for cash, and could, therefore, sell 
lower by far than any one else. In the very 
next paper, Harrell's advertisement appeared, 
in these words: "Now, these goods I can and 
will sell lower than my competitor, for the 
simple reason that I bought them all on 
credit, and that, too, without the slightest 
intention of ever paying a cent for them. " 

Mose was here during the long reign of 
idleness, when the whole community was 
given over to practical joking and fun of all 
kinds. He was the first telegraph operator, 
when but a single wire stretched its way to 
this then outside of the telegraphic world. 
He says he was at last relieved from the ar- 
duous duties of receiving the two or three 
dispatehs that sometimes came daily, " for 
shutting up the office" and going courting 
one night. It is much more probable tha^ 
he was discharged for some of his pranks, of 
which his supply was inexhaustible, as the 
following specimen may show: A boat had 
landed on its way from New Orleans to St. 
Louis. Among the many deck passengers who 
sought the top of the levee for supplies, 
bread, bologna, etc., was one poor fellow 
whom the boat left. He had failed to reach 
the wharf in time to get aboard. He was in 
sore distress; his family were on board the 
boat, and what would he do? Mose, of 
course, met him like a good Samaritan; 



showed him the wire and the poles, and ex- 
plained that it was made on purpose to send 
things to St. Louis. The institution was 
new then,, and little understood. The man 
listened, and begged Mose to send him on at 
once. Mose explained to him how he would 
have to jump at each pole, and the man 
thought he could do it. The dupe was then 
prepared for the trip by his friend. The 
bread, cheese, bologna, etc., were made into 
a pack and carefully tied upon .his back. 
The telegraph -climbers were placed upon his 
feet, in order that he might climb to the wire 
and get on. But for the life of him he 
could not climb the pole; he worked by the 
hour, sometimes digging into the pole and 
sometimes in his own legs, and only from 
sheer exhaustion did he finally give up in 
despair. Mose then told him to go up town 
and find Corcoran, who was the keeper of the 
ladder that was used by the ladies ,to climb 
with when they wanted to travel by tele- 
graph. The poor fellow hunted until he 
found Corcoran, and told him what he 
wanted. He was informed that the ladder 
had been broken the day before by Barnum's 
fat woman going up on it, and finally per- 
suaded the dupe that the wire was considered 
dangerous ever since the fat woman and her 
seven Saratoga trunks had passed over it, 
and that he had probably better wait until 
another boat came along, and then he could 
go to St. Louis in peace and safety. 

Mound City at one time — very foolish it 
all now looks — concluded to rival Cairo, not 
rival, but simply distance and build all the 
great city up there. They probably found 
some man, as Cairo found Holbrook, and at 
it they went, spending money right and left 
at an immense rate. Whoever was running 
Mound City was smarter than the one that 
ran Cairo, because, as soon as matters were 
under full 'headway, he imported a news- 



142 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



paper outfit, came to Cairo, and hired M. B. 
HaiTell at a big salary to go up there and 
abuse Cairo. Although the salary was lai'ge, 
Harrell earned every dollar, and more too; 
for instance: 

" We attended a meeting of the Cairo City 
Council Monday night. The room being 
well warmed, and a bottle of Fair's Ague 
Tonic being provided for each Alderman, 
and an ounce of quinine for the Board gen- 
erally (from which the Clerk would occasion- 
ally take a spoonful). The fever and ague by 
which the majority were at the time afflicted, 
interfered only immaterially with the busi- 
ness. If anybody wants to see 'great shakes, ' 
let 'em attend a Cairo Council meeting." 

Or this: 

" The Cairoites, in imitation of the Yankee 
at sea, have provided themselves with a good 
supply of soap, so that, if the river over- 
whelms them, they can wash themselves 
ashore. If they should be compelled to use 
it, the town of Columbus, just below, would 
be overflowed by an awful nasty sea of soap- 
suds." 

Or again: 

" A fire company has been organized at 
Cairo, and where's the necessity for it ? In 
case of a fire, just let them knock the plugs 
out of the levee sewers, and the river water 
will fly all over the village." 

Cairo employed Faxon to stand in front of 
these projectiles, and do the best he could to 
defend Cairo, but this all only resulted in the 
two rival toAvns coming out like the Kilkenny 
cats, only so much the worse that there evi- 
dently was not so much us the bob-end of a 
tail left to either. It was all quite comical 
at the time, and no doubt the people of the 
two towns looked forward eagerly each week 
to see what next was coming. The serious 
side of the story was, that often the worst of 
these squibs were taken up and reprinted 



over the North, as true pictures of Cairo and 
Mound City, as drawn by their own people. 
Up to the war, this trio, Harrell, Faxon and 
Willett, were the Cairo and Mound City 
editors. They started papers, changed sides, 
and bobbed around, but it was one contin- 
uous circle, and generally all on the Cairo 
press, and they seem to have indulged, to 
their hearts' content, in lampooning each 
other and each other's towns, when they hap- 
pened to be in different villages. 

The compositors of that day seemed to 
deem it a duty devolving upon them to fur- 
nish their full quota of unaccountable human 
beings. They had probably caught the in- 
fection fi'om [either Willett, Faxon or Har- 
rell, A few specimens: 

A printer who' worked here as early as 
1848, was said to have been the fastest hand- 
pressman of his time in the United States. 
He was said to have worked off 800 impres- 
sion of a sheet 24x36, on a Washington 
hand- press, in two hours and twenty minutes. 
This was equivalent to an impression every 
ten and two-fifths seconds. It is probably 
well there were no other such pressmen, or 
there would never have arisen the necessity 
fur the perfected Hoe press. 

A compositor in the Sun office in Cairo, in 
1850, named Frank Urguhart, could set 15.. - 
000 long primer and brevier in ten hours, 
and always got roaring drunk after supper, 
but would appear at his case as usual the 
next morning, ready to do as big a day's 
work as ever. He was wholly worthless, 
however. He married a Cairo girl in a short 
time after he came here, lived with her two 
weeks, then abandoned her and has never 
been heard of since. 

E. F. Walker a compositor who worked 
immediately before and during the early 
years of the war, was quite a character. 
For six months or more he was planning a 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



143 



week's hunt in the neighboring woods of 
Missouri. Practicing great economy, he 
finally found himself the possessor of $80. 
He bought a $1.50 shot-gun, four ounces of 
powder and a pound of shot. He then sup- 
plied his commissary department with a half- 
dozen pigs' feet, a pound of crackers, two 
gallons of whisky, a horse-blanket and a 
second-hand wheelbarrow. Thus equipped, 
on the morning of July 4, 1862, he bade the 
office boys good-bye, and started for the 
ferry-boat. He halted his^ wheelbarrow be- 
fore every saloon on the [levee, stepped in 
to take a drink and bid the boys good-bye. 
The ensuing night, he tumbled into the 
office, drunk as a lord, swearing he could 
not get off, because the ferry-boat refused to 
carry his ammunition ! Next morning, he and 
his wheelbarrow were again making the 
rounds of the levee. The day again closed 
on a drunken Walker. He explained that 
the ferry-boat multiplied itself so often, and 
ran in so many different directions, he was 
afraid he might take the wrong boat and lose 
his wheelbarrow. On the third day, he got 
drunk again, but, to .the end that he might 
start early and sober, he slept all night on 
the wharf in his wheelbarrow. The fourth 
and fifth days were a repetition of his first 
and second, but on the seventh day he kept 
himself drunk all day and all night, waiting, 
he said, for the arrival of a ferry-boat that 
was not given to the insane habit of running 
' sideways. ' Early on the morning of [the 
eighth day, he happened to leave his wheel- 
barrow and accouterments unguarded Ke- 
turning to search for them, they were not to 
be found. Ed Willett had trundled them 
across the wharf boat, and to this day they 
lie on the bottom of the Ohio River, where 
he dumped them. Walker, having only 40 
cents of his $80 left, couldn't secure another 
outfit, sobered up, and returned to his case 



again. He was abundantly satisfied Avith re- 
sults, however, and always [afterward, when 
speaking of festive occasions, would jdeclare 
his ' great seven days' hunt in the Missouri 
bottoms ' the happiest interval of his exist- 
ence. Walker was a congenial soul; some- 
what erratic, but always harmless. He has 
long since passed over to the happy hunting 
ground, for the full enjoyment of which, it is 
quite apparent, he was only preparing him- 
self in his great hunt here. 

In the early days of the war, Jimmy 
Stockton, afterward editor of the Grand 
Tower Item, was a compositor in M. B. Har- 
rell's Gazette office. At the time the officer 
in command of the post in Cairo had tried 
to suppress the Gazette, and had ordered the 
editor to submit all matter to him (a full ac- 
count of which we give in another column), 
and the way Harrell got around the dilem- 
ma, so tickled poor Stockton, that he got 
more than glorious. He had spent the even- 
ing at Dr. Jim McGuire's, and had repaired 
to his room rather late, which was on the 
fourth floor, just above the composition 
room. 

The printers reported the following cir- 
cumstances: About 11 o'clock at night, a 
compositor, working at his case, heard a 
whiz, and saw a dark object flit past his win- 
dow, which was in the third story. Hasten- 
ing down stairs to see what had happened, 
what was his amazement to find Jimmy 
Stockton, stretched at full length on the top 
of a pile of empty barrels, and sound 
asleep! While leaning out of the fourth 
story window, he had lost his balance; fall- 
ing a distance of about twenty feet, he struck 
the roof of a two-story addition, and rolling 
off, alighted on the barrels and went to sleep. 
But for his limberness, he would have been 
crushed to a pulp, but no serious injury was 
sustained. "Well, now, do you know,'' said 



144 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



Jimmy, when the boys had finally aroused 
him and got him down ofif the barrels, " that 
I dreamed I was on top of a tall ladder; that 
a sow uptripped it — and now I come to thiuk 
of it, it wasn't all a dre^im, boys! but where's 
that sow — and the ladder?" 

The fever of life has passed with poor 
Stockton, and] to those who knew him best, 
the memory of his big heart and warm soul 
will always come sunshiny throughout their 
lives. 

It was poor old Sam Hart, peace to his re- 
mains, who was hard of hearing, and was 
always imagining, when he could not hear 
what was being said, that the other boys 
were talking about him, and over this he was 
in constant hot water. He was getting old, 
and was very nervous and sometimes peevish. 
He would imagine more than enough, but 
then the others, perceiving his oddities, would 
constantly add to his sources of worry and 
vexation. Matters finally culminated in Hart 
making up his mind absolutely to challenge 
to the death Joe Wiley, as he appeared to be 
about the worst, and was the fittest, in the 
old man's estimation, for an example. He 
called upon his friend, another 'printer, and 
told him his unalterable resolution, and re- 
quested his assistance. This was promptly 
given, and all the minutiae arranged for the 
combat, which was to take place just outside 
the Mississippi levee after sundown. Two 
immense horse-pistols were procured, and the 
parties were to repair to the spot in a" state 
of scatteredness, for fear of drawing the at- 
tention of the police. It seems all were in 
the joke except poor Hart. Parties were 
placed for the fight, and Hart was awful 
nervous, and he told i^his friend he expected 
his time had come. When the weapons were 
handed them, it was with difficulty Hart 
could hold his in both his hands, so very 
nervous had he become. They were ordered 



to stand and await orders to fire, but Hart 
knew he could not hear good, and so, the 
moment he got his, he raised it in both 
hands andbiaz — no, snapped. But matters 
were again adjusted, ^and he was told he must 
wait for the word to fire. The pistol was 
again placed in his hands, and again he pro- 
ceeded at once to raise it with both hands, 
and fi — no, snap again, and he dropped the 
weapon and fled for life toward town. He 
told his second two or three different stories 
about the matter. First, he was positive 
there was a general conspiracy to murder 
him, and, second, that he saw the police com- 
ing, and he thought it all great foolishness, 
anyhow. 

But of the trio of the original Cairo journal- 
ists — Harrell, Faxon and Willett. It is diffi- 
cult to draw any comparison or parallel be- 
tween any number of men, all of whom are 
wholly unlike. These three men were alike in 
this only— they were all writers. The writer 
of these lines never knew Willett personally, 
yet, in some way, he has formed the opinion 
of the man, to the efiect that he was purely 
a literary man in his nature, and always 
thought his chief talent was as a poet, and 
hence he wrote poetry for pleasure, and as a 
rule it turned out to be mere doggerel, but 
that, upon literary subjects, where he some- 
times drove his pen with a master's hand, 
he always felt he was a mere drudge, debas- 
ing the fine horse Pegasus into the meanest 
of dray horses. That he was of a nervous, 
sensitive turn of mind, and the rough-and- 
tumble ,bouts that Harrell and Faxon some- 
times gave him neai'ly killed him. Willett 
left Cairo before or during the very early 
part of the war, and is said now to be on the 
sta£f of the New York Herald. 

Of Faxon we know more, both personally 
and by reading his writings. His pen 
bristled like the "fretful porcupine," and he 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



145 



shot the pointed quills sometimes in every 
direction. His talents were good, his nature 
genial and full of sunshine. He is living 
now in .Paducah, Ky., as stated elsewhere, 
and may he be yet spared to develop fully to 
the world what we believe to be truly in him 
in the way of literary talent. 

Of M. B. Harrell it may well be said, there 
is no name yet so impressed upon Cairo and 
its very existeuce as his — its mark is^ every- 
where, and must coexist with the city. After 
a long and thorough acquaintance with him, 
we have no hesitation in pronouncing him of 
the highest order of talent among the writers 
of his day. Of all the hosts that have vent- 
iired their editorial fortunes in Cairo, they 
found Harrell the Nestor when they came, 
and they left him in undisputed possession 
of his title and crown. 

Mr. Harrell came to Cairo about 1845, a 
mere boy, to do errands about his brother's 
store and learn to be a clerk, if he developed 
talent enough for such promotion. His in- 
stincts [took him, at an early day, to the 
printing office, and here he went to school, 
and soon mastered the business to that ex- 
tent that he was an invaluable part of the 
office. When the war broke out, he was 
editor and proprietor of the Cairo Gazette, 
and quietly continued its publication after 
the military had ^taken possession of Cairo. 

As to some of his experiences at that 
time, we permit Mr. Harrell to tell himself: 

" In the early stages of the war, when 
nearly every prominent Democrat was in the 
Old Capitol Prison, and Logan was watched, 
and suspicioned Democratic editors in Egypt 
had a rough time of it. I was seated at my 
desk in the Gazette office one morning, when 
in stalked Col. Buford, attended by an Ad- 
jutant, and both of them in the dangling, 
jangling war accouterments in which showy 
warriors were wont to array themselves. ' Is 



the editor in ?' asked the Colonel, in a tone 
of voice suggestive of hissing bombs, sword- 
whizzes and the spluttering of fired grenade 
fazes. 'He is^ sir,' I replied, with a not- 
able tremor of voice ; ' I respond to that de- 
signation. What is your pleasure, sir ? ' 'I 
have this to say to you, sir, and mark .me 
well, that there may be no misunderstanding. 
These are perilous times, sir; we have 
enemies at our front, sir, and more cowardly 
ones in our rear, even in our midst. Upon 
these latter I am resolved to lay a strong 
hand. 1 have to say to you, then, that if you 
publish anything in your paper that shall 
tend to discourage enlistments, encourage 
desertions, or in any manner reflect upon the 
wai' policies of the administration, I shall 
take possession of youi' office, sir, and put 
you in irons.' 

" ' I beg to assure you. ' I replied, as soon 
as I could command composure enough to 
speak at ail, ' I feel no inclination to offend 
iD that direction; but how can I shape my 
editorial labors so as to have a guarantee of 
your approval ? ' 

" ' Submit your matter to me, sir. If I find 
it unobjectionable, I'll return it; otherwise, 
I'll destroy it.' 

" Then, with the bearing of a Scipio — a 
' see -the -conquering- hero comes ' gait and 
carriage — the Colonel and his Adjutant left 
the office. 

" The next day, and the next, and the day 
after that, I laid before the Colonel a great 
deal more selected matter than I had pub- 
lished during the previous quarter. I clipped 
columns of stuff I had no idea of pub- 
lishing; tore several leaves from the Census 
Returns of 1860; levied heavy conti'ibutions 
from the stah? jokes found in Ayers' Al- 
manac; long editorials from the St. Lou.is 
Republican; full pages from De Bow's Sta- 
tistical Review of the Southex-n Cotton Crop; 



146 



HISTOEY or CAIRO. 



'takes' of Ed Willett's newspaper poetry, 
and massive rolls of matter that I felt certain 
nobody ever had or ever could read without 
mental retching, and all this stuff I ' respect- 
fully submitted for the Colonel's perusal and 
approval.' Palpable as they were, the Col- 
onel, evidently, did not ' tumble ' to my tac- 
tics. On the evenings of the first and 
second days, the installments were duly re- 
turned, stamped with evidence of approval. 
On the evening of the third day, the roll of 
copy was returned unopened, bat accompan- 
ied by the following explanatory and ad- 
monitory note. 

"Editor Gazette: Finding that a close pre- 
supervision of the oentents of your paper involves 
an expenditure of more paper and labor than I can 
bestow, and much more than I anticipated, I return 
to-day's installment unopened; exercise your cus- 
tomary discretion and allow the latent Unionism in 
your composition to assert itself, and the result, I 
dare say, will be as satisfactory to me as it will be 
creditable to yourself. 

(Signed) B. 

In the early part of the war, Cairo devel- 
oped to be just what its very first discoverers 
foresaw, namely, that in case of war it would 
be the one great, important strategic point — 
the key to all the military movements in the 
vast Mississippi Valley. Daniel P. Cook, the 
Delegate from the Territory, of Illinois in 
Congress, and who framed the bill for its 
admission as a State into the Union, based 
his report and his speech in that behalf, 
upon the peculiar position of the Territory, 
and as clearly foretold, as did the war 
demonstrate, that Illinois was the natural 
keystone State to the gi-eat Northwest. From 
the early part of 1863 until the conclusion 
of the late war, the whole world looked with 
eager interest to Cairo. It was here that all 
eyes turned, in the hope of some ^word that 
would decisively settle the great and bloody 
questions that were raging so fiercely. 

This brought here a swarm of correspond- 
ents, men representing at one time nearly every 



leading paper in the whole country; and to 
give some idea of the magnitude of the in- 
crease of news that was ftu-nished at this 
point, it is only necessary to say that from 
four to six telegraph operators were found 
necessary, and that often and often the news 
wires wex'e doubled, and kept busily running 
night and day, and then frequently great 
rolls of copy were taken from the hook the 
next day that it was impossible to pass over 
the wires in time for the paper to go to press. 
The writer of these lines well remembers 
that at one time there were twenty-five men 
here who represented these different news- 
papers, and whose sole business was to allow 
nothing to escape them, and send it by light- 
ning dispatch to their respective papers. 
There were groat jealousies and rivalries 
among the different representatives of rival 
papers. A correspondent would about as 
soon die as to allow his rival, or anybody 
else, to get up a " scoop " on him while he 
slept or closed his ears, and there was an 
equal rivalry among the respective papers 
backing each one of them. These corre- 
spondents, many of them, had instructions to 
spare no expense in getting news. " If 
necessary to get the latest and important 
news, charter an engine or a steamboat, and 
draw on this office," was substantially [the 
instructions that several of these news- 
gatherers had. It was the correspondent 
who failed to get the latest important news 
— no matter how much money he saved — who 
was always summarily dismissed. And of 
course at that time, in this country, the New 
York Herald had the prestige for enterprise 
among all the papers. There was no other 
institution in the country until the war. that 
thought it worth while to try to compete with 
James Gordon Bennett; but the war brought 
much change here as well as in other things, 
and made many papers quite as daring in 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



147 



enterprise as the Herald. One of the pranks 
sometimes played by correspondents upon 
each other, was to race for the telegraph 
office, say just after a battle, and the first 
one who got the wire, by the rules of the 
office, could hold it until his ^entire dispatch 
was sent. They would thus have a tremen- 
dous race as to who should get there first, 
and then it was an immense joke if he could 
hold it until, say, 4 o'clock next morning, 
when the morning papers all had to go to 
press. All the people of Cairo will remem- 
ber Frank Chapman, who came to Cairo as 
the correspondent of the New York Herald. 
This story was told of him: There had been 
a battle, and it was ten miles away to the 
telegraph office. He happened to be 
mounted on the fastest horse, and under whip 
and spur started as soon as the result of the 
fight was known. He was followed Jin full 
chase by the others, and it was a break-neck 
race ; but Chapman got there first, but it was 
only by a few moments; in short, he was so 
closely followed, that he rushed into the 
office (none of them had their dispatches 
written out yet), and looking about, the only 
thing he saw was a copy of the Bible lying 
there. He seized that; opened at thefiist 
chapter of Genesis, and hastily with his pen- 
cil wrote above " To the New York Herald" 
and passing it to the operator, said simply, 
" Send that," and then sat down leisurely to 
write out his dispatch. It is difficult to 
imagine what must have been the thoughts 
of the news editor of the Herald, when the 
Bible was thus being fired at it over the 
wires, as it came chapter after chapter; in that 
regular order that indicated that probably the 
whole book was behind. But when Chapman 
had written out his account, he passed that 
to the operator, and it is very probable the 
first word of the real account of the battle 



told the story of the trick to the New York 
office. 

Poor Frank Chapman! T^he war over, he 
settled down, and tried to make a living in 
Cairo, by first one thing and then another. 
He organized the first Cairo Board of Trade, 
and was the first Secretary. Most unfortu- 
nately for him he was a splendid ventriloquist. 
In 1870, he went to Chicago, and there, after 
long suffering and great privations, died. 
The Herald had here, and in the field ad- 
jacent to this place, at one time or another, 
a dozen or more different correspondents. 
Among them the writer well remembers I. N. 
Higgins, now the editor of the San Francisco 
Morning Call. A brilliant writer, and one 
of the most genial fellows in the world. 
Newt! all hail! Another member of the 
Herald force was a Mr. Knox, who has since 
traveled pretty much all over the world, and 
published ^.several books, one or more of 
which were written for the edification of the 
youths of the nation, and have earned a wide 
and solid fame for him. 

Ralph Kelly was the Cairo war correspond- 
ent of the New Orleans Picayune; one of the 
most deceiving and one of the most brilliant 
and genial fellows that ever graced the town 
of Cairo. The wi'iter of these lines had 
noticed Mr. Kelly in passing about the 
streets, and he was so very odd-looking in 
his make-up, that he got to inquiring of 
every one he met, Who is that ? After a long 
pursuit of this kind, he gained the desired 
information, and his informant not only 
gave the information, bat followed it up with 
an introduction. Mr. Kelly was of Milesian 
extraction (which was plainly to be seen), 
and had been reared from early boyhood in 
the Picayune office, until he was about as 
much one of its fixtm'es as was any other part 
of the establishment. His whole life was 



148 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



centered there; he knew no other home, 
guardian, parents, or, apparently, place to 
go, either before or after quitting this world. 
He probably did not form twenty intimate or 
general acquaintances while in Cairo. In 
the presence of strangers, he stood mute, and 
sometimes appeared almost idiotic, and if, 
under such circumstances, he tried to talk and 
make himself intelligible, he apparently only 
made matters so much the worse; yet, locked 
up in a room with some congenial, well-un- 
derstood friend, or place before him pen and 
paper and instantly he was much as one in- 
spired. To know Ralph Kelly even slightly, 
was to read over and over, every day you 
were with him, the story of Oliver Goldsmith, 
and to recall what Johnson said, when he 
called him the " poll-parrot who wrote like 
inspiration." 

Ealph Kelly! Have you gone with the 
fleeting years, and. like them, gone forever? 
If so it be, we would place one little faded 
flower to thy memory, typical of as pure a 
friendship as ever one being held for another. 

E. H. Whipple was the Cairo war corre- 
spondent of the Chicago Tribune. We re- 
member him as a good- looking, round-faced 
young man, full of the energy and wakeful- 
ness that always got the latest news, and was 
certain it should reach the Tribune before he 
would sleep. He seemed to be a very retir- 
ing, quiet young man, and much to his 
credit it was, too, he did not join much in 
the convivialities that marked the existence 
of the Cairo life of most of the Bohemians. 
Mr. Whipple is now in some way connected 
with a detective agency in Chicago, a ad long 
since has given his Fabers to his babies for 
toys. 

L. Curry represented the Cincinnati Com- 
mercial. A man of an eventful and a very 
sad domestic history. His wife, whom he 
married at the age of eighteen, when he was 



barely twenty-one, dying with her child 
in about twelve months after marriage, un- 
der the saddest circumstances. Mr. Curry 
was a young man of good education, and had 
been reared under the most fortunate circum- 
stances. He was an excellent wi'iter, a warm- 
hearted and most exemplary young man in 
his habits. He made so few acquaintances 
in Cairo — owing to the facts above referred 
to — that there are very few people here who 
will remember him. His history, after leav- 
ing here, is not known to the writer. 

Charles Phillips represented the Chicago 
Times. He was quite a young man, but his 
writings came from his pen rapidly, and as 
finished, almost, as a stereotype. His cult- 
ure was unusual for one of his age — prob- 
ably twenty-four. The wi'iter knows nothing 
of his history, except what he saw of him in 
Cairo. A more unassuming young man never 
lived, and his talents in his chosen line of 
profession were of the very highest order. 
He was a consistent, practical and conscien- 
tious Christian. He was very quiet in his. 
manners, and his whole nature was such that 
he could not intrude his opinions or person. 
He died in the early part of 1864, we believe,. 
at the home of his parents or friends, some- 
where near Metropolis, 111., but of this (that 
is, the residence of his friends) we are not 
certain. He died of consumption; and for 
months, before he left Cairo and went home- 
to die, we confess it was one of the saddest 
sights we ever saw, to see him suffering, 
working and wasting away, yet uncomplain- 
ingly working on, until his pen fell from his 
nerveless grasp, and the young life that 
would have been worth so much to the world 
went to sleep in death. Charley Phillips, 
may your sad and cru.el wrongs, sufferings 
and untimely taking-ofif here in this world, 
have been a million of million times com- 
pensated in the next! 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



14» 



H. C. Bradsby succeeded Mr. Phillips as 
the representative of the Chicago Times, and 
also enlarged the duties, and represented the 
Missouri Republican. His duties to the lat- 
ter were to furnish at least two letters by 
mail per week, in addition to duplicating 
the Times and Rej)uhlican dispatches. We 
would not further speak of him here, but we 
realize a public sentiment will expect it, and 
to some extent, therefore, require it. He had 
none of Mr. Phillips religion or morals, 
and but little of his culture. He was at 
times (very brief) brilliant, but as a rule 
was more marked for daring than genius. 
It would be difficult to find two men more 
the perfect opposites of each other than were 
these two correspondents of the Times. Mr. 
B. continued to represent his two papers until 
after the war was all over, and Cairo had 
long ceased to be a great 'news point. He 
was then, awhile, editing or writing for first 
one paper and then another, and at one time 
or another edited or wrote for every paper pub- 
lished in Cairo during his residence here, 
except the Olive Branch. In his writings, 
he sometimes made people laugh, sometimes 
stare, and sometimes squirm, and he seemed 
ever equally indifferent as to which result 
flowed out from his pen. His character 
always seemed an inconsistent one; at one 
moment, perhaps, a great egotist, at the next, 
the picture of self-humility; and these were 
often and often exemplified in his writings. 
He had the art complete of making enemies, 
and holding them, when once made, pei-pet- 
ually.; and his friends, therefore, were never 
numerous, but in a ,very few instances firm 
and stanch. What education he got (though 
nominally a collegiate) was in the columns 
of the different papers he worked upon dur- 
ing the twenty-five years intervening between 
his first experience upon the proofs of a 
country press and the present time. He gave 



considerable attention, in a scattered, inco- 
herent kind of way, to the scientific writers 
of the past quarter of a century; and has just 
now learned enough to cease to be dogmatic 
in his opinions — to believe little and know 
less. 

W. B. Kerney was a long time in Cairo, 
commencing here as the agent of the As- 
sociated Press; afterward represented the 
Chicago Evening Journal, and then the 
Chicago Tribune. He was an odd little 
fellow, and quite as clever, when you came 
to know him better, as the best of them. 
He seems to have been, all his young life, 
much given to fall in with isms, and when 
once he had given anything of this kind his 
approval, he, for awhile, at least followed 
it with remarkable devotion. He was an 
honest, thoroughly good man in every re- 
spect. He was very industrious, and atten- 
tive to his business, and was probably the 
most even-tempered man that ever lived. 
Nothing could swerve him from the even tem- 
per of his way, or provoke him into an angry 
retort. He and his good little wife could 
almost always be seen together, and it was 
beautiful to see the rivalry between them, as 
to which could most admire the other. They 
were childless, and firm believers in the effi- 
cacy of the cold water cure for all the ills of 
life. They had been most unfortunate, in 
losing ^several children dying in infancy. 
Upon one occasion, the man and wife were 
tick, and they were doctoring each other with 
water, and eating about an apple each a day. 
Fortunately for them both, Dr. Dunning 
happened to be called in. He took in the 
situation, and ordered a good-sized sirloin 
beefsteak, overlooked its preparation, and 
made them eat it. To their amazement, they 
liked it, and they were soon well — better, in 
fact, than they had been for years — con- 
tinued to eat good, nutritious food, and the 



150 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



last accounts the wi-iter had of them, they had 
three or four as fine, healthy children as you 
would want to see. 

In all this vast amount of newspaper 
births and deaths, there were developed but 
two men who were purely and only publish- 
ers. Men who gave this department their 
undivided attention, and depended wholly 
upon hiring all the writing that they wanted. 
These were Thomas Lewis and H. L. Good- 
all. Each had a long career hei'e, and each 
gave many evidences that under .different cir- 
cumstances and suiToundings they might 
have built up great institutions. Goodall 
could do the best combining and planning, 
but Lewis had the nerve for any venture that 
promised, even remotely, to pay as an invest- 
ment. When Mr. Lewis quit his old favorite, 
the Democrat, he seems to have made up his 
mind to quit the business, but not so with 
Mr. Goodall. He is now in Chicago, and is 
still a publisher, and we are more than glad 
to learn, at last a successful one. May his 
shadow never grow less! 

In its proper place, perhaps, but the truth 
is, the very last place in the rear column, 
was always the best place for " Old Rogers," 
one of the most remarkable tramp printers 
even Cairo ever had, with all its hosts of distin- 
guished characters in this line. Rogers 
was a very good workman, but his habits 
were to prefer dirt and filth to fine linen 
and the breezes of Araby. He was a 
tramp printer, with all the term implies, and 
a great deal more, too. He was here about 
1S60, and made Cairo a central point in his 
rounds. Everybody then knew him, and un- 
derstood well that he considered it would be 
a hanging crime in himself to be caught 
even passably clean in his person, and so- 
briety and cleanliness were much the same 
thing with old Rogers. Yet at periods, he 
had to sober up enough to work, but this 



necessity never arose as to his habits of per- 
son. He was smart, quick-witted, and much 
enjoyed telling how he often astonished and 
disgusted strangei's, and if he was kicked ofif 
a train or boat, he relished telling the cir- 
cumstance immensely. 

On one occasion, he had just arrived in 
Cairo from Evansville, and was sm'rounded 
by Postmaster Len Faxon, Deputy Bob Jen- 
nings, Sam Hall, tfoe Abell and two or three 
others, all anxious to hear Rogers tell some of 
his recent experiences. " I'm just in from 
Evansville, boys," said Rogers, ",and, great 
Ceesar, Fm hungry. I was put ashore from 
a flat-boat at Golconda, because, as the crew 
said, I was too rich for their blood, and so 
I've just footed it all the way from there to 
Cairo, and if I've eaten a mouthful in four 
days, why, then I've eaten a whole army 
mule in the last two minutes. By George, 
to come right down to it, boys, I'm starv- 
ing." 

" Well," said Willett, giving the boys a 
wink, " if I was real hungry, I'd call on 
Capritz; order a baked bass; a fry of oysters; 
a plain omelet, and " 

"But," chimed in Rogers, "I ain't got any 
money." 

" If I were you," said Sam Hall, paying 
no attention to Rogers' impecuniosity, " I'd 
step into Weldon's; get a porterhouse steak 
with mushrooms or onions, some boiled eggs, 
milk toast, and " 

" Oh, boys, don't," cried Rogers, in evi- 
dent agony, " you don't know how you're 
torturing me. I'm awful hungry, but I hain't 
got any " 

" I don't know," interrupted Abell, " but 
a good lay-out for a real hungiy man would 
be quail, nicely browned, on toast; quail on 
toast, mind you-, a cup of good, hot choco- 
late; white hot rolls, with country butter, 
and " 





^7<?^z^^ 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



153 



" Oh, yura — um — yum!" muttered Rogers, 
laying his hands upon his stomach, and look- 
ing as if he would [trade his hope in heaven 
for even a raw turnip; "oh, boys, " 

" Or," quickly added Jennings, " a cup of 
hot coffee — amber-colored Mocha — with gen- 
uine cream; a fried squirrel, or baked prairie 
chicken; cranberry sauce, of course, and a 
rich oyster- stew to commence on, would be, 
for a real hungry man, mind you, about as 
toothsome a " 

"Oh, boys," exclaimed the tortured 
Rogers, " hush ! hush ! for God' s sake ; for 
you're killing me! " And it much appeared 
as if, for once in his life, the poor man was 
telling the truth about something to eat. 
But an hour later, Rogers was the happiest 
man in town. The boys had staked him with 
a quarter, and with this he had got a pig's 
foot and three 5-cent drinks. His hunger 
had been appeased, and calling Joe Abell 
aside, he asked him, in the strictest confi- 
dence, if he knew of a cheap shebang, where 
a pig's foot would be considered a legal ten- 
der for a glass of whisky. 

Among the many dififerent reporters on 
the Democrat was one named Beatty, who 
will be remembered by the old Cairoites 
as a round, red-faced young man. He 
commenced his career in this place as 
foreman of the Morning Neivs, and was for 
some time local, under John A. Hull, on that 
paper, and was then transferred to the Demo- 
crat. He left Cairo in the early part of 
1866, and found employment as a reporter on 
the Indianapolis Journal. He died in In- 
dianapolis in 1867. 

Gen. Schenck was stationed here a good 
while, and then seemed to loaf around some 
time after his post duties had ceased. Al- 
ways, when introduced, he would inform his 
new acquaintance that he was a near relative 
of Gen. Schenck's, of Ohio. For a longtime. 



he had been confidentially telling everybody 
in Cairo that he was expecting an important 
appointment from the President. He was 
watching the papers daily. One day, Gen. 
Sheridan and his escort fleet of steamers 
came up from New Orleans, and Gen. 
Schenek had a grand salute fired from the 
forts and all the guns in port, in honor of 
the great arrival. It so happened, that same 
day and about the same hour of Sheridan's 
arrival, there came news that California had 
gone Democratic at an important election 
just held. The 'correspondent of the Times 
sent a flaming dispatch to his paper, which 
was duly published, announcing that Gen. 
Schenck was then firing a national salute in 
honor of the California victory. Schenck 
would, after this, tell over and over again, 
how his appointment had just gone to the 
Senate and while it was under considera- 
tion, the Chicago Times arrived, and, in the 
nick of time, forever ruined him. But there 
were many worse men in the !army than poor 
Schenck, and if the correspondent's silly joke 
did really injure him, he has regretted it a 
thousand times. 

A reporter named Pratt was for some 
time connected with the Cairo papers, com- 
mencing with the Democrat, and continuing 
longer in that place than anywhere else. 
He sometimes wrote little innocent pieces of 
poetry, and the whole thing, probably, may 
be estimated by the title of one of his pieces, 
which was called "A Crack in the Win- 
dow." When business grew dull in Cairo, 
Mr. Pratt we believe, went to some point 
in JNIissouri. and was there a member of the 
rural press. 

John H. Oberly came here from Ohio, a 
young man, and by trade a practical printer. 
His first employment was on the Democrat, 
as general foreman of the press and job 
rooms; and after the retirement of Joel G. 

9 



154 



HISTOKY OF CAIRO. 



Morgan from the editorial chair, Mr. Oberly 
assumed this position, and for some time at- 
tended to both departments, and proving so 
successful a writer, he soon quit entirely the 
mechanical department, and became the gen- 
eral editor. With but limited school advanta- 
ges in early life, and having married when 
quite young, he was forced to early exertions 
for the support of a large young hou8ehold,and 
at the same time prepare himself for those 
advances in his trade and profession that he 
has achieved. He was blest with one misfort- 
une to himself as a journalist; he could talk 
naturally well — we mean as a public speaker 
— and this soon inclined him to the stump, 
politics, and even some pretensions to state- 
craft, and he wasted some of the best years 
of his school life as a writer, in the State 
Legislature, and was afterward, by the ap- 
pointment of the Governor, one of the Rail- 
road Commissioners for the State of Illinois. 
His natural qualifications are good — much 
above the average. He is now engaged in 
publishing a daily Democratic paper in 
Bloomington, III., where, we learn, he is 
meeting with merited success. As a public, 
off-hand speaker, Mr. Oberly is much above 
the average — in fact, frequently strong, brill- 
iant and fascinating. This flatter talent 
seems to have been natural to him, and he 
has put it to much use the past few years, 
being called to many parts of the State to 
lecture and address public assemblies. For 
his real development in either line, his tal- 



ents have been too versatile, and in some re- 
spects this has been one of his misfortunes, 
as the human mind has always been so con- 
stituted that to achieve great success, it must 
focus upon one-single thing and burn itself 
out there, in order to invest it with those in- 
tellectual calcium lights that attract the 
world's attention. His social qualities and 
ties of friendship are strong, lasting and al- 
ways as true as steel; but, on the other hand, 
when his ill-will has been once ai'oused, he 
fills the warmest wish of Dr. Johnson, who 
said he "loved a good hater." He was always 
very popular with the people of Cairo, as is 
evidenced by the fact that they gave him 
every office, commencing with Mayor of the 
city, that he ever asked for. Mr. Oberly 
stayed in Cairo much longer than did the 
average writers or editors who were here and 
have gone; his success while here was, too, 
above the average of them; yet, purely as 
writers, there were several, at one time or 
another, that were his superior in point of 
cultivation, in their chosen line, a fact that 
leads us to the conclusion, that in the West 
the profession has hardly yet been separated 
and made a distinct and independent one ; 
that is, one where nothing but the most care- 
ful training ^and preparation can qualify or 
enable the candidate to enter and compete 
for the high honors that it will, at some time, 
bestow. 

A reflection that admonishes us to hurried- 
ly close this chapter. 



HISTOEY OF CAIRO. 



155 



CHAPTER VII. 



SOCIETIES: LITERARY, SOCIAL AND BENEVOLENT— THE IDEAL LEAGUE— LYCEUM— MASONIC 

FRATERNITY— ITS GREAT ANTIQUITY— ODD FELLOWSHIP— THE CAIRO 

CASINO— OTHER SOCIETIES, ETC. 



'•Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren 
to dwell together in unity." — Psalms, cxxxiii., 1. 

THE Ideal League. — We go to school from 
the cradle to the grave, and this is one of 
the inexorable laws of our being. These 
schools or fountains of education are nearly in- 
finite in variety, and have little in common save 
the imperfections that pervade all. The 
schoolmaster and the birch twigs are the 
real schools only in name; in fact, it is 
doubtful if they are not 2 stupendous and 
prolonged mistake that has, to some extent, 
blocked^the way of true education. Such old- 
fashioned schools were good training-rooms 
but nothing more. 

A careful investigation of the controlling 
influences of the mind go far to demonstrate 
the fact that real education comes with our 
plays, our pleasures, our joys and that sweet 
social intercourse of congenial spirits, that 
is the mark of the highest type of our 
civilization. The mind must be developed as 
is the perfect physical nature. It is not 
hard, dull work that molds the child into 
beauty and strength, perfection and grace, 
but, on the contrary, too much of this 
dwarfs and warps and stunts the young into 
ungainliness of person and feature. But it 
is the happy, light young heart, the hilarious 
romp and that sweetest music iji all the 
world, the rippling laughter of innocent 
childhood, that fashions that beauty of per- 
sons whose every movement is the " poetry 



of motion." The child must have the en- 
ergy to play, and play with that abandon 
and bubbling joy that gives an exquisite rel- 
ish to existence itself. And just so is men- 
tal strength and beauty created. It is im- 
possible for it to come from the task-master 
and the rod. A strong, active, graceful and 
well- poised intellect is created only of the 
pleasures of life. It is impossible for knowl- 
edge to come to the mind in any other way. 
This is self-evident when you reflect a moment 
upon the fact that to the mind of culture, 
the most enduring pleasures of life are the 
acquisition of new truths. The activity of 
the mind depends upon the degree and in- 
tensity of its enjoyment. This is its food 
and healthy stimulant, and the improvement 
and new truths that come to it thus are its 
seeds of knowledge, that flourish and grow 
into such'magnificence and wondrous beauty. 
Let us qualify this, lest the superficial may 
conclude we mean to say that mental indo- 
lence and rest is true education. VN'e 
mean exactly the opposite. We mean 
that intense mental activity that comes of the 
keen zest of mental play- work, of that social 
and intellectual life that is made up of the 
associations of congenial companions " where 
youth and pleasure meet," at the weekly 
trysts of the Ideal League in the cozy parlors 
of IVIr. and Mrs. George Parsons. 

The Ideal League was organized March 
13, 1883, and although one of the youngest 



156 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



institutiong in Cairo, yet it is already tlie 
conspicuous figure in the intellectual and so- 
cial life of the city. As best stated by itself, 
" the objects of this association are musical, 
literary, di-amatic and social enjoyment, the 
promotion of a spirit of good-fellowship 
among the members; the attainment of a 
higher mental culture, and a steady growth 
and progress iven ess toward enlarged useful- 
ness. " The officers are as follows : President, 
Mr. George Parsons; First Vice President, 
Mrs. W. F. Macdowell; Second Vice Presi- 
dent, Miss M. Adella Gordon; Secretary and 
Treasurer, Miss Fannie L. Barclay. 

The charter members: Mr. and Mrs. 
George Parsons, Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Mac- 
dowell, Miss M. Adella Gordon, Mr. John 
Horn, Dr. J. A. Benson, Dr. E. C. Strong, 
Mr. Scott White, Mr. E. C. Halliday, Misses 
Mamie and Rida Corlis, Miss Fannie L. 
Barclay, Mr. E. G. Crowell, Mr. J. L. Sar- 
ber, Miss Hattie McKee, Miss Effie Coleman, 
Mr. F. W. Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wells, 
Mr. ^Marx Black, Mr. G. T. Car ens, Mr. 
William Burkett, Mr. F. G. Metcalf, Miss 
Montie Metcalf, Mr. George E. Ohara, Mr. 
Edward Reno, Misses Phyllys and Katie 
Howard, Capt. T. W. Shields, Miss Ella 
Armstrong, Prof. G. A. M. Storer, Mr. Guy 
Morse, Mr. Henry Hughes, Mr. W. E. 
Spear, Miss Maud Rittenhouse, Mr. Will- 
iam Williamson, Mr. William Korsmeyer 
and Miss Bettie Korsmeyer. 

The members added since the organization 
are Mr. Albert Galigher, Mr. James Lock- 
ridge and Mrs. Stephen T. McBride. 

The Ideal League has simply supplied a 
long- felt want in Cairo. The membership 
was wisely limited to forty members, and 
this full number was made up almost from 
the first meeting. The real founders and or- 
ganizers of this pleasant and profitable club 
judged wisely when they determined that the 



harvest was ripe and ready for the gleaners in 
Cairo. The necessity of limiting the member- 
ship of the club is easily understood when the 
fact is mentioned that the meetings of the 
Ideal League are, so far, parlor entertain- 
ments, at which there are only limited capaci- 
ties. 

The work of the Ideal League speaks for 
itself, and while it is among the latest efforts 
of forming a literary and social club, it is al- 
ready crowned with that success that betokens 
a long and useful life, as well as a continual 
source of pleasure and profit to the young 
people of Cairo. 

The Lyceum is an older society than the 
League, and, so far as we can learn, deserves 
the first place in history, but our investiga- 
tors and seekers after facts have thus far 
wholly failed to find the essential facts and 
dates that will enable us to more than state 
it exists, but whether as an intellectual vol- 
cano, that is, in a state of activity or not, we 
cannot say. So we must content ourselves 
with the statement of the fact of its exis- 
tence, and, with the farther remark that 
Cairo has in all her history to date to some 
extent neglected the improvement of this 
avenue of social and intellectual life. Cir- 
cumstances, and not the absence of an abund- 
ance and the best of material, has been the 
source of all this. It is to be hoped now, 
that this will no longer be the case, as the 
subject has the past winter and spring, by a 
fortunate circumstance, been brought so 
prominently before the people in discussions 
in social circles and mvich more so in the 
daily papers. 

The Masons — The history of Masonry is 
more or less familiar to all the civilized, and, 
as the order claims, to many of the semi-civ- 
ilized, and even good Masons are to be 
found among barbarous peoples. Among its 
claimed chief merits and glories are its great 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



157 



age — the oldest organization in the world, 
antedating all sects, religions and even all 
organized social life since the coming of 
Adara and Eve. Again, it is sometimes 
given as the history of its foundation, that, 
as its name indicates, it was founded and 
organized among the workmen for mutual 
protection at the building of that historical 
structure — Solomon's Temple. But like 
everything else, it has adapted itself to the 
inevitable that follows the workings and 
growth of the human mind, and now they 
have attached to the order well-regulated 
benefit associations, and distribute much real 
and beneficial charity and aid to fellow-mem- 
bers and the widows and orphans of deceased 
brethren. The cardinal ideas of Masonry 
have, perhaps, always been a high morality 
founded on the Bible, and a law of mutual 
protection of a brother toward a brother. 

A lodge was chartered in 1857, appoint- 
ing Charles D. Arter, William Standing, J. 
W. McKenzie, John L. Smith, Robert E. 
Yost, C. Stewart and Robert H. Baird as 
charter members. 

In 1874, the two Cairo lodges — the Delta 
and Lodge 237 — were consolidated and 
formed under the name of the Delta Lodge. 

The order of the Council was chartered 
October 5, 1866. The charter members were 
J. B. Fulton, J. W. Morris, George E. Louns- 
bury, Orlando Wilson, Charles Morris, W. 
H. Walker, E. P. Smith, L. Jorgensen, 
Most Foss, L. H. Elbrod, William Stand- 
ing, H. Elbrod, E. P. Smith, Charles Minni- 
que, Isadore Meiner, E. S. Davis, C. Ger- 
ricke, A. Harrick, S. J. Jackson, P. H. Pope, 
I. W. W^augh, C. S. Hartough F. F. Dun- 
bar, J. C. Guff, H. T. Bridges, S. Hess, 
William Perkins, J. Joseph and C. R. Wood- 
ward. 

The Odd Fellows — The secret societies 
above now attach much importance to the 



term " ancient," and the very warm stick- 
lers for this are the Masons, followed closely 
by the Odd Fellows. This last-named order 
came to Cairo October 13, 1857. The char- 
ter bearing that date is issued to John Green- 
wood, Abe Williams, G. W. McKenzie, H. 
W. Bacon, John A. Reed, John Antrim and 
L. G. Faxon. 

At the commencement of the late war, Joha 
Q. Harmon was the N. G. of the order, and 
for some reason unknown to us he returned 
the charter in 1861, and the society was no 
more a working Cairo institution. 

On October the 3d, 1862, the following 
parties met and determined to have another 
organization effected and the beautiful prin- 
ciples of charity to the loved society once 
more in full operation here, to wit: F. Bross, 
J. S. Morris, H. F. Goodyear, M. Malinski, 
C. S. Hutcheson, I. P. McAuley, Joseph 
McKenzie and C. M. Osterloh. On the 7th 
of the same month, at another meeting, the 
following additional members' names ap- 
pear on the rolls: John T. Rennie, W. V. 
McKee, and A. Halley. After this rest of 
nearly ten years, the members, it seems, 
went to work, determined to make up for 
lost time, and in a little while the member- 
ship had so grown that the I. O. O. F. ex- 
ceeded any society in the town in point of 
membership, and they had fitted up a nice 
hall and furnished it well. The society now 
is in a flourishing condition, and their ele- 
gant hall is on Commercial avenue, opposite 
Seventh street, and here, as of old, upon the 
sacred altars of their sires, the eastern wor- 
shipers turned their faces and devotions. 
So it is with many of the members, and 
their meetings are largely and regularly at- 
tended by nearly all the members, and from 
here every Christmas goes out to the widows 
and orphans of deceased members the holy 
remembrances upon that sacred day. No so- 



l.'JS 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



ciety is more liberal than this in the extent 
of its benefactions, and while the gifts go so 
bountifully, they are not charity doled out to 
those receiving it, but are dues from the so- 
ciety to those whose fathers and husbands 
were once brothers, and ungrudgingly they 
go to all^the rich as well as the poor. They 
have a fund called the widows' and orphans 
fund, that now amounts to something over 
$500, notwithstanding the almost constant 
drain made upon it. The money and hall 
furniture, etc., amounts to over $3,000. At 
the burial of any member of the order, the 
whole is, when agreeable to the relatives, 
taken charge of by the order, and $75 set 
apart to the family to defray funeral ex- 
penses. 

The membership now is 128. Since the 
organization, in different years, there have 
been received 232 members. 

There was at one time two consecutive 
years when no death occurred in the mem - 
bership or their families, and at the expira- 
tion of the two years, and then during three 
months, two members and the wife of each 
were buried by the organization. 

Knights of Honor meet in the I. O. O. 
F. hall, on the second and fourth Tuesday 
evenings of each month. While this order 
is comparatively a modern one, yet it may be 
classed among the most flourishing of the 
country. The order throughout the United 
States is composed of the Supreme Lodge. 
and, as its name indicates, is the supreme 
authority over all others. Then the Grand 
Lodge, that has a State jurisdiction and 
supervision; then the subordinate lodges, and 
these are the local ones. 

When a member joins this society, a cer- 
tificate is issued to him, called a widow's and 
orphans' fund certificate, the amount of 
which is $2,000. The ages for receiving 
new members is between eighteen and fifty 



years of age. There are three degrees, called 
Infancy, Youth and Manhood, and the last 
only is entitled to any benefits. Half -rate 
certificates are issued, and iipon these only 
half -rate assessments are paid and $1,000 
only is paid upon death occurring. Assess- 
ments only one in twenty days, and the rate 
upon each death to those between the ages 
of eighteen and forty-five years, $1; forty- 
five to forty-six, $1.05; forty-six to forty- 
seven, $1.10; forty-nine to fifty $1.50. 

The present membership of the Cairo so- 
ciety is 105, and the enrollment 140. 

The society was organized February 24, 
1879, with the following charter members: 
W. M. Williams, W. R. Smith, Elmer 
Krauth, L. H. Saup, James F. Miller, G. 
M. Fraser, Henry Baird, C. F. Rudd, N. W. 
Hacker, W. H. Axe, James A. Phillis, George 

B. Ramsey, Oscar Haythorn, A. G. Royse, 
Charles Pink, M. W. Parker, F. F. Gholson, 
M. T. Fulton, Thomas B. Farren, W. B. 
Pettis, George B, Sergeant, John S. Hacker, 
Frank Cassidy, Geoi-ge W. Chellet, Charles 
H. Baker, Henry Winters, Charles Ediker, H. 

C. Loflin, C. W. Dunning, H. Meyers, Henry 
Elliott, P. W. Barclay, R. H. Baird, Ru- 
dolph Hebsacker, William Smith, C. B. S. 
Pennebaker, J. George Steinhouse, J. G. 
Arrington, George W. Yocum, and James 
Quinn. 

The first officers in the election held by 
the society were C. W. Dunning, P. D. ; W. M. 
Williams, D.; James F. Miller, V. D. ; James 
A. Phillis, A. D. ; Herman Meyers, Guide; 
C. H. Baker, R.; A. G. Royse, F. B.; Charles 
Pink, T.; H. Winters, C. ; R. H. Baird, G. ; 
and W. B. Pettis, S. 

The present (1883) officers of the lodge are 
Samuel J. Humm, P. D. ; Charles Cuning- 
ham,D. ; T. B. Holmes, V. D. ; George B.Ram- 
sey, A. D. ; R. S. Yocum, R.; A. G. Royse, 
F. R. ; A. G. Errington, T. ; J. F. Miller, 



HISTORY or CAIEO. 



159 



Ouide; C. B. S.Pennebaker C; Rudolph Heb- 
sacker, C. ; Charles D. Young, S. 

The trustees are Herman Meyers, Oscar 
Haythorn and E. A. Buder. 

The deaths among the members since the 
order was founded have been James W. Stew- 
art, January 31, 1881; S. S. Tarrey, July 
3, 1882; James W. Gash, November 2, 
1882; Gerge R. Lentz, May, 1883. 

The finances of the order are cash, $600, 
and in property, $206.95. 

The Cairo Casino — A German benevolent 
and social society, was organized on the 14th 
of December, 1867. As the name indi^tes, 
the order is benevolent, and by various means 
distributes its |aid, first to the families of 
those who have been members, and the sur- 
plus to those worthy and in need of their as- 
sistance. It is peculiarly a German institu- 
tion, as its name further indicates, and the 
casinos of America are ofiBhoots of the fa- 
therland. While a large majority of the names 
of those who founded the Cairo Casino are 
German, yet a careful examination of the list 
will show names that are American, En- 
glish, Italian and French. Among the main 
purposes of the club are music, lager beer, wine 
and an annual picnic and dancing and that 
species of social life so characteristic of the 
German race when they meet in family 
groups, in which may be found all ages from 
the infant to the octogenarian. 

The persons who originally met together, 
as mentioned above, to organize, are the fol- 
lowing: Robert Breibach, Charles Feuchter, 
Phillip Laurent, F. M. Stockfleth, Ferdinand 
Koehler, Jacob Walter, Charles Helfrick, A. 
Korsmeyer, John Scheel, Frank Pohle, Louis 
Koehler, Amandus Jaekel, Baltus Reiff, Au- 
gust Kramer. William Alba, W. T. Beer- 
wart. 

The first officers of the society were Robert 
Breibach, President; Charles Feuchter, Vice 



President; Phillip Laurent, Treasurer; F. 
M. Stockfleth, Sec. ; August Kramer, Assist- 
ant Sec. 

On June 15, 1873, the society obtained a 
regular charter, with fifty- nine regular mem- 
bers. Since that date it has lost eleven 
members by death and thirty of the charter 
members either removed from Cairo or re- 
signed their membership. Sixteen new 
members have joined, and its present mem- 
bership is thirty -four, and of this number 
eighteen are active and worthy members of 
the society, who were of the charter members, 
as follows: Charles Feuchter, Charles Hel- 
frick, Herman Schmitzstorf, John George 
Keller, Jacob Walter, Louis Herbert, John 
Koehler, Herman Meyer, Jacob Kline, John 
Reese, Henry Wallschmidt, Henry Hasen- 
yeager, Louis Driestmann, Henry Walker, 
Leo Kleb, Jacob Goldstein and Jean 

Ogg. 

Turner's Society. — As early as 1856, there 
were Germans enough to start in this society, 
with a charter membership numbering forty- 
five, with Henry Aspern, President, Dr. Kick- 
bach, Sec. The society purchased five lots 
and erected a high, close fence about the 
same, and built cheap, temporary frame 
houses as a place of protection to their prop- 
erty. These improvements were hardly more 
than completed, when the floods of June, 
1858, came and washed everything away, 
leaving their lots as bare as the old bald 
head who ever secured the front seat at a per- 
formance of Fisk's Blondes. 

The society then rented the third story in 
the Springfield Block, where they chuckled, 
took swei glass and sang "Wacht am Rhine," 
when the fire came — burned the block and 
everything in the world the society had; but 
not wholly demoralized, the Tui-ner- Phoenix 
rose from the ashes and again purchased lots 
on Fifteenth and Cedar streets, and again 



TOO 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



fenced with a high fence and built a plain but 
neat building, and when they had the grounds 
all improved m good shape (this was in 1861), 
the soldiers came and made quite as clean a 
sweep of everything belonging to the club as 
had the water or fire. And finally, to add 
insult to injury — to kill out effectually what 
could not, or would not be crushed, the head 
society in the United States sent a formal 
circular to each member, notifying him that 
all Turners must join the Republican party, 



when each one returned the circular, sent 
back their constitution and charter and dis- 
banded, sine die. 

One of the original and active, but finally 
indignant members, remarked to the writer, 
as he finished the above account, that after 
the last election, especially in Cincinnati, every 
Turner society in the United States, Germany 
and Holland, had probably returned their 
charters and made things, " donner and 
blitsen" all around the sky. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CAIRO— HER rONDITION IN lWjl-1878-1883— THE EBB AND FLOW OF BUSINESS AND POPULATION 

— WAR AND THE PANIC WHICH FOLLOWED— STEAMBOATS— MARK TWAIN— PILOTS— SOME 

STEAMBOAT DISASTERS— AND A JOKE OR TWO BV WAY OF ILLUSTRATION, ETC. 



IN a previous chapter we brought the so- 
cial and political life of Cairo as fully as 
we could, to the year 1863, when again the 
prosperity of the town had ascended into 
another zenith. But the most solid advance- 
ment the city has really ever made was from 
the latter part of 1859-60 and the early part 
of 1861. During this period, there was no 
similarly situated town in population, wealth 
or manufactories in the world that equaled or 
approached Cairo in her commercial im- 
portance and glory. The Illinois Central 
Railroad had been long enough completed to 
begin to manifest her importance in the 
commercial world. The road was a young 
and mighty giant, and was in the hands of 
men who could comprehend the wants of the 
great empire to be developed, and with large 
and generous ideas, they turned their atten- 
tion to the Delta city, and her mingling 
waters of the Mississippi and Ohio as they 
went singing to the sea. Here was the termi- 
nus of the road, as well as the terminus of 
continuous navigation in the finest system of 



rivers in the world. They saw here the cen- 
tral and attractive point for the greatest 
scope of country, unparalleled in its wealth of 
soil and climate; they saw the rich wilderness 
that was to bloom into immeasureable com- 
merce and productiveness, and to develop 
some day into that superb type of civiliza- 
tion that pushes forward the human race — 
resources incalculable, and a growth of 
wealth immeasureable, all pointing to this 
spot as their natui'al place of meeting and 
exchanges. Here were mines, not only inex- 
haustible, but ever growing and increasing 
in their yield, and not to be dug and delved 
for into the primeval rocks that retain the 
bowels of the earth, but spread with the un- 
sparing hand of Omnipotence over all the 
fair face of the earth and the waters. Here 
were the greatest rivers the greatest railroad 
and the meeting of the three sister States of 
Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri. 

Was there a young city on the continent 
with an equal extent of country tributary to 
the coming commercial men of Cairo ? Here 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



161 



was all Southern Illinois, nearly all of Ken- 
tucky, and all South and a large portion of 
Eastern Missouri, all of Arkansas, West Ten- 
nessee, Texas and Louisiana, and, in fact, 
south to the galf and southeast to the Pa- 
cific Ocean, that would come to the Cairo 
merchant for their supplies and trade. In 
the North there was no rival that might at 
all compete with Cairo until Chicago was 
reached, and then Cincinnati in the north- 
east and St. Louis in the aorthwest. The 
flour, corn, pork, beef, the products of the 
dairy, all north of Cairo, from the Allegha- 
nies to the Rockies, should come to Cairo 
for their natural exchanges, for the cotton, 
sugar, tobacco and rice of the South. This 
was the natural order of things, and only 
the most untoward events could abrogate 
this law of God. 

The South was rich and prosperous, and 
only cared to exchange her gold for every- 
thing that was produced north of Cairo. The 
North had emerged fi'om the gloom of bank- 
ruptcy, and her agriculture and manufact- 
ories were beginning to multiply and grow 
to the amazement of mankind. The people 
looking to the South for their markets and 
the South looking to the North for her sup- 
plies and from Maine to the Rio Grande, 
from Oregon to Florida, was peace, plenty, 
prosperity, happiness. Commerce created the 
demand for a line of steamers from Cairo to 
New Orleans, and, like all the imperious' de- 
mands of trade, that want was supplied, 
and, commencing, two of the largest steam- 
boats were loaded weekly in Cairo for New 
Orleans, and in the early part of 1861, tri 
weekly steamers were loaded in the same 
trade. Here was the commencement of what 
was to be, had it not been interrupted, the 
natural gi'owth of an incomparable trade and 
exchanges. The Ohio boats and the Upper 
Mississippi and Missouri River boats would 



have been content to confine their trade to 
their separate rivers. The growth of this 
would have brought the railroads from the 
East and the West, radiating from Cairo 
like a golden halo, and hence the true and 
natural development of the Mississippi Val- 
ley would have gone on and on, and the West 
would have focused about Cairo. This 
obedience to the natural laws would have 
been as beneficial to the larger portions of 
this great valley as to Cairo. What a won- 
derful world we would have had here ere 
this, had this commencement been peacefully 
followed out! Ruthless, indeed, was the 
hand that struck down this bright hope of 
the human race, and the memory of the au- 
thors of such ruin deserve eternal execration. 
But war, bloody, brutal war, was precipitat- 
ed upon the country, and the North and the 
South, instead of giving and receiving the 
blessing of peace and trade, stopped the flow 
of kindness, brotherly love, rich abundance 
and happiness, and tui'ned upon each other 
like enraged beasts, and bartered, exchanged 
and trafficked in blood and death, and the 
infant life of such fair promises was crushed 
out under the heel of war and the skeleton 
of desolation and unutterable woe took its seat 
in every family circle in the South. And the 
war made millionaires in the North who begin 
to bud in the fat army contracts that were 
shoveled out to the fortunate, to those who 
bribed their way to colossal fortunes. The 
South was wounded, maimedjkilled and almost 
perpetually ruined. The North grew rich, 
demoralized, triumphant, fierce and inap- 
peasable, and deep beneath the pomp and 
show of preternatural glitter and wealth, 
was, in fact, but little better off from the in- 
curable poison and pangs of real suffering 
than was the South. 

But the appalling revolution in the Mis- 
sissippi country was complete. The com- 



162 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



manding avenues of trade, commerce and 
travel had been as completely changed as 
could have resulted from a change of the 
topography of the whole country. The 
dreadful blow fell the heaviest upon South- 
ern Illinois, Cairo and the Lower Mississippi 
River. At first when Cairo was made an 
armed fortification and the river blockaded, 
the Illinois Central Railroad, no longer 
taxed to its utmost capacity, carrying the fruits 
of industry and peace, was merely an avenue 
for the transporation of armies and war sup- 
plies. Then the town was paralyzed and 
the whole community was thrown out of 
employment. After a season, the paymaster 
came, and he began to scatter money in im- 
mense amounts among the soldiers. Then 
what was called business again came into life 
and the town was converted into a busy sut- 
ler's tent; the camp-followers flooded the 
place, the floating population came, the vile 
with the good, tent theaters, dives and bells 
on earth held high carnival by day and by 
night. The contractor, the soldier, the spec- 
ulator, the gambler, the thief, the highway 
robber — the vicious of every sex, age and 
condition, jostled each other in the street 
throngs, and plied their vocations defiantly. 
And the fools in their heart said " the war 
has helped, not hurt, Cairo." They saw the 
flow of cheap money, and they shut their 
eyes to the avalanche of demoralization. 
Eventually, as the war progressed, the river 
was opened from Cairo to New Orleans. Once 
more Union armies with bristling forts com- 
manded the river at all the towns and cities, 
and the rebel flying batteries, slipping in 
between the fortified points at every oppor- 
tunity and firing upon helpless steamers, 
and doing small damage as a rule. The 
railroads in the South were all destroyed, 
and tne demands for transportation for the 
army, as well as for a country stripped bare 



by war, were immense, and at once steamboat 
stock became the most desirable property. 
The northern docks and ways were put to 
work and the finest and largest boats that 
had ever plied the waters were pushed to 
completion, and all this was grists to Cairo's 
mill. To such an extraoi-dinary extent did 
this necessity push the steamboat business, 
that for one year the daily average of boats 
at the Cairo wharf reached thirty-five, out- 
side of the local packets that made daily 
trips or more. This was much the condi- 
tion of affairs all over the North; million- 
aires sprung into existence, and demoraliza- 
tion fed upon the vitals of the country like a 
secret consuming fire. 

The war was fought and ended, and spec- 
ulation and peculation took its place, until it 
became a venial misdemeanor to be laughed at 
as a joke to speculate in the coffins, grave- stones 
and decaying bodies of the dead soldiers, and 
in the breathing bodies of their living families 
The rich grew richer, the poor poorer, and 
the cheap money and the calloused con- 
sciences of the nation pursued their reckless 
course of evil. The South lay a prostrate 
people, without money, without credit, and 
often without food; there Government bayo- 
nets and negroes were supreme, and the voice 
of the people was not the voice of God. The 
North was bloated with Government bonds at 
thirty-five cents on the dollar, and a cheap 
money that flowed through the hands of the 
rich as from a ceaseless fountain. There 
being no longer fat war contracts, they en- 
tered upon still fatter Government railroad 
contracts — robbing the Government of its 
credit, bonds and lands, in amounts wholly 
incomprehensible. And the Northern cities 
that were in this current — a current largely 
changed from North to South to the East and 
West, grew and spread and gathered mighty 
powers, and threw out the strong arm of 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



163 



railroads, and in a day became wonderful 
and magnificent cities. 

This is the faintest outline shadow over 
which men grew wild, joyous and gleesome, 
and sang their pteans and shouted their ac- 
claims, and pronounced the saddest page in 
the book of time, a blessed era of unmixed 
joy, so good that it beatified the deaths of 
the millions who perished in the war and 
the many more than millions who worse than 
perished. 

This sporadic prosperity of all lines of 
business in Cairo continued for quite three 
years after the close of the war; but this was 
the settling of the muddied waters, and at 
the beginning of the year 1869, it had about 
all passed- away and the railroad and river 
business was at its ebb. Business was 
largely again, as at the commencement of 
the war, to be re-organized and started in 
accord with the new surroundings. The 
population of the town slowly decreased, and 
the crush for houses, both business and 
private, had changed to occasional empty 
ones, and unconsciously Cairo began to get 
ready for the unparalleled panic and bank- 
ruptcy that was fast coming to the country — 
settling day, merely, for the carnival decade; 
when business men of the country cried out 
for a bankrupt law, by which they could pay 
their debts with an oath or two, and the 
threshold of these courts presented the mar- 
velous spectacle of a rush and crush of busi- 
ness men to get to the ear of the court first, 
that perhaps exceeded anything the world 
ever saw. And an army of a million tramps 
marched over all the country, devouring the 
people's substance and makings no more com- 
pensation therefor than do the devastating 
grasshoppers. Then Cairo suflfered only in 
common with pretty much all the country, 
but she was less prepared than a few other 
places, particularly her rivals that had stolen 



the efolden-eerered jroose during the war, and 
therefore, instead of merely standing still 
during these long, painful years, she lost 
much that it took years to replace. Some of 
the effects of the war may be understood 
better when it is stated that M. B. Harrell 
estimated, in the year 1864, that there were 
12,000 people in the city. When the town 
emerged from the panic, the sanguine only 
claimed a population of 6,000, and it is very 
doubtful if there were more than 4,000 in- 
habitants, if the negro population had been 
excluded from the estimate. The war found 
Cairo with a population of 5,000 souls and a 
solid growth, business and prospects that 
could not be mistaken. The war and the 
panic left her with about the same popula- 
tion, and all business demoralized and pros- 
trated. The fifteen years had witnessed her 
gilded but unsubstantial zenith and tier 
dreary nadir. The descent was great, but it 
was best that solid bottom should be reached, 
severe as the trial was, before stopping. In 
1879, after people had been long enough on 
" bed rock " to fully realize the situation of 
affairs, there started up, once more, a day of 
prosperity for the city. Not a spasmodic 
jump that makes men dizzy and sets the peo- 
ple wild, but a steady, healthy growth that 
is always fair and full of promise. A healthy 
business set in ; new enterprises were started, 
and the gradual and permanent increase of 
citizenship was soon inaugurated; real es- 
tate, while it rose in price but little, yet it 
found a market, and those generally wanting 
to sell could easily find a cash customer. And 
this cheerful state of affairs has continued to 
this hour, and from this last and really se- 
verest of Cairo's ordeals has come the fol- 
lowing permanent and substantial improve- 
ments : 

The Elevator. — And since this real revival, 
there has come to the place many marked 



164 



HISTORY 0¥ CAIRO. 



and valuable improvements, among which we 
may enumerate the elevator, built by the Il- 
linois Central road. There is no finer struct- 
ure of the kind in the country, and it will 
long stand upon the bank of the river as a 
conspicuous monument to Cairo's commerce. 
It has a capacity of 800,000 bushels and is 
so constructed that additional buildings, 
doubling its present capacity ,may at any time 
be added. It has eveiy modern improve- 
ment and the latest appliances for its pur 
poses, and cost about $300,000. The men 
who projected this magnificent structui-e are 
in a position to know the wants of the local- 
ity, and they were not anticipating the prob- 
abilities of years, but answeriug the call of 
the present. 

The Singer Sewing Machine Company — 
Have put up extensive works and are now en- 
gaged in adding still more and greater im- 
provements. The purpose here is the con- 
struction of cabinets for its machines. Its 
extensive works at South Bend, Ind., had 
become insufficient for its purposes, and an 
agent was sent out to select a new location. 
After a careful examination of numerous 
points in the Southwest, Cairo was found to 
possess greatly superior advantages over all 
other points. Among the advantages of the 
place are: 

1st. Lumber can be rafted to the door of 
the factory via the Tennessee, Cumberland, 
Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Kivers and 
their tributaries at a saving of about $10 
per thousand feet over present cost of 
freight to South Bend. 

2d. Some of the most important centers of 
the Singer Company's trade, such as St. 
Louis, Kansas City, New Orleans, Cincin- 
nati, Pittsburgh and other points, can receive 
finished work by river from Cairo. The 
Elizabethport factory, which takes one- quar- 
ter of the product of the South Bend works 



can be supplied by river to Pittsburgh, thence 
by rail into the company's yards at Eliza- 
bethport. Boston, Philadelphia and other 
eastern depots can be supplied by the same 
route, or by steamer via New Orleans. 

3d. Eight railroads enter at Cairo diverg- 
ing east, south and west, secm'ing additional 
facilities for obtaining lumber and other 
supplies at low rates, besides giving the city 
unusual advantages as a distributing point. 
If desired, finished work can be shipped East, 
all rail, at much lower rates than from South 
Bend, owing to the competition in rail freights. 
The immense quantity of hardware and trim- 
mings required by the Singer Company can 
be laid down in Cairo from the east cheaper 
than in South Bend. Last but not least, the 
enormous quantity of cabinet work demanded 
by the Euroj^ean trade can be shipped by 
water via New Orleans, and laid down at the 
company's Glasgow factory — at which all 
machines for the European trade are made — 
as cheap as they can now be sent from South 
Bend to the American coast. 

Immense tracts of hardwood timber sur- 
round the city in all directions, and the Sin- 
g<ir Company has already secured control of 
the timber on a tract of eighteen square 
miles, all of which can be delivered by 
wagon at the works — the longest haul not 
exceeding six miles. 

The Singer factory have secured a factory 
site of twenty- four acres, including a valua- 
ble river front — and is one of five corporations 
owning all the river front surrounding Cairo 
on both rivers — and has now one brick build- 
ing 80x65, three stories, another 100x70, 
another 50x48. These are to be used only 
for cutting their lumber and gluing it into 
form, the motive power being a double- 
cylinder engine and four Babcock & Wilcox 
sectional boilers of 75-hor8e-power each. 

The cabinet works proper when completed 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



165 



will consist of five buildings, each 60x500 feet 
three stories high, with ample space be- 
tween for protection, and connected, at each 
story self-supporting ridges; all elevators 
and stair cases will be on the outside of the 
buildings which will be divided by tii'e walls 
every hundred feet. The motive power of 
this immense bee -hive of industry will be 
supplied by eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers 
of 180-horse-power capacity each, and an 800- 
horse-power engine. There will be twelve 
dry kilns, each holding 50,000 feet of lum- 
ber. Employment will be given to 1,000 
hands. 

Halliday House. — This surpasses a hotel 
in all the meaning of that word as applied 
to small cities. It is simply a magnificent 
hostelry that is one of Cairo's institutions. 
It is understood by those who have not vis- 
ited it, that it is the old St. Charles Hotel 
repaired and fixed up in regal style. It is 
much more than this; it is a new hotel, elegant, 
substantial, with a complement of every 
modern perfection of the most elegant hotels 
in even the largest cities of the country. 
More massive houses have been built, and 
that, perhaps, had more expensive outside 
ornamentation or inside filagree work, but 
none more solid and wholly comfortable than 
this, and this applies as well to the internal ap- 
pliances and the furnishing as well as to the 
main building. And we have no hesitation in 
pronouncing the dining room, with its three 
entire sides lit up by spacious windows for 
light and ventilation, as the most complete 
and cozy that we ever sat down to in a hotel. 

The Halliday House stands where the St. 
Charles stood, and that is about all-the connec- 
tion between them. The present proprietor, 
Ml. Parker, whose life work and study has 
been how to keep the finest hotel, spent a 
long time traveling thi'ough the different 
cities of the country, examining the best 



hostelries and noting every valuable late im- 
provement or invention in the same, and 
when he had obtained all possible informa- 
tion in this line the work on the Halliday 
House was commenced, and each and every 
improvement noted was added without regard 
to labor or expense, and when all was fin- 
ished, the doors were thrown open to the 
public in the full conviction that he had the 
completest, if not the largest hotel in the 
world. 

A Neiv Enterprise. — Taking front rank 
among the business enterprises of the city 
of Cairo are the market gardening and floral 
interests of Mr. G. Des Rocher. This gen- 
tleman came to the vicinity of Cairo in 1872, 
and on a limited scale, having no capital, 
began what has since developed into a lucra- 
I tive and very attractive business. Two years 
later, he leased forty acres of land of the 
Cairo City Property Company, andjsince that 
date he has constantly increased his facilites 
for carrying on his immense enterprise. His 
first impulse was to siipply the city demand 
for garden vegetables, but finding that it 
was insufi&cient to his trade, he turned his 
attention to Chicago shipment, and has 
shipped as much as two car loads of vege- 
tables in a day. He gives employment to a 
large force of hands of the laboring class 
annually, distributing among this class 
about $4,000 of Chicago's money, which fact 
alone merits the encouragement of every 
thinking mind in Cairo. 

Not only has he sought to supply the exist- 
ing wants of the people, but knowing well 
the science of business, has sought to create 
a want, that he might supply it. The better 
to accomplish this desire, he added a floral 
department to his business, which, while 
producing an income, goes far toward culti- 
vating a taste for the beautiful in nature, 
offering a resort alike to the young and old, 



16tf 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



where the mind of the matured, laden with 
business cares, or fraught with the sorrows 
of life, as well as the minds of the young, 
occupied with the lighter and more trivial 
things, are transported from the beaaties of 
nature up to nature's God. He has six green- 
houses, having an aggregate of 6,000 square 
feet of glass surface; these houses, as well 
as his extensive hot-houses, are supplied with 
a complete system of cisterns and under- 
grouad piping, the whole famished with 
water from a drive well centrally located. A 
matter in connection with his business, 
worthy of the attention of the agriculturist, 
is his system of converting every particle of 
waste vegetable growth into a valuable fertil-^ 
izing medium. 

While his enterprise is not a railroad or a 
national bank, it is one that requires a bus- 
iness energy, a vast amount of actual toil, 
and is an important factor in the intricate 
list of Cairo's financial resources for which 
we think words of commendation are due to 
Mr. Des Rocher. 

Cotton Oil Mill. — These extensive works 
found Cairo "the best point in the South or 
West for the construction o ' a mill for the 
production of this oil, that is destined soon 
to be one of the great industries of the world. 
American invention has pried out the fact 
that from the cotton seed — a mere waste 
heretofore — can be made one of the very fin- 
est oils in the world. 

Ice Factory. — This splendid factory was 
constructed by an incorporated company, the 
leading members of which are Charles Gal- 
ligher, George E. O'hara and Frank L. Gal- 
igher. The cost of the construction and 
fixtures was $50,000, and has a capacity of 
fifty tons a day. Although just started, it 
has revolutionized the ice trade here and well 
may it have done this so readily, as its work 
shows for itself, as they make ice wholly 



from distilled water and its superiority over 
the natural production is so plain and palpa- 
ble that there can be no comparison between 
them. 

Flouring Mills. — There are two, Galigher's 
and Halliday's. Mr. Galigher's is the older 
of the two, and yet it is rather a modern insti- 
tution, and most extensive and perfect, with 
all modern improvements. The Halliday Mill 
has just been overhauled, enlarged and sup- 
plied with all the latest roller processes. The 
extent of this improvement may be inferred 
when we state they were put in at an expense 
of $40,000, and has a capacity of 600 bar- 
rels a day. 

Halliday^s Saw Mill is another late and 
immense Cairo improvement, said by com- 
petent judges to be the completest thing of 
its kind in the world, and in this connection 
we may mention Halliday's coal dump — 
Maj. Halliday' sown invention — as the most 
complete and perfect thing of the kind in the 
country. 

Opera House. — The old Athenaeum, a frame, 
has been torn away, and one of the neatest 
and coziest little theaters in the country has 
taken its place. It is the pride of the peo- 
ple and the admiration of Lhe actors who 
have visited it. 

Commission Houses. — The extensive com- 
mission houses of Halliday Bros., How Bros., 
J. M. Philips & Co., Thistlewood & Co., 
and the great amount of business transacted 
by each, shows that with the many other of 
the old and solid pioneer commission mer- 
chants here, Cairo is becoming a very impor- 
tant shipping point again. 

The patent brick machine of McClure & 
Coleman, together with the very large yard 
of Mr. Jacob Klein, sufficiently evidences the 
fact that such building material in Cairo 
finds an extensive market. 

No less than six first-class railroads have 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



167 



come to Cairo since 1878. A splendid union 
depot has been constructed and here are ac- 
commodated the Wabash, the St Louis & 
Cairo, the Mobile & Ohio, the Iron Mountain 
and the Texas & St. Louis. The Mobile & 
Ohio Railroad has erected at the foot of 
Eighth street, a local freight depot that is a 
spacious and elegant building. The Alex- 
ander County Bank, in its first-class bank 
building, is also one of Cairo's very substan- 
tial and solid institutions. 

Improvements that may be considered as 
now started and on their way, and that are 
certain to be completed at an early day are, 
aniong many others, the Cairo Public Li- 
brary, to bo known as the Safford Memorial 
Hall, the grounds of which are on Washing- 
ton and Seventeenth streets. This is due, we 
believe,' entirely to Mrs. A. B. Saflford, and 
when completed will give Cairo a building 
that will stand appropriately to the memory 
of her husband, A. B. Safiford, deceased. 
The wholesale hardware houses, including 
about everything made of iron, are Mr. Bross' 
and Mr. Woodward's; and in drugs the house 
of Barclay Bros., and that of Paul G. Schuh. 
There are four wholesale dry goods houses, 
the heaviest of which are Goldstein & Rosen- 
water, and that of C. R. Stewart, the New 
York store, Patier proprietor, although a very 
young house in business, has already sold at 
wholesale $250,000 worth of goods in a year. 
The beer bottling, soda and seltzer and min- 
eral trade has grown to immense proportions 
here recently. Mr. A. Lohr and Henry 
Brenhan each have extensive concerns, and a 
wide market to supply in this and adjoining 
States. Mr. John Sproat carries on the 
same, and he adds to this the trade in fresh 
butter, eggs and vegetables. He loads his 
own cars and sends them to New Orleans, 
Mobile and other Southern cities, the seal of 
the car only broken when it arrives at its 



final destination. No less than three planing 
mills are busy preparing the lumber for the 
carpenters of Cairo and the surrounding 
country, to wit, that of Lancaster & Rice, 
Mr. Walters and Mr. Trigg. Mr. Eichohflf's 
furniture factory and wholesale and retail 
esablishment is an institution worthy the at- 
tention of house-builders and housekeepers 
far and wide. 

We only claim here to give a few of the 
leading recent improvements in Cairo. There 
are many others, all going to show that just 
now the city is at last beginning to take its 
proper position as a wholesale manufactur- 
ing emporium — that it has facilities for 
bringing together the raw material and the 
factory and the markets where the manufact- 
ured goods are to be sold, that is possessed 
by few places in the West. Think of it! 
here are over thirty thousand miles of tribu- 
tary shores upon our navigable rivers, and 
already eight railroads are built, with Cairo 
as the terminus of the majority of them, and 
all this great railroad development is of a 
very recent date. In a very short time it 
must become as important a railroad point 
as it has always been in point of navigable 
waters. Soon it will possess the shortest 
route to the Atlantic seaboard over the Ches- 
apeake & Ohio Railroad, this road forming 
one continuous line as soon as a small gap 
is completed, and on which the work is being 
pushed. In a few months, it will communi- 
cate direct with the City of Me2:ico over a 
direct line of one continuous railroad from 
Cairo to that city. A railroad from here 
running a little east of north, is under con- 
struction, connecting Cairo with the Toledo, 
Cincinnati & St. Louis Narrow Guage Rail- 
road, and this will give it still another di- 
rect New York connection in addition to the 
several now possessed. 

Steamboats. — Among the many pilots who 



168 



HISTOKY OF CAIRO. 



have stood at the wheel and guided the boat 
to the Cairo " throw-out-the-gang-plank 
place," was no less a character than the hu- 
morist, Mark Twain. It is not certain but 
that the wag ijrot his first lesson in spinning 
characteristic yarns when he was a cub, list- 
ening to the old pilots, while waiting in port, 
spin " river yarns," some of which were of 
immense size, and some again very amusing, 
and when the older heads had run over their 
oft-told stock stories and the " kid " was in- 
duced to try his prentice hand, and failed 
most funerealy, the old fellows laughed out of 
sympathy and politeness, and this proved 
the boy's ruin. It was a fatal encourag^e- 
ment that transformed Mark from what 
might have been a valuable and noble 
life at the wheel, to a miserable, heartbreak- 
ing, continual weeping fountain, and he 
never stopped until he has just now bur- 
dened the " Father of Waters " with a book 
entitled " Life on the Mississippi." A re- 
viewer of this book says: " He was born on 
the banks of the great stream. The river 
shaped the course of his youth and his life 
upon its bosom as pilot's apprentice and pi- 
lot gave him the experience and associations 
that fitted him when time and opportunity 
came to step into his rightful place as a 
really great and typical American humorist." 
Now, from a long acquaintance with pilots, 
we have no hesitation in saying that Mark 
might, had he continued with them, have 
eventually become not only a pilot, but a 
jokist of no mean pretensions. For instance, 
we remember on one occasion during the war 
of being one of a party seated in a yawl on 
our way to one of the new gunboats an- 
chored opposite Cairo. The commander of 
the gunboat and several officers were of the 
party, and those who were guests had been 
invited to go on board the boat, as she was 
ready to go up the Ohio for a short trial run. 



and was going to test a 400-pound gun that 
was mounted in the turret. It was a jolly 
party, all anticipating a mcst pleasant day. 
But the writer noticed one man in the crowd 
who was the picture of despair and sullen- 
ness. His attention was arrested by the 
fierceness of this man's gloomy mood. After 
we had reached the vessel and an opportun- 
ity presented itself, the melancholy gentle- 
man was gradually app)roached, when at a 
point no one else could hear and the ques- 
tion asked: "My friend, you seem to be 
much troubled; what's the matter? " In the 
best yellow-back slang, his dark eyes flashed 
and between his set teeth (not a false set) he 
hissed like an escaping volcano, " Matter! 
matter! Helen Blazes! I'm arrested! pressed! 
as a pilot on this limpin' Lazarus of an old 
gunboat, and Government will only pay 
$350 a month for pilots, and I can git five 
and six hundred on the boats. Isn't that mat- 
ter enough?" Now here, Mark, was a true 
pilot joke, you see, with a $150 to $200 a 
month moral in it. You can see for yourself 
what you have missed. A half-dozen such 
efforts as that and see what your fortune 
now would be. Do your own figuring; say six 
jokes, $200 per month each, for thirty years. 
Any old Cairoite will recognize the follow- 
ing in reference to raft life of the early days 
on the river: "In the heyday of the steam- 
boating prosperity, the river, from end to 
end, was flanked with coal fleets and timber 
rafts, all managed by hand and employing 
hosts of rough characters. Processions of 
migthy rafts — an acre or so of white, sweet- 
smelling boai'ds in each raft, a crew of two 
dozen men or more, three or four wigwams 
scattered about the raft's vast level space for 
storm quarters — and the rude ways and tre- 
mendous talk of their big crews, the ex- 
keelboatmen and their admiringly patroniz- 
ing successors; for we used to swim out a 




'^e^ 




^ 



C/f ^, SjZ a^i.<L^c^, 




HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



171 



quarter or a third of a mile and get on these 
rafts and have a ride. " 

By way of illustrating this keelboat talk 
and manners, and that now departed and 
hardly remembered raft life, the author 
throws in a chapter from a book which he 
" has been working on by fits and starts during 
the past five or six years, and may possibly 
finish in the course of five or six more. " It 
is a story detailing some passages in the life 
of an ignorant village boy. son of the town 
drunkard of the author's time out West. 
The boy had run away, together with a slave, 
and in floating down the river at high water 
and in dead summer time on a fragment of 
a raft, they got lost in the fog and passed 
Cairo without knowing it. So the boy swims 
out to a huge raft in the dark, hoping to 
gain the information by listening to the 
talk of the men. The odd, rude life of the 
raftsmen, as thus witnessed by the boy, is 
graphically described. After singing, drink- 
ing and dancing, two of the men begin to 
quarrel, and the following is a specimen of 
the language of one of the men in getting 
r«j0,dy: 

" He jumped up in the air three times and 
cracked his heels together every time. He 
flung ofif a buckskin coat that was all hung 
with fringes, and says ' you lay thar till the 
chawin'-up's done;' and flung his hat down, 
which was all over ribbons and says, ' You 
lay thar till his sufferin's is over.' 

" Then he jumped up in the air and cracked 
his heels together again and shouted out: 

" ' Whoo-oop! I'm the old original iron- 
jawed, brass-mounted, copper-bellied corpse - 
maker from the wilds of Arkansaw! Look at 
me! I'm the man they call Sudden Death 
and General Desolation I Sired by a hurri- 
cane, dam'd by an earthquake, half-brother 
to the cholera, nearly related to the small- 
pox on the mother's side! Look at me! I 



take nineteen alligators and a bar'l of 
whisky for breakfast when I'm in robust 
health and a bushel of rattlesnakes and a 
dead body when I'm ailing! I split the 
everlasting rocks with my glance, and I 
squench the thunder when I speak! Whoo- 
oop ! stand back and give me room according 
to my strength! Blood's my natural drink 
and the wails of the dying is music to my 
ear! Cast your eye on me, gentlemen, and 
lay low and hold your breath, for I'm 'bout 
to turn myself loose! ' 

" All the time he was getting this off ho was 
shaking his head and looking fierce and kind 
of swelling around in a little circle, tucking 
up his wristbands and now and then straight- 
ening up and beating his breast with his 
fist, saying: ' Look at me, gentlemen! I'm 
the bloodiest son of a wild cat that lives!' 

" Then the man that started the row tilted 
his old slouch hat down over his right eye; 
then he bent forward with his back sagged 
and his south end sticking out far, and his 
fists a shoving out and drawing to in front 
of him, and so went around in a little circle 
about three times, swelliug himself iip and 
breathing hard, and he began to shout like 
this: 

" 'Whoo-oop! bow your neck and spread, 
for the kingdom of sorrow's a coming. Hold 
me down to the earth, for I feel my powers 
a- working! Whoop! I'm a child of sin, donH 
let me get a start! Smoked glass here for all! 
Don't attempt to look at me with the naked 
eye, gentlemen. When I'm playful, I use 
the meridians of longitude and the parallels 
of latitude for a seine and drag the Atlantic 
ocean for whales! I scratch my head with 
the lightning and purr myself to sleep with 
the thunder! When I'm cold, I bile the gulf 
of Mexico and bathe in it; when I'm hot, 
I fan myself with an equinoctial storm; when 
I'm thirsty, I reach up and suck a cloud dry, 

10 



173 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



like a sponge; when I range the earth, hun- 
gry famine follows in my tracks! Whoo-op! 
Bow your neck and spread. I put my hand 
on the sun's face and make it night on the 
earth; I bite a piece out of the moon and 
hurry the season; I shake myself and crum- 
ble the mountains! Contemplate me through 
leather- -don' ^ use the naked eye! I'm the 
man with a petrified heart and boiler-iron 
bowels! Whoo-oop! Bow your neck and 
spread, for the pet-child of calamity's a com- 
ing.'" 

The narrative goes on to show how a little 
black whiskered chap cooled off their rage 
and thrashed them both for a couple of 
chicken-livered cowards. 

That child of Sudden Death and General 
Desolation was the missing "link," that 
leads us by most plainly marked footsteps 
up to the pilot joker, and back to his pre 
historic ancestors, the Cave (of Gloom) 
Dwellers. No reference here, Mark, to that 
settled and incurable gloom that is noted in 
the best medical works as characterizing the 
wrecked lives of your readers. 

But the following very happy description 
of high water will be recognized by many 
a Cairo "tenderfoot" as a side-splitting joke: 

" The big rise brought a new world under 
my vision. By the time the river was over 
its banks, we had forsaken our old paths, and 
were hourly climbing over banks that had 
stood ten feet out of water before; we were 
shaving stumpy shores, like that at the foot 
of Madrid bend, which I had always seen 
avoided before; we were clattering through 
chutes like that of 82, where the opening at 
the foot was an unbroken wall of timber, 
till our nose was almost at the very spot. 
Some of these chutes were utter solitudes. 
The dense, untouched forest overhung both 
banks of the crooked little crack, and one 
could believe that human creatures had never 



intruded there before. The swinging grape- 
vines, the grassy nooks and vistas glimpsed 
as we swept by, the flowering creepers wav- 
ing their red blossoms from the tops of dead 
trunks and all the spendthrift richness of 
the forest foliage were wasted and thrown 
away there. The chutes were lovely places to 
steer in; they were deep except at the head; 
the current was gentle; under the ' points,' 
the water was absolutely dead, and their vis- 
ible banks so bluff that where the tender wil- 
low thickets projected, you could bury your 
boat's broadside in them as you tore along, 
and then you seemed fairly to fl}'." 

But altogether Cairo remembers with much 
pride the fact that Sam Clemens (Mark 
Twain) was at one time among the number 
of pilots that belonged to her trade. And 
the numerous fraternity here will read his 
book with great interest, as it is a story 
whose incidents often occurred in the com- 
pany of men still at the wheel. While no 
other Cairo pilot, perhaps, has gained the 
celebrity that has Mark Twain, yet there are 
some who have merited a more lasting im- 
mortality as great heroes — standing at the 
wheel and going down bravely to death in 
the sublime act of protecting and saving the 
lives of those who were in their safe keeping. 
The fraternity of pilots are well known to 
most of the people of Cairo. They are a sin- 
gular class of men, and their lives have not 
been a careless holiday. But it was during 
the war the lives of many of them were filled 
with terrifying troubles. A couple of in- 
stances will illustrate our meaning: On one 
occasion, as the fleet was transporting the 
troops to Fort Doneison, and_ the stage of 
the water and the point in the river had been 
reached by the flag-boat, where it was dan- 
gerous navigation, the officers of the boat 
desired to tie up for daylight, but the mili- 
tary authorities demurred to this. It was 



HISTOEY OF CAIKO. 



173 



very dark, and the boat became entangled, 
and in backing and starting up she was run 
into an overhanging tree and the chimneys 
knocked down. The usua) vpild consterna- 
tion followed, and the affrighted soldiers 
imagined everything bad. But after awhile, 
when they found the boat was not sunk in 
the bottom of the river, they set about hunt- 
ing for the cause of the disaster. In some 
way, they learned the pilot lived in Louis - 
ville, and this was enough, he was a rebel 
and had deliberately conspired to destroy 
them all by sinking the boat. In a moment 
it was a mob. Now an ordinary mob is the 
silliest monster that ever lived, yet a soldier 
mob makes a common one appear as Solomon 
and Patience enthroned on that historical 
monument. The pilot saved his life by se- 
creting himself. Of course, the soldiers had 
no evidence against the pilot, for none ex- 
isted. The truth afterward turned out to be 
that he had rung the engineer to go ahead 
when he made the mistake and backed. 

Another incident happened in the river in 
front of Cairo. The small boat, Echo, was 
coming down the Ohio River laden with sol- 
diers, and struck one of the iron-clad gunboats 
that split her hull and she was hopelessly 
wrecked. The wreck floated a mile or so 
below town and lies on the Kentucky bar yet. 
No lives were lost, but the soldiers at once 
jumped to the conclusion the pilot purposely 
did it and they howled for his blood. In 
fact, the clamor was so great that Wilson 
Dunn, the pilot, was arrested and tried by a 
court martial. As he was clearly innocent, 
it is probable the trial saved his life. The 
fact that these gunboats (turtles) had sunk a 
number of boals cut no figure with the sol- 
diers, and the further fact that the pilot was 
an officer of the Government, as true and 
loyal and patriotic as ever lived, but he did 
not wear an infantry or cavalry uniform and 



the idiots therefore believed he was a 
' traitor. 

The present distinguished engineer, J. B. 
Eads, was another man who made his start 
in life among the Cairo river men. He lived 
for some years here, and came here, we be- 
lieve, some time in the forties as a member of 
the firm of Eads & Nelson. Mr. Eads' his- 
tory is so identified with the Mississippi 
River that one cannot be given without the 
other, his vast enterprises, commencing as 
they did in Cairo, have so extended his name 
and fame throughout the world. 

In a preceding chapter, we gave an account 
of the coming down the Ohio River of the 
steamer New Orleans, Capt. Roosevelt — 
the first boat that ever floated upon Western 
waters. A few words in reference to the his- 
tory of this historical boat may not be out 
of place here. She was built in the Fulton 
& Livingston's ship yards, Pittsburgh; ca- 
pacity, one hundred tons; was furnished with 
propelling wheel to the stern and two masts. 
Mr. Fulton at that time believed that sails 
would be indispensable to a steamboat. The 
boat was placed in the New Orleans and 
Natchez trade, and continued in this trade 
for a short time, when she struck a snag near 
Baton Rouge and sunk. The passage of this 
first steamboat down the river, making her 
landings and obtaining fuel, etc., at an aver- 
age rate of three miles an hour, left in her 
wake an excitement that could not have been 
exceeded had a flying angel appeared to the 
people. 

The second boat that ever came by the 
doors of Cairo— before the doors were here — 
was the Comet, Daniel D. Smith, owner, D. 
French, builder. Her machinery was con- 
structed on a plan invented by French, in 
1809. She descended the river in 181-4. 
She was only a twenty-five-ton boat. She 
reached New Orleans and made two voyages 



174 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



to Natchez and return and was then sold and 
taken to pieces and her engine and machin- 
ery were put in a cotton factory. 

The Vesuvius was the third boat built at 
Pittsburgh, and came down the Ohio, and also 
in the year 1814, ;under command of Capt. 
Frank Ogden. After reaching New Orleans, 
she started to return, July 14, and grounded 
on a bar about 700 miles above New Orleans, 
where she remained until December 3, when 
the waters rising, she floated oflf and re- 
turned to New Orleans. During 1815-16, 
this boat continued to make regular trips be- 
tween New Orleans and Natchez. She was I 
first commanded by Capt. Clement, and he 
was succeeded by Capt. John De Hart. In 
the latter part of 181 6, as the boat approached 
New Orleans with a valuable cargo, she took 
fire and burned. The hulk was afterward 
raised and refitted and ran in the New Or- 
leans and Louisville trade until 1819, when 
she was condemned. 

The fourth boat was the Enterprise, built 
at Bx-ownsville, Penn., by D. French, and his 
patent engine supplied. This was a seven- 
ty-five-ton boat. She made two voyages to 
Louisville in 1814, under Cajjt. Gregg. She 
was loaded with ordnances and stores for 
New Orleans, and while there. Gen. Jackson 
pressed her into the Government service. 
The Enterprise loaded and left New Orleans 
for Louisville in May, 1815, and arrived at 
Louisville safely, making the trip in twenty- 
five days. This was the first trip ever made 
by a steamboat from between these two 
points. 

The next boat in order of appearance was 
the Washington, constructed by Henry M. 
Shreve. The hull was built in Wheeling 
and engines at Brownsville, Penn. This 
was the first double " decker " ever con- 
structed, the cabin being placed between the 
decks, and the boilers placed on deck. This 



daring innovation made the Washington look 
very much as steamboats do now. Tbeu in 
French's patent the engines were vibrating, 
but Capt. Shreve caused the cylinder to be 
placed horizontally. All engines were the 
single, low-pressure engines. The great in- 
vention of the cam cut-off was Capt. Shreve's, 
and this was added to the machinery of the 
Washington. When thus completed and 
launched, the new steamer, not only new in 
contruction but in such new and great im- 
provements in her machinery, that it leaves 
it a question whether Fulton or Shreve was 
the greater inventor. 

On the 24th of September, 3816, the 
steamer Washington passed successfully 
over the falls at Louisville, and made a suc- 
cessful trip to New Orleans, and returned to 
Louisville in November following. While 
the boat was lying at the wharf in New Or- 
leans, she was visited and carefully inspected 
by Edward Livingstone, who was in the 
West, determined to assert in the courts the 
exclusive right of Fulton & Livingston to 
navigate all the waters of the United States, 
a right they claimed under their patents. 
After Livingston had inspected the Wash- 
ington, he addressed Capt. Shreve as follows: 
" You deserve well of your country, young 
man, but we [referring to Fulton & Living- 
ston's monopoly of all the rivers] shall be 
compelled to beat you [in the courts] if we 
can." 

The Washington was compelled by ice to 
remain at the Falls all winter and on March 
12, 1817, she commenced her second voyage 
to New Orleans. On her retui'n she made 
thn trip with a full cargo to Louisville in 
twenty-five days. And from this time all 
historians may date the real commencement 
of navigation. The wonderful feat of the 
boat produced almost as much excitement as 
did the battle of New Orleans. Louisville 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



175 



gave a public dinner to Capt. Shreve, and in 
a speech he predicted that the trip from 
New Orleans to Louisville would yet be 
made in ten days. People smiled with gen- 
tle incredulity at this, and were willing to 
forgive him that or almost anything else for 
what he bad done. How soon after this it 
was made inside of five days Capt. Shreve 
lived to see and all the world knows full well. 
In 1852, the steamer Shotwell made the trip in 
a little over four days. In 1869, the Natchez 
and the K. E. Lee made their celebrated 
race from New Orleans to St. Louis. The 
record time to Cairo was the fastest ever 
made, but some stanch old river men claim 
that, including stoppages, etc., the J. M. 
White, bui'lt by Capt. Swan, a noted 
builder of noted boats, made the best record 
time ever yet marked between New Orleans 
and Cairo. 

The most shocking steamboat accident in 
the world's history occurred in 1864, when 
the steamer Sultana exploded her boilers 
just above Memphis, when on her way from 
some point in Arkansas to Cairo. There 
were, it is estimated, 2,350 souls aboard — 
nearly all soldiers — and over 2,000 perished. 
It was in the night, and the explosion was 
the most terriffic and the wreck the most 
complete ever known. The explosion was 
followed by fire, which soon consumed the lit- 
tle of the wreck remaining above water. 
Capt. J. C. Swann was killed. 

The steamer Majestic, Capt. J. C. Swann 
and W. C. Kennett, Chief Clerk, William 
Ferree, Chief Engineer, on the 25th day of 
May. 1835, just as the wheel turned to round 
out from the wharf, exploded her boilers. 
She was on her way North, and was crowded 
with deck passengers, many of whom were 
Germans, and constituted some of the Ger- 
mans who settled in and around Belleville, 
111. The flues of the larboard boiler col- 



lapsed, it is supposed, by the passengers all 
passing to the shore or starboard side of the 
vessel and thus careening the boat until the 
boiler on the opposite side became dry. The hot 
water and steam scalded about sixty of the deck 
passengers, about forty of whom died at once 
or within twenty- four hours, and were biu"ied 
at Memphis. The injuries and fatalities 
were confined to the deck passengers, or 
those who happened to be there. 

Among the survivors of that sh(jcking 
catastrophe is William Lornegan, of Cairo, 
a gentleman well and long known to the 
people of the city. To look at Mr. Lor- 
negan we would be inclined to doubt that 
he was a real survivor of a steamboat ex- 
plosion which occurred over forty- eight years 
ago. 

The circumstances were these: He 
was an infant at that time, a little more than 
one year old, and the father, mother and 
child constituted the family. In the wild din 
and horror following the explosion, Mr. Lor- 
negan ran to the yawl and pulling it up, 
jumped in. He then pulled the yawl up to 
the deck and the mother, wrapping the baby 
in a shawl, tossed it to the father, who stood 
up to catch it. The motion of the craft 
threw him just at the moment the baby was 
started and in this critical instant the father 
th ew up his feet and in this way protected 
the child's fall and saved it. He then drew 
up the yawl and the mother and several 
others were soon safely in it. Then there 
was a nish of the excited people, and they 
would unquestionably have swamped the 
yawl except for the forethought again of Mr. 
Lornegan, who cut the rope and the craft 
floated away. As there were no paddles in 
it, the occupants had to trust to the current, 
but the boat soon touched a sand bar on the 
Tennessee side, and all were safely landed. 
The steamer floated a short distance and also 



I7d 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



lodged on the Tennessee side, the damaged 
boiler repaired and she continued her route 
to St. Louis. 



The fine steamer, J. M. White, referred 
to above, was sunk just below Cape Girar- 
deau, March 28, 1843. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE CHURCH HISTORY — ST. PATRICK'S — GERMAN LUTHERAN — PRESBYTERIAN — BAPTIST — 

METHODIST AND OTHER DENOMINATIONS— THE DIFFERENT PASTORS— THEIR 

FLOCKS, TEMPLES, THE CITY SCHOOLS, ETC., ETC. 



"How beautiful are the feet of them that pi'each 
the GospeJ of peace and bring glad tidings of good 
things." 

THE German Lutheran Church. — This 
church was organized in the year 1866, 
the Rev. J. Dunsing officiating. There were 
between fifteen and twenty members. It was 
named the Evangelical Lutheran Emanual 
Gemeinde of Cairo. The first pastor, Dun- 
sing, officiated from October, 1866, to Oc- 
tober, 1869, and was succeeded by Rev. 
Gustave P. Heilbig, who remained in charge 
until February, 1873. Then Rev. C. 
Durshner was placed in charge, and he 
remained pastor until January 1, 1879. 
During his administration, the congregation 
concluded to build a brick addition so as to 
enlarge the church facilities and provide a 
suitable school room. The entire building 
was enlarged and raised, and a brick base- 
ment added, and a part of the addition was 
fitted vtp for a store room, arranging the up- 
per rooms for the pastor's residence, etc. The 
expense of these additions to the building 
was $2,500 on the residence and biisiness 
portions of the building, and from $1,000 to 
$1,500 expended on the church proper. In 
1879, E. Knappe was installed as pastor of 
the chinrch, and he remained in the faithful 
and efficient discharge of his duties until 
November, 1881. Since August, 1882, the pres- 



ent able and efficient pastor, Rev. C. Schuch- 
ardhas filled the position of shepherd'to his 
flock with signal ability and the great satis- 
faction of his people. 

The Sunday school of this church is in a 
flourishing condition, numbering from sev- 
enty-five to one hundred pupils in constant 
attendance. The pious pastor of the church 
was the Superintendent, assisted by Andrew 
Lohr, until 1880, when Andrew Lohr was 
elected Superintendent. Mr. Lohr remained 
in this position until the present year (1883), 
when he resigned, and the present pastor, 
Schuchard, again assumed his old place and 
continues the Superintendent and manager 
of the Sunday school. 

The church also has a ladies' society, 
called the Freund and Jungfrauen Verein, 
that was organized in the year 1871, under 
the direction and control of the minister, 
Heilbig. The aims and purposes of this or- 
ganization are the good of the church and 
its flock. It has a membership averaging 
sixty good and efficient Christians. 

The church grounds are two lots, and were 
pui'chased by the members of the church in 
1878, of S. Staats Taylor, agent of the 
Cairo Trust Property, at the price of $100 
per lot, and is situated on Thirteenth street, 
between Washington avenue and Walnut 
street. 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



it; 



The present board of trustees consists of 
H. Schultz and Andrew Lohr. 

The basement or brick portion of the 
church is now used, the front part as a 
school room, and the rear as a parsonage for 
the minister, and the entire upper or frame 
part of the building is dedicated to church 
purposes. There is a fine pipe organ in the 
main room, and from the main building as- 
cends the cupola, where hangs the church 
bell, that in deep, musical tones upon the 
holy Sabbath calls the people to " come to 
the house of God and worship. " 

The Christian Church was organized in 
Cairo in May, 1865, the original members 
consisting of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Fenton, Mr. 
and Mrs. S. R. Hay, J. C. Talbott, Mrs. 
Gilkey and daughter, Mrs. Sarah Clark, Mr. 
R. J. Cundiff, and others whose names can- 
not now be ascertained. In the organization, 
there were about twenty members. A little 
earnest band of devout Christians, planting 
the cross of their Master in His vineyard and 
consecrating a spot where they could gather 
in response to the "come let us worship." 
Of all those who constituted that little band 
who first assembled together here, but two 
are left namely, Mr. J. C. Talbott and Mrs. 
Sarah Clark. In 1866, the Cairo City Prop- 
erty Company donated the church four lots 
on Eighteenth street, between Washington 
and Walnut streets, and during the same 
year the church building now occupied was 
erected. It is a frame, 36x55, and cost 
$4,500. The pastors, in the order named, 
have occupied the pulpit: Rev. L. Brown, 
of Ohio; John Friend, of Pennsylvania; R. 
B. Tremble, of Kentucky. For some years 
they have had no regular preaching and no 
Sunday school. There are meetings, how- 
ever, every Sunday of a social and spiritual 
character. The oflScers of the church are: 
Trustees, S. R. Hay, G. M. Alden, Charles 



Armstrong, J. C. Talbott, Mr. Saul; Elders, 
J. R. Hay, William McClosky; Deacons, A. 
B. Fenton and J. C. Talbott. 

St. Patrick^s — Catholic — is situated on 
the corner of Ninth street and Washington 
avenue; was built in 1855 by Rev. Father 
McCabe, who was its first pastor. The build- 
ing is a substantial frame on a rock base- 
ment, and cost $3,600, most of which was 
collected from the hands employed in the 
construction of the Central Railroad during 
the years 1853 and 1854. The basement, 
up to 1882, was used as a parochial school. 
The lots upon which the building stands 
were donated by Col. S. S. Taylor. In the 
latter part of 1857, Rev. Father McCabe was 
succeeded in the pastorate by Rev. Thomas 
Walsh, who, on Sunday, the 15th day of 
March, 1861, and while addressing his con- 
gregation on the heinousness of the sin of 
blasphemy, was suddenly attacked with par- 
alysis of the heart, and which in a few 
hours terminated in death. His remains 
lie buried beneath the altar from which he 
loved so well to offer up the holy sacrifice. 
May he rest in peace. At this time. Rev. L. 
A. Lambert was appointed to fill the vacancy 
occasioned by the demise of Father Walsh, 
and continued to serve the congregation un- 
til October, 1867, at which time, his health 
becoming impaired, he received permission 
to go to New York. He is at present in 
charge of a parish in Waterloo, in that State. 
The bishop at once supplied the spiritual 
wants of his people by the appointment of 
Rev. P. Brady, who faithfully attended to 
the wants of his flock until the latter part of 
1869, when he was appointed to another 
parish. He is now pastor in the city of 
Springfield, 111. Father Brady was imme- 
diately succeeded by Rev. P. J. O'Hallo- 
ran, who continued in charge until Novem- 
ber, 1873, when he was sent to East St. 



178 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



Louis to take the place of Rev. Francis Za- 
bel, who was assigned to the Cairo pastorate. 
His parishioners and the citizens of Cairo 
generally will bear cheerful testimony to 
his worth as a Christian minister, in remain- 
ing at this post of duty night and day during 
the terrible yellow- fever epidemic of 1878, 
At his own request he was, in 1879, trans- 
ferred to a parish at Bunker Hill, this State, 
where he now resides. 

To supply the place made vacant by 
Father Zabel's departure, Rev. Thomas Mas- 
terson was sent from Mound City, but the 
malarial atmosphere^of Egypt soon made sad 
work with a physically delicate constitution. 
He left his flock for a more healthful location 
in the town of Paris, 111., his present address. 
In the latter part of 1882, Rev. J. Murphy 
assumed charge and is the present incumbent. 
St. Josepii's Catholic Church. — In the year 
1870, the Catholic congregation having 
wholly outgrown the capacities of St. Pat- 
rick's Church, a few of the leading members 
determined to build a new one. This move- 
ment was finally made by the Germans for 
two reasons: 1st. St. Patrick's Church was 
too small for the congregation, and second, 
the Germans desired to have a church of 
their own, in which they hoped to have serv- 
ices in their native language. The princi- 
pal movers in this, and those who made the 
principal donations for the new church were 
Peter Saup, William Kluge, Henry Lattner, 
Valentine Riser, Jacob Klein, George Latt- 
ner, Jacob Lattner, Nicholas Veithe, L. 
Saunders, William Weber, Joseph Bross, 
Joseph Bruikle and William Brendle. 

The organization was effected in 1870, and 
the church commenced and the building com- 
pleted in 1871, being an elegant brick build- 
ing, 65x100 feet, and cost $23,000, and is by 
far the finest church in the city, and has an 
elegant organ. 



Father ^Hoffman was the first pastor, and 
soon grew in the love and confidence of his 
people, until he became a great favorite. 
The present pastor is the Rev. Father 
O'Hara. 

Presbyterian Church. — This church build- 
ing was erected in January, 1856. The 
Rev. Robert Stewart, through whose efforts 
the building had been erected, preached the 
dedication sermon. It cost about $2,796. 
The three lots upon which it stands were do- 
nated by the trustees of the Cairo City Prop- 
erty. The funds for building the church were 
raised mostly abroad, through the efforts of 
Rev. Robert Stewart, who was building agent 
of the Alton Presbytery. It was turned over 
to the trustees of the first Presbyterian so- 
ciety of Cairo, free from debt. The ladies of 
the Alton Presbyterian Church donated the 
caA'pet for the aisles, a Bible for the pulpi t 
and the chandelier and lamps. 

This was the first Protestant church 
erected in Cairo. A Presbyterian society 
was formed on the 9th of January, 1856. 
The constitution was signed by the following 
members: C. D. Finch, Marion Hall, R. H. 
Cunningham, William T. Finch, J. D. Mc- 
Coughtry, John C. White, D. Hurd, Edward 
Willett, Frank Shipman, S. Staats Taylor, 
H. H. Candee, E. Norton, C. A. Bullock, B. 
S. Harrell, Julia A. Harrell and Maria A. 
White. 

The first board of trustees consisted of 
Dr. Coffee, M. Hall, C. D. Finch, Edward 
Willett and William T. Finch. The latter 
was elected chairman and Edward Willett 
Secretary. The church building and prop- 
erty and society were fully equipped now, 
but there was still no church proper and no 
pastor. Steps wei-e taken by the society to 
remedy this defect, and Mr. Kenware was 
called to act as the first pastor. Mr. Kenware 
stayed only eight months, when becoming 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



179 



afflicted with a bronchial affection, he ten- 
dered his resignation, which was accepted. 

The Rev. A. L. Payson was then called at 
a salary of $1,000 a year, and accepted. Yet 
there was one act necessary to make a com- 
plete church, and that was the signing of 
the articles of faith and covenant. This 
was done, and thus a complete organization 
effected, ten persons signing, to wit: Will- 
iam T. Finch, Mrs. Rosanna White, Mrs. 
Catharine Stewart, Mrs. Mary Jane Stewart, 
Mrs. S. L. Bowers, Miss Harriet A. Paine, 
James Degear, Mrs. Sarah Ann Bellew, Mrs. 
Lucy A. Leftcowitch and Mrs. A. P. Ryan. 

The Rev. Payson seems, by the church re- 
cords, to cut no other figure than being called 
and accepting. Possibly he was washed out 
in the June flood of that year, and this is 
suggested by a resolution of November, 1858, 
passed as a fweler, to confer with Rev. A. G. 
Martin and ascertain if he would accept a 
call at $500 a year. At all events Mr. Mar- 
tin accepted the $500 proposition and came 
on, and for two years labored faithfully with 
his flock. He organized a Sunday school, 
which is said to be the first ever organized 
in Cairo, but the truth is there was a school 
of the kind here in 1848. The first Sunday 
of the Presbyterian school there were only 
fifteen pupils present, but since that time it 
has grown to more than 300. 

Under the ministrations of Mr. Martin, 
eleven members were added to the church — 
ten of these by letters. This minister re- 
signed in January, 1861. The church was 
without a pastor until June, 1862. The 
war was here, and men's thougths seemed to 
run in other channels. But the Central 
Railroad had arranged to pass preachers free 
to Cairo to hold services, and many came 
from a distance and services were tolerably 
regular. 

An incident in the life of this church, as 



well as in the life of Commodore Foote, is 
well worth relating: After the capture of 
Fort Henry, Commodore Foote returned to 
Cairo to care for his wounded and to get ready 
for the Fort Donelson fight, and as he spent 
Sunday in the city, as was his wont, he went 
to his loved chruch — the Presbyterian — of 
which he was a zealous member. On this 
particular Sunday the congregation assem- 
bled, but the minister who was expected 
failed to come. After waiting awhile, the 
audience began to grow impatient. At this 
juncture the Commodore arose and walked 
deliberately to the pulpit, and, making some 
remark as to the duty of letting one's light 
shine, there, in the full trappings of his uni- 
form of war, conducted the services in regu- 
lar order. He read his text and addressed 
the congregation in a most earnest manner, 
and closed the exercises with a fervent and 
touching prayer. He died in 1863, as 
faithful a soldier of Jesus Christ as he was 
of his country. This remarkable incident is 
well remembered by many citizens of Cairo 
who were present in church on that Sunday 
in February. 

In June, 1862, Rev. Robert Stewart was 
called to attend the spiritual wants of the 
congregation, and for two years filled the 
place to the great satisfaction of his flock. 
Mr. Stewart preached his farewell sermon 
November 6, 1864 It was during his pas- 
torate that the frame portion of the parson- 
age was erected, and he secured this money, 
as he had for the church, mostly from 
abroad. 

January 1, 1865, Rev. H. P. Roberts be- 
came the pastor of the church. He had re- 
ceived a collegiate education, and when the 
war came he went into the army as a Lieu- 
tenant; was wounded severely. He served 
as pastor for the years 1865-66. He received 
a salary of $1,500 per annum, and ceased hi 



180 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



connection with the church as its minister in 
the early part of 1867. 

Kev. Charles H. Foote succeeded him, and 
he continued in the position until 1871. 

The brick parsonage was erected in 1867, 
at a cost of $2,363.70, and in 1868 a line 
organ was purchased. 

Rev. H. B. Thayer took charge as pastor 
in January, 1872, and remained until March, 
1875, and he was succeeded by the present 
pastor, the Rev. B. Y. George, who has al- 
ready been with this church more than seven 
years. None of his predecessors gained a 
stronger hold upon the affection of his peo- 
ple. 

In the autumn of 1878, Cairo was visited 
by that terrible scourge, the yellow fever. 
There were a few cases in August — all fatal. 
A number of cases in September, nearly all 
fatal, and still more in October, about one- 
ihalf of them fatal; several cases in Novem- 
ber, but most of them mild. In all there 
were about 100 cases in Cairo and about one- 
half proved fatal. 

In September, Mr. George was in Colum- 
bia, Mo., with his family, taking his annual 
vacation. When the news reached him that 
the disease had broken out again and in a 
virulent form in Cairo, and that the town 
was in a panic and hundreds fleeing to places 
of safety, and that all prudent people who 
could get away from the town were doing so, 
we say, upon learning this dreadful state of 
affairs, he left his family in Missouri and 
came here, and remained during the epi- 
demic, visiting sick, comforting the dying 
and burying the dead. 

The whole number of persons connected 
with the church during the twenty-five years 
of its existence is 372. Mrs. Rosanna White 
is the only one out of the original ten mem- 
bers that is now living in Cairo. 

[We desire to return our thanks to Mr. 



George Fisher, from whose extensive history 
of the Presbyterian Church we gather the 
above data. — Ed.]. 

Episcopal Church. — There were members 
of this church in Cairo from the time or be- 
fore the founding of the city. But like the 
general Protestant people, the number was 
not enough to organize a church body for a 
long time, and the history of the Presbyterian 
Church shows that these select few would 
identify themselves often with some other 
church and assist them in the holy work, 
awaiting the arrival of enough of their own 
to form their separate organization. In this 
way the curious fact is several times illus- 
trated in the Presbyterian Church that there 
would be a reduction in their number in the 
face of an increase in the population. 

Diu-ing the early forties, when there were 
only four or five families in the place who 
were communicants in the Episcopal Church, 
occasional services were conducted in a little 
chapel in one of the Holbrook houses, by the 
Rev. J. p. T. Ingraham, now of St. Louis. 
Mr. Ingraham was a resident of Cairo as 
early as 1840. During all his time here, 
there were not members enough to officer a 
society even, much less a church, and it was 
only at rare intervals that the few people of 
that church met. After the calamity of 
1841, the number was so reduced that it was 
only when some of their friends would join 
them in attendance that they could get 
enough together to have even the simplest 
church services. There was a slow increase 
up to 1850, when several families came and 
once more the early settlers began to look 
forward to the day when they would Lave a 
prosperous church here. During these times, 
the Rev. Mr. Clark often conducted the 
church services. 

In the year 1857, a movement was made, 
for the members to separate themselves from 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



181 



the other churches, and by combining to- 
gether they hoped to form the nucleus around 
which a church would soon grow. And in 
the early part of 1858, grounds were secured 
and steps taken to erect a church building. 
The place selected was the lot on which now 
stands the elegant office of the Cairo Trust 
Property. A large lot of material was de- 
livered upon the ground, such as brick, 
stone, lime and other material, when the 
flood of June, 1858, came and left such de- 
struction in its wake that for the nonce the 
project was abandoned. 

During the war, Chaplain S. McMasters 
who was stationed here, frequently held 
services for the congregation in the Presby- 
tei'ian Church building, and the congregation 
constantly grew and strengthened. Novem- 
ber 3, 1852, there was a preliminary meet- 
ing held at the office of Col. S. S. Taylor, 
and there were present at this meeting Rev. 
I. P. La Baugh, S. S. Taylor, Walter Falls, 
Capt. McAllister, Charles Thrupp, J. C. 
White, H. H. Candee, John Rosenberg, W. 
H. Morris, L. Jorgensen, J. B. Humphrey 
and others. Rev. La Baugh was made 
chairman, and J. B. Humphreys Secretary. 
Vestrymen were elected as follows: S. S. 
Taylor, Senior Warden; H. H. Candee, Junior 
Warden; and J. B. Humphreys, Charles 
Thrupp, Capt. Pennock, Col. A. E. Watson, 
W. H. Morris, A. B. Safford, J. C. White, 
R. M. Jennings and Walter Falls, Vestryme n 

The second attempt, and a successful one, 
too, to build a church was commenced in 
1861, the building now occupied on Four- 
teenth street, between Washington avenue 
and Walnut street. This building cost about 
$7,000, and is the most elegantly finished 
inside and furnished of any church in the 
city. They have an organ costing $2,000. 

November 5, 1862, Rev. I. P. La Baagh 
was called to the pastorate and accepted, and 



for more than two years he continued in 
that position, winning the good will and love 
of his entire people in an eminent degree. 
His successor was Rev. Thomas Lyle, who 
was installed as pastor in charge in January, 
1864. 

In 1863, J. C. White was Senior Warden, 
and H. H. Candee, Junior Warden, and the 
Vestrymen were A. B. Safiford, 0. Q. Har- 
man, J. B. Humphreys, W. P. Halliday, A. 
M. Pennock, S. B. Halliday, S. Staats Tay- 
lor, A. E. Watson, W. H. Morris and A. H. 
Irvin. 

April 25, 1 864, there was a re-organization 
of the parish, and on November 24 of that 
year, the church was completed and conse- 
crated by Bishop Whitehouse. And the Ves- 
trymen were: Senior Warden, J. C. White; 
Junior Warden, H. H. Candee; and A. E. 
Watson, A. J. Lwin, J. B. Humphreys, A. 
B. Safford, S. B. Halliday, W. P. Halliday, 
H. Lifferts and L. Jorgensen. 

Rev. Lyle was succeeded in 1867 by W. W. 
Rafter, who, for a little more than one year, 
discharged the high functions of his office 
with eminent ability and piety. 

In 1868, Rev. James W. Cole was called, 
and he also remained about one year. 

Rev. Edward Coan was his successor. His 
pastorate, for three years, the time he was 
with his church here, was marked by good 
works and a building-up of God's temple. 
His administration was eminently satisfac- 
tory to the congregation, and the love and 
prayers of his flock followed him when he 
retired in 1872, 

Rev. Charles A. Gilbert was his successor, 
and for five years he labored for God's king- 
dom and glory "among the good people of 
Cairo. He was an unselfish, pious and holy 
man, and his stay here will long be remem- 
bered by his people. 

In April, 1877, Rev. M. R. St. J. Dillon 



183 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



Lee was called, an<l at once entered upon his 
sacred mission among his people. But in 
the midst of his good work he sickened and 
died, May 30, 1879. 

Rev. D. A. Bonnar accepted the position 
of pastor, and was installed in the early part 
of the year 1879, where he remained a dili- 
gent, faithful and able minister to his flock 
until January, 1881, when he resigned. 

He was immediately siicceeded by Rev. F. 
P. Davenport, the present incumbent, and 
it is the hope of all that he may be long 
spared to his people and the church he loves 
so well, and his works are already doing so 
much for the cause of morality and religion. 

The present officers of the church are: H. 
H. Candee, Senior Warden; W. B. Gilbert, 
Junior Warden; and M. F. Gilbert, D. J. 
Baker, E. L. Manager, Frank L. Galigher, 
John H. Janes and Charles Pink, Vestrymen. 

A Sunday school was established in 1863, 
and H. H. Candee was made Superintendent, 
a position that he has held continuously ever 
since and still holds, o£ itself a sufficient 
testimony that he is the right man in the 
right place. Among the earliest of the Sunday 
school teachers were W. H. Morris, Mrs. W. 
R. Smith, Miss Josie Taylor (Halliday), Miss 
Remington and Mrs. Elizabeth White. From 
the first to the present day, the school has 
been one of the flourishing and successful 
ones of the city. Among its first youthful 
scholars are now found some of its most val- 
ued teachers, and others have here imbibed 
in their young lives their first and deepest 
lessons in the simple and sublime story of 
the God- Man, and have gone out in the 
world bearing testimony to the faith that 
was in them. 

The Methodist Church. — Through the kind- 
ness and labors of Rev. J. A. Scarritt, pres- 
ent pastor, we were enabled to gather the 
following notes of the coming and building 



up of the church in this city. There were 
Methodists here as citizens as soon almost as 
there was anybody else. In the earliest set- 
tlement of the town, when three or four fam- 
ilies constituted all there were in the place, 
Rev. T. C. Lopas and H. C. Blackwell would 
occasionally visit the town and held regular 
services and preach to the little flock, liter- 
ally in the name of where " two or three are 
gathered together." Then Ephraham Joy, 
the Presiding Elder, made two visits here, and 
on a recent occasion on writing to Rev. Mr. 
Scarritt, he gives some of his long- time-ago 
impressions of Cairo, and some account of 
the early efforts of the church people. He 
says in substance: The Cairo Mission was 
traveled by Henry C. Blackwell, the circuit 
embracing Alexander County. Then Rev. 
Lopas was sent to take his place. There 
were only six or eight families or members 
of the church at this time in the place, and 
these were mostly of the transient population. 
The first quarterly meeting was appointed 
for Cairo, January 1 and 2, 1853, but Brother 
Lopas left there about a week before this 
and attended a quarterly meeting of the 
Thebes Mission, about fourteen miles south 
of Jonesboro. As soon as possible, I sup- 
plied Cairo with Rev. J. S. Armstrong, who 
remained about three months, and then it 
was left out for awhile. Efibrts were made 
to have Rev. Lopas visit it from his Thebes 
Mission, but failed. The scheme was then 
adopted to have the minister from the ad- 
joining work— Thebes or Pulaski or Caledo- 
nia — visit Cairo, but these efforts were like, 
the Elder says, trying to sit down on two 
chairs and slipping between them. The 
place was left deserted by the church for 
two years. The Elder in the meantime vis- 
ited Cairo twice, in April and in August. 
He traveled down the country in his buggy. 
The appearance of the place on his first 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



183 



visit he graphically describes. He says he 
carefully counted everything — houses and 
boats — in which human beings were living. 
His recollections are the boats and houses 
about equaled each other, and there wei'e but 
few of eithei', and some of the houses 
were the merest shanties — the boats mostly 
small craft tied to the shox'e, some in the 
water and some on dry land — some lying, 
just as the water left them, and others had, 
after a fashion, been propped up and were 
stranding tolerably level. He again says: 
Bishop Ames presided over our conference 
in 1852, and visited us at the conference at 
Mount Carmel. He told me that he passed 
Cairo on his way, and remarked, " I wonder 
what we sent a man thete for." The Mis- 
sion Committee at their next conference gave 
it as their opinion that one quarterly install- 
ment uf appropriation (for Cairo) should be 
refunded, and the Elder says: "I covered it 
into the treasury, although I felt that I 
much needed it." The two visits referred 
to above by the Elder were made during his 
first year. He again, in the fourth year of 
his office, visited it twice. He says that this 
time he came by the railroad. During 
that year it was connected with the Pulaski 
Mission for quarterly meeting purposes, and 
Pulaski embraced what had been Thebes and 
Caledonia Circuits. That year. Rev. Hughey 
spent most of the year traveling and solic- 
iting funds to erect a church in Cairo. He 
succeeded well in procuring funds, but could 
do but little in building up the congregation. 
Elder Joy had secured two lots for the 
church building, and these afterward were 
exchanged for those now occupied by the 
church by Rev. Hughey. The Elder again 
says: " I preached in Cairo diu'ing my visit 
in August, 1853. I do not remember where 
the preaching was — perhaps in some room in 
a hotel. In April, 1855, I was there and 



preached. The meeting was held in a school - 
house, back in the woods. I think this 
building has since been used as the African 
Methodist Episcopal Church. I think dur- 
ing the summer of 1855, O. Kellogg, then in 
the Jonesboro work, visited the place one or 
more "times, and I corresponded with Bishop 
Ames, proposing to connect it with Jones- 
boro. I thought the arrangement doubtful, 
as a circuit lay between. Bishop Ames con- 
sented to the work, but it was not effected." 
When the good old Elder comes to the effort 
to recall the early Methodist families, he 
quaintly says: " I cannot call up any of the 
names of the first members. There was the 
wife of a hotel keeper — a Pole or Spaniard 
or some kind of a foreigner— with an unpro- 
nounceable name. [This must have been 
old Rattlemueller. — -Ed.] They called him 
for convenience, Martin. [This was where 
Mark Twain got his idea when in Europe of 
calling each one of his guides Furgeson. — 
Ed.] The two or three families in Cairo 
were anxious for regular preaching and I as 
anxious to supply them. * * * On one 
of my visits, I stopped on a boat (hotel). 
The landlord was not a Methodist, but very 
clever to us. He told me of one G. who had 
been a Baptist, a Methodist and a Presbyte- 
rian, and who at one time proposed to be a 
preacher. He boarded a long time at this 
hotel, and the last the landlord saw of him, 
he was wending his way up the levee, carrying 
his bundle and said he was hunting a cheaper 
hotel. The jolly landlord laughed when he 
sfvid he did not know where he could find 
such, as he never paid him a cent." 

In a letter from Rev. R. H. Manier, we 
are permitted to extract the following his- 
orical facts: "I was stationed in Cairo in 
1856. Brother G. VV. Hughey was ray pred- 
ecessor. When I took charge, the church 
was inclosed and the roof on. The trustees 



184 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



were in debt, and the workmen wanting 
money. I spent the first Sabbath after con- 
ference in Cairo, and on Monday following 
struck out to raise money. From that time 
until the church was finished I was on the 
wing. It required $1,200 to pay what was 
due and finish the church, I had succeeded 
in raising about |800, when the church was 
completed and left only 1400 in debt, which 
we hoped to raise on the day of dedication, 
which was early in February, but postponed 
on account of small -pox breaking out in a 
boarding house on a corner opposite the 
church, until the latter pai't of March. Dr. 
Akers preached the dedication sermon — I 
cannot recall the text. * * * ^Ve had 
bad luck on the day of dedication. When 
Dr. A.kers had only fairly commenced his 
sermon, a strong March wind started down 
the flue, and the coal smoke poured out in 
the room and drove the people out, most of 
whom went home, and the Doctor finished his 
discourse to empty benches. The collection 
was an utter failure. I started out again 
and did not return until I had the money to 
pay off the debt. * * * The member- 
ship when I went there consisted, as I now 
remember, of S. S. Brooks and family, W. 
P. Trunnion and wife, Miss Emma Robert- 
son, Sister Martin, Dr. J. G. D. Pettijohn, 
Sister Finch and James Degear. " 

The pastors in charge and in the order of 
their ministering to the congregation in Cairo 
were as follows: First regular pastor, G. W. 
Hughcy, October 1, 1855; R. H. Manier, 
1856; J. A. Scarritt, 1857; Carlyle Babbitt, 
1858; G. W. Jenks, 1859; L. Hawkins, 1860; 
J. W. Lowe, 1861; (one year unknown); G. 
W. Hughey, 1863, and re-appointed; H. 
Sears, 1865; A. M. Bryson, 1866; John 
Van Cleve, 1867; C. Lothrop, 1868; F. M. 
Van Trees, 1869-70; F. L. Thompson, 1871 
-72; J. L. Waller, 1874-75; J. D. Gilham, 



1876; A. P. Morrison, 1877; W. F. Whit- 
taker, 1878-79 and 1880; J. A. Scarritt, 
1882, and is the present incumbent. 

jMr. Scarritt is a native of Madison County, 
111., born June 23, 1827. His parents, Na- 
than and Letty (Aulds) Scarritt, both of New 
England, came to Illinois in 1820, and re- 
sided in Madison County. There were ten 
children in the family, Mr. J. A. being the 
tenth child. He entered the ministry in 
1851, and since that time has belonged to the 
conference he joined. He married Harriet 
Meldrum; the issue of this marriage was 
three children, only one now living — Mrs. 
George Parsons, of Cairo. 

The Baptist Church was organized October 
26, 1880. Though this church has not yet 
completed the third year of its existence, the 
causes that led to and are connected with its 
institution date back several years. There 
being no records that are accessible, we can- 
not speak particulai'ly of the work previous 
to March, 1877. At the time named above,, 
the remnant of Baptists in the city was re- 
enforced by a few others who came to make 
this their home, and after a number of con- 
sultations to devise ways and means for tlie 
establishment of some organization that 
would be the means, of disseminating Baptist 
principles, it was finally determined that a 
Sunday school be organized as a nucleus 
or rallying point from which to direct other 
efforts when the time should be ripe for them. 
February 10, 1878, the first session of the 
Sunday school was held. Twenty persons 
were present — including all ages. Mr. 
George W. Strode was elected Superintendent, 
which office he has filled to the satisfaction of 
the school since that time. Mrs. Joseph W^. 
Stewart (since deceased) was chosen Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. IVIr. and Mrs. George 
W. Strode, Mr. C. B. S. Pennebaker, 
Mr. James W. Stewart, Mrs. O. N. Brain- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



185. 



ard and Miss A. Rogers were appointed 
teachers. Papers, necessary Sabbath school 
helps, and an organ were speedily pro- 
cured, and the growth of the school, 
though slow at first, was steady and con- 
stant, both in numbers and interest; dur- 
ing its second year, it received an important 
accession to its working force in the persons 
of Mrs. and Miss W. C. Augur, of Hartford, 
Conn., whose active labors are still enlisted 
in the interest of the church and school. 
While the Sunday school prospered, hav- 
ing reached during its third year an atten- 
dance of seventy-five to one hundred, the 
question of organizing a Baptist Church was 
often and anxiously considered, and October 
26, 1880, this long desired object was accom- 
plished. After a sermon by Rev. W. F. 
Kone, pastor at the First Baptist Church at 
Huntsville, Ala., a council consisting of Revs. 
W. F. Kone, of Huntsville, Ala., G. L. Tal- 
bert and A. J. Hess, of Columbus, Ky., was 
convened, and the church duly recognized 
according to the custom in such cases. The 
charter members comprised the following 
persons: George W. Strode and wife, Mrs. 
Mary P. Strode, C. B. S. Pennebaker, Isaac 
N. Smith and wife, Mrs. Louisa E. Smith, 
A. J. Alden and wife, Mrs. B. E. Alden, H. 
Leighton, Mrs. Sarah E. Parks, Mrs. M. J. 
Dewey, Mrs. Whittaker, Mrs. William Mor- 
ton, W. C. Augur and wife, Mrs. Julia C. 
Augur, Mrs. N. E. Coster and Mrs. Sarah 
S. Stickuey — sixteen in all. The new or- 
ganization assumed the name, Cairo Baptist 
Church. George W. Strode, who had been or- 
dained Deacon of the Columbus, Ky., church, 
was recognized to the same office in the new 
chiu'ch. C. B. S. Pennebaker was chosen 
Clerk, which office he still holds. A call was 
extended to Rev. A. J. Hess, which he ac- 
cepted, generously proposing to visit Cairo 
once each month and minister to the church 



without definite promise of compensation un- 
til arrangements could be made to secure 
that object. The upper room of " Temper- 
ance Hall " was rented as the regular place 
of meeting for the church and Sunday school. 

In November following the orgaiiization, 
Rev. W. F. Kone, who had been granted 
leave of absence by his church for that pur- 
pose, returned to Cairo and with the assist- 
ance of Revs. A. J. Hess, pastor, and G. L. 
Talbert, of Columbus, Ky., held a series of 
meetings with the church, which resulted in 
eight additions by letter and fourteen by 
baptism, a success that gave the new church 
a very encouraging start on its mission. 
About this time, the Baptist General Asso- 
ciation of the State came to the assistance of 
the church to the extent of securing the serv- 
ices of its pastor for one Sabbath each 
month, and a few months later the " Clear 
Creek Association" of Southern Illinois 
promised additional aid, which enabled the 
church to obtain the services of Rev. Mr. 
Hess for two Sabbaths each month, an ar- 
rangement which continued until January, 
1883. 

The greatest need was a house, and many 
plans were conceived and discussed, looking 
to the accomplishment of that object. Pend- 
ing these discussions, the church was visited 
by Rev. I. N. Hobart, Superintendent of 
Missions for the Baptist General Association 
of Illinois, whose kindly interest was then,, 
and has since been, successfully exerted in 
behalf of the work in Cairo. Through his 
recommendation, the church was afterward 
enabled to secure financial assistance, in the 
way of a loan — referred to in another part 
of this sketch— which aided it to place its 
property in very secure shape. Dr. Hobart' s 
successor, Rev. E. S. Graham, present Sup- 
erintendent of Missions, has also manifested 
much interest in the Cairo work, and has 



186 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



done much to enlist the sympathy and assist- 
ance of the local and general associations in 
its favor. 

Failing to secure desirable lots on which 
to erect a building, the church, through its 
Trustees, George W. Strode, Isaac N. Smith 
and C. B. S. Pennebaker, accepted the propo- 
sition of the Turner Society to sell their 
property, three lots, and a neat, well-built 
hall, comparatively new, 30x65 feet, with 
audience room 30x50 feet, and smaller rooms 
at end facing Poplar street. The price 
agreed upon was $2,500. At the time of the 
purchase, the church had less than $100 in 
its treasury, but with the contributions of its 
members, and the generous assistance of 
freinds, in the city and abroad, about $1,700 
was raised, which, with a loan from " The 
American Baptist Home Mission Society,'"' 
enabled the Trustees to pay for the property 
before the expiration of the thirty days al- 
lowed them by the Turners. During the first 
year, including the purchase of property and 
necessary changes and ' repairs, more than 
$3,000 were expended, leaving an indebted- 
ness of $1,300, about $300 of which has 
since been paid off, so that the present in- 
debtedness is about $1,000. 

The church was re -painted, outside and 
inside, new pews, pulpit, baptistry, dressing- 
rooms, etc., provided, and other improvements 
and furniture added, until their church 
home, though still wanting in some respects, 
is one of which the members feel justly 
proud, when they remember that so recently 
they were homeless. In September, 1881, 
Rev. W. F. Kone again visited Cairo, and 
assisted Rev. A. J. Hess, pastor, in a series of 
meetings, resulting in four additions by 
letter, and seventeen by baptism — thus in- 
creasing the membership to sixty-seven, 
a gain of forty-one during the year. In the 
following spring, the anxiety and apprehen- 



sion on account of the threatened overflow of 
the city, and the annoyance from the unusual 
accumulation of "sipe" water, had a depress- 
ing effect on the church and Sabbath school 
work, as well as of the material interests of 
many of those interested in it, several of 
whom removed from the city, so that until 
recently the membership of the church had 
not increased in the aggregate, the acces- 
sions and losses being about equal. At the 
close of the second year, the church invited 
Rev. A. J. Hess, who had faithfully preached 
for it twice each month since the organiza- 
tion, to become its pastor for the whole of 
his time, but as the aid promised by the as- 
sociation was not sufficient to assui-e an 
adequate salary from the church, while the 
church at Charleston, Mo., the home of Mr. 
Hess, was prepared to offer him full support, 
he was compelled to decline the ^invitation 
from Cairo. This left the Cairo church 
without a pastor from January to May, 1883, 
during which time it suffered the usual de- 
cline in interest under such circumstances, 
though all its social and business meetings 
and the Sunday school were promptly at- 
tended to by the members. During April, 
1883, Rev. A. W. McGaha, of the " Southern 
Baptist Theological Seminary," Louisville, 
Ky., was invited to take charge of the church 
as pastor, and accepted with the understand- 
ing that his labors should terminate with 
the commencement of the next session cf the 
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in 
the event that he should decide to return to 
that institution. Mr. McGaha commenced 
his labors with the church here the first Sab- 
bath in May, an«l in the short time that he 
has been in Cairo has exhibited a degree of 
earnestness and zeal that has gained the con- 
fidence and esteem of all with whom he comes 
in contact. Since the 16th of May, he has 
been engaged in a series of meetings with 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



189 



the churcli, in which he has had the assist- 
ance of the Purser brothers, Rev. D. J. and 
John F., evangelists, of Mississippi, the 
success of vy^hose labors in many other cities 
gave promise of a good work in Cairo, which 
has been realized. The meetings were held 
at the church every afternoon and evening, 
from the above date until Sunday evening, 
June 9, 1883 — nearly four weeks — resulting 
in thirty-six additions to the church; five by 
letter, twenty-seven by baptism, three under 
watch-care and one awaiting baptism, mak- 
ing the total membership at this time ninety- 
nine, and three under watch-care. The Sun- 
day school has a present average attendance 
of about one hundred and twenty, under the 
following officers and teachers: 

George W. Strode, Superintendent; C. B. 
S. Pennebaker, Assistant Superintendent; 
Arthur Lemen, Secretary; W. C. Augur, 
Treasurer. 

Teachers — Geoi'ge ^\. Strode, Mrs. Mary 
P. Strode, Mrs. W. C. Augui-, C. B. S. Pen- 
7iebaker, Mrs. Carrie S. Hudson (infant 
class), Mrs. M. A. Walker, Mrs. Eobert 
Baird, Mrs. Thomas Wilson, and the pastor's 
class for study of characters in the Old 
Testament, just oi-ganized. 

All the expenses of the church, including 
pastor's salary, are paid from a common fund, 
raised by subscription and voluntary con- 
tributions of the members. 

Though the membership of the church is, 
perhaps, weaker, financially, than any of the 
other leading societies in the city, the special 
efforts it has'put forth to build up and per- 
manently establish and secure the cause of 
the denomination in Cairo, have brought it 
prominently before the public, and done 
much to acquaint the people with Baptist 
faith and practices. 

Considering its growth in the past few 
years, its present condition and future pros- 



pects, it would seem that the Baptists have 
at last succeeded in establishing their cause 
in Cairo, with a reasonable assurance of per- 
manence and prosperity. 

The Schools. — In a preceding chapter, we 
have told of the incipient efforts in Cairo, 
commencing with Glass' first pay-school, 
and briefly traced them along in their suc- 
cession to the time that the State had pro- 
vided for free public schools, which auspi- 
cious event occurred in Cairo in the year 
1854. 

The throwing open the schoolroom doors, 
free to all the world of school age, should 
mark an era and prove an auspicious hour for 
mankind. The admonition, " put money in 
thy purse," has out-traveled the electricity, 
and long enough been the controlling, cen- 
tral idea of all races of men; and the public 
free school was the idea, at least, of that on- 
ward step to put knowledge in the head. 
The world's gains in wealth, and comforts, 
and leisure, are necessary first steps to real 
education, because this alone is that wonder- 
ful law or force that separates the toiler from 
the thinker, a line of distinction among most 
men not pleasant to contemplate, yet it is 
one of the inscrutable laws of God. Good 
men dream of ,that better time coming, of 
that equality among all, and the obliterating 
of all lines that may possibly distinguish all 
idea of classes. The foolish believe this not 
only possible, but that it is the "open 
sesame" to complete happiness. Mental and 
social equality are not desirable things, even 
were they possible of attainment. Look 
about you, and see if it is the order of nature 
to make things alike. You will see that the 
prefection of the whole is the universal 
variety, the endless dissimilarity, the infinite 
differences, the impossibility, in short, of 
any two things in all nature being exactly 
similar, that constitutes the oneness and 



1'JO 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



grandeur of the infiuite universe. But men 
dream of equality, of a brotherhood of maa- 
kind, when they idealize only a similarity, 
and this is the perfection for which they 
yearn. 

The children are the child's school teacher; 
the young people educate each other, and 
they all have social joys in the communion of 
thoughts ripened by observation and experi- 
ments. This is the order of nature, and it 
never has, nor never will be, changed. For 
over seventeen hundred years, the pietistic 
schools have been earnestly engaged in edu- 
cating the ever-rising generations — sowing 
the seeds of knowledge in the young minds 
that were to blossom and bear fruit for that 
fabled Golden Age that has never come — a 
Utopia of which we may dream sweet day- 
dreams, but never taste. A boy goes to col- 
lege, or the academy, and through the cur- 
riculum, graduates with high honors, and 
sometimes spend the remainder of their lives 
rendering praise to their Alma Mater, and 
die in the sincere faith that it was the vener- 
able President and Professors who educated 
them. This innocent mistake comes from the 
oversight that it was his Professor that 
trained him only, while it was his associates 
nearly always, good books, outside of his 
school, text books, sometimes, that had done 
the real work of education. In other words, 
the old train the young, while the real edu- 
cation of the young is in the social life, the 
intimate and friendly associations of the 
young with their equals in age — the contact 
of minds with minds, where a nearly com- 
plete confidence and congeniality exists. The 
venerable grandsires, in their great interest 
and eager love, deliver their maturest 
thoughts in epigrams, and "wise saws" to 
the loved hiunan kittens, who are, apparently, 
all respectful attention, but who are eager for 
that romp and play with their playmates, and 



this again teaches old age a lesson it will not 
learn, that it is in the merry shout and rip- 
pling laughter of merry childhood that 
brings that happy Commission of budding 
souls of which comes healthy minds and edu- 
cated intellects. 

Among the oldest schools in history was 
that of Epicurus, in Athens, and that of the 
sweet and lovely girl of Alexandria, Hypatia. 
The school of Epicurus was a social club, 
that wandered, and lounged, and conversed 
in the winding walks and grateful shades of 
the gardens: and the gifted and beautiful 
girl. Hypatia, from the porches of Alexan- 
dria discussed those great and unanswered 
questions. "Who am 1'^ Where am I? 
Whither am I going?" 

This remarkable girl was torn in pieces by 
a fanatic mob, for discussing these great 
and, so far, insoluble questions; it is to be 
hoped that in this nineteenth century blaze 
of liberty of discussion, we may not be sim- 
ilarly served for asking similar qu.estions, but 
concerning the less vital interests of the 
soul, but the yet greatest of all temporal 
ones, that of education: W^here is it? What 
is it? W^here can it be obtained? 

To answer the first of the above questions 
intelligently, it is essential first to fully un- 
derstand the second one — Education, W^hat 
is it? All talk about it, and it runs glibly 
over the tongue of the youngest and oldest, 
the learned and the unlearned, and nine- 
tenths of all civilized peoples would stare at 
you, were you in seriousness to ask them the 
question. The dictionaries all define the 
word, and everybody fully understands it, 
yet. What is education? The writer remem- 
bers hearing the simple question asked of a 
Teachers' Institute, and most painfully does 
he recollect that they did not and could not 
tell, although there were professors there 
who were supposed to be eminent in the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



191 



ranks of educators. Educators, and not 
know what education is! it's something of a 
travesty. Had this institute been composed 
of very ignorant men, not only ignorant but 
uncultured, each member could have an- 
swered the question in a moment, and showed 
supreme contempt for the poor fool that 
would ask such a question. For more than 
seventeen hundred years, the present systems 
or ideas have prevailed in the school room. 
We do not mean that the same things are 
taught now that were in the olden time, but 
that the present system, the cardinal ideas 
all through it, are based upon the first 
schools founded in Egypt so many centuries 
ago, and that at their foundation were one of 
the greatest advances of civilization. The 
first schools were solely for the purpose of 
memorizing the 'precepts and philosophies of 
the fathers, in whose sayings were all wis- 
dom and all good; in short, it was then a 
process of committing to memory and it is 
exactly this now. The manner and forms 
have all undergone wonderful changes, but 
the substance, as found in the school room of 
to-day, and those of the long ages ago, are 
identical. The earliest educators supposed 
that training the mind was education, and 
that, therefore, a training-room was a school; 
whereas it is a fact you may commit, were 
this a possibility, every book, manuscript and 
tradition in the world to memory, and still 
you may not be at all educated. Could you 
retain them all after they were memorized, 
you would have a wonderful storehovise — 
mostly trash and rubbish — yet what an inex- 
haustible supply of facts, and many of the 
greatest thoughts from the busiest and best 
brains. Could you separate the wheac from 
the chaff in this storehouse, and make a prac- 
tical, every-day use of it all, you might be 
the best informed man in the world, and still 
not educated. But few men, owing to the 



general vagueness of their ideas, can draw 
any distinction between training and educa- 
tion, and hence it is that so few in the world 
ever give a thought to the subject of what 
real education is. This is an inexhaustible 
theme, aud we do not purpose to do more 
than to look briefly upon its most outward 
boundaries, in the hope that a hint may be 
dropped that will attract the attention of 
some mind that will push the investigation 
to its final issue. 

What is education ? It is getting knowledge. 
And what is knowledge? It is the under- 
standing of the mental and physical laws. 
To yet broaden, and simplify the definition 
— to understand the natural laws. We 
mean the laws that govern mind and matter. 

These terms and definitions must not be 
confounded in the mind of the reader, or our 
words will be worse than in vain. To most 
people it looks like a' very simple, if not con- 
tfimptible, proposition to talk about under- 
standing the natural laws — laws that govern 
mind and matter. Yet this once accom- 
plished, and you are possessed of the knowl- 
edge of Omniscience, the wisdom of the true 
God. Knowledge, therefore, is not the 
ability to read Latin, Greek and Hebrew, or 
to solve all the problems in mathematics, or 
to talk glibly, and give in detail other men's 
thoughts. In fact, the fundamental idea of 
the college and university is such, that the 
most learned man may be truly the most ig- 
norant. We do not say that of necessity it 
is so, but that such a case is possible. 
Learning and knowledge — when learning 
means memorizing — have so little in com- 
mon, that it is simply amazing that, for such 
a long reach of time, they could have been 
confounded as being synonymous terms. To 
think intelligently upon this subject, the dis- 
tinctions between a training-school and a 
school for educational purposes, it must be 



192 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



borne in mind, are vastly different things. 
And that parent only is competent to super- 
intend the education of the child, who clear- 
ly comprehends what education is. 

But we are told, from age to age, that the 
school is not created for the purpose of im- 
parting knowledge to the child, but to de- 
velop and ^strengthen the mind and show it 
how to grow strong; to put the instruments 
within its reach, and in after life it may use 
them at will; to be a mental gymnasium, 
and to criss-cross the mental limbs, so to 
speak, with great rolls of muscles of strength, 
as are the athlete's arms and limbs developed 
in the physical gymnasium. Well, let us 
glance at this a moment. Does your child 
need be shown how to grow into physical 
strength and beauty? Were not those 
fathers fools who supposed they could put 
their children in strait- jackets, to form 
them on a plan better than the strong im- 
pulses of their nature? If exercise in the 
way of tasks — and we know of no system of 
labor in the world where tasks universal pre- 
vails as in the school room — if this is the way 
to develop the physical, why should a child 
ever be allowed to play, but make it work. 
The most ignorant 'parents well understand 
that the very young child put to work is de- 
formed in its growth, and often killed. And 
yet the healthy young child is a perfect cub- 
bear. It looks incredible how long their lit- 
tle bodies can endure the apparently most 
fatiguing plays. Let the grown man at- 
tempt, for a few hours, to follow a romping 
boy, and make as many steps, and subject his 
body to all the trials of strength and strains 
the boy does, and he would fall by the way 
exhausted. Yet reverse it, and let the boy 
attfempt the steady, tiresome labor of the 
man, and how soon would he fall and expire. 
Watch a half-dozen children, from the wee 
toddler to the nearly grown, romping, scream- 



ing, shouting their unaccountable delight in 
their furious plays, and then reflect for but 
a moment, and you will realize that they are 
only growing, developing in the natural, 
only way they can be developed into strong, 
brave men and queenly, beautiful women. 
Do you imagine you could build a room, and 
hire a teacher, and crowd them in there and 
teach them how to develop their physical 
systems? True, you know but little about 
their physical systems, and may well excuse 
yourself on that ground but then you know 
absolutely nothing about their mental sys- 
tem. And yet you proceed about the rigid 
control, and mastery and direction of the 
mind, as though you possessed more than 
Omniscient wisdom on this one point. To 
look upon the young babe in its mother's 
arms, is to love at once the blessed little 
bundle of squirming, idiotic innocence and 
angelic purity, for " of such is the (kingdom 
of heaven," and yet it is to shudder for the 
possibilities of broken parental hearts, and 
the unspeakable woe that may yet come of 
that innocence and purity, through mistaken 
ignorance in its training and education. We 
are not extravagant, then, when we say that 
the training and education of the coming 
generations is the one great, transcendent 
subject of life. To be mistaken here is to 
risk more than your own life, and the life 
and happiness of all you hold dear on this 
earth. 

The proposition is to us self-evident that 
the infant mind can no more be developed 
into health and strength by work than can 
the body. Either mental or physical work, 
to the young and tender, is the highway to 
imbecility and deformity. Let the child 
play — watching over and so directing it, 
without its knowledge of your doing so, as 
to protect and keep it from absolutely injur- 
ing itself by thoughtless exposures and in- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



193 



discreet taxings, and yoxi may laugh at the 
doctor and his nostrums! and his bills to save 
the lives of youi' children. And if you have 
ever spent a day with a child, you will know 
that it wants to take its exercise in the open 
air, not in the well- warmed schoolroom or 
nursery. Every instinct and impulse of the 
child as naturally leads it to its mental as to 
its bodily development. But one is as much 
a play with it as the other. Its young mind 
is as active as its precious little body. It 
will ask questions until the father or mother 
will impatiently beg it to stop or it will kill 
them. Is not this the identical result, when 
a grown person commences to play with a 
child? The adult will tire in a few moments, 
and beg to be let alone, when the child feels 
it has hardly commenced. It is ordered by 
authority, to " be still." Watch the cloud 
pass over its bright face as it breathes softly 
and tries to obey, Avhen it can no more con- 
trol its impulsive yielding to that higher law 
than it can stop breathing, and then it turns 
to its real schoolmaster, its equal and play- 
mate, and, stealing away from the angry face, 
they resume the work of physical and mental 
growth. 

We hold this to be true, and we speak from 
experience, that you may commence teaching 
your child as soon as it can prattle, always 
as play and never as a task, and by the time 
it can talkf plain, you can have it to both 
read and write and spell correctly the name 
of nearly every one of its playthings and the 
articles of furniture about the house. We do 
not attach any value to this very young play- 
education, yet, if it is play that it enjoys 
with the keen zest of infancy, it will not 
probably hurt it. This can be done with 
any ordinarily bright child, and yet foolish 
fathers and mothers will tell you they are 
always too busy to teach their children any- 
thing at home. It is not that they are too 



busy, but only too ignorant. They are, may- 
hap, both graduates of some institution of 
learning, and yet so ignorant that they will 
undertake to rear a family, when incompe- 
tent, really, for the position of caring for 
blind puppies. 

We champion the cause of outraged inno- 
cence and blessed childhood. We would war 
to the death upon that monster, ignorance, 
whether " learned ignorance " or that more 
excusable, inherited and common, if not uni- 
versal, kind. We would enact it a capital 
crime to task a child. It is simply the most 
inexcusable and infernal species of slavery. 
It is soul-polluting, and enslaving and de- 
grading your own flesh and blood, and where 
such a wretched practice prevails, it is mar- 
velous that mankind does not relapse into 
brvital barbarism. We know of but one 
thing meaner, more degrading or infamous, 
and that is whipping ,your child. In the 
schools — we blush for the age of which this 
must be written — they call it "corporal -pun- 
ishment," and flatter themselves that that 
great compound word can cover the blotch 
and deep damnation of the monster act. 

But we stop abruptly in this line of 
thought, appalled at the immensity of the 
subject, as it grows in the succession of ideas 
as they follow each other. Assuming, as we 
may, that the most important subject in this 
life is the education of the young, we might 
be justified in disregarding all else, and fol- 
lowing these merest hints to their final and 
inevitable conclusions, and elaborating them, 
at least, in a manner that might make plain 
to the comprehension of all the views of 
the writer. To convince intelligent thinkers 
that this important institution deserves to be 
ever examined and watched, and that it is a 
foolish people who sit supinely down in the 
faith that the fathers possessed all wisdom, 
and had so arranged our schoolrooms, that 



194 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



any further questioBing of the system is a 
folly, if not a crime. In heaven's name, 
No! We would not write the schools down, 
but up. We would coiTect the wrongs, if 
any, and improve and perfect the good. And, 
above all, if we have not real schools of true 
education, we would never stop until we had 
made them such, if this were possible. 

The first public free school was commenced 
in 1854, in the present Eleventh Street 
Schoolhouse. This was a plain, one-story, 
one- room, frame building, and one teacher, 
and meager as were these school facilities 
they supplied the demand of that day, and 
continued to do so until 1865. In 1 864, the 
three-story brick building on the corner of 
Thirteenth and Walnut streets was erected. 
It has five rooms, two on each floor, except 
the third, which is in one room. The colored 
schoolhouse (responsive to the negroes' sen- 
sitiveness on the pigment points) was erected. 
This is a two-story frame, with four rooms, 
and is situated on the corner of Nineteenth 
and Walnut streets. Then was erected the 
present elegant high school building, on the 
corner of Walnut and Twenty-first streets. 
This is a three-story brick, and has five 
rooms. The School Board has rented a 
schoolroom for the past two years. This is 
across the street from the high school. The 
past school year, the board has employed 
seventeen teachers; there were 1,100 pupils; 
the highest salary was $1,200 a year, and the 
lowest $30 per month. The niimber of chil- 
dren, of ages under twenty -one, is, males, 
2, 036, females, 2,024; the number of school age 
is, males, 1,394, females, 1,447; total, 2,841. 
The assessment for school purposes, the present 
and past few years, has been $10,000. There 
has for some time been but one male teacher in 
the white schools — the Superintendent — and 
one male in the negro schools. For some 
time, the seating capacity in the school r^oms 



and the supply of children have been out of 
all proportion, and the result is that the 
primary rooms were so overrun that the 
board was compelled to allow only half-days' 
attendance, and we make no doubt but this 
necessity will result in the discovery that 
half a day is a plenty for the little children to 
be mewed up in the schoolroom. 

The newspapers of the country, of a few 
months ago, were laden with dispatches from 
Cairo, giving the full details of what were 
called the negro raids upon the public 
schools. It seems they were not satisfied to 
be alone in their own schoolrooms, and so 
they counseled together, and, by concert of 
action, met at their 'churches and school- 
rooms, and in bodies marched upon the white 
schools. Their principal point of attack 
seemed to be the high school building. The 
motly processions were headed by the most 
venerable old grayheaded bucks and wenches, 
and tapered down to the most infantile, un- 
washed, bow-legged picaninuies; and they 
all said, " I rocken we'uns wants to gradiate 
as well as white trash." It all resulted in 
nothing more serious than a great annoyance 
and interruption to the schools. Some of the 
brave girls that were teaching saw the savory 
mob approaching, and barred the doors and 
kept them out; while in other rooms they 
efi;ected a lodgment, and proposed to stay. 
The writer had the curiosity to interview the 
Tax Collector of this school district, and 
was informed that the whole tax paid by the 
negroes was not enough to pay for the fuel 
used in the negro schools. But these young 
Solomons of Africa probably would have paid 
small heed to that, had it been presented to 
them. 

Loretto Academy. — This is a female con- 
vent school, under the auspices of the Sis- 
ters of Loretto. It was founded in 1863, 
under the superintendency of Mother Eliza- 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



195 



beth Hayden, a sister of Bishop Spaulding, 
of Kentucky. It cost over S8,000, and when 
the frame was up, and ready for inciosure, 
it was wrecked by a storm. It was again put 
up, and soon was one of the most llom-ishiag 
female academies in the country. Four 
years ago, the entire building was burned to 
the grovind, inflicting a great loss, as well as 
an interruption to the school. It was soon 
rebuilt, and in the rebuilding it was enlarged 
and greatly improved, and has now fully re- 
gained its lost ground. This institution of 
learning has been much prized by the people 
of Cairo, and many of the daughters of some 
of the best people have been educated there. 
Frei Deutsch Schide. — This has long been 
one of the noted schools of Cairo. To a Grer- 
man, the name is quite enough explanation 



as to what it is: a free school, for the pur- 
pose of teaching German, and without re- 
ligious bias. Their building is on Four- 
teenth, between ^Yashington and Walnut 
streets. They have about seventy-five 
pupils, and the institution is maintained 
wholly by private subscription. This free 
school was opened in 1863; its founders and 
principal supporters were F. Bross, H. 
Meyers, P. G. Schuh, Ed Buder, Charles 
Feuchter, Peter Each, John Reese, Peter 
Neflf, Leo Klepp, Charles Meyner, John 
Scheel and Jacob Banning. The house cost 
$4,500. and among the largest contributors 
to build it were A. B. Safford and Will- 
iam Schutter. The principal teachers have 
been Mr. Apple, Wirsching, Kroeger, and 
assistant, Miss Yocum. 



CHAPTER X, 



RAILKOADS— THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL— CAIRO SHORT LINE— THE IRON MOUNTAIN— CAIRu & ST. 

LOUIS— THE WABASH— MOBILE & OHIO— TEXAS & ST. LOUIS— THE GREAT JACKSON 

ROUTE— ROADS BEING BUILT, ETC., ETC. 



"Mine eyes, that I might question my con- 
ductor." — Longfellow. 

IN the opening chapter of the history of 
Cairo, we noted that the event of trans- 
cendent importance, not ouly to Cairo but 
the entire Mississippi Valley, was the coming 
of the first steamboat — the first that ever 
stirred the waters west of the Alleghany 
Mountains, being the Orleans, Capt. Roose- 
velt, which, passing down the Ohio, rode 
cut into the Mississippi River on the 18th 
day of December, 1811. Compared with the 
floating palaces that have since plowed these 
rivers, it was but a rude craft — yet it was a 
steamboat — a true type of an immortal hu- 



man conception, that was freighted and bal- 
lasted with the weal of civilization. 

The railroad is but the steamer running on 
dry land. But far-seeing minds looked at 
the steamboat as it stemmed the cui'rent and 
the winds with its enormous loads of mer- 
chandise, and they thought that wheels could 
be made to take the place of the paddles, 
and thus the propelling engine would carry 
the same precious cargoes over valley and 
plain, hills and mountains that it did on the 
water. The great invention of Fulton's had 
cast its seed in other men's minds and then 
the thought goes on forever; starting like 
the little rivulet over the white sand and 



196 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



gravel, so insignificant at first that a straw 
would turn or obstruct its course, yet passing 
on and on, and gathering accessions and vol- 
ume here and there until it swells into the 
great and resistless river, bearing upon its 
heaving bosom the Armada of the world as 
in majesty it rushes into the grea< sea that 
rolls around all the world. Just so is a great 
thought matured, fashioned and grown; it is 
the slow growth of ages, perhaps, as it has 
gathered accretions from millions of minds. 

It comes not springing forth a full grown 
Phoenix fro.n the ashes, but in the nature of 
things, the greater the conception the slower 
has been its formation ; but once the seed has 
commenced to germinate, and the warm fruc- 
tifying rays from the mind of genius have 
touched it into life, nothing can prevent or 
check its progress, and it will mature and 
bear fruit for the human race and for all 
time. What a travesty upon men are all 
the Napoleons, Caesars, Alexanders, and all 
the warriors, rulers and potentates of the 
earth, when stood up beside the serene, the 
great Fulton! They are the toads and bats 
and vampires — sucking rivers of blood, and 
see them picking the shreds of human flesh 
from their bloody talons, wiping their beaks 
of the fresh stains of quivering hearts, and 
behold them blink and shrink back in the 
presence of the bright day and sunshine cast 
from the peaceful and benign countenances 
of these great men who have lived and 
thought and starved and died for the good 
of their fellow -men. 

When the thoughts of genius burst into 
blossom, they till the world with hope like the 
spring time, and of this ripened fruit come 
those grand advances of civilization that 
alone distinguish us from the beasts of bur- 
den and prey. A human invention that 
started away back in the past ages, by whom 
the world will never know generally, has 



slowly grown and ripened as minds have ad- 
ded to it in the years, until it becomes per- 
fected into a living force, is the supremest 
production of the earth. It surpasses that 
" perfect creature, man," as the gods do the 
groundlings. These slow- growing and per- 
fected thoughts come rarely and slowly into 
this world, but they are the only true mark 
and measure of our civilization. And there- 
fore, could their history be truly given, with 
something of each great mind that played its 
rays of light upon the subject, and the work- 
ing impulses of that mind, they would be the 
most interesting, profound and edifying 
words that were ever placed upon paper. 
This, indeed, would be history — history 
containing philosophy, science, civilization — 
all knowledge, all good, all endiu'ing pleas- 
ure possible to man. It is present in its im- 
measiu'eable effects always, while its causes 
are in the " deep bosom of the ocean buried;" 
and it is the ignorance and unweeded barbar- 
ism yet lingering in mankind that works this 
injustice to its true benefactors and great 
men, and that has crowned with laurel 
wreaths the butchers and the shams, and 
that has told the story of the world's bloody 
sacrifices to mean ambition in immortal epic, 
and consigned to forgetf ulness the works of 
genius that are the very sunlight of the 
crowning type of civilization. 

There is no one thing in the history of Cairo, 
or for that matter, the entire State of Illinois, 
that exceeds in importance the building of 
the Illinois Central Railroad. The idea of 
a railroad running from this point to the 
north line of the State began to be enter- 
tained by a few far-seeing minds almost sim- 
ultaneously with the first settlement of the 
place. 

The Lee:islature elected Aucrust, 1836, was 
supplemented by a State Internal Improve- 
ment Convention, composed of many of the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



197 



ablest men in the State, which was to meet at 
the seat of government simultaneously with 
the Legislature. This convention devised a 
general system of internal improvement, the 
leading characteristics of which were " that 
it should be commensurate with the wants of 
the people." This convention was an irre- 
sponsible body, determined to succeed in its 
one object, regardless of consequences. 
Possibilities were argued into probabilities, 
and the latter into infallibilities. The Leg- 
islature was duly impressed with the public 
sentiment that had been worked up. 

A bill for the construction of nine rail- 
roads, including $3,500,000 for the Central 
Kailroad from the mouth of the Ohio to Ga- 
lena, was the largest of these enterprises, 
and the importance of reaching the naviga- 
ble rivers at Cairo is well outlined by the 
concluding paragraph of the committee's re- 
port, which was submitted to the Legislature. 
It says: "In the present situation of the 
country, the products of the interior, by rea- 
son of their remoteness from market, are 
left upon the hands of the producer or sold 
barely at the price of the labor necessary to 
raise and prepare them for sale. But if the 
contemplated system should be carried into 
effect, these fertile and healthy districts, 
which now languish for the want of ready 
markets for their productions, would find a 
demand at home for them during the prog- 
ress of the works, and after their completion 
would have the advantages of a cheap tran- 
sit to a choice of markets on the various nav- 
igable streams. These would inevitably 
tend to build towns and cities along the 
routes and at the terminal points of the re- 
spective railroads." 

The theory of the effect upon the State 
that would come from the building of rail- 
roads were not dreams, even if their ideas 
as to how this consummation was to be 



brought about was a huge and almost fatal 
blunder. 

The improvement convention mapped out 
nine railroads, as mentioned, and the Legisla- 
ture not only responded fully to their com- 
mands, but proceeded to show that its mem- 
bers had ideas, too, in regard to the State tak- 
ing hold of this beautiful Aladdin's Lamp. 
After making all the appropriations called 
for, it proceeded to hunt out the small 
streams, forsooth, often the wet- weather riv- 
ulets, and appropriate money by the thou- 
sands to make them navigable rivers, or to 
improve them by locks and dams. Because 
there was no money in the treasury, they de- 
termined to spend money with the most per- 
fect abandon. This was reckless legislation 
— shocking financiering, but it showed great 
energy and industry, and ending in the ap- 
parent total destruction of the very objects 
and purposes it had in view. The Central 
Railroad was scotched, not killed, and soon 
new schemes for its construction came in 
view; but all of them lacked vitality until the 
passage of the act of Congress of September, 
1850, granting to the State the munificent 
donation of nearly 3,000,000 acres of land 
through the heart of Illinois in aid of its 
completion. The year 1850 was truly a his- 
torical one for the nation. That year wit- 
nessed the throes and convulsive tremors at- 
tending the gx'eat adjustment measui-es, dur- 
ing that long and exciting session of Con- 
gress. And amid the exciting struggle for 
national life the bill which finally created 
the Illinois Central Railroad passed, and, in 
the We&t, gave the people's mind some di- 
version from the all absorbing national topics. 
At that time the entire railroad in Illinois 
consisted of the Northern Cross Railroad 
from Meredosia and Naples on the Illinois 
River, to Springfield; the Chicago & Galena, 
from the former citv as far as Elgin, and a 



198 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



six- mile track across the American buttom 
from opposite St. Louis to the mines in the 
bluffs. The essence of the Congressional 
act consisted in granting, not to the road, but 
to the State of Illinois, the public lands to 
the extent of the even-numbered sections for 
the distance of six sections deep on each side 
of the track, including the contemplated 
trunk and branches of the road from Cairo 
to Galena, with a branch to Chicago; for 
the lands sold or pre-empted within this des- 
ignated twelve- mile strip, enough might be 
taken from even-numbered sections for the 
distance of fifteen miles on either side of 
the tracks to be equal in quantity to them. 
The act granted to the railroad the right of 
wa}- through public lands of the width of 200 
feet. The construction of the road was 
to be simultaneously commenced at its north- 
ern and southern termini, and when com- 
pleted the branches were to be constructed, 
the whole to be completed within ten years, 
in default of which, the unsold lands were 
to revert to the Government, and for those 
sold the State was to pay the Government 
price. The minimum price of the alternate 
or odd numbers was raised from $1.25 to 
$2. 50 per acre. Here were 3,000,000 acres 
of land given away at an immense profit, as 
by this doubling the price of the I'emaining 
half, the gain in time in the sales and the 
increase of population of the State are beyond 
computation. The land was taken out of 
market for two years, and when restored in 
the fall of 1852, it in fact brought an aver- 
age of $5 per acre. The purposes of Con- 
gress in donating this land to the State was 
the construction of the railroad, and that 
the State should use it only for that purpose, 
and the Government required the State to 
make the road siibject always to remain a 
public highway for the use of the Govern- 
ment of the United States, free from all tolls 



or other charges for the transportation of 
any troops, munitions, or other property of the 
General Government. This is a plain pro- 
vision in the Congressional act, and yet when 
the war came, almost upon the completion of 
the road, this restriction was construed not 
to apply to the rolling stock, but only to the 
rails, and, therefore, it only gave the Govern- 
ment the right to put its own rolling stock 
and run them over the road free, otherwise 
it had to pay as well as any private 
citizen. The act of Congress contemplated 
the extension of the road south from Cairo 
to Mobile, and the same provisions were ex- 
tended to the States of Alabama and Missis- 
sipi^i. This was the substance of the first 
subsidy ever made by Congress to aid in the 
construction of a railroad, and wise, just and 
good as was the measure, it opened a Pan- 
dora's box that has well nigh despoiled the 
country of its public domain. 

At the same session, Congress passed an 
act granting to the State of Ai-kansas the 
swamp and overflowed lands unfit for culti- 
vation and remaining unsold within i ts borders, 
the benefits whereof were extended by Sec- 
tion 4, to each of the other States in which 
there might be such lands situated. By 
this act the State of Illinois received 1,500,- 
000 acres more. These lands were subse- 
quently turned over to the respective counties 
where located, with the condition that they 
be drained and used for school purposes. 

Mr. Douglas prepared a petition, signed 
by the Congressional delegations of all the 
States along the route of the road from Mo- 
bile north, describing the probable location 
of the road and its branches through Illinois 
and requesting the President to order the 
suspension of land sales along the lines des- 
ignated, which was immediately done. 

The Legislature oi Illinois was to meet in 
January, 1851, and the whole people of the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



199 



State, but especially those along the contem- 
plated line and branches, began to discuss 
the probabilities of what that body would do 
and what it of right should do. The point 
of departure of the branch from the main 
line was an open one, and rival towns began 
to piish forward their claims, and much dis- 
cussion and contention pervaded the press of 
the State. The La Salle interests wanted 
the branch for Chicago taken off at that 
point; Bloomington was making a vigorous 
struggle in the same way, and unfortunate 
Shelbyville, which was a fixed point in the 
old charters, feeling secure on that point, 
also grasped for the branch deflection from 
that point, and in the end missed both the 
main line and branch. The route proposed 
was a direct line from Cairo, making di- 
rectly to Mount Vernon and making the sep- 
aration at that point, and from Mount Y-^r- 
non the main line to run to Carlyle, Green- 
ville, Hillsboro, Springfield, Peoria, Galena 
and over to Dubuque. But by this route the 
belt of vacant land would have failed to give 
the required donation, and hence the author- 
ities of the road would not adopt it. 

In a previous chapter we have spoken at 
some length of several charters obtained 
under the name of the Illinois Central, and 
the Great AVestern Transportation Company 
and the Cairo City & Canal Company, all 
looking to the- building or securing the rail- 
road as it is now constructed substantially. 
All this multifarious legislation was obtained 
under what is now known as the Holbrook 
regime, and the many charters, amendments, 
repeals and re-enactments affecting this sub- 
ject came to be known as the Holbrook char- 
ters. Holbrook was the chief factotum of 
the Cairo Company, and eventually under 
the name of a charter for the Great Western 
Company he secured for the Cairo City 
Company the franchise of the Illinois Cen- 



tral Railroad. And in the charter it was 
provided that " all lands that may come into 
the possession of said company, whether by 
donation or purchase," were pledged and 
mortgaged in advance in security for the 
payment of the bonds and obligations of the 
company authorized to be issued and con- 
tracted under the provisions of the charter. 
By act of March 3, 1845, the charter of the 
Great Western Railway Company was re- 
pealed; by an act of February 10, 1849, it was 
revived for the benefit of the Cairo City & 
Canal Company. The company thus revived 
was authorized in the construction of the Cen- 
tral Railroad to extend it on from the southern 
terminus of the canal — La Salle — to Chicago, 
" in strict conformity to all obligations, re- 
strictions, powers and privileges of the act 
of 1843.'"' Holbrook's railroad scheme then 
gently took the Governor into a quiet partner- 
ship, to the extent of authorizing that official 
to hold in trust for the use and benefit of said 
company whatever lands might be donated to 
the State by the General Government, to aid 
said road, subject to the conditions and pro- 
visions of the bill (then pending before Con- 
gress and expected to become a law) grant- 
ing the subsidy of 3,000.000 acres of land. 
This was a nice scheme to have the grabbing 
all done in advance. In the light of the lonij 
years that are past, there can now be but 
one construction put upon the " Holbrook 
charters." They were not honest, and char- 
ity alone may protect the Legislatm*e from 
an equally severe judgment by saying they 
were ignorant. Holbrook in some unaccount- 
able way had impressed even such men as 
Judge Breese and Gov. Casey that he 
was a great and pure financier, and they were 
ready to confess they could see no signs of a 
cat in the meal tub. The Legislatui'e 
seemed to delight in dancing attendance 
upon his slightest wishes, and so far as in 



200 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



their power, they seemed ready to lay the 
State at his feet. But most fortunately for 
Illinois, Judge Douglas was alive and at this 
time a United States Senator from Illinois, 
and he could not be hoodwinked by the 
plausible schemes against the vital interests 
of his State. During the session of the Illi- 
nois Legislature of 1849, he appeared be- 
fore that body (a special session) and in an 
able and effective speech, which he delivered 
October 23, he showed the Legislature that 
a palpable fraud had been practiced upon it 
in its session of the preceding winter in pro- 
curing from it this charter; and that had the 
bill in Congress met with no delay on ac- 
count of this fraud, this vast property would 
have gone into the hands of Holbrook & Co. 
to enrich those scheming corporators, with 
little assurance, as they represented no 
wealth, and gave no assurances that the 
road would ever be built; that Con- 
gress had an insuperable objection to 
making the grant for the benefit of a pri- 
vate corporation. The connection of these 
Holbrook companies with the Central Rail- 
road in the estimation of Congress, presented 
an impassable barrier to the gi'ant. But the 
same Legislature that had granted the char- 
ter refused to repeal it even after it had been 
thus exposed by Judge Douglas. Thus mat- 
ters stood and the schemers supposed their 
triumph complete until the fact finally was 
brought to their attention that Judge Doug- 
las would never permit Congress to pass the 
bill in any shape whereby the Holbrooks 
could reap all the benefits. Judge Douglas 
simply said he preferred the bill should 
never pass than that the State and the Gov- 
ernment should be robbed, and then no cer- 
tainty the road would ever be built. This 
was unexpected difficulties for the schemers, 
and Holbmok's genius at once set about the 
way of getting np a plausible dodge to 



bridge the trouble. It was ascertained that 
Mr. Douglas insisted as a condition prece- 
dent that Holbrook & Co. should release to 
the State not only their charter, but all 
claims to the benefits of the Congressional 
enactment. On December 15, 1849, Mr. 
Holbrook, as President of the company, exe- 
cuted a protest of release to the Governor, a 
duplicate of which was transmitted to Mr. 
Douglas at Washington. But the Senator 
declined to accept this as a document of any 
value or binding force upon the company of 
which Holbrook was President, as it was 
without the sanction of the stockholders or 
even the board of directors. While he did 
not impute any such motive, the company, 
he believed, was still in the condition which 
would enable it to take all the lands granted, 
divide them among its stockholders and re- 
tain its chartered privileges without build- 
ingthe road. He was unwilling to give his 
approval to any arrangement by which the 
State could be deprived possibly of any of 
the benefits resulting from the expected 
grant. For the protection of the State and 
as an assurance to Congress, the execution 
of a full and complete lease of all rights and 
privileges and a surrender of the Holbrook 
charters and all acts, or pai'cels of acts, sup- 
plemented or amendatory thereof, or relating 
in anywise to the Central Railroad, so as to 
leave the State, through its Legislature, free 
to make such disposition of the lands and 
such arrangement for the construction of the 
road as might be deemed best, was de- 
manded. 

Judge Douglas' requirements were finally 
fully complied with, but only after the eftbrt 
had been made to get him to accept an in- 
sufficient release and one that, no doubt, 
had he accepted, would have resulted in again 
bankrupting the State, and perhaps indefinite- 
ly delaying the building of the Illinois Central 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



201 



Railroad. Then Congress passed the act mak 
ing the donation of land. No sooner had the 
act passed than did Holbrook in many ways, 
among others by letters to parties in Illinois 
which were published, set about making 
the pretense that his company still was the 
only rightful claimants to the land grant, 
and had the only charter that covered the 
ground on which the road must be built. 
In a letter from him, dated New York, Sep- 
tember 25, 1850, to a citizen of Illinois, he 
said: " I can truly say that I am under ob- 
ligations to those who with Gov. Casey 
prevented the repeal of the charter of the 
Great Western Railway Company. It was 
granted in good faith and under no other 
that the State can now grant. * * * i 
am now organizing the company to com- 
mence the work this fall and put a large part 
of the road under contract as soon as possi- 
ble. We shall make the road on the old 
line, etc., etc." This letter was widely pub- 
lished, as Holbrook probably designed it 
8 hoxild be. A Chicago paper in the interests 
of Holbrook published an editorial, taking 
even stronger grounds than did Holbrook, 
and almost said in so many words that Mr. 
Douglas had been deceived — that he was a 
fool, and that now Holbrook & Co. had all in 
their hands they would proceed to do the 
work and defy Mr. Douglas. 

The suffering of the people fi'om the in- 
ternal improvement swindle had been too 
severe and too recent to allow them to be in- 
different to these old pretensions of Hol- 
brook & Co. The alarm ran over the State 
and intensified as the time came for the 
assembling of the Legislature that was to have 
in its hands the splendid government gift.* 

In November, before the meeting of the 

*It should be here stated that this Great Western Charter was 
the new one aud inclivied at IcHSt one pi jminent mmi in nearly 
every county in the State, and It was never supposed ail these were 
influenced bj evil designs upon the State. 



Legislature, Waiter B. Scates, one of the 
new corporators of the Great Western Rail- 
road Company of 1849, addressed a letter 
of invitation to all his co- corporators, duly 
named, to meet at Springfield, January 6, 
1851, for the pui'pose of taking such action 
as might be deemed expedient for the public 
good by surrendering up their charter to the 
State, or such other course as might be de- 
sired by the General Assembly, to remove all 
doubts and questions relative to the com- 
pany's rights and powers, and to disembar- 
rass that body with regard to the disposal of 
the gi'ant of land from Congress for the 
building of the much-needed Central Rail- 
road. 

With the opening of the General Assembly 
appeared at Springfield Mr. Robert Rantoul, 
of Boston, who being the duly accredited 
agent of Robert Schuyler, George Griswold, 
Gov. Morris, Jonathan Stargis, George W. 
Ludlow and John F. Sandford, oi New 
York, and David A. Neal, Franklin Haven 
and Robert Rantoul, Jr., of Boston, presented a 
memorial to the Legislature, embracing a 
most just and liberal proposition to build the 
road. The memorialists stated that they 
had examined the act of Congress in refer- 
ence to the road, and had examined the re- 
sources of the country through which the 
proposed road was to pass, and estimated the 
cost and time necessary to build the road; that 
they proposed to form a joint-stock company 
of themselves and such others as they might 
associate with them, and as they say "includ- 
ing among their number persons of large 
experience in the construction of several of 
the principal railroads of ihe United States, 
and of the means and credit sufficient to 
place beyond doubt their ability to perform 
what they hereinafter propose, etc." They 
then offer to perform all the requirements of 
the act of Coum-ess under the direction of 



203 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



the State, and to build the road on or before 
the 4th of July, 1854. That the road should 
be in all respects equal to the Boston & Albany 
Railroad, and conclude as follows: 

"And the said company from and after the 
completion of said road, will pay to the 

State of Illinois annually per cent of 

the grross earnings of said road, withoiat de- 
duction or charge for expenses, or for any 
other matter or cause; provided, that the State 
of Illinois will grant to the subcribers a charter 
of incorporation, with terms mutually advan- 
tageous, with powers and limitations as they 
in their wisdom may think lit, and as shall be 
accepted by the said company and as will 
sufficiently remunerate the subscribers for 
their care, labor and expenditure in that be- 
half incurred, and will enable them to avail 
themselves of the lands donated by the said 
act, to raise the funds or some portion of the 
funds necessary for the construction and 
equipment of said road. " 

This memorial, coming as it did from such 
eminent and strong financial men, was well 
received by the Legislatui'e. The time for 
the completion of the road was much shorter 
than any one ever had then contemplated, yet 
Mr. Rantoul was willing to adjust the con- 
tract so as to prevent a failure, not only on 
this point, but to give any security that the 
proceeds arising from the lands would be 
faithfuly applied to their intended jjurpose. 
It was so fair to all parties concerned that 
it was eventually made the basis for the 
charter of the railroad. At this time there 
was developed over the State an opposition 
to turning over to a private corporation the 
great donation of land. Some of the fossils 
of the State folly wanted the State to keep the 
land, build the road, pay oif the State debt, and 
a hundred other wild and silly schemes were 
offered and suggested. Then there is but 
little question but that Holbrook & Co. had 



friends in the Legislature, and their hope lay 
in inaction and a refusal to accept the prop- 
osition of Mr. Rantoul and the other memo- 
rialists. When the bill was introduced, many 
amendments were offered, siich as requiring 
payment for right of way to pre-emptionists 
or squatters on the public land, without re- 
gard to benefits, etc. Then there was an op- 
portunity for much wrangling over the point 
of divergence of the branch from the main 
line, but which was finally left with the com- 
pany to fix anywhere " north of the parallel 
39° 3" of north latitude." Much discussion 
was had as to the points in the main line, 
and what towns it should touch, but all 
intermediate points finally failed except the 
northeast corner of Town 21 north, Range 
2 east, Third Principal Meridian, from which 
the road in its coiirse should not vary more 
than five miles, which was effected by Gen. 
Gridley of the Senate, and by which the 
towns of Decatur, Clinton and Bloomington 
were assured of the road. 

One of the mysteries that developed while 
the railroad bill was lingering^, was a scheme 
for swallowing the road, the State, and much 
of everything else, that was absolutely so 
startling and unique that its paternity has 
always been in doubt. The bold originality 
and the unknown paternity of the bantling 
gave it something of a kinship to Junius' 
letters, with all of Junius' ability left out. 
It appeared on every member's table one 
morning in January, in the shape of a volu- 
minous printed bill for a charter, the pro- 
vision whereof, closely scrutinized, con- 
tained about as hard a bargain as creditor 
ever offered bondsman. It was coolly pro- 
posed, among other provisions, that the State 
appoint commissioners to locate the road, 
survey the route for the main stem and 
branches and select the land granted by 
Congress, all at the expense of the State; 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



203 



agents were to be appointed by the Governor 
to apply to land-holders along the route who 
might be benefited by the road, for sub- 
scriptions, also at the expense of the State. 

" All persons subcribing and advancing 
money for said purpose shall be entitled to 
draw interest upon the sums at — per cent 
per annum from the day of said advances, 
and shall be entitled to designate and regis- 
ter an amount of ' new internal improve- 
ment stock of this State,' equal to four times 
the amount so advanced, or stock of this 
State "known as ' Interest bonds,' equal to 
three times the money so advanced, and said 
stock so described may be registered at the 
agency of the State of Illinois, to the city of 
New York, by the party subscribing or by 
any other person to whom they may assign 
the right at any time after paying the sub- 
scription, in proportion of the amount paid; 
and said stock shall be indorsed, registered 
and signed by the agent appointed by the 
Governor for the purpose, and a copy of said 
register shall be tiled in the office of the Au- 
ditor of Public Accounts, as evidence to show 
the particular stock secured or provided for 
as hereinafter mentioned." 

The donation from the Government to the 
State was to be conveyed by the State to the 
company, to be by it offered for sale upon 
the completion of sections of sixty miles, 
the expenses to be paid by the State; the 
money was to go to the managers of this ter- 
rible railroad, but the State was to receive 
certificates of stock for the same; two of the 
acting managers were to receive salaries of 
$2,500, and the others $1,500, the company 
with the sanction of the Governor to pur- 
chase iron, etc., pledging the x'oad for pay- 
ment, and the road, property and stock to be 
exempt from taxation. The bill also em- 
braced a bank in accordance with the provis- 
ions of the general free banking law adopted 



by the State, making the railroad stock the 
basiy. It also provided that if the constitu- 
tion was amended (which failed to carry) 
changing the two-mill tax to a sinking fund, 
to be generally applied in redemption of the 
State debt, that then the stock registered un- 
der the act should also participate in the 
proceeds thereof. 

This was the scheme, and while the im- 
mortality due the inventor, because he has 
remained unknown, has been withheld, we 
propose to lift the veil and let the author's 
name receive the laurel crown. Any one who 
will come to Cairo and carefully study Hol- 
brook's tracks all around the city, will at 
once conclude that nature never made but 
one man who could have conceived such a 
scheme and launched it at the heads of the 
Illinois Legislature, and Holbrook was that 
man. There is but one thing about it that 
casts the slightest doubt upon its paternity 
and that is where he proposes to divide the 
salaries with more than one — thi'^ is unac- 
countable and to some extent incomprehensi- 
ble. 

It will be noticed in the quotation that we 
give above from the memorialist's proposi- 
tion, that they offex'ed, among other things, 
to pay the State annually a certain per cent 
of the gross earnings of the road without de- 
ductions for expenses or otherwise. The 
amount was left blank in their proposition, 
and the well understood fact was at that 
time they anticipated it would be fixed at ten 
per centum of the gross earnings. But after 
they had secured substantially the accept- 
ance of their proposition by the Legislature, 
they set about getting this blank tilled in at 
as low a figure as possible. W. H, Bissell 
was then a Representative in Congress from 
Illinois, and although he was by profession 
a doctor, and not a lawyer, yet these shrewd 
capitalists employed him as their attorney, 



204 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



knowing it was his great personal popularity 
that would serve their purposes much better 
than all the legal lore in the world, in the 
peculiar business they just then had in hand. 
Mr. Bissel left his seat in Congress and at- 
tended upon the session of the Illinois Leg- 
islature as a lobbyist, and the unfortunate 
results to the State were that the State con- 
ceded a reduction of three per cent and the 
amount was fixed at seven per cent of the 
gross proceeds. 

In the Legislature, after all manner of de- 
lays and procrastinations, until the heel of 
the session, Mr. J. L. D. Morrison, of the Sen- 
ate, brought in a substitute for the pending 
bill, which, after being amended several 
times, was finally passed — two votes dissent- 
ing — and shortly after, and without amend- 
ment, the house also passed it, and thus, on 
the 10th day of February, 1851, it became a 
law. The final passage of the bill was cel- 
ebrated in Chicago by the tiring of cannon 
and other civic demonstrations in honor of 
the event. 

There was some delay in the commence- 
ment of the work on the road, in conse- 
quence of the ruling of Mr. Justin Butter- 
field, Commissioner of the General Land 
Office, but the Px-esident reversed the Secre- 
tary's decision and the transfer of the land 
was duly made, and in March, 1852, the 
contracts were let and the work commenced 
and rapidly pushed to completion. 

This brings us to the completion of that 
important part of the life of a railroad, 
namely, the bringing it into existence and 
successfully putting it on its feet, or, in 
other words, the organization of a chartered 
company, under a liberal and just funda- 
mental law, and the providing ways and 
means that put money into the hands of the 
corporation to carry on its work. All this 
had been done, and the good people of 



Cairo had great occasion to rejoice and feel 
glad. It was the realization of a long de- 
fered hope, where promise had been the 
brightest and failure and disappointment the 
most complete. The improvement of na- 
tional importance, and upon which hung all 
Cairo's hopes for the future, was assured. 

Much of the credit, and therefore a meed 
of praise, for securing the building of this 
road, is due to Stephen A. Douglas, Judge 
Breese, Hon. David J Baker, Miles A. Gil- 
bert, D. B. Holbrook, the old Cairo City & 
Canal Company, Judge Jenkins, Justin 
Buttertield and many others of Cairo and 
other portions of the country. And so far 
as we know, all were content to rest their 
claims to the honors in the work to the keep- 
ing of a grateful posterity except Judge 
Breese. The rejoicing over its success had 
not abated its first noisy enthusiasm when 
the voice of Judge Breese was raised, assert- 
ing his exclusive right to the j^aternity of the 
enterprise, and he based his claim to the 
credit upon the fact that he had projected 
the whole thing in 1835, and that when in 
the Senate he had tried to do exactly what 
Judge Douglas was afterward enabled to do 
by his previous labors. It was a conception 
and labor certainly worth the pride of any 
man. Visions of fame, immortality and 
emoluments and office were easily discover- 
able in it. 

Judge Breese had been a Senator up to 

1849, when he was succeeded by Gen. 
Shields. In 1850, Breese was in the State 
Legislature. Under date of December 23, 

1850, among other things, in a reply to the 
Illinois State Register regarding his favor- 
ing the " Holbrook charters," he says: 

" The Central Eailroad has been a con- 
trolling object with me for more than fifteen 
years, and I would sacrifice all my personal 
advantages to see it made. These fellows who 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



207 



are making such an ado about it now, have 
been whipped into its support. They are 
not for it now, and do not desire to Lave it 
made because I get the credit of it. This is 
inevitable. I must have the credit of it for I 
originated it in 1835, and, when in the Sen- 
ate, passed three different bills through that 
body to aid in its construction. My suc- 
cessor had an easy task, as I had opened the 
way for him. It was the argument made in 
my report on it that silenced all opposition 
and made the passage easy. I claim the 
credit, and no one can take it from me." 

When this came to the attention of Judge 
Douglas in Washington, he took occasion 
to reply, on January 5, 1851, at length, giv- 
ing a detailed history of all the efforts made 
in Congress to procure the pre-emption or 
grant of land in aid of building this road, 
saying: "You were the champion oO the pol- 
icy of granting pre-emption rights for the 
benefit of a private company [the Holbrook] 
and I was the advocate of alternate sections 
to the State." The letter is long and full of 
interesting facts in relation to the acts and 
doings in Congress relative to the Illinois 
Central Railroad. Judge Breese rejoined, 
under date of January 21, 1851, through the 
columns of the same paper, at great length, 
claiming that besides seeking to obtain pre- 
emption aid he was also the first to introduce 
"a bill for the absolute grant of the alternate 
sections for the Central and Northern Cross 
Railroads," but finding no favorable time 
to call it up, it failed. " It was known 
from my first entrance into Congress that 
I would accomplish the measure, in some 
shape, if possible." But the Illinois mem- 
bers of the House, he asserts, took no 
interest in the passage of any law for the 
benefit of the Central Railroad, either by 
grant or pre-emption. He claims no 
share in the passage of the law of 1850. 



" Your (Douglas') claim shall not, with my 
consent, be disparaged, nor those of your 
associates. I will myself weave your chap- 
let, and place it, with no envious hand, 
upon your .brow. At the same time history 
shall do me justice. I claim to have first 
projected this road in my letter of 1835, and 
in the judgment of impartial and disinter- 
ested men my claim will be allowed. I have 
said and written more in favor of it than any 
other. It has been the highest of my am- 
bitions to accomplish it, and when my last 
resting place shall be marked by the cold 
marble which gratitude or affection may 
erect, I desire for it no other inscription than 
this, that he who sleeps beneath it projected 
the Central Railroad. " 

He also at length cited his letter of October 
16, 1835, to John Y. Sawyer in which the 
plan of the Central Railroad was first fore- 
shadowed, which opens as follows: "Having 
some leisure from the labor of my circuit, I 
am induced to devote a portion of time in 
giving to the public a plan, the outline of 
which was suggested to me by an intelligent 
friend in Bond County a few days since." 

To this Douglas, under date of Washing- 
ton, February 22, 1851, surrejoins at con- 
siderable length, and in reference to this 
opening sentence in the Sawyer letter, ex- 
claims: "How is this! The father of the 
Central Railroad, with a Christian meekness 
worthy of all praise, kindly consents to be 
the reputed parent of a hopeful son begotten 
for him by an intelligent friend in a neigh- 
boring county. I forbear pushing this in- 
quiry further. It involves a question of 
morals too nice, of domestic relations too 
delicate for me to expose to the public gaze. 
Inasmuch, however, as you have furnished 
me with becoming gravity, the epitaph which , 
you desire engrossed upon your tomb when 
called upon to pay the last debt of nature, 

12 



208 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



you will allow me to suggest fhat as such an 
inscription is a solemn and a sacred thing, 
and truth its essential ingredient, would it 
not be well to make a slight modification, so 
as to correspond with the facts as stated in 
your letter to Mr. Sawyer, which would 
make it read thus in your letter to me: It 
has been |the highest object of my ambition 
to accomplish the Central Railroad, and 
when my last resting place shall be marked 
by the cold marble which gratitude or affec- 
tion may erect, I desire for it no other in- 
scription than this: He who sleeps beneath 
this stone voluntarily consented to become 
the putative father of a lovely child called 
the Central Railroad, and begotten for him 
by an^ intelligent friend in the County of 
Bond." 

The question as to " who killed Cock 
Robin ? " seems to have here stopped, and 
Judge Breese probably retired from the 
controversy, feeling that he had asserted his 
Sparrowship rather prematurely, and that 
the " cold marble of gratitude or affection " 
may never tell the story just as he fondly 
hoped it would. The truth is the student of 
the history of Illinois will come to the con- 
clusion that Judge Breese never made a 
greater mistake than when he entered poli- 
tics, and imagined he was a statesman, and 
allowed his political disappointments to sour 
and cloud his life. His egregious error in 
this respect reminds one of the interviews be- 
tween Fredrick the Great and Voltaire. They 
were great friends, and often Voltaire was 
called to the court and entertained for weeks 
and months. The king much wanted to 
talk to Voltaire because the statesman really 
believed his true greatness lay in literature 
and poetry, and Voltaire wanted to talk to 
the king because he never doubted that his 
own true genius was ail in the line of state- 
craft and military affairs. And when they 



met Voltaire would talk military all the 
time, because that was something he knew 
nothing about, and the king would with equal 
persistence read his poems and talk literature 
all the time, because he knew as little of 
that as Voltaire did of empire or war. They 
would complacently exchange sides, and 
leaving those fields in which each stood pre- 
eminent, they would talk the most profound- 
ly idiotic, and invariably separate, denounc- 
ing each other as hopeless idiots, to meet 
again in great friendship the next morning 
and renew the incurable folly. 

Breese, no doubt, believed his talents, 
genius and education made him a great states- 
man, and that it was mei'ely rusting out a 
great life to chain it to the woolsack. He 
probably estimated that Douglas would have 
made an estimable Justice of the Peace, but 
it was farcical to hoist him over his (Breese's) 
head as a statesman. The truth is, the peo- 
ple understood Judge Breese much better 
than he understood himself, and they put 
him exactly where he was best fitted to be, 
and he will go into history as an eminent 
jui'ist. He made the great mistake of start- 
ing life as a politician, and he reached the 
United States Senate, but when he was over- 
shadowed there by his junior colleague, the 
" dapper little schoolteacher from Win- 
chester," and actually defeated for a second 
term by a wild Irishman with brogue a mile 
thick, he returned to Illinois, heart-broken, 
and in desperation accepted a place upon 
the bench, where he worked until the day of 
his death. His short political life was not 
a fortunate one, audi in fact, was pretty 
much a mere blunder from beginning to end, 
while ^his judicial career was brilliant and 
eminent. 

Judge Douglas was the better poised mind 
of the two, yet there is but little doubt he 
would have as completely failed on the bench 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



209 



as had Breese in politics. He tried a brief 
term as Judge, and! realizing his failure, he 
got out of it as soon as possible, never to re- 
turn. He would have been a great lawyer, 
but he never could have made a judge. He 
may not have been a statesman, we do not 
assert that he was, but if not, he approached it 
close enough to be one of the most superb 
demagoges the country has pi'oduced. We 
do not use the word demagogue in an offen- 
sive sense. If Douglas fell short of that 
breadth and profundity that marks the line 
between the demagogue and statesman, then 
by what name in heaven's sake shall we des- 
ignate all the other little great men of Illi- 
nois? — the political buzzards that have been 
with us almost as numerously as the locusts 
in Egypt In short, who is Illinois' great 
man, if not Douglas? Who will the histo- 
rian of a hundred years hence, when without 
bias or prejudice or judgment formed for 
him by others or a popular hurrah, will, 
with severe discrimination, unmask the 
shams and cheap frauds, and dispassionately 
examine what each one did do, and strike 
the balance sheet and hold forth the results, 
without mercy and without fear, we say who 
will he name as the suitable frontispiece to 
the history of Illinois up to this time. One 
thing alone is certain to come pure and 
bright from this alembic, and that is the fact 
that Illinois to-day owes more to Judge 
Douglas than to all her other notorious men 
put together. He gave the country the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, and in the grand 
scheme he not only refused to be corrupted, 
but he crushed and annihilated the swarming 
Credit Mobilier robbers that sprung up in al- 
most countless numbers all along its path. 
They could neither corrupt him, intimidate 
him, nor crush him out, and the gi'and re- 
sult is a marvel in the history of legislation 
upon this continent, there is no parallel to 



this great and benign act. It was the open- 
ing wedge to the whole Mississippi Valley 
foi the millions of happy, prosperous people, 
teetning with content and well paid lives 
that have made the rich wilderness truly 
to blossom as the rose. And in the honesty 
and purity that marked the whole transac- 
tion, it stands alone in American history. 
He knew that he was a poor man — one who 
had served his country, and instead of com- 
mencing poor and retiring rich, had com- 
menced rich and would retire a pauper, 
and that a nod of his head would have 
put ill-gotten millions in his easy reach, 
and he stood unflinchingly between the 
people's treasure and the ravenous horde, 
and every day, every hour, every citizen of 
Illinois — nay, more than twenty millions of 
the people of the West — are reaping the 
fruits, enjoying the comforts and realizing, 
in some way, the wisdom of his guardianship 
of their interests at a critical moment of the 
country's life, and before a majority of those 
now living were born. 

In the year 1852, the necessary survey 
having been completed, chiefly by Charles 
Thrup, of Cairo, under the direction of Col. 
Ashley,. Division Engineer, and the timber 
having been cleai'ed from the route of the 
railroad, the work of construction at the 
Cairo end of the road was vigorously com- 
menced. 

Messrs. Ellis. Jenkins & Co. became con- 
tractors, their contracts extending from 
Cairo to the north line of Union County. 
The law required the work to be commenced 
simultaneously at the north and south ter- 
mini of the road. The contractors speedily 
had about four hundred men here at work, 
and the heavy timber was cleared from the 
track and the work commenced; and other 
men were brought by them as fast as they 
could be procured, and in the city and above 



310 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



the city and on the Cache another force were 
soon clearing away the timber, and within 
Alexander Couniy there were between seven 
hundred and a thousand laborers at work. 
Cairo was bustling, then, again with busy 
life. Ellis, Jenkins & Co. failed and sur- 
rendered their work, when Maurice Brod^rick 
became the contractor, and under his direc- 
tion the Cairo levees, nearly as they are now 
(except the Mississippi levee), were con- 
structed. These were the long-anticipated, 
flush times in Cairo once more. The sudden 
influx of people trebled at once her popula- 
tion, gave business an unparalleled activity 
and called into existence a number of new 
business institutions, particularly doggeries, 
groceries, boarding-houses and supply places, 
etc. Everybody made money. The stores 
had all the business their keepers could sat- 
isfactorily give attention to; the boarding- 
houses were literally running over, and Mose 
Harrell declares that after the second " pay 
day, " every saloon-keeper in town had a gold 
fob-chain; an evidence that both bar-tender 
and proprietor are raking in the ducats under 
a fair and just divide. 

Fights at fisticufls, and arrangements 
with " shillalahs," were the favorite past- 
time and fun among the levee hands, but as 
a general thing they resulted in nothing more 
serious than disfigured countenances, or the 
temporary enlargement of the phrenological 
bumps. Only a single riot, having a fatal 
termination, took place in Cairo during the 
progress of these improvements. This occurred 
during a "pay day." The old foundry was used 
as an oflSce by the contractors, and here they 
paid off their hands. The room was crowded 
with laborers, eager for settlement, as well as 
those who had furnished supplies, etc. They 
were so crowded and clamorous, that it was 
found difficult for the clerks to transact the 
business. Mr. Stephens ordered them all to 



leave the room. Of coui'so they gave no heed 
to his order; observing this, he rushed among 
them with a bowie-knife, and commenced 
cutting right and left, utterly regardless of 
consequences. An ax being at hand, one of the 
assaulted crowd seized it and seeing that life 
and death were the alternatives, aimed a 
blow at Stephens, which cleft to the brain. 

The work upon the line from here to the 
north part of Union County was pushed 
vigorously ahead, with the forces distributed 
at all the points where the heavy work was 
to be done. 

On the 7th day of August, 1855, the first 
train of cars over the Illinois Central Rail- 
road reached the city of Cairo. A locomo- 
tive, under the charge of Joe Courtway, eiraw- 
ing a half-dozen platform cars, whereon were 
seated about one hundred citizens of Jones- 
boro and intermediate points, formed the 
train and passengers. Beyond Jonesboro 
the road was not finished, but the work was 
so rear completion, that in a few weeks the 
trains were enabled to pass over the entire 
main line. 

On the 1st day of January, 1856, the first 
passenger train, on schedule time, passed over 
the Central road from Chicago to Cairo, and 
a large delegation of leading people of Chica- 
go were the passengers. The people of Cairo 
gave them a hearty reception, and literally 
Chicago and Cairo — the two extremes of the 
State, and the two best located cities in Illi- 
nois — shook hands and kissed in mutual love 
and admiration. The Chicago visitors were 
royally entertained at the "Taylor House," 
and all were glorying over the auspicious event. 
After spending the day in shaking hands and 
looking about the town, they were entertained 
in the evening by two large and separate 
balls and suppers, at which speeches were 
made, toasts drunk, and a generally happy 
and hilarious time was prolonged to the end 



HISTOKY OF CAIKO. 



311 



of the visitors' stay. Manifestations of kin- 
dred feeling over the completion of the road 
were to be seen everywhere along the route, 
the people correctly believing that the time 
marked the commencement of a glorious and 
more prosperous era for the Prairie State 
and her people. 

The Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans 
Railroad, or what was better known as the 
"Great Jackson Route," a railroad from Cairo 
direct to New Orleans, was, in the year 
1882, consolidated and made part of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, and is now the South- 
ern Division of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
a continuous line from Chicago to New Or- 
leans. Trains are passed over the river at 
Cairo by the transfer boat, H. I. McComb. 
So complete and perfect is this part of the 
work performed, that passengers cross the 
river and are speeded on their way north or 
south often, without an interruption to their 
slumbers. 

Cairo & St. Louis Railroad. — Originally, 
this was wholly a Cairo enterprise, and it 
was started [under very favorable auspices. 
The charter was enacted by the Legislature, 
February 16, 1865, the incorporators being 
Sharon Tyndale, Isham N. Haynie, Samuel 
Staats Taylor, John Thomas, William H. 
Logan, William P. Halliday and Tilman B. 
Cantrell, who, by the terms of the charter, 
were " vested with powers, privileges and 
immunities which are or may be necessary to 
construct, complete and operate a railroad, 
from the city of Cairo to any point opposite 
the city of St. Louis." The capital stock 
authorized was $3,000,000, and which 
" may be increased to not exceeding $5,000,- 
000," The law makes Sharon Tyndale, 
Isham N. Haynie, Samuel Staats Taylor, John 
Thomas, William H. Logan, William P. 
Halliday and Tilman B. Cantrell the first 
Board of Directors, and requires them to 



elect officers of the corpoi'ation from their 
body. Section 5 of the act is in the follow- 
ing words: " Nothing contained in this act, 
or any law of this State, shall authorize said 
company to take, for the uses and purposes 
of the company, or otherwise, or to impair 
any portion of the levees, or embankment 
already constructed or erected by the 
Trustees of the Cairo City Property, or by 
any person or corporation, under existing 
agreements with them, except by the consent 
of said Trustees and of the city of Cairo." 

This charter is a neat, short, com}>act, 
and yet comprehensive document, and is ad- 
mirably suited for the purposes for which it 
was intended. It names only two points — 
Cairo and some point opposite St. Louis. As 
short as it is, it grants every power wanted, 
and hampers the company with none of the 
usual provisions and directions and un- 
necessary minutiae in controlling the action 
of the company, except Section 5, which we 
give entire, and out of which has arisen some 
complications with the city of Cairo. The 
municipalities along the line are authorized 
to donate lands and subscribe for stock. 

S. Staats Taylor was elected President at 
the meeting for organization of the charter 
directors. In 1874, he was succeeded by 
F. E. Cauda, of Chicago. 

The municipalities along the line, from 
Cairo to Columbia, in Monroe County, voted 
$1,050,000 in aid of the enterprise, and the 
contract to construct the entire •line was 
awarded to H. R. Payson & Co. , of Chicago. 
Work was commenced in 1872, at the St. 
Louis end, or rather at East Carondelet, and 
under many difficulties, pushed to comple- 
tion in 1874, to Murphysboro, and the work 
stopped. This result came from the inability 
of the contractors to go any further, and they 
were thus crippled by the municipalities 
utterly refusing to pay their donations. The 



'^13 



HISTOEY OF CAIRO. 



contractors had invested over $1,000,000 of 
their own funds, and failing to get the 
money donated, according to the terms of 
the vote of the people, they were too much 
crippled, or did not feel like risking any 
more expenditure in the enterprise. The 
road, so far as built, was at once stocked and 
operated, being run from East Carondelet to 
East St. Louis — a distance of about five 
miles — over the Conlogue road. From the 
very first, it was a financial success, as a 
purely local road, and much more than paid 
expenses. It tapped the very finest country 
lying east and south of St. Louis, passing 
through ihe southwest corner of St. Clair, 
and entering Monroe, and through the center 
of this and into Randolph and Jackson Coun- 
ties, and 'giving all this rich and populous 
section direct and easy communication with 
St. Louis. But the people of Cairo could 
not see where this was benefiting them any, 
and communication was opened with the com- 
pany with a view of extending it, as the 
charter specified, to Cairo; and Union 
County, being as deeply interested as Cairo, 
joined in offering inducements to have the 
work completed. Alexander County had sub- 
scribed $100,000, and the city of Cairo a 
similar amount; Union County had sub- 
scribed $100,000, and the city of Jonesboro 
$50,000. Alexander County and the city of 
Cairo paid their subscriptions to the last dol- 
lar, and kept their faith; Union County paid 
a portion of hers, and Jonesboro paid one- 
half, or $25,000 of her subscription; and on 
March 1, 1875, the road was completed from 
East Carondelet to Cairo, making an entire 
line from Caii*o to East St. Louis. We may 
here remark that Jonesboro, after getting 
the road, repudiated the remainder of her 
donation, and was sued upon the bonds, and 
before the local court of Union County easily 
got a judgment acquitting her of the debt; 



but the case was removed into the United 
States Court, and recently this decision sum- 
marily reversed, and the probabilities are she 
will have to pay the debt with the accumu- 
lated interest. It was a case of voting aid by 
the wholesale, and, except Alexander County 
and Cairo, repudiation with equal facility 
and complacency. Our State constitution 
now prohibits the people giving donations to 
railroads. It should never have permitted it. 
It is vicious legislation, and the corruption 
of the people and banishing all sense of 
honor from municipalities starts a train of 
descent that, in the end, reaches the in- 
dividuals who compose the corporate bodies. 

The contractors had entered into the usual 
obligations, namely, to take the donations, 
and in the end the corporation and all its be- 
longings as pay for building, and in the end 
became the sole proprietors of the road. The 
complications arising from the failure to get 
the donations, as mentioned, deeply involved 
the road in debt, and, as the only way out of 
it, on the 7th of December, 1877, Mr. H. W. 
Smithers was appointed Receiver of the road, 
and at once took possession and operated un- 
der the protection of the courts. This, it 
seems, was a fortunate appointment, and 
under his management he repaired, stocked 
and fixed the line ingfood running order. He 
constructed depots, and in East St. Louis 
built a round-house with seven stalls, ma- 
chine shops and spacious freight and passen- 
ger depots. He made of it a very good line 
of road, whereas when he took charge of it, 
it was in a dilapidated condition from one 
end to the other. 

The road was sold, under the decree of the 
court, in January, 1882, and on February 1, 
of the same year, was re-organized, with the 
following as the new Board of Directors: C. 
W. Schaap, W. T. AVhitehouse, S. C. Judd, 
L. M. Johnson, E. B. Sheldon, H. B. White- 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



213 



house, J. M. Mills and E. H. Fishburn. The 
present Board is W. F. Whitehouse, L. M. 
Johnson, Ex. Norton, Fred Brose, John B. 
Lovington, C. W. Schaap, H. B. Whitehouse, 
Josiah H. Horsey and S. Corning Judd. 
The officers of the road consist of W. F. 
Whitehouse, President; L. M. Johnson, Vice 
President; Charles Hamilton, General Sup- 
erintendent; S. Corning Judd, Gen. Sol.; 
William Kitchie, Secretary; George H. 
Smith, General Freight and Passenger 
Agent, and Lewis Enos, Auditor and Cash- 
ier. The new organization at once set about 
building their own road into East St. Louis 
from Carondelet, and this was completed dur- 
ing the present year. In the year 1881, the 
road was engaged in completing its line into 
Cairo, in accordance with the terms of its 
arrangements to build on the strip of land 
of the Cairo Trust Property, on the Missis- 
sippi side; a part of that arrangement being 
that, for this privilege, it was to keep in re- 
pair and raise aud strengthen the levee run- 
ning along the Mississippi River, and on the 
south of the city. This work was only fairly 
commenced, when the city of Cairo went into 
court, and prayed an injunction to prevent 
the road crossing Washington avenue. 
The point where the road comes in contact 
with this avenue is some distance north of 
the north levee, and where neither a road, 
avenue or highway exists, except on the city 
plat. No dray, carriage, buggy or dog- cart 
or foot passenger will, probably, want to 
use that particular portion of Washington 
avenue for the next hundred years. The in- 
junction was granted, prohibiting the road 
from crossing this avenue, and Judge Baker 
has made the injunction -^perpetual. The 
road made the best temporary arrangement 
it could, and has a track on the Mississippi 
levee, and in this way is euabled to reach the 
Union Depot. These complications are un- 



fortunate for the road, as it practically cuts 
it out of a permanent terminus here, and 
prevents it making those contemplated im- 
provements, as well as making any solid and 
advantageous connecting arrangements with 
other roads from Cairo south. It practically 
cuts off its Cairo freight business from the 
north. And one item nf very great impor- 
tance to the people and business is, that this 
unfortunate state of affairs prevents the road 
shipping to this market the Jackson County 
coal, that is so much needed here for the 
manufactories that may be yet built in Cairo, 
as well as for the local and river trade. 
Here are altogether a remarkable state of 
facts. During all the struggle for existence, 
the city extended to it a princely, liberal 
hand, and it was the people's money of Cairo 
that enabled the projectors to ever build the 
road. After it was built, from some griev- 
ance not visible in the court papers, she 
turns upon and badly cripples that particular 
portion of the road in which the town is 
deeply interested. There has been short- 
sighted management somewhere. The man- 
agers of the road, and particularly the con- 
tractors, who were saved from hopeless 
bankruptcy by the action of Cairo, when the 
other municipalities were repudiating their 
donations, must have, at one time, felt veiy 
kindly to Cairo, and the $200,000 put in 
there by the city and county, certainly could 
have controlled and brought here the ma- 
chine shops, round-house and such other and 
valuable improvements as the road has now 
made in East St. Louis, and others it will yet 
make. In the law the city triumphs, but 
where are her gains ? Look at the results : 
The road has no reliable entrance into Cairo. 
During the past twelve months, there were 
three months that no train over that road 
came into Cairo; yet its trains ran regularly 
into East St. Louis, and came down to Hodge' s 



214 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



Park, a few miles nortli of Cairo, the 
road all the time doing a good local business, 
and the managers showed the writer hereof 
their books during the time of the interrup- 
tion of trains, and there was no falling o£f in 
the revenues of the road. That left Cairo in 
the condition of having given $200,000 to 
build a railroad to tap the country in her im- 
mediate vicinity, and take her natural trade 
away from her very door, and carry all to St. 
Louis — a species of commercial suicide, as 
the farmers and business men along the line, 
from Hodge's Park to St. Louis, were cut off 
from Cairo as completely as if the town was 
in the moon, and the doors to St. Louis 
thrown open to them. A similar policy on 
the other roads would soon sow the streets of 
the town with cockle and dog- fennel, to 
flourish in unmolested glory. The city gave 
its best street to another road, entirely 
through the main and business part of the 
town, where it now runs its trains to the 
great distress of the people, and at the same 
time enjoins the Cairo &St. Louis road from 
crossing Washington avenue at a place in the 
swamps north of the city proper, where that 
highway, probably, will never be utilized, 
except by ducks and frogs, or, in very dry 
seasons, the " lone fisherman." 

The Cairo & St.L ouis Railroad has no con- 
necting interests here with any other railroad. 
It is now a purely local St. Louis 'road, 
bringing little or nothing to Cairo, and tak- 
ing as little away. A talk with the managers 
will at once convince you that they feel little 
if any interest in the town. When it is so 
they can, without any inconvenience, they 
run their trains into the place; when they 
cannot do this they don't care. At the St. 
Louis end, they have running connection with 
the Toledo Narrow-Gauge Railroad; $200,- 
000 of the people's money has gone into the 
enterprise, and now the city and the road are 



like the old fellow, when he announced 
" Betsy and I are out." They rush into law, 
and the outcome is a triumph for the city, 
but it. is somewhat like the victory of the 
wife, who has her husband fined for whip- 
ping her, and while he enjoys himself in jail, 
she washes to raise the money to pay his 
fine. The lion was taking a drink in the 
stream, and some distance below the lamb 
was crossing. The lion straightway killed 
the lamb for muddying the waters up where he 
was drinking. The managers profess pro- 
found ignorance of why Cairo should turn 
upon and rend her own offspring. The peo- 
ple of Cairo generally profess the same ig- 
norance, and we know they individually feel 
kindly toward the road. They realize that it 
should be, and naturally is, one of the most 
valuable lines that came into Cairo, and they 
regret these unfortunate circumstances that 
have nearly neutralized its good effects upon 
the town. If there was any serious question to 
form the bone of contention, it would be 
altogether different, and then the war might 
go on, and neither the road nor the people 
would grumble. True, people here sometimes 
shake their heads, and say, look at our 
many great railroads that add their im- 
mense values to the natural lines of com- 
merce and Cairo, and yet there is no suffi- 
cient advance in the city's march forward to 
keep pace with these encouraging signs. On 
the surface, there are no reasons for this state 
of affairs, and yet a look below — where the 
real facts lie — might reveal a state of affairs 
that would make all plain enough. 

But these matters will soon be adjusted; 
propositions, we are glad to learn, are now 
passing, looking to a full settlement, and it 
is to be lioped they will be consummated at 
an early day, and the I'oad and the city will 
be just and profitable to each other. 

Cairo Short Line. — This is another Cairo & 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



215 



St. Louis Railroad. It was projected and built 
originally as a southern line for the Indian- 
apolis & St. Louis Railroad, and was built 
from East St. Louis to Duquoin, when it 
was purchased and became a part of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad. It runs upon the 
Central to Duquoin, and there branches off 
to St. Louis. It is really the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad from Cairo to St. Louis, making 
the second direct St. Louis & Cairo Railroad. 

The Wabash was originally chartered as the 
Cairo & Vincennes Railroad, the incorpora- 
tion bearing date March 6, 1867. The incor- 
porators were Green B. Raum, D. Hurd, N. 
R. Casey, W. P. Halliday, J. B. Cbasman, 
A. J. Kuykendall, John W. Mitchell, S. 
Staats Taylor, W. R. Wilkinson, John M. 
Crebbs, Walter L. Mayo, Robert Mick, Samuel 
Hess, George Mertz, V. Rathbone, D. T. 
Linegar, Aaron Shaw, James Tackney, W. 
W. McDowell, Isaac B. Watts and Isham N. 
Haynie. They were authorized to construct 
a railroad from the city of Cairo, by the way 
of Mound City, to some point on or near the 
line between Illinois and Indiana, at or near 
Vincennes. Donations were here liberally 
Toted, and Gen. Burnside became the gen- 
eral contractor, and represented fully the 
interests of the capitalists. 

In October, 1881, it was consolidated, and 
became a part of the Wabash system of rail- 
roads, in which management it is now con- 
ducted. On the 16th December, 1872, the 
road was completed from Vincennes to Cairo, 
and a through passenger train arrived in 
Cairo, bringing a large delegation of prom- 
inent citizens, among whom was Gen. Burn- 
side, who was the chief officer and builder of 
the road. The visitors were entertained 
royally, and banqueted in the evening. 

The original contractors for the entire line 
were Dodge, Lord & Co. The city of Cairo 
and the county of Alexander had each sub- 



scribed and taken $100,000 of stock in the 
road, paying therefor in their bonds. Finan- 
cial difficulties of the company compelled 
the contractors to stop work in 1869, and 
this stoppage continued until 1871, when 
Winslow & Wilson contracted for, and com- 
pleted the work of construction. After the 
completion of the road, Messrs. A. B. Safford 
and Mr. Morris were appointed Receivers, 
and they were afterward succeeded by Messrs. 
Morgan & Tracey, who continued in control 
of its destinies to the time it passed into the 
Wabash system of railroads. 

Mobile & Ohio Railroad. — This road was in 
contemplation as a line from Cairo to Mo- 
bile, as an extension, in fact, of the Illinois 
Central Railroad. In accordance with the 
wise provisions of Congress, work was com- 
menced at the Mobile end of the road, and 
the work completed to Columbus, Ky, and a 
transfer boat used in connection with the 
trains between this point and Cairo. The 
war coming on, not only the work of com- 
pleting the road to Cairo was stopped, but it 
soon Ceased to be a road at all, as portions of 
it were in the hands of the Union forces, and 
parts in the hands of the rebels. The rails 
vfeve torn up, carried away, and often heated 
and bent out of all shape. The rolling stock 
was destroyed, as well as the most of the 
station houses, buildings and shops. After 
the war was over, and the people of the 
South had again begun the work of recover- 
ing their lost fortunes, the enterprise was 
taken hold of by captalists, and the work of 
rebuilding the line and extending the road 
on to Cairo was pressed to completion. 

The Texas & St. Louis Railroad is des- 
tined some day to become one of the most 
important and valuable of all the roads lead- 
ing into Cairo. It will be, when completed, 
a direct and continuous line from Cairo to 
the City of Mexico. 



216 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



The Texas & St. Louis Eailway Company 
have recently concluded passenger and 
freight traflBc arrangements with the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company, which is to exist 
for a period of fifty years, the essence of 
which is that the Illinios Central is to take 
complete control of the northern, western 
and eastern passenger and freight business 
of the Texas & St. Louis, and vice versa the 
trade of the Illinois Central, as far as 
it pertains to the country traversed by this 
new road. The Texas & St. Louis is part 
of a system of railway which is to run direct 
from Cairo to the City of Mexico, and em- 
braces a distance of 2,000 miles; 600 miles 
of] the system is already in operation, and it 
is said by those who have made a tour of in- 
spection, that it is as finely built and 
equipped a road as there is in the United 
States. It has been built by foreign capital, 
not to sell, but as a permanent investment, 
and therefore the elegant road and magnificent 
equipage. The inclines, for transfer of cars 
from Bird's Point to Cairo, are completed, 
and a first-class transfer boat is now being 
operated. The business for St. Louis will 
be done over the Cairo & St. Louis Short 
Line. The road bearing the name of the 
Texas & St. Louis will open up a vast, rich 
country to the trade of Cairo, which has had 
heretofore little or no outlnt, and its business 
will, doubtless, render it a marvel in point of 
financial success. The road runs direct from 
Bird's Point, opposite Cairo, to Texarkana, 
thence to Waco, thence to Gatesville, and 
thence to the Rio Grande, connectinor there 
with the Mexican Central. Maj. G. B. Hib- 
bard, chief contractor, with headquarters at 
Cairo, is pushing the work with all possible 
speed, and ho confidently believes the entire 
2,000 miles will be completed and in success- 
ful operation within two years. 

The Iron Mountain Railroad is now a 



regular Cairo railroad, by an extension from 
Charleston, Mo., to Bird's Point, giving the 
town an additional highway to St. Louis and 
the South. This is one of the valuable Mis- 
souri railroads, and was constructed and 
operated for years with the idea that it could 
aftord to pass within a few miles of Cairo 
and ignore its existence. But time, and the 
growth and trade of the place, eventually 
compelled them to build into Cairo and estab- 
lish a transfer boat, and thus reach some of 
the rich harvest that awaited their coming. 

Here are eight completed first-class rail- 
roads into Cairo, and the anticipations of the 
next few months are that the Chesapeake & 
Ohio Railroad will be added to the Cairo list 
of roads, and thus form a direct line from 
the city to the Atlantic Ocean at Norfolk, Va., 
making, by many miles, the most direct road 
to the seashore. The value of this line, if 
carried out as now contemplated, would be 
incalculable to the whole Mississippi Valley. 
It would compel the building of a direct rail- 
road from Cairo West to the Pacific coast, or 
at least to a connection with the Southern 
Pacific Railroad. The Cincinnati & Cairo 
Narrow Gauge Railroad is now in course of 
construction. The road will run direct from 
Cincinnati to Cairo, passing entirely across 
the southern portion of Indiana, and have a 
length of 220 miles. This will bring a rich 
portion of the country to the Cairo trade. 

The Toledo & St. Louis Narroiv Gauge is 
now completed, and the construction of a 
branch from some point in Shelby or Edgar 
County to Cairo is being rapidly pushed to 
completion. This important link is essential 
to the filling out of the great net-work of nar- 
row gauge roads that are now being completed 
from New York City to the City of Mexico. 

Thus may we not now hope that the 
commanding commercial position of Cairo 
will yet compel the making here of a great 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



217 



railroad and transportation and travel center, 
that nature evidently intended from the first 
it should become. At the least, here ia light 



and hope ahead for the people who have 
toiled and struggled and hoped so long and 
so faithfully. 



CHAPTER XL 



CONCLUSION— THE FUTURE OF 



THE CITY CONSIDEFED— HER PRESENT 
PRESENT CITY OFFICIALS, ETC. 



STATUS AND GROWTH— 



"While others may think of the times that are gone, 
They are bent by the years that are fast rolling on." 

A BRIEF retrospect, and a short sum- 
ming-up of Cairo as it is, will con- 
clude our account of its history; and in this 
retrospect we much wish we could answer, 
to our own satisfaction, the oft-repeated 
question that the people have propounded to 
us in regard to the future of the city: "What 
is the city's outlook?" No town site has 
been more especially favored by natui'e, and 
few, if any, have been so sorely afflicted with 
untoward circumstances. And often the most 
heroic exertions in her behalf, by some of 
her people here, have re- acted to the apparent 
real injury to the prospects of the place. 
Her foundation was laid in a South Sea Bub- 
ble, by a visionary, impracticable, banlcrupt 
corporation that gathered the first people 
here rapidly, and then tumbled over their 
own air castles and left the people in distress 
and despair. In a night, almost, a thrifty 
young city of 2,000 busy, bustling people 
was turned into an idle mob, wandering about 
the Ohio levee, and ready — and did attempt 
— to take by force the first steamer that 
touched at the wharf, and appropriate it to 
the purpose of taking the many workers, who 
bad been thrown out of employment, away 
from the place. The officers only saved their 
property by hastily drawing out into the 
stream. Then, after the levees were built, 



the waters came and washed them away, and 
drowned out the town, and gloom and desola- 
tion marked its tracks. But above, and perhaps 
far greater causes of evils that have beset Cairo 
all its life, and of which it is not yet wholly 
exempt, have been the corporate and private 
monopolies that have sucked out much of that 
vitality that it so much needed for its own 
development. It altogether impresses us 
with the fact, that the remarkable natiu'al 
wealth of advantages of the place have been 
among its misfortunes. As in some spots of 
the globe the wealth of soil, climate and 
vegetable and animal growth are so rank and 
profuse, that they overcome the energies of 
man, and remain a wilderness, the home of 
an unparalleled growth of vegetation, filled 
with ferocious beasts and poisonous insects. 
For instance, the wonderful laud of Brazil, 
in South America, a scope of country larger 
than the United States, and the richest in 
climate and soil in the world, so rich and so 
prolific, that it defies the puny arm of man 
to conquer and become the master of its riot 
of power in productiveness ol vegetable and 
animal life. From the very force and power of 
its abundance, it is made as uninhabitable as 
are the arid wastes of the sandy desert. In 
looking over the short life of the city, we 
cannot but be impressed with the fact that 
it has been one of its misfortunes in present- 
ing so many natural advantages as to tempt 



218 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



the schemers and the unscrupulous to com- 
bine and attempt to gather in to their own, 
benefits and advantages that were placed 
here by nature in quantities sufficient for al- 
most a young empire. Great cities in this 
country have not been built by corporations, 
backed ?by stringent or powerful laws of the 
State Legislatures. They need no combina- 
tions, companies or heavy capitali sts in their 
young and growing days. It wants only the 
free play of individual efibrt, where each 
business man may see a hope to realize 
wealth and position by his efforts, and to know 
that in such a struggle he will not be 
crushed by a public or private monopoly. 
Hence, Cairo's first calamity was a charter 
granted for its building. Cairo, and its past 
history, and its destiny, are singular subjects 
to contemplate. There is, looking from one 
standpoint, no reason why there should not 
be as many people and as much wealth here 
as there is in Chicago, and, turning to the 
other side of the picture, the wonder arises 
why the 10,000 people who are now here 
ever came, or stayed when they did come. 
It has demonstrated what many wise heads 
believed impossible, namely, the erection of 
levees and embankments that would protect, 
not only against the "highest known waters," 
but against the unparalleled floods of 1882 and 
1883. It has been the only diy land along 
the river, but it was an island in the waste 
of waters, and the overflow of the present year 
has demonstrated that it is not alone enough 
to keep the water out of the city, but the 
merchants and business men are now realiz- 
ing that they must keep up communication 
with the agricultural communities surround- 
ing the place, or business will stagnate, and 
hard times will come. Again, the levees 
have always presented vexatious questions, 
that were injurious because unsettled ques- 
tions. People have divided upon the policies 



to be pursued in reference to grading up the 
town and the levees, and continued that un- 
settled state of the public mind that has 
caused injury to the permanent growth and 
especially the manufacturing interests of the 
place. A world-wide misapprehension and 
a common stock-slander on the extreme South- 
ern Illinois, has been in regard to the 
healthfulness of this section of the country. 
To the citizens, there is the patent fact that 
there is no healthier place in the Mississippi 
Valley. The general appearance of the peo- 
ple, the overflow of the school rooms with 
ruddy, chubby-faced, happy children, tell the 
whole story as to the health of the people; 
but the traveler sees a pond of sipe water, 
the low, swampy land about the city, and, 
being impressed before he comes with the 
common slander, imagines he needs a medi- 
cated sponge tied over his nose in order 
that he may not breathe in death in passing 
hurriedly through the place, and 'he writes 
a letter to the great city paper, telling the 
world of the dangers that he passed, and the 
providential escape he made, in passing 
through Southern Illinois. It is immaterial 
what the health statistics may show, these 
the affrighted slanderer will not see, particu- 
larly as they give the lie direct to his manu- 
factured stories; but if they did, upon the 
contrary, show a great death rate here, then, 
indeed, would these tables be quoted and re- 
quoted the year round, in great, fat display 
type, that all the world might see, 

Cairo was the natural crossing point for 
the immigration and travel east and west, 
north and south. This point of crossing, in 
the center of the continent, was, by the war 
and pother untoward circumstances, moved 
300 miles north of this, and the south half 
of the Union, for commercial purposes, was 
wiped from the map of the country for a dec - 
ade or more, and the railroads built, and the 



HISTORY OF CAIRO. 



219 



cities sprung up, and commerce adjusted to 
this northern line, until it may now be for- 
ever impossible to change it. The very fact 
that Illinois penetrated, from the northern 
lakes, like a wedge, down into the Southern 
States, forming, as Daniel P. Cook argued, 
the keystone of the great union of States, 
has been turned, in the unfortunate quarrels 
of the late war, into a base whereon to place 
this end of the State in the same category, 
for the unholy sneers and slanders that were 
heaped upon all the South, and aided much 
in spreading her discredit world-wide. Then, 
the city is confronted with such questions 
as. Will the rivers continue to mark the 
flood line higher and higher, as has been the 
case the past two years ? If so, indeed, then, 
what of the morrow? It is urged that the 
constant improvement in draining that is 
going on north of us — tile draining, espe- 
cially — that in many places is becoming so 
universal, and to these are remembered the 
fact that the forests are being cleared away, 
and that these facts, added to the levees 
thrown up at many places as railroad beds, 
must cause the waters to continue to rise 
higher and higher, until, in the end, there 
will be no such things as fencing them out 
with embankments. There were features of 
the last flood that fail to bear out this rea- 
soning. The waters at Cincinnati were five 
feet higher than ever known; at Cairo, only 
a few inches. Then, the hope and purpose 
of the river improvement now going on is to 
deepen the bed of the river by narrowing 
the current in the shallow and wide places in 
the river, and increasing the current (it is 
claimed, upon experiments, that this deepen- 
ing can be made to an average of twelve 
feet), and this increase of current and depth 
of the river's bed must lower materially the 
flood line of any high waters that may come 
down the rivers. The unequaled advantages 



of Cairo for nearly all our manufacturing 
industries are beginning to be understood 
throughout the country. The accessions to 
the city in important factories in the 
past few years, show that shrewd men see 
here the best place in all the West to get the 
raw material and the machinery for its fash- 
ioning together, and then, when the article 
is made, with the easiest and best outlets 
to the markets of the world — transportation 
that can never combine or pool its business, 
to the detriment of the manufacturer or mer- 
chant. Then, why are not all the gi-eat 
manufacturing industries of the country rep- 
resented here, ci'owding the levees of the 
Ohio and Mississippi with their "flaming forges 
and flying spindles," and the roar and hum 
of machinery, and " the music of the hammer 
and the saw?" In short, why is not Cairo 
the great manufacturing city of America? 
Nature has offered illimitable bounties to 
bring them here; why have they not come? 
Perhaps each one can figure out for himself 
the why and the wherefore of this. We 
believe the reasons to be partially artificial 
(these might be removed), and partly natural. 
One thing we may truthfully say of Cairo 
and her surrounding countiy: The locality 
has never been advertised to the world. A 
tithe of the money wasted from time to time, 
if it had been judiciously invested in adver- 
tising the superior advantages of this sec- 
tion of country, would have brought many 
more people here than are now citizens. 
Men sit around, and croak about capital com- 
ing here. This is not the way cities are 
built; but it is the men starting in trade and 
commerce; men who are possessed, often, 
of small means and great activity and nerve, 
that come to a new place, perhaps commence 
business in a tent or shanty; that push 
along, and eventually erect great business 
houses, and great factories, and build rich 



230 



HISTORY or CAIRO. 



cities. The capitalists will only follow 
where these men have shown the way. 
We therefore think it probably an unwise act 
in the city authorities making so large a dis- 
trict of the city as the fire limits for build- 
ing purposes. It is very doubtful wisdom to 
obstruct the man of small means from build- 
ing. A town full of cheap houses is one of 
the best indications of coming prosperity. If 
they burn, they will take their insurance 
money, and only build a better grade of 
houses in the place of the old. The man 
wants all his money in his business, and it is 
only when he feels comparatively rich will 
he build fine or extensive establishments. 
To sum up the evils that have beset Cairo, 
we need only name the floods and fire, epi- 
demics and monopolies. These are her main 
grievances. To these may be added some 
mistaken legislation on the part of the city 
authorities, and particularly the grave mis- 
take of keeping the filling and grading ques- 
tions always open, and in an unsettled con- 
dition. This deters men from bu.ilding, as 
well as others from coming here and putting 
up extensive manufacturing and commercial 
establishments. 

It is better to settle it in some way, and let 
that be a permanent settlement. 

Cairo has passed her greatest trials, and 
whilst her triumph, even, has left her behind 
in the race with other cities that possessed 
hardly a tithe of her natural advantages, yet 



her prospects just now are far better than 
they have ever been before. She has a per- 
manent population; they are creating the 
wealth that some day will do much toward 
building here a city. The wholesale trade 
of the merchants has sprung up in a very 
few years, and if good wagon roads are made 
to all the surrounding country, and kept up, 
a few years will mark a splendid and solid 
advancement of the town. 

The social and intellectual activity of the 
community in recent years, is well indicated 
by a public free library, that is now prepar- 
ing a permanent and beautiful home for 
itself, and the two book and news stores of 
the city that are so largely patronized by 
the people, and the elegant and spacious 
Government Post Office and Custom House. 

The present city officials are Thomas 
W. Halliday, Mayor; Denis J. Foley, City 
Clerk; Charles, F. Nellis, Treasurer; L. H. 
Myers, Marshal; W. B. Gilbert, Corporation 
Counsel ; William E. Hendricks, City Attorney ; 
M. J. Howley, City Comptroller; A. Comings, 
Police Magistrate. Aldermen — First Ward, 
W^illiam McHale and Henry Walker ; Second 
Ward, Jesse Hinckle, C. N. Hughes; Third 
Ward, B. F. Blake, E. A. Smith; Fourth 
Ward, C. A. Patier, A. Swoboda; Fifth 
W^ard, Charles Lancaster, Henry Stout; 
Street Superintendent, Nicholas Devore; As- 
sistant Chief of Fire Department, Joseph 
Steagala. 




PAET II. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



'.\vi^ 




®x>^vxX.:' 



:-> W 




/tit^J^ieajc^ Lyi 



a^Ti^ey ■ 



PAKT II. 



iSTORY OF Union County, 



BY H. C. BRADSBY. 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION— GEOLOGY— IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATING THE PEOPLE ON THIS SUBJECT— THE 
LIMESTONE DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS— ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY OF UNION, ALEXANDER 
AND PULASKI COUNTIES— MEDICAL SPRINGS, BUILDING MATERIAL, SOIL, 
ETC.— WONDERFUL WEALTH OF NATURE'S BOUNTIES— TOPOG- 
RAPHY AND CLIMATE OF THIS REGION, ETC. 



History is philosophy teaching by example. 

THIS and the two succeeding chapters 
include the district composed of Union, 
Alexander and Pulaski Counties. The whole 
was once Union County, and the first three 
chapters bring the history down to the for- 
mation of Alexander County. 

For school purposes — for the purpose of 
giving the people a most important education 
in the practical life interests — there is no 
question of such deep interest as the geolog- 
ical history of that particular portion of the 
country in which they make their homes. 
The people of Southern Illinois are an agri- 
cultural one in their pursuits. Their first 
care is the soil and climate, and it is here 
they may find an almost inexhaustible fund 
of knowledge, that will ever put money in 
their purses. All mankind are deeply in- 
terested in the soil. From here comes all 
life, all beauty, pleasure, wealth and enjoy- 
ment. Of itself, it may not be a beautiful 



thing, but from it comes the fragrant llower, 
the golden fields, the sweet blush of the 
maiden's cheek, the flash of the lustrous eye 
that is more powerful to subdue the heart of 
obdurate man than an army with banners. 
From here comes the great and rich cities 
whose towers and temples and minarets kiss 
the early morning sun, and whose ships, with 
their precious cargoes, fleck every sea. In 
short, it is the nourishing mother whence 
comes our high civilization — the wealth of 
nations, the joys and exalted pleasures of 
life. Hence, the corner-stone upon which all 
of life rests is the farmer, who tickles the 
earth and it laughs with the rich harvests 
that so bountifully bless mankind. Who, 
then, should be so versed in the knowledge 
of the soil as the farmer? "What other infor- 
mation can be so valuable to him as the mas- 
tery of the science of the geology, at least that" 
much of it as applies to that part of the earth 
where he has cast his fortunes and cultivates 



226 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



the soil. We talk of educating the farmer, 
and ordinarily this means to send your boys 
to college, to acquire what is termed a class- 
ical education, and they come, perhaps, as 
graduates, as incapable of telling the geolog- 
ical story of the father's farm as is the 
veriest bumpkin who can neither read nor 
write. How much more of practical value it 
would have been to the young man had he 
never looked into the classics, and instead 
thereof had taken a few practical lessons in 
the local geology that would have told him 
the story of the soil around him, and enabled 
him to comprehend how it was formed, its 
different qualities and from whence it came, 
and its constituent elements. The farmer 
grows to be an old man, and he will tell you 
that he has learned to be a good farmer only 
by a long life of laborious experiments, and 
if you should tell him that these experiments 
had made him a scientific farmer, he would 
look with a good deal of contempt upon your 
supposed effort to poke ridicule at him. He 
has taught himself to regard the word 
" science" as the property only of book- worms 
and cranks. He does not realize that every 
step in farming is a purely scientific opera- 
tion, because science is made by experiments 
and investigations. An old farmer may ex- 
amine a soil, and tell you it is adapted to 
wheat or corn, that it is warm or cold and 
heavy, or a few other facts that his long ex- 
periments have taught him, and to that ex- 
tent he is a scientific farmer. He will tell 
you that his knowledge has cost him much 
labor, and many sore disappointments. Sup- 
pose that in his youth a well-digested chap- 
ter on the geological history, that would have 
told him, in the simplest terms, all about the 
land he was to cultivate, how invaluable the 
lesson would have been, and how much in 
money value it would have proved to him. 
In other words, if you could give youi' boys 



a practical education, made up of a few les- 
sons pertaining to those subjects that im- 
mediately concern their lives, how invaluable 
such an education might be, and how many 
men would thus be saved the pangs and pen- 
alties of ill-directed lives. .The parents often 
spend much money in the education of their 
children, and fi'om this they build great 
hopes upon their future, that are often 
blasted, not through the fault, always, of the 
child, but through the error of the parent in 
not being able to know in what i*eal, practi- 
cal education consists. If the schools of the 
country, for instance, could devote one of 
the school months in each year to rambling 
over the hills and the fields, and gathering 
practical lessons in the geology and botany 
of the section of country in which the chil- 
dren were born and reared, how incompar- 
ably more valuable and useful the time thus 
spent would be to them in after life, than 
would the present mode of shutting out the 
joyous sunshine of life, and expending both 
life and vitality in studying metaphysical 
mathematics, or the most of the other text- 
books that impart nothing that is worth the 
carrying home to the child's stock of knowl- 
edge. At all events, the chapter in a 
county's history that tells its geological for- 
mation is of first importance to all its people, 
and if properly prepared it will become a 
source of great interest to all, and do much 
to disseminate a better education among the 
people, and thus be a perpetual blessing to 
the community. 

The permanent effect of the soil on the 
people is as strong and certain as uj^on 
the vegetation that springs from it. It is a 
maxim in geology that the soil and its un- 
derlying rocks forecast unerringly to the 
trained eye the character of the people, the 
number and the quality of the civilization 
of those who will, in the coming time, occupy 



HISTORY OF UNIOX COUNTY. 



227 



it. Indeed, so close are the relations of 
the geology and the people, that this law is 
plain and fixed, that a new country may 
have its outlines of history written when first 
looked upon, and it is not, as so many sup- 
pose, one of those deep, abstruse subjects 
that are to be given over solely to a few great 
investigators and thinkers, and to the masses 
must forever remain a sealed book. The 
youths of your country may learn thd impor- 
tant outlines of the geology of their country 
with no more difficulty than they meet in 
mastering the multiplication table or th« 
simple rule of three. And we make no ques- 
tion that a youth need not 'possess one-half 
of the mental activity and shrewdness in 
making a fair geologist of himself that he 
would find was required of him to become 
a successful jockey or a trainer of retriever 
dogs. 

On the geological structure of a country 
depend the pui-saits of its inhabitants, and 
the genius of its civilization. Agriculture is 
the outgrowth of a fertile soil; mining results 
from mineral resources, and from navigable 
rivers spring navies and commerce. Every 
great branch of industry requires, for its 
successful development, the cultivation of 
kindred arts and sciences. Phases of life 
and modes of thought are thus induced, 
which give to different communities and 
states characters as various as the diverse 
rocks that underlie them. In like manner, 
it may be shown that their moral and intel- 
lectual qualities depend on materal con- 
ditions. Where the soil and subjacent rocks 
are profuse in the bestowal of wealth, man is 
indolent and effeminate; where effort is re- 
quired to live, he becomes enlightened and 
virtuous. A perpetually mild climate and 
bread-growing upon the trees, will produce 
only ignorant savages. The heaviest mis- 
fortune that has so long environed poor, per- 



secuted Ireland has been her ability to pro- 
duce the potato, and thus subsist wife and 
children upon a small patch of ground. 
Statistics tell us that the number of mar- 
riages are regulated by the price of corn, 
and the true philosopher has discovered that 
the invention of gunpowder did more to 
civilize the world than any one thing in its 
history. 

Geology traces the history of the earth 
back through successive stages of develop- 
ment, to its rudimental condition in a state 
of fusion. The sun, and the planetary sys- 
tem that revolves around it, were originally 
a common mass, that became separated in a 
gaseous state, and the loss of heat in a 
planet reduced it to a plastic state, and thus 
it commenced to write its own history, and 
place its records upon these imperishable 
books, where the geologist may go and x'ead 
the strange, eventful story. The earth was 
a wheeling ball of fire, and the cooling event- 
ually formed the exterior crust, and in thw 
slow process of time prepared the way for 
the animal and vegetable life it now contains. 
In its center the fierce flames still rage, with 
undiminished energy. Volcanoes are outL^ts 
for these deep-seated fires, where are gener- 
ated those tremendous forces, an illustration 
of which is given in the eruptions of Vesu- 
vius, which has thrown a jet of lava, resem- 
bling a column of flame, 10,000 feet high. 
The amount of lava ejected at a single erup- 
tion from one of the volcanoes of Iceland 
has been estimated afc 40,000,000,000 tons, a 
quantity sufficient to cover a large city with 
a mountain as high as the tallest Alps. Our 
world is yet constantly congealing, just as 
the process has been going on for billions of 
years, and yet the rocky crust that rests upon 
this internal fire is estimated to be only be- 
tween thirty and forty miles in thickness. 
In the silent depths of the stratified rocks 



228 



HISTOIiY OF UKION COUNTY. 



are the former creation of plants and ani- 
mals, which lived and died during the slow, 
dragging centui-iesof their formation. These 
fossil remains are fragments of history, 
which enable the geologist to extend his re- 
searches far back into the realms of the past, 
and not only determine their former modes 
of life, but study the contemporaneous his- 
tory of their rocky beds, and group them into 
systems. And such has been the profusion 
of life, that the great limestone formations 
of the globe consist mostly of animal re- 
mains, cemented by the infusion of animal 
matter. A large part of the soil spread over 
the earth's surface "has been elaborated in 
animal organisms. First, as nourishment 
it enters into the structure of plants, and 
forms vegetable ^tissue, passing thence, as 
food, into the animal it becomes endowed 
with life, and when death occurs it returns 
into the soil and imparts to it additional 
elements of fertility. 

The counties of Union, Alexander and Pu- 
laski contain an area of 812 square miles, em- 
bracing all that south end of the State from 
the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio 
River, extending north to the north line of 
Union, and from the Mississippi River to the 
east line of Pulaski County. 

The general trend of the line of uplift iin 
this section of country is from northwest to 
southeast, and the dip, with'some local vari- 
ations, is to the northeastward. Hence the 
escarpments on the south and west sides of 
the ridges are steeper and more rugged than 
those of the north and east. The river bluffs 
along the Mississippi are high and rockj% 
and are frequently cut up into ragged de- 
clivities and sharp summits, and are formed 
by the chert limestones of Upper Silurian 
and Devonian age, which constitute the more 
southern extension of the blufls into Alexan- 
der County. Commencing in the northeast- 



ern portion of Union County is a sandstone 
ridge, which forms the water-shed between 
the streams running northward into the Big 
Muddy, and those running south into the 
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This ridge 
presents a perpendicular escarpment on its 
southern face, indicating it was once a bluff 
to some river, although its course is nearly at 
right angles to the present water -courses. 
Its summit is formed by conglomerate sand- 
stone, and its base by the Lower Carbonif- 
erous limestone. South of this chain of 
bluffs, and extending along the line of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, from Cobden to 
the bottom-lands of Alexander County, is a 
broad belt of country underlaid by the Lower 
Carboniferous limestone, in which the ridges 
are less abrupt and the surface so gently 
rolling as to be susceptible of the highest 
cultivation. There are in this belt an abun- 
dance of most elegant springs, and this will 
some day be the great blue-grass district 
of Southern Illinois, that will equal in 
value, for dairy, sheep-growing and the 
production of line stock, the celebrated blue 
grass region of Kentucky, if it does not 
surpass it. All it wants to induce a spon- 
taneous growth of blue grass is for the un- 
dergrowth to be cleared up and put to past- 
ure. Here are water, soil, climate aud 
rocks that clearly indicate what must some 
day inevitably come. Men must come, or 
grow up here, who understand fully the geo- 
logical formations.of this belt, to make it one 
of the most beautiful, as well as the most 
productive, portions of the State. 

For nearly eighty years, the people have 
lived and farmed this land in their little 
patches of corn, wheat and oats, much after 
the fashion they would have managed their 
farms had they been in the woods of Tennes- 
see or 'Middle Illinois. Because they could 
do quite as well as their neighbors in this or 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



229 



the adjoining States, they have been content. 
They knew their land would produce wheat 
that would command a premium in all the 
markets of the world, and that their crops 
never totally failed, as they often did in 
other places, and they contentedly concluded 
it was exclusively a wheat-growing country. 
The intelligent geologist could have told 
them, two generations ago, that their won- 
derful soil was ^hotter adapted to that better 
farming where there are no such things as 
evil efifects from rains or droughts, early 
frosts or late springs; where wealth was 
absolutely certain, and where the profits and 
pleasures of farming would [make it one of 
the most elevating, refining and elegant piu-- 
suits of life; where life upon the farm was 
divested of that drudgery and um-equited toil 
that too often di'ive the young men from the 
farms to the even more wretched life of a pre- 
carious clerkship in the towns and villages. 
Farming is much as any of the other pursuits 
of life. A certain locality will make of the 
farmers thfe most elegant and refined of peo- 
ple, and their lives will be surrounded by the 
comforts and luxuries of the world. Their 
sons and daughters will attend the best 
schools, and will complete their education 
with travels in foreign countries, and thus 
attaining that refinement and culture that 
will make them the foremost people in the 
country. Fortunes are made cultivating 
wheat and corn, but only by the hardest work 
and closest economy, and such fortunes are 
generally gained at the expense of all self- 
culture among the families that thus work 
their way along their slow, heavy road. 
There are few things more pitiable in life 
than to go into a family where there is wealth 
and ignorant gi'eed combined — that mockery 
of all the civilizing influences that wealth 
should bring, and the stupid conviction that 
ignorance is adorned by a bank account, and 



gentility and sense are only intended for 
people who have no money. The truth is, 
wealth should always be a blessing to its pos- 
sessor; yet how generally is it a curse, be- 
cause its acquisition has been at the expense 
of that self-culture that the inexorable laws 
of nature require at every man's hands. 

The Lower Carboniferous limestone men- 
tioned above ab a belt extending nearly en- 
tirely across Union and through Alexander 
to the bottom lands above Cairo, extend into 
the northern and northwestern portions of 
Pulaski County, and forms gently sloping 
low hills, with a fertile soil, a rich, are- 
naceous loam. The hills, as is the case in 
Union and Alexander Counties, are covered 
with heavy timber, consisting principally of 
white oak, black oak, pignut hickory, scaly- 
bark hickory, yellow poplar, black gum, 
black walnut and dogwood. They slope 
generally to the southwest, in the direction 
of the nearest stream. 

The rich river bottoms along the Missis- 
sippi are of an average of nearly five miles 
in width, and are as rich in vegetable food 
as is the valley of the celebrated Nile in 
Egypt. The bottoms were originally covered 
with forest trees that often attained to enor- 
mous size. Except that these bottoms are 
subject to overflow at high stages of water 
in the river, there would be no farms in the 
world more productive than would here be 
found . 

The main body of the upland of Pulaski 
County, between Cache and the Ohio Rivers, 
is underlaid with Tertiary strata, and may 
be called oak barrens. They consist of al- 
ternations gently sloping, more or less sharp- 
ly rolling or broken ridges. Their soil is a 
yellow finely arenaceous loam, which extends 
to a considerable depth. The growth in the 
central portion, and extending nearly 
through the whole width of the county, is 



2:!C 



IIISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



characterized by an abundance of small, 
brushy, bitter oak, an upland variety of the 
Spanish oak, a tree which is hardly found 
anywhere farther north, and replaces the 
black oak and fblack jack. The bitter oak 
usually forms a dense underbrush, together 
with an abvindance of hazel, sassafras and 
sumac, with some white oak, black oak 
barren hickory, pignut hickory, black 
gum, and in some places small yellow poplar. 
These oak barrens are only now beginning 
to be understood. They were called the 
" barrens," and the name indicated all the 
people supposed they were good for as agricult- 
ural lands. Thrifty settlers avoided them, 
and the coon-skin tribe of early settlers were 
too often ready to adopt these unfavorable 
judgments of these lands, and offer that as 
an excuse for their own laziness and igno- 
rance of a soil that was really very strong in 
all the elements of fertility, and capable of 
being made the rich garden spot of Illinois. 
But the 1 past decade has . brought a revela- 
tion to this valuable part of the State, and a 
new style of farming has rapidly taken the 
place of the old, and the farmers are learn- 
ing that for wheat their country is unap- 
proachable; that their crops never fail, and 
there is hardly anything, either of the North 
or the South, but that they can produce to 
great profit. A "^single instance may suffice 
to ilhistrate our meaning. Only three or 
four years ago an enterprising farmer, sim- 
ply because he was too poor to buy teams 
and the modern expensive agricultural imple- 
ments, planted sweet potatoes. The yield 
was over three hundred [bushels to the acre, 
and these he sold for $4 per barrel. This 
chance experiment taught the people that 
they could raise sweet potatoes in as great 
abundance, and of as fine quality, as could 
be produced anywhere, and the profits of 
this crop were simply immense. Sweet pota- 



toes are now a staple product of Pulaski 
County, and in a few years, we make no 
doubt, the yield will be very large. 

There are no true coal-bearing rocks in the 
limits of the three counties of Union, Alex- 
ader and Pulaski, and hence there is no rea- 
sonable expectation of finding extensive or 
paying deposits of coal. From time to time, 
much labor has been expended in digging 
for coal west of Jonesboro, in the black slate 
of the Devonian series; but as this slate lies 
more than a thousand feet below the horizon 
of any true coal -bearing strata, the labor and 
means so expended were only in vain. There 
are some thin streaks of coal, but it only ap- 
pears locally, as it is interstratified with the 
shales of the Chester series; but it has 
never been found so developed as to be of 
any practical value. 

The brown Hematite ore exists in Union 
and the upper portions of Alexander and the 
northwestern part j^of Pulaski, but so far no 
deposit of this kind has been discovered suffi- 
ciently extensive and free from extraneous 
matter to justify mining it and erecting 
furnaces for its reduction, and the iron ore 
is generally so intermingled with chert, that 
its per cent of metallic iron is small. 

The sulphuretof lead, or galena, has been 
found in small quantities in the cherty lime- 
stones of the Devonian series. On Huggins 
Creek, on the southwest quarter of Section 1 , 
Township 11, Range 3 west, it has been 
found near Mr. Gregory's. The galena 
occurs here, associated with calcspar, filling 
small pockets in the rock. If this ore is 
ever found in quantities in this portion of 
Illinois, it will be in pockets, and it is very 
doubtful if it will ever be discovered in suffi- 
cient quantities to pay for the digging. 

An excellent article of potter's clay occurs 
in many localities in the three counties. In 
Section 2, Town 12 south, Range 2 west, a very 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



231 



fine white pipe-clay is found, which is used 
by Mr. Kirkpatrick, of Anna, for the manu- 
facture of common' stone- ware, by mixing 
with a common clay found near the town of 
Anna. This pipe-clay is nearly white in 
color, with streaks of pui'ple through it, and 
appears, from its colors, to have been derived 
from the striped shales known locally in this 
part of the State as " calico rock. " Except 
for the coloring matter which it contains, this 
clay seems to be of a quality suited for the 
manufacture of a fine article of white ware. 
The clays of the Tertiary formation are found 
in abundance, and they are valuable for the 
manufacture of potter's ware, and for years 
one variety has been in use at Santa F6. It 
is of a gray color, and is sufficiently mixed 
with sand to be used without any farther ad- 
dition of that material. Before burning, the 
ware is washed with the white clay, to im- 
prove its color, and the inside of the vessel 
is washed with Mississippi mud to improve 
the glazing. The white clays near Santa F6 
are supposed to be well adapted to the man- 
ufactm'e of white ware, but they have not 
been properly tested. The white clays result 
from the decomposition of the siliceous beds 
of the Devonian series. The Devonian sand- 
stone found in the northeast portion of Un- 
ion County is often quite pure and free from 
coloring matter, and is well adapted to the 
manufacture of glass. 

Those portions of Pulaski and Union 
County that are underlaid with limestone 
have a rich, light, warm soil, which yields 
the most ample rewards for the labor be- 
stowed upon it. The southern latitude makes 
it favorable to nearly every crop that has 
ever been tried upon it, and almost every 
year experiments show that its range of pro- 
duction is most extensive. Many years ago, 
it was discovered that all this portion of Illi- 
nois was fertile in the yield of peaches, 



apples and the small fniits, and lately it has 
demonstrated that in all garden vegetables it 
was unsurpassed, and just now it is coming 
to light that the barren ridges promise the 
best results, the yellow loam being one of 
the finest and most inexhaustible soils in the 
world. On the wide bottoms of Cache River 
is found very superior land, as is indicated 
by the timber growth upon it. The low bot- 
tom ridges or swells have a black, sandy soil, 
which is more or less mixed with clay^ and 
they produce most bountifully. They are 
above the flood level, but are surrounded by 
low lands, which are wet and often impassable 
and frequently overflowed. One difficulty in 
these bottom ridges is pui-e, healthy water, 
but this defect could be supplied by cisterns. 
The low lands are very rich, are also very 
fertile, but somewhat heavy soil. In the 
course of time these will become very valu- 
able. The timber is heavy, and is being 
rapidly cut out to supply the extensive saw 
mills on the railroads and Cache River. The 
removal of the timber has a drying effect on 
the soil, and places which a few years ago 
were continuous swamps are now becoming 
dry, and are capable of gi-owing fine crops of 
corn. This influence will be more and more 
felt as time goes on, and once the channel of 
the river is cleared of obstructions, and the 
soil is broken with the plow, large stretches 
of now swamp land will be reclaimed and 
converted into a tine agricultural district. 
With this will be correspondingly improved 
the health of that part of the country. Some at- 
tempts have been made to drain the extensive 
cypress swamps of Pulaski County, as well 
as in Alexander and Union Counties. Some 
years ago, a ditch was cut from Swan's Pond, 
situated in Sections 22, 23, 26 and 27, Town- 
ship 14, Range 2 east, to Post Creek, which 
empties into Cache River, in order to dry 
the pond; but those who planned the 'work 



232 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



were incompetent engineers; the necessary 
preliminary levelings seem not to have been 
execut^id at all, or badly exncuted; for when 
the ditch was completed, it conducted the 
water the wrong way — that is, from the river 
to the pond, instead of from the pond to the 
river. Accurate topographical surveys would 
readily point out a way to drain the swamp 
lands of the Cache River, and thus reclaim 
a very large and rich agricultural section. 
All over this district is found a soil from 
three feet to one hundred feet in depth, that 
will never be exhausted by the husbandman. 
In even the uplands and in the oak barrens 
the subsoil, when taken from a depth of fif- 
teen or twenty feet, needs but a short time to 
mellow and then produces nearly as well as 
the surface soil. The richness of the land, 
and the wonderful store of elements of fertil- 
ity can, therefore, not be doubted. All that 
is needed is to keep it stirred, and as the 
skimmed surface is exhausted simply culti- 
vate a little deeper, and here is a bank 
against which the farmer may draw his 
checks that will always be honored. There 
is a just mixture of sand in the upland soils 
that makes them warm, rich and porous, caus- 
ing them to produce an unlimited variety of 
vegetation, to defy the droughts as well as 
the drowning rains. Hence the too little 
known fact that two years ago, when an un- 
usually diy summer followed a wet spring, 
the crops in nearly all the Mississippi Valley 
failed, and yet the wheat and corn in the 
oak barrens of Pulaski County produced a 
good average crop. Corn, we are told by rep- 
utable farmers in that district, was raised 
that produced forty bushels to the acre, that 
was rained on only once between planting 
and maturity. No industrious farmer need 
be afraid to trust such a soil with his labor; 
he may be certain of being repaid, with 
large interest; but the tendency to cultivate 



over-large tracts, slovenly, proves injurious 
to the land, and this great mistake has 
caused many to misjudge the land, and even 
pronounce it of inferior quality. Here is a 
wonderful and only partially developed coun- 
try, destined, some time, to be the most 
valuable spot on the contineat; capable of 
producing tobacco, cotton, sweet potatoes, 
fruits, garden vegetables, corn, wheat and 
blue grass ; supplied with magnificent springs 
abundantly; the Mecca of the coming farmer; 
the home of blooded stock of all kinds, and 
eventually a race of people who may take 
their places in the front ranks of the splendid 
civilization of the Western Hemisphere. The 
shiftless half farmer, half coon-skin hunter, 
and the slave of ignorance and a life of mis- 
guided toil, disease and suffering, will pass 
away, as have the red wild men of the forest, 
and here will take their places a type of re- 
finement, intelligence, cultui'e, enterprise, 
wealth and comfort that produces the noblest 
races of men and women. Nature's bounties 
have been poured out upon this land in 
boundless profusion, and the evil, so far, has 
only come from the plethora of ignorance 
that has tried in vain to utilize this excess 
of nature's rich profusion, and this has often 
given griefs and pain where only should have 
come the promised joys. It will, at the 
rate intelligence has progressed since the 
dawn of history, be a long time yet, perhaps, 
before ignorance ceases to afflict mankind. 
And it should be borne in mind, that all 
pains in this world are the penalties we pay 
to ignorance. It is hardly possible for a pang 
to come from any other source. The most of 
us are incapable of understanding or inves- 
tigating nature's laws. Hence, we come 
into the world law-breakers, and thus make 
of this otherwise bright and beautiful and 
joyous home a penal colony for the children 
of men, where we war and struggle for exist- 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



233 



ence, and suffer long and die, and the fitful 
fever is over, and the unchangeable and in- 
exorable laws of God go on, exactly as they 
have always gone on without beginning, and 
as they will forever without ending. 

Building Stone and Marble. — The whole 
southern extremity of Illinois has an abun- 
dant supply of superior building stone, and 
some day the quarries will be properly 
opened, and then the amount and quality of 
the material they will afford will be better 
known. Eere will then be a vast and profit- 
able industry developed. First in impor- 
tance, perhaps, not only from the thickness 
of the formation, and consequently the large 
amount of material it will afford, is the 
Trenton Limestone, which has outcropped 
more extensively on the river bluffs below 
Thebes than anywhere else. This formation 
is about seventy feet in thickness above the 
low water level of the river, and consists of 
white and bluish-gray limestone, partly in 
heavy beds of from two to three feet in thick- 
ness. It is generally free from siliceous or 
ferruginous matter, can be easily cut into any 
desired form, and is susceptible of a high 
polish, and is adapted to various uses as a 
marble. It has been extensively quarried at 
Cape Girardeau, since the earliest settlement 
of the country, both for lime and for the 
various purposes for which a fine building 
stone is required, and is widely known and 
appreciated as the "Capo Girardeau Marble" 
along the river. For the construction of 
fine buildings and the display of elaborate 
architectural designs, this rock has no su- 
perior in the West. 

The mottled beds of the Upper Silurian 
series consists of hard, compact limestone, 
and are susceptible of a fine polish, and 
make a beautiful marble. The prevailing 
colors are red, buff and gray, varying some- 
what at different localities. The rock is some- 



what siliceovis, and conseqitently harder to 
work than the white limestone of the Trenton 
group, but it ;will, no doubt, retain a tine 
polish much longer than a softer material, 
and the varieties of colors which it affords 
renders it well adapted to many uses as an 
ornamental stone, for which the other woald 
not be required. These mottled layers vary 
from ten to twenty feet in thickness, and 
can be most economically quarried where 
the overlying strata have been removed by 
erosion. For table-tops, mantels, etc., this 
is one of the handsomest rocks at present 
found in the country. 

The St. Louis limestone affords a good 
building material, especially the upper and 
lower divisions. At the quarries west of 
Jonesboro, the rock is a massive, nearly 
white, limestone, free from chert, and 
dresses well, and in a dry wall will prove to 
be dui'able, but splits when used for curbing, 
or whenever it is subject to the action of 
water and frost. The middle of this division 
is a dark gray cherty limestone, that might 
answer well for rough walls, but would not 
dress well, in consj^quence of the cherty mat- 
ter so generally disseminated through it. 
The upper division of this stone quarried 
east of Anna, is a light gray, massive lime- 
stone, tolerably free from chert, and in qual- 
ity similar to the quarry rock just west of 
Jonesboro. 

The best limestone for the manufacture of 
quicklime, is found in the upper portion of 
the St. Louis group, and is extensively quar ■ 
ried in the eastei-n part of Anna Precinct, 
and in the edge of the village of Anna, 
where several kilns are constantly in opera- 
tion. The rock is a crystalline, and partly 
oolitic, light-gray limestone, nearly a pure 
carbonate of lime in its composition, and 
makes a fine, white lime, similar in quality 
to the Alton lime, made from the same for- 



234 



HISTORY OF UNIOX COUNTY 



mation. Mncli of Central and Southern Illi- 
nois and the South is supplied from these 
kilns. The supply of this stone is almost in- 
exhaustible. 

The Thebes sandstone affords an excellent 
dimension stone and material adapted to the 
construction of foundation walls, culverts, 
etc. It dresses well, and is durable. Some 
of the beds are of suitable thickness, and 
make good flagstones. All these beds out- 
crop along the banks and in the vicinity of 
the Mississippi River, and consequently may 
be made available, at a small cost, to all the 
lower c<>u.ntry bordering on the Mississippi 
River that is destitute of such material, 
which is the case with the entire country 
from Cairo to New Orleans. 

Millstones. — The enormous masses of chert 
Tock contained in the Clear Creek limestones 
afford, at some points, a buhi- stone that ap- 
pears to be nearly equal, if not quite equal, 
in quality to the celebrated French buhr 
stones so extensively used for millstones in 
this country. Some of the specimens ob- 
tained here seem to possess the requisite 
hardness and porosity, and some millstones 
have been obtained from ithe chert beds of 
Bald Knob that are said to have answered 
a good purpose, and have been vised in the 
neighboring mills. But these were made 
from the rock that had been long exposed at 
the surface, .and perhaps were not taken from 
the best part of that; while the beds lying 
beyond the reach of atmospheric influences 
have not been tested. 

Grindstones. — Some of the evenly-bedded 
sandstones of the Chester group, and es- 
pecially the lower beds of the series, are fre- 
quently developed in thin, even layers, that 
could be readily manufactured into grind- 
stones. The rock has a fine, sharp grain^ 
and if too soft when freshly quarried, would 
harden sufficiently on exposure to give them 



the necessary durability. Some beds of the 
conglomerate sandstone also have a sharp 
gi'it, and when sufficiently compact in text- 
ure and even bedded will make good grind- 
stones. 

Mineral Springs, at Western Saratoga, in 
Union County, were widely known as far back 
as the recollection of man reaches in this sec- 
tion. In the early times, it was a noted 
" deer lick," and the deer would gather here 
in great numbers to quench their thirst and 
feed at their " licks." It was a noted Indian 
camping-ground, where they would come and 
hunt. That the waters possessed mineral 
properties was known to the earliest settlers, 
and as early as 1830 people began visiting 
the place from Jonesboro and the country 
north to Kaskaskia. In 1838, Dr. Penoyer, 
who, perhaps, had lived in Union County 
some little time, purchased a tract of 160 
acres, and proceeded to lay out a city, of 
which the springs were to form the center, 
and gave it the name of Saratoga. Penoyer 
made the mistake of platting his town and 
dedicating, in its center, a square to the 
public, and this precluded any one from tak- 
ing hold of it and developing it as it de- 
served. Another error, that was fatal to the 
development of the place, was placing upon 
the lots so high a price that no one felt they 
could afford to invest. However, about 1840, a 
man named Bi'adley purchased a small tract, 
and erected a boarding-house. This stood 
until 1878, when it was burned. Dr. Penoyer 
and a man named Harkness, whom the Doc- 
tor had associated with him, built a bath- 
ing-house, about forty rods from the spring, 
and connected with it by a series of pipes. 
This bathing-house was about one hundred 
feet long and nine feet wide. This was used 
for some time, but gradually falling into dis- 
use it rotted down. As long as people could 
get accommodation, they flocked here in great 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



230 



numbers. They came from all directions, 
but especially from the Southern States, Mis- 
souri, Mississippi and Louisiana. For many 
summers, the boarding-houses, and all who 
would accommodate boarders, had all and 
more than they could accommodate, and 
many were sometimes turaed back by learn- 
ing they could not get accommodations. The 
price of lots still continued exorbitantly 
high, and so wretched were the meager ac- 
commodations, people ceased to come, and 
the place fell into decay. A spring-house, 
which was under way, was left to its fate un- 
finished, and the timbers now lie around the 
spring in a decaying condition. When too 
late, the Doctor discovered his mistake, and 
had what he called a deed from the public to 
himself made, conveying the spring back to 
himself. This curious document was signed 
by the' visitors who, from time to time, were 
attracted to the place, and, as legal wisdom 
spread among the people, it eventually came 
to be looked upon as fraudulent. Armed 
with this document, the Doctor set about try- 
ing to sell the springs. He made a sale to a 
St. Louis and also to a Chicago firm, but 
when, in each case, the abstract of title was 
made out, the trade fell through. At present 
the springs are uncared-for in the public 
square, and at times the wayfarer comes, 
drinks of the Pool of Siloam, and is benefit- 
ed. Over one-half of the original town plat, 
including the park, lies in the farm of Mr. 
Taylor Dodd. The remainder is owned by 
a few of the older inhabitants, most of whom 
look forward to better times coming for the 
place. Dr. T. J. Rich resides upon part of 
the old town plat, and cultivates liis fruit 
trees where once it was intended to erect 
large brick, stone and iron houses. 

The property is located in Section 1, 
Township 12 south. Range 1 west. It is a 
tolerably strong sulphur water, and contains 



sulphureted hydrogen, a small quantity of 
sulphate of lime, carbonate of soda, chloride 
of sodium, and, perhaps, a little alumina and 
magnesia. The water is said to be a specific 
for dyspepsia and chronic diseases of the 
skin. It is also said to be beneficial in cases 
of scrofula. The water is strongest during 
the dry season of the year, being then less 
aifected Jby the admixture of surface water. 

Dr. Penoyer seems to have been a poor 
manager, and yet the waters were shipped 
and sold by him, in quantities, to many parts 
of the country. For some years he made a 
practice of boiling it down and bottling and 
peddling it about the country, and shipping 
to those wanting it at a distance. 

In conversation with Dr. T. J. Rich, the 
following additional facts were learned; The 
chief ingredients of the water are soda, sul- 
phuret, patash and traces of iron and iodine. 
The odor which is noted upon drinking the 
water is caused by the presence of sulphuret 
of hydrogen; this is said to pass away entire- 
ly when the water is allowed to stand an 
hour or two. 

The Doctor's method of boiling the water 
was to take 100 gallons, and boil it until 
only one" remained. This one gallon was 
quite thick, and tasted like soft soap-suds, 
or very strong soda-water. It was about the 
time that the Doctor was engaged in making 
this medicine, probably about 1850, that 
there was an epidemic of ^ flux. It was very 
fatal, and the physicians gave up many cases, 
which Dr. Penoyer was able to cure with his 
medicine, in every instance in which it was 
given a fair trial. 

That the water contains ingredients that 
are full of sl,rong curative powers in many of 
the human ailments, is beyond all reasonable 
doubt, and nothing shoi-t of Dr. Penoyer' s 
folly could have prevented this place from 
long ago becoming one of the most noted 



236 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



health rpsorts in the country. In many 
chronic ailments, and in all skin diseases, 
and for old sores, it has, in so many in- 
stances, and unfailingly, cured, that it may 
be said to be a specific. 

Road Material. — An inexhaustible amount 
of the very best material for the construction 
of turnpike or common roads, abounds on all 
the watercourses that intersect the uplands 
of this district, and is derived from the 
cherty limestones of the Upper Silurian and 
Devonian age. It consists of a brown flint 
or chert, finely broken for use, and occurs 
abundantly, filling the valleys of the small 
streams that intersect the limestones above 
named. This has been used at St. Louis for 
the manufacture of "concrete stone," and is 
found equal to the best English flint for this 
purpose. The material with which' this ex- 
periment was made was obtained in Union 
County, bat it differs in no way from the flint 
found in Pulaski and Alexander Counties. 

Next to the immense deposits of coal, the 
St. Louis limestone is reckoned one of the 
most important formations. It receives its 
name from the city where its lithological 
character was first studied. Imbedded in 
its layers are found Crinoids,* in a profusion 
found nowhere else in the world. Though 
untold ages have elapsed since their incar- 
ceration in the I'ocks, so perfect has been 
their preservation, their structure can be de- 
termined with almost as much precision as 
if they had perished but yesterday. 

The soil was originally formed by the de- 
composition of rocks. These, by long ex- 
posure to the air, water and frost, became 
disintegrated, and the comminuted material 
acted upon by vegetation, forms the fruitful 
mold of the surface. When of local origin, 
it varies in composition with changing ma- 

* Crinoidea — An order of lily-shaped marine animals. They 
generally grow attached to the bottom of tlie sea by a pointed stem, 
analagous to the growth of plants. 



terial from which it is derived. If sand- 
stone prevails, it is too porous to retain fer- 
tilizing agents; if limestone is in excess, it 
is too hot and dry, and if slate predominates, 
the resulting clay is too wet and cold. 
Hence, it is only a combination of these and 
other ingredients that can properly adapt the 
earth to the growth of vegetation. Happily 
for nearly all the Mississippi Valley, the 
origin of its surface formations precludes the 
possibility of sterile extremes arising from 
local causes. And these causes are more 
abundant in the south end of Illinois than 
in probably any other place in the great val- 
ley. The surface of the country is a stratum 
of drift, formed by the decomposition of 
every variety of rock in its distribution. 
This immense deposit, varying from fifteen 
to two hundred feet in thickness, requires 
for its production physical conditions which 
do not exist now. We must go far back in 
the history when the polar world was 
a desolation of icy wastes. From these 
dreary realms of enduring frosts, vast 
glaciers, reaching southward, dipped into the 
waters of an inland sea, extending over a 
large ^part of the Upper Mississippi Valley. 
The ponderous masses, moving southward 
with an irresistible power, tore immense 
bowlders from their parent ledges and in- 
corporated them in their structure. By 
means of these, in their further progress, 
they grooved and planed down the subjacent 
rocks, gathering up and carrying with them 
part of the abraded material, and strewing 
their track, for hundreds of miles, with the 
remainder. On reaching the shore of the in- 
terior sea, huge icebergs were projected from 
their extremities into the waters, which, 
melting as they floated into the warmer lati- 
tudes, distributed the detrital matter they 
contained over the bottom. Thus, long be- 
fore the plains of Illinois clanked with the 



HISTORY OF UNIOX COUNTY 



237 



din of railroad trains, these ice-formed navies 
plowed the seas in which they were sub- 
merged, and distributed over them cargoes 
of soil-producing sediment. No mariner 
walked their crystal decks to direct their 
course, and no pennon, attached to their glit- 
tering masts, trailed in the winds that urged 
them forward; yet they might, perhaps, have 
sailed under flags of a hundred succeeding em- 
pires, each as old as the present nationalities 
of the earth, during the performance of their 
labors. This splendid soil-forming deposit 
is destined to make Illinois the great center 
of American wealth and population. Per- 
haps no other country of the saoie extent on 
the face of the globe can boast a soil so 
ubiquitous in its distribution, and so univer- 
sally productive. And here, on the southern 
point of land that forms the extreme South- 
ern Illinois, is a soil enriched to an extraor- 
dinary depth by all the minerals in the crust 
of the earth, and it contains an unequaled 
variety of the constituents of plant food. 
Since plants differ so widely in the elements 
of which they are composed, this multiplic- 
ity of composition is the means of growing a 
great variety of crops, and the amount pro- 
duced is correspondingly large. So gi'eat is 
the fertility that years of continued cultiva- 
tion do not materially diminish the yield, 
and should sterility be induced by excessive 
working, the subsoil can be made available. 
The cultivation of the soil in all ages has 
furnished employment for the largest and 
best portions of mankind; yet the honor to 
which they are entitled has never been fully 
acknowledged. Though their occupation is 
the basis of national prosperity, and upon its 
progress more than any other branch of in- 
dustry, depends the march of civilization, yet 
its history remains, to a great extent, un- 
written. Historians duly chronicle the feats 
of the wan'ior who ravages the face of the 



earth and beggars its inhabitants, but leaves 
unnoticed the labors of him who causes the 
desolated country to bloom again, and heals, 
with balm of plenty, the miseries of war. 
When true worth is duly recognized, instead 
of the mad ambition which subjugates na- 
tions to acquire power, the heroism which 
subdues the soil and feeds the world will be 
the theme of the poet's song and the orator's 
eloquence. 

The counties of Union, Alexander and 
Pulaski form the extreme south end of the 
State, occupying nearly all that point of land 
south of the grand chain that extends across 
the lower end of the State, and are in height 
from 500 to 700 feet, and that make a strong 
line of difference in the geological forma- 
tions that extend to the bottom lands near 
Cairo, as well as exercising a strong influ- 
ence upon the meteorological changes that 
occur in this district. The timber, soil, 
drainage and climate of this district cannot 
be excelled. Nature has strewn here rich 
and inexhaustible, and formed a land capable 
of sustaining a greater population to the 
area than any other district in the country. 
When cultivated and tended, as it will be 
some day, to its full capacity, there is more 
dollars per acre here than, perhaps, in any 
other spot on the globe. Only think for a 
moment, it is no experiment to make fi-om 
$300 to $500 net on a single acre of ground, 
and that, too, on land that you can buy at 
from $5 to $20 per acre. It is, too, most 
fortunately situated as to markets. Markets 
that can never be overstocked are at your 
door; at least, so near at .hand that transpor- 
tation is merely nominal. Cincinnati, 
Chicago and St. Louis, in fact all the North, 
and especially the growing giant, the North- 
west Mississippi Valley, whose climate will 
make it always come here as the best of cus- 
tomers, and then there is the entire South, 



23 8 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



to the Gulf, that will be perpetual customers 
for all your corn, hay, flour and all domestic 
animals, with railroads to take the perish- 
able goods ;vith dispatch to their destination, 
and both railroad and the great rivers to take 
the bulky and more durable stuff to all the 
world. The climate alone is an incalculable 
fortune, a perennial fountain of gold, as it 
combines the advantages of the North and 
the South, enabling you to produce the ear- 
liest fruits and vegetables of all descriptions, 
thus putting you in the market when com- 
petition is impossible, and at the same time 
you can grow, to the best advantage, not only 
winter wheat, but all the cereals, as well as 
compete with any spot in the country in rais- 
ing of all kinds of stock. Then, too, you are 
equally fortunate in the topography of your 
county, both for tillage and for health. The 
hills, undulations and rolling bottom lands 
giving you the very best natural drainage, and 
here you will be equally blest with health 
and rugged, happy people, as soon as the 
heavy timbers in the bottoms and near the 
lakes are a little more cut off, and the pene- 
trating sunlight, as it always has done and 
always will, drives away all malaria and 
miasma. Your excellent natural drainage 
will protect you from the drowning spring 
waters that so often visit the central and 
northern portions of the State, and this very 
drainage will be almost a specific against the 
drouths that sometimes visit nearly all por- 
tions of our country with such a heavy hand. 
Thfse truths about Southern Illinois 
should be widely disseminated. Only see 
what wonders have been performed by the 
railroads in peoj^ling the treeless, windy, 
dry, grasshopper regions that were once 
known as the Great American Desert. That 
land of alkali, sage-brush, coyotes, cow- boys, 
scalping Indians and desolate dogtowns. 
Th«y blew their horns, and cried aloud from 



the housetops; they advertised, spent thou- 
sands of dollars, and have been repaid in 
millions. Here is the difference: Northenr 
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska are situ- 
ated in the natural line of travel for the old 
Eastern States, and for that wonderful tide 
of immigration poui'ing constantly into this 
counti'y from Europe, thus this part of Illi- 
nois has had her light, so far as emigration 
was concerned, hid under a bushel. Her 
unapproachable sources of wealth and her 
incomparable beauties and advantages have 
been unseen and unheeded. 

But little or nothing has ever been done to 
remedy this evil. On the 9th of last Decem- 
ber, a meeting was held in Cairo, composed 
of representative men from Alexander, Jack- 
son, Johnson, Massac, Perry, Pulaski, Will- 
iamson and Union Counties, to consider the 
question of organizing an Emigration Society 
for Southern Illinois. They concluded to 
organize under the corporation law of the 
State, with a capital stock of $10,000. They 
seemed to realize it as a fact, known to all 
intelligent people in Southern Illinois, that 
we have suffered grievously from wrong im- 
pressions, years ago spread abroad over the 
country, with regard to our climate, soil and 
general material conditions, the consequences 
of which are, we have not attracted the at- 
tention of immigrants that our merits de- 
served, and these proiuoters of a community's 
wealth and prosperity have passed this sec- 
tion by and gone West, and fared infinitely 
worse. They go into the arid wastes of the 
West, and suffer untold hardships. The 
facts are, there is not an emigrant that em- 
barks foi" America that has ever heard of 
Southern Illinois; but he puts on his hob- 
nailed shoes and starts for the laud of free- 
dom and hope, in the firm conviction that 
Nebraska, Kansas and the Texas Pan-Handle 
are the real United States — the land of peace, 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



23 9 



plenty, hope and happiness. His pockets 
are stuffed with glowing literature extolling 
these places, and the cunning railroads have 
hired the most brilliant writers to picture, in 
flowing and fascinating terms, these places 
that catch the swift-coming tide of immigra- 
tion. If the outside world does hear anything 
from this favored and incomparable section of 
country, it is the cheap stock-slander about 
" EgyP^ ^^^ i^'S darkness and ignorance," 
until frightened simpletons, who swallow 
those slanders, are tempted to travel out of 
their way, in order to not pass through this 
section of " ignorant barbarians. " A silly 
lie can always outtravel the truth, particu- 
larly when the slandered community treat the 
slander with silent contempt, and make no 
effort to correct the story and present the 
facts. This outside prejudice against this 
section must be overcome, and the truth dis- 
seminated in its place. Why, if you could, 
by some magic, transport this part of Illi- 
nois, with every physical fact surrounding, 
exactly as the facts now exist, the soil, the 
production, the facilities for markets, the 
health, the climate, everything, in fact, ex- 
actly as it is, except the removal, to the 
northern or middle portion of the State, the 
land that now sells for $10 or $15 per acre, 
could not, in three months after the change 
in locality, and with no other change, mark 
you, be bought for $500 per acre, no, nor for 
$1,000 per acre. And then, in a very few 
years. Cook County would be the only county 
in the State that would equal this section in 
population. Immigrants going to a new coun- 
try are much like a flock of sheep crossing a 
fence. They follow the bell-sheep without 
looking to the right or left. Of course, there- 
fore, it is more difficult to aiTest their atten- 
tion now, and to show them that they are 
sadly deceived, and are passing by, in ignor- 
ance, the most favored spot on earth, and 



going to not the most favored place, even, 
in this Western country. We see the poor- 
est country in America, exactly like a quack 
doctor, can grow great and prosperous, and 
smile at its betters, by simply advertising 
itself — using printer's ink. This is the 
magic ring — the Aladdin's lamp that brings 
wealth and prosperity to its friends and pa- 
trons. The ubiquitous, restless, dashing, 
energetic, audacious and tireless Yankee of 
the North has always keenly realized this, 
and has subsidized it to his use and complete 
control, and when he got a land-grant for a 
railroad, he cared not what the country was 
where he built his road and got his lands; 
he printed books, pictures, placards, chro- 
mos, handbills and " dodgers" by the mill- 
ion, and told all the world, and soon con- 
vinced it, too, that by coming to him they 
were on the only road to an earthly paradise. 
Could the outside world be divested of its 
unjust prejudices about this locality, and 
could the simple truth — the plain, palpable 
facts — be made known to them, what a quick 
revolution it would produce here — what a 
transformation scene would take place. 

We have spoken of the advantage of soil, 
climate and commerce; we have only spoken 
of the soil, climate, agricultural, commercial 
and market advantages. In all these you are 
not only unequaled, but you are simply un- 
approachable. You can laugh at rivalry in 
each and every one of these things. In fact, 
there is no possibility of rivalry from any 
other section for anything you can produce 
to the best advantage. Your wheat commands 
a royal premium in all the markets of the 
world; your corn cannot be excelled in qual- 
ity; your potatoes are not only excellent, but 
they go to the Northern market at a season 
when you can always dictate your own price 
per bushel. 

The topographical advantages seem to be 



240 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



as little understood by the people as is the 
geology of this locality. The geology and 
topogi'aphy of the country are singularly pe- 
culiar, the remarkable fact being that these 
two features — especially the topography — 
place in your hands advantages that will for- 
ever exclude competition from any other 
section of the country. It is situated just 
south of the only true mountain range in 
Illinois, the spur crossing the State from the 
Ozark Mountains and traceable into Ken- 
tucky. This not only protects it from the 
severest part of the " blizzards " that visit 
every portion of the West each winter, but 
it gives it warmth of soil that enables you to 
raise early fruits, potatoes and garden veg- 
etables, and place them in the markets at 
immense advantage. You thus have the 
healthy, bracing air of the North, that im- 
parts a tonic and vigor to all animal life, as 
well as the genial warmth of more southern 
localities— combining the bracing Northern 
atmosphere and the early fructifying tropical 
warmth. Your advantages in this line are 
already demonstrated in reference to fruits 
and early vegetables of all kinds, and the 
same great truths will be some day equally 
well demonstrated in regard to another and 
vastly profitable industry for the people, 
namely, the raising of blooded cattle and the 
establishment of creameries and butter manu- 
factories. Here is an unexplored mine of 
incalculable wealth, where it is again most 
fortunate indeed. AVe know of no point in 
the country where a creamery would yield as 
much profit on the capital invested as here. 
The cold spring waters, pure air and superior 
pasturage would make the greatest yield of 
butter of the " gilt- edge " qviality, and then 
you are where you could command the 
choicest of the butter trade of the entire 
South. And in this respect there is as little 
danger of competition from other sections of 



the country as there is in your fruits and 
vegetables for shipment North. For instance, 
Cairo is always ready to pay about 10 cents 
per pound more for choice butter than the 
Chicago price. They never can make good 
butter south of this part of Illinois, and 
hence, you are at their door with all the fa- 
cilities and advantages of any Northern point 
in production, and the immense advantage 
of being the favored ones in the valuable 
Southern trade. Thus the profits are multi- 
plied each way. And is it not plain that if 
the creameries of Northern Illinois are a 
source of great profit, both to the factories 
and to all the farmers for a wide circuit of 
miles around them, would they not be im- 
mensely more profitable and beneficial if lo- 
cated in Union County? This is not all the 
profits that are to be made ofif domestic cattle 
here. This district is the home of the nutri- 
tious grasses that enter into the business of 
stock-raising — producing these in greatest 
abundance and of the finest quality. Show 
the world the truth, just as it exists, and you 
will soon see yovir county filled with graded 
cattle, when the industry of butter-making 
alone would, of itself, make your people 
prosperous and rich. Your command of the 
great and best markets in the world — the 
South for your butter, eggs and poultry, is 
one of those peculiar advantages of climate, 
soil and topography that makes it a favored 
locality. Eggs and butter may yet beco me 
a fountain of more wealth to the county than 
are now the wheat and corn of any county in 
the State. Thvis, this point of Illinois is the 
doorway of the woi'ld's best markets, particu- 
larly the North and the South, where it will 
practically always remain without competi- 
tion. 

One day last winter there was a car-load 
of mules and horses that had been pur- 
chased in Anna, and were on the switch at 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



243 



the depot preparatory to starting to Nebraska, 
and while they stood there, the freight train 
passed, going South, and had several car- 
loads of horses and mules that had been 
gathered up in the central portion of the 
State for the Southern markets. 

A few years ago, some Germans came into 
Union County from Pennsylvania, and 
among their purchases were some of the old- 
est farms in the county; farms that had been 
badly cared for, and "skinned" and^ washed 
until they were supposed to be nearly worth- 
less. Great gullies had been plowed through 
the fields in every direction by the waters, 
and the rich soil had disappeared. These 
thrifty and industrious people, nothing 
daunted, went to work, and now the soil is 
restored, the gullies and washouts are filled, 
and the finest and largest crops every year 
are the rich rewards of their careful foresight 
and industry. The geologist will tell you 
that your land will never wear out under in- 
telligent treatment, because there is stored 
in the subsoil an inexhaustible source of 
■wealth — a bank that will never break nor run 
away with the deposits, upon which the 
farmer may draw checks that will always be 
honored, and paid in glittering gold. The 
same geologist will tell you that the geolog- 
ical formation of a county always determines 
the quantity, quality and value of its popu- 
lation — not only the numbers of the people 
that will some day live upon it, but will pre- 
figure their comforts, wealth, enjoyments and 
the possibilities of their enlightenment and 
civilization. Hence, what is beneath the sur- 
face of your land is of the very greatest im- 
portance to all. 

In Pulaski County is a similar experiment 
of what a little intelligent treatment may do 
for a farm that had been pronounced worn 
out by the " skinning" process of farming, 
on the farm occupied by Dr. G .W. Bristow, 



near New Grand Chain. The Doctor has 
only required foui' yeai's to convert it into 
one of the best farms in the county, and richer 
than it was when the virgin soil was first 
turned by the plow. 

The past winter furnished some remarkable 
testimony as to the meteorological advan- 
tages this end of Illinois possesses in cli- 
matic arrangements. The Northeast, the 
West and Southwest — in fact, the entire coun- 
try — was visited by some remarkable winter 
storms, sometimes termed "blizzards," ttiat 
passed over the country, carrying, often, de- 
struction to man and beast. In the cattle and 
sheep regions of the West and Southwest, 
there was great loss of stock from these 
storms. The fierce winds were almost like a 
tornado, and they carried the blinding snow 
and frost at such a rate as to send the ther- 
mometer down from forty to sixty degrees 
in a few hours. Several of these storms were 
unparalleled in intensity, and so widespread 
were they that much stock was destroyed as 
far South as Central Texas. The record of 
the thermometer on one of these occasions 
marked 17° below zero at St. Louis, and 5° 
below zero at Dallas, Tex., and at the same 
time it barely reached zero in any of this 
part of the State south of the north line of 
Union County. At no time, during the entire 
winter, did the mark go below zero here, 
when it passed below that point six or seven 
hundred miles south of this. And during the 
cold storms, on more than one occasion, there 
was a difference of fifteen or twenty degrees 
between this place and any point forty or 
fifty miles noi'th of this. This remarkable 
state of facts results from the topography 
of this part of Illinois. The mountain chain, 
six or seven hundred feet high, passing acros'? 
the State, just north of this district, fonns 
a barrier to the tierce winds from the north, 
and deflects them to the west or east, or 

14 



244 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



raises them so high, that they pass above us 
and produce little or no effect. Then, again, 
the great river, leading directly from the 
Gulf, forms a complete isothermal line, that 
is unobstructed in its course until it strikes 
this mountain range, when it stops, and, to 
some extent, recoils upon the northern part 
of Union County. 

These are some of the geological, meteoro- 
logical and topographical advantages 
Union, Alexander and Pulaski Counties pos- 
sess over all other portions of the great and 
and rich State of Illinois, and in the 



interests of truth and justice, and in vindica- 
tion of a long-neglected, misunderstood and 
grossly misrepresented portion of our be- 
loved native State, we have attempted briefly 
to explain the more important facts. To give 
the skeleton oulines of such well-established 
truths as will enable the people to go look 
for themselves, and to continue the investi- 
gation in all its detail, and the conclusion in 
every case, whether a friend or a prejudiced 
foe of this southern end of Illinois, he will 
rise from the investigation ready to exclaim^ 
" the half has not been told." 



CHAPTER 11. 



PRE-HISTORIC RACES— THE MOUND-BUILDERS— FIRE WORSHIPERS- RELICS OF THESE UNKNOWN 

PEOPLE— MOUNDS, AVORKSHOPS AND BATTLE-GROUNDS IN UNION, ALEXANDER AND 

PULASKI COUNTIES— VISITS OF NOXIOUS INSECTS— HISTORY THEREOF, ETC. 



"For the truth is, that time seemeth to be of 
the nature of a river or stream, which carrieth down 
to us that which is light and blown up, and sinketh 
and drowneth that which is weighty and solid."— 
Bacon. 

AS to the many different peoples that have 
occupied all this portion of the coun- 
try, in the long-baried ages of the past, are 
questions that have long been, and are now, 
of deep interest to archaeologists. How many 
different and distinct races; how many cent- 
uries intervened between their rise and ex 
tinction; what manner of people they were, 
and how they came and then passed away — 
many of them, perhaps, leaving no wrack 
behind, while others built the mounds, the 
military posts of defense, the burial monu- 
ments, the flint instruments of the chase, and 
the varieties of pottery that are dug up here 
and there, as the mute but eloquent story of 
an unknown people, who here, at some time 



in the world's history, lived, flourished, 
struggled and died. Could we unravel the 
strange, eventful story of these different peo- 
ples, what fairy- like legends they would be. 
Thus, the busy investigators are digging in 
the mounds, visiting the battle-fields and 
delving in the burial places, and laboriously 
and patiently trying to unravel and gather 
up their histories, and rescue them from the 
oblivion that has so long rested upon their 
memories. 

Until within a period considerably less 
than a century ago, few, comparatively, of 
even the thinking and investigating portion 
of mankind, were much concerned about the 
question of the antiquity of the race. The 
church maintained, through centui-ies, that 
the Bible was the only authentic and trust- 
worthy record of antiquity, and maintained, 
equally, that itself was the only authorized 
interpreter of this record and on this basis 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



245 



certain vague chronology, which did not, in 
its various forms, agree with itself by some 
three or four thousand years, and this vague 
belief as to time, which fixed the origin of 
man and of the globe he inhabits at a period 
now some six thousand years ago, was gener- 
ally accepted as not to be disputed. Now and 
again some thinker, bolder than his fellows, 
formulated some theory which looked toward 
a far greater antiquity for the race. As 
early as 1734, Mahudel, and at a later period 
Mercatl, ventui-ed the suggestion that the 
flints found pretty much all over the globe, 
" from Paris to Nineveh, from China to Cam- 
boja, from Greenland to the Cape of Good 
Hope," were the weapons of the men who 
lived " before the flood." Bat these were 
looked upon, when they received any atten- 
tion at all, as merely fanciful, not to say 
ridiculous,, speculations. Even when Buffon, 
in 1788, " affirmed again that the first men 
began by sharpening into the form of axes 
these hard flints, jades or thunderbolts, 
which were believed to have fallen from the 
clouds and to be formed by the thunder, but 
which, said he, ' are merely the first move- 
ments of the art of man in a state of nature,' 
the simple and just theory, upon the sub- 
stantial truth of v^hich all scientific men are 
now agreed, was allowed to pass without 
notice. " Later, Mr. Bouche de Perthes was 
virtually laughed at upon the presentation 
of an account of his discoveries, and the 
theories he deduced from them, to the French 
Insti^tute, and it was not until the lapse of 
fifteen or twenty years from the time when 
he first called the attention nf that body to 
these discoveries and theories that they were 
given any serious consideration. Even then, 
the attention was not what a purely scientific 
question should have. De Perthes himself 
says: "A purely geological question was 
made the subject of religious controversy. 



Those who threw no doubt upon any i-eligion 
accused me of rashness; an unknown archae- 
ologist, a geologist without a diploma, I was 
aspiring, they said, to overthrow a whole 
system confirmed by long experience and 
adopted by so many distinguished men. 
They declared that this was a strange pre- 
sumption on my part. Strange, indeed; but 
I had not then, and I never have had, any 
such intentions. I revealed a fact; conse- 
quences were deduced from it, but I had not 
made them. Truth is no man's work; she 
was created before us, and is older than the 
world itself; often sought, more often re- 
pulsed, we find but do not invent her. Some- 
times, too, we seek her wrongly, for truth is 
to be found not only in books; she is every- 
where; in the water, in the aii', on the earth; 
we cannot make a step without meeting her, 
and when we do not perceive her it is be- 
cause we shut our eyes or turn away our 
head. It is our prejudices or our ignorance 
which prevent us from seeing her — from 
touching her. If we do not see her to-day, 
we shall see her to-morrow; for, strive as 
we may to avoid her, she will appear when 
the time is ripe." These are very simple 
truths, and yet it is only the man who has 
the courage to see facts who is also capable 
of seeing these truths of reason. The change 
from that day to this is remarkable indeed. 
Neither ridicule nor disbelief is now the por- 
tion of the believer in that antiquiiy of the 
race which goes back of a supposed BibJical 
chronology. Even upon the point of that 
chronology itself, scientific men and the most 
learned theologians alike are almost or quite 
agreed to coincide with Sylvestre de Sacy, 
himself a savant and devout Christian also, 
who said: " People pei'plex their minds 
about Biblical chronology, and the discrep- 
ancies which exist between it and the dis- 
coveries of modern science. Thev are jxreat- 



246 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



ly in error, for there is no Biblical chronol- 
ogy." While this is true of the thinking 
people of the world, it is in far less degree 
true of the untliinking masses, and the liberal 
thinker is even yet looked upon by many as 
a sort of monster. This is not, however, a 
fact that ought to produce any uneasiness, 
since it is the opinion of the thinkers which, 
sooner or later, makes the opinion of the 
world. 

This territory, including the three coun- 
ties of Alexander, Union and Pulaski, are 
rich in these remains and relics of men of a 
time reaching back to the paleolithic and 
the neolithic civilizations, or rather of the 
slow evolution of civilization in those divis- 
ions of the so-called stone age, of which those 
" fairy tales of science" that were started 
into life dm-ing the past quarter of a century 
were written. The mounds, and the great 
workshops for the manufacture of flint in- 
struments, the battle-grounds and the burial- 
places, indicate that some one race of these 
stone-age people probably made their na- 
tional headquarters in the upper portion of 
Alexander County, and from this point they 
extended their habitations and working 
places in every direction, into Kentucky, 
Missoui'i and the uppor portion of Illinois. 
The most recent " finds " have been so traced 
as to plainly point out that from here they 
must have traveled into and through Mexico 
and into South America, and that in making 
this extended voyage they passed directly 
southwest from this point, and in returning 
they came from the Gulf toward the lower 
portion of the Ohio River, on the east side 
of the Mississippi, and the improvement 
made in the few flint instruments, and again 
in the pottery vessels, mark as well the ad- 
vances these pre-historic races made as the 
course of their slow travels over the con- 
tinent. If the cave peuple were here in these 



hills of Southern Illinois, their resorts or 
dwelling-places have not yet been discovered, 
yet the hunt for them has hardly com- 
menced, as the investigations are so far con- 
fined to the mounds and the graves, as well 
as the flint instruments that are plowed up 
in the fields and found nearly everywhere 
over the face of the country. The topog- 
raphy of the country has, most probably, in- 
vited here, at some time, the cave-dwellers. 
The action of man himself should be well 
considered in seeking the causes which have 
brought about the filling of the caves; for in 
many cases they have served as dwellings, as 
refuges, as the rendezvous of hunters, as 
meeting places or tombs to the earliest popu- 
lations of these districts. It is, therefore, 
not surprising that they should have left in 
them their mortal remains, the fragments of 
their daily meals, their weapons, their tools — 
in a word, the still simple' products of their 
dawning industry. Unfortunately, we can- 
not always be sure that these objects are of 
the same date as the bones of extinct species 
with which they are found. Accidental dis- 
turbances of the soil, occuring at widely- 
separated ;periods, may have mixed the j^ro- 
ductions of human industry with the bones 
of a very different date. This is evidently 
the case in the cave of Fausan (Herault), where 
Marcel de Sevres found a fragment of enameled 
glass embedded in a skull of Ursus Spelaeus ; 
specimens of fire-baked pottery, relatively 
quite modern, were found at Bize. by the 
same naturalist, side by side witb other ves- 
sels of unbaked clay and of far ruder work- 
manship. Similar facts, which may have oc- 
casioned many mistakes, have been observed 
in several other caves, among which it is 
sufficient for the moment to cite those of 
Herm and Auvignac. We cannot, therefore, 
always, and as a matter of course, conclude 
that the human bones found in company with 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



247 



the remains of extinct animals were contem- 
porary with each other. But doubt is no 
longer reasonable when the bones of animals 
and those of oiu" own species, uniformly 
mixed, imbedded |in the same sediment, and 
which have undergone the same alterations, 
are, moreover, covered by a thick layer of 
stalagmite; when objects of a completely 
primitive industry occupy the same bed with 
bones belonging to extinct species; when the 
latter bear the evident marks of human 
workmanship; finally, when we find in the 
diluvian strata of the valleys manufactui'ed 
objects and bones exactly like those dis- 
covered in caves of the same date. Now, all 
these circumstances occur together in the 
valleys of the Somme, the Rhine, the 
Thames, etc. , as well us in certain caves of 
France, England, Belgium, Italy, Sicily, etc. 
Dr. W. R. Smith, of Cairo, informs us 
that he has extensively examined the 
mounds, burial-places and workshops of 
Southern Illinois, and across the river into 
Kentucky and Missouri. He finds within 
this scope of country the burial mounds, tem- 
ple mounds, altar mounds and mounds of 
observation, the distinction in them being 
clear and distinct, and he finds many facts 
corroborating the belief that the upper part 
of Alexander, or the lower portion of Union 
County, was the center or great meeting 
place of the surrounding tribes. In the tem- 
ple mounds are many evidences that they 
were erected by the fire- worshipers. The 
Lake Millikin mound, in Dogtooth Bend, is 
the third largest mound in size in the United 
States. A large number of mounds in th« 
western and southern parts of Union, and in 
the upper part of Alexander County, are all 
burial mounds, and one very large one in 
Alexander is composed of chert stone, and 
was evidently the point where they manu- 
factured their rude implements of industry 



and the chase, and, most singularly, it seems, 
they carried the flinty chert rock to their 
working place instead of moving their work- 
ing place to the hills where ihey dug out the 
chert used in the manufactui-e. This mound 
has every appearance of having been formed 
as chip mounds are formed near the wood 
piles where the wood is chopped, and the 
chips left to rot and accumulate. The im- 
mensity of the works may be imagined when 
the workmen's chips would accumulate into a 
large-sized mound that would remain through 
all these ages, and another most singular cir- 
cumstance is the fact that no implements can 
be found at these points where they were evi- 
dently made. Across in Kentucky is an ex- 
tensive region underlaid with remnants of 
pottery, and the grounds about Fort Jeffer- 
son seem to have been the main headquarters 
for this industry, the burned fragments, in 
some places, underlying the thin surface soil 
to a considerable depth. In Kentucky and 
Missouri, near Cairo, a great many pieces of 
pottery have been found, in a perfect state 
of preservation, particularly some perfectly 
formed water jugs, that are so true and per- 
fect in construction that skilled workmen 
who have examined them have believed they 
could only have been made upon a potter's 
wheel. Dr. Smith suggests that they shaped 
or fashioned their flint implements, and were 
enabled to chip and break them into the 
many forms they did, by means of heat, and 
then deftly touching with a wet stick at just 
those points which they wished to scale off. 
It is possible that in this way they made 
their flint or chert darts and arrow-heads, 
while other rocks show they were shaped by 
rubbing and the slow process of friction. 

Ethnology has hardly yet begun to be a 
science, and yet its progress is sufficient to 
demonstrate that, in the slow progress of 
evolution, many millions of years have 



248 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



passed away since man, in some form, ap- 
peared upon our continent. But why a 
numerous people should appear in the world, 
live oiit their allotted time, and wholly dis- 
appear, and in the long course of time be 
followed by another and yet a distinct race 
of people. Did they come at fixed periods, 
think you, after the manner of the seventeen- 
year locusts? Evidently not; as the old 
law of transmigration of souls would have 
to be revived, in order to account for those 
long periods of absence of each race from the 
earth. In the investigations thus far, these 
two points only are established; that is: 
That distinct races have come, lived then- 
brief time upon the earth, and then passed 
away entirely, to be succeeded by another 
race of human beings, and this by still an- 
other. How many of these have played their 
separate parts in this ' wonderful world's 
drama we may never know, and so blended 
now are the remains and traces they have 
left, that it may be forever impossible to ar- 
rive at the numbers of the different races, 
much less to fix the period of the coming of 
the first, or the length of time intervening 
between the disappearance of one and the ap- 
pearance of the other. Indeed, so little can 
we yet positively know, that it may even be 
conjectured that one people would come and 
displace those they found here, much as the 
white man has superseded the Indian, and in 
the course of long centuries have driven 
them from the face of the earth. 

In the northeast part of Pulaski County, 
where the river bank is rugged and rocky, 
the sandstone rocks have been washed bare, 
in the solid rocks are the footprints of three 
persons, a man, woman and a child, the child 
supposed to have been about six years old. 
The impressions of the feet are clear, and 
every outline sharply defined, and are sunk 
into the rock nearly an inch in depth. They 



are ordinary sized feet, and indicate arched 
instep and wide and long toes — feet, evi- 
dently, that had never been cramped by tight 
shoes. The position of the tracks would in- 
dicate the man and woman (and it is only 
supposed to be a woman's track because 
somewhat more delicate and smaller than 
the other) stood facing each other, and five 
or six feet apart, and the child stood to the 
man's lef tj a few feet. A few feet from these 
are plainly marked, on the same rock, turkey 
tracks, and these you can trace where the 
turkey walked out and circled and returned 
by the same way that it came. The surface 
soil at one time had covered this rock three 
or four feet in depth. 

Insect Plagues. — At irregular periods, in 
nearly all portions of the world, appear those 
extraordinary visitations of insects, that sud- 
denly come, and often as suddenly disap- 
pear, and we can no more tell from whence 
they come than we can tell whither they go. 
All of the southern and central portions of 
Illinois, particularly this extreme southern 
end of the State, received one of these un- 
accountable visits this year (1883), in the 
form of innumerable caterpillars. They over- 
ran the country in immense numbei's, and as 
they came with the early tree leaves, they 
left the apple trees and certain kinds of 
forest trees, upon which they fed, as barren 
of foliage as the middle of winter. The 
forest trees upon which they would feed were 
the walnut and sweet gum and the red oak. 
The injury these insects caused was not 
regularly inflicted upon all the orchards, as 
there were, places where they did not seem to 
go, and thus some orchards escaped their 
visitations, while in other localities it is much 
feared the trees are permanently injured. 
They were called caterpillars, and yet they 
were a different variety from the regular old 
orchard insect that weaves its web and 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



249 



liatches its young to feed upon the leaves, 
and more or less of which we have every 
year. They were like those noxious insects 
that have from time immemorial visited the 
world, that are to the insect world much as 
the wandering comets to the heavenly bodies. 
The sudden appearance, and the no less sud- 
den disappearance, of noxious insects, have 
given rise to much speculation concerning 
their cause. They have been common in all 
countries, from the equator to those nearest 
the poles. The earliest historians took note 
of them. Moses has described the insect 
plagues of ancient Egypt, and Greek and 
Roman writers furnish graphic accounts of 
the ravages of insects in other countries of 
antiquity. In times when religious and 
superstitious beliefs were stronger than they 
are at present, it was generally thought that 
insects were sent to various parts of the earth 
to inflict punishments for the sins of the peo- 
ple. It appears certain that the coming of 
large numbers of noxious insects has been 
accompanied with outbreaks of epidemic 
diseases among human beings and domesti- 
cated animals. Possibly the climatic condi- 
tions that favored the production of these in- 
sects were unfavorable to the health of ani- 
mals, human beings included. When some 
of the vegetation was destroyed, it was but 
natural that the physical condition of the 
animals that gained their sustenance from 
them should be reduced. The sudden de- 
struction of vast numbers of insects would be 
likely to vitiate the air and to render water 
unlit to drink. If we can credit ancient his- 
torians, the sudden appearance of large num- 
bers of insects, especially of those not com- 
mon to the country, was generally accompa- 
nied by earthquakes, floods and various other 
calamities. No natural connection, of course, 
exists between the flight of locusts and an 
upheaval of the earth. The early accounts 



of insect plagues are generally meager, and 
probably very iuaccui-ate. 

About the year 141, we are told that " de- 
vastation from every variety of the insect 
tribe " presaged the outbreak of an awful 
pestilence at Rome in that year. In 158, all 
the grain in Scotland was destroyed, famine 
ensuing. An ecclesiastical chronicler relates 
that when the King of Persia was besieging 
Nisibin in 260, swarms of gnats suddenly 
appeared, and attacked his elephants and 
beasts of burden so furiously as to kill or dis- 
able most of them. The siege had to be 
raised in consequence, a step which ultimate- 
ly led to the discomfiture of the Persian 
Army. In 406, multitudes of grasshoppers 
infested Egypt. They are said to have been 
so numerous that the putrifaction of their 
dead bodies occasioned a plague in the coun- 
try. It is not improbable that locusts are the 
insects meant, for we frequently find old 
writers calling locusts grasshoppers; and, 
besides, there are many instances of the 
advent of locusts in a country being fol- 
lowed by a pestilence. In 1807, after 
a shower of blood in England, Grafton 
says that there " ensued a great and exceed- 
ing number and multitude of flies, the which 
were so noxious and contagious that they 
slew many people." What might be the nat- 
ure of these deadly flies we are unable to 
conjecture. 

The army of Philip of France, while at 
Gerona, in 1283, was attacked by swarms of 
flies, the poisonous stings of which were 
fatal botli to the men and the horses. The 
insects are described as being the size of 
acorns. Two species have been suggested as 
likely, neither of them, however, indigenous 
to Spain, viz., the Simulum reptatis, a native 
of Eastern countries, and Chrysops coecu- 
fiens, an African fly, which is said to attack 
horses. The French Army lost about four 



250 



HISTORY OF UNIOJ^ COUNTY. 



thoasand men, and as many horses, through 
the attacks of this insect The plague was 
attributed to a miracle wrought by St. Nar- 
cissus. In 128'), "a curious worm, with a tail 
like a crab," appeared in numbers in Prussia. 
The sting of the creature was fatal to animals 
within three days. 

Riverius, a medical writer, mentions that 
in April and May, 1580, prodigious swarms 
of insects obscured the daylight, and were 
crushed on the roads by the million. The 
species is not indicated, but they were sup- 
posed to have risen out of the earth. In 1612, 
previous to the outbreak of epidemic pestilence 
in Germany, Goelenius relates that " a sud- 
den and amazing number of spiders ap- 
peared." It is curious that the same phe- 
nomenon occurred at Seville nearly a century 
afterward. In 1708, just before the plague 
broke out in that city, immense swarms of 
insects appeared, most conspicuous among 
which were spiders. Why spiders in par- 
ticular should herald pestilence it is difficult 
to understand. In the summer of 1664, the 
ditches in England were filled with frogs 
and various kinds of insects, the houses liter- 
ally swarmed with flies, and ants were so 
numerous that they might have been taken 
in handfuls from the highways. This abund- 
ance of insect life was said to foreshadow 
the great plague of London which followed. 
Five years later, a remarkable swarm of 
"ant-flies" alighted at Litchfield and other 
places. They appeared over the city about 
noonday, and were so thick that they dark- 
ened the sky. On alighting, they "filled 
the houses, stung many people and put all 
the horses mad." All who happened to be 
out of doors had to flee. The market people 
packed up their goods and made off, and 
those in the harvest field were all driven 
home. After remaining on the ground for 
three hoiu:s, the swarm took flight in a 



northerly direction. So many of the insects 
were left dead on the streets that their bodies 
were swept into great heaps. 

In 1679, the little town of Czierko, in 
Hungary, was the scene of a curious visita- 
tion. During the summer, a winged insect, 
of an unknown species, made its appearaace, 
and inflicted mortal wounds upon men, 
horses and oxen with its sting. Thirty-five 
men and a great number of animals were 
killed. In the case of the men, the insect 
inserted its |sting wherever the skin was un- 
protected, i, e., the face, neck and hands. 
Shortly after the infliction of the wound, a 
tumor was formed. Unless the poison was 
extracted at once, the victims died within a 
few days. The Poles, it seems, were the 
chief sufferers, on account of their habit of 
wearing short hair, and thus exposing their 
necks. It is remarkable that the insects 
confined their ravages to Czierko, a circum- 
stance which caused many people to regard 
them as a divine punishment. 

Sir Thomas Molyneux, in the " Natural 
History of Ireland," gives an account of an 
invasion of cockchaffers, which occurred in 
1088. He says: "They appeared on the 
southwest coast of the county of Galway, 
brought thither by a southwest wind." Pass- 
iDg inland toward Headford, " multitudes of 
them showed themselves among the trees and 
hedges in the day-time, hanging by the 
boughs, thousands together, in clusters, 
sticking to the back one of another, as'^in the 
manner of bees when they swarm. Those 
that were traveling on the roads, or abroad 
in the fields, found it very uneasy to make 
their way through them, they would so bpat 
and knock themselves against their faces in 
their flight, and with such force as to smart 
the place they hit, and leave a slight mark 
behind them. A short while after their com- 
ing, they had so entirely eaten up and de- 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



251 



etroyed all the leaves of the trees for some 
miles about, that the whole country, though 
it was the middle of summer, was left as 
bare and naked as if it had been the depth 
of winter, making a most unseemly, and, in- 
deed, frightful appearance; and the noise 
they made, whilst they were seizing and 
devouring this their prey, was as surprising, 
for the grinding of the leaves in the mouths 
of this vast multitude altogether, made a 
sound very much resembling the sawing of 
timber. Out of the gardens they got into the 
houses, where numbers of them, crawling 
about, were very irksome." 

The ensuing spring (1689) brought but 
little improvement, for the young of the in- 
sect, " lodged under the ground, next the up- 
per sod of the earth," did great mischief by 
devouring the roots of the corn and grass. 
These indispensable crops having failed, the 
people were reduced to the necessity of cook- 
ing the cockchaffers and eating them, while 
the hungry " swine and poultry of the coun- 
try at length grew so cunning as to watch 
under 'the trees for their falling." The 
plague was fortunately checked by high winds 
and wet weather, which was so disagreeable 
to the insects that many millions of them 
died in one day's time. Smoke was also dis- 
tasteful to them, and some places were pro- 
tected from their ravages by making tires of 
weeds and heath. Some years after this, 
the dead insects lay in such quantities on 
the Galway shore as to form at least forty or 
fifty horse loads. In 1697, they reached the 
Shannon, and some of them crossed the river 
and entered Leinster; but there they were 
met by an " army of jackdaws, that did much 
damage among them, killing and devom'ing 
great numbers. Their main body still kept 
in Connaught, and took up their quarters at 
a well-improved Eng^sh plantation, where 
they found plenty of provisions, and did a 



great deal of mischief by stripping the 
hedges, gardens and groves of beech quite 
naked of all their leaves." The cockchaffer, 
which is called in Irish Primpelan, still ex- 
ists in the country. 

Immediately after the destruction of Port 
Royal (Jamaica), in June, 1692, by an 
earthquake, great numbers of mosquitoes and 
flies appeared. The same thing has been ob- 
served after earthquakes and volcanic erup- 
tions elsewhere. Thus, in 1783, after a 
tremendous eruption of the volcano Skaptar 
Jokul, in Iceland, the pastures swarmed 
with little winged insects, of blue, red, yel- 
low and brown colors, which belonged to a 
species until then unknown in the island. 
They were not at all destructive, but caused 
considerable inconvenience to the haymakers, 
who were covered with them from head to 
foot. The cause of the sudden appearance 
of insects at such times may be the rise of 
temperatu.re due to volcanic activity induc- 
ing premature development. The so-called 
new species may possibly have been one in- 
digenous to the island at a remote period, 
when its climate was different, some long- 
buried larvae of which the volcanic heat serve 
to develop. 

In the year 1858, there was a visitation, in 
pretty much all Southern Illinois, of the 
" army worm. " In places, they almost cov- 
ered the face of the earth, and often a person 
could not walk along the highway without 
crushing them under his feet. They seemed 
to be constantly traveling in the hunt of 
timothy grass or the wheat fields. They 
would leave the grass fields looking much as 
though a fire had passed over them, and, if 
the wheat had well "headed out," they 
would feed upon the leaves of the stalk and 
do no" harm. In fact, many farmers believed 
that, under these circumstances, they were a 
benefit to the wheat. Chickens, turkeys, 



«52 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



birds and hogs would devour the army worm 
in great quantities, yet they came in such 
numbers that such enemies made no apparent 
impression upon their volume, and farmers 
would dig trenches about the timothy and 
field of young corn, and then they would 
tumble into the trench until it was nearly 
full, would hitch a horse to a log and drag 
it along the trench, and thus crush them by 
millions, and yet, by the time he would thus 
go around his field, the ditch would again be 
full. 

The locusts have made their irregular, and 
yet somewhat regular, visitations to all parts 
of the State, and this portion of Illinois, 
being all heavily timbered, they have come 
here in much greater numbers than in 
many other parts of Illinois. They are an 
arboreal insect, and although capable of ex- 
tended flight, yet they do not care to travel 
farther than from tree to tree, at very short 



distances. They inflict much injury to 
orchards, as well as some of the forest 
trees, in the process of depositing their eggs 
in tbe young twigs. They always come about 
the middle of spring, when the leaves are 
unfolded and the new and tender twigs of 
the limbs of the tree are growing. They 
select this new growth to bore into and de- 
posit their eggs. They find a place, and 
bore two holes into the wood, and these holes 
circle and come together, this junction al- 
ways being toward the body of the tree. So 
perfectly is the work done, that the twig will 
soon break, the leaves will die, and after a 
certain time it will fall to the ground, carry- 
ing every egg with it, and this falling of the 
dead twig is timed exactly to the time when 
I the egg is ready to hatch out a grub, and 
at once it goes into the ground on its thir- 
teen or seventeen year trip, according to the 
kind to which it belongfs. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE DARING DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMExXTS BY THE FRENCH— THE CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES- 
DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER— SOME CORRECTIONS IN HISTORY- A WORLD'S 
WONDERFUL DRAMA OF NEARLY THREE HUNDRED YEARS' DURATION, ETC. 



"Should you ask me, whence these stories, 
Whence these legends and traditions 
With the odors of the forests, 
With the curling smoke of wigwams. 
With the rushing of great rivers 

I reoeat them as I heard them." — Longfellow. 

THE truth of history in regard to the great 
Mississippi Valley is only just now being 
examined closely by the impartial investiga- 
tors, and the facts in relation thereto are slowly 
coming to light. For this empire of mag- 
nificent proportions, the great powers' of the 
Old World contended for nearly three hundred 
years, and it is a singular fact that these 



warlike nations that only struggled for wealth 
and empire by the power of the sword, were 
in nearly all instances guided and pointed 
the way into the heart of the New World, and 
the home of the powerful savage tribes by 
the missionaries of the Catholic Church, who 
carried nothing more formidable for defense 
or attack than their prayer books and rosaries, 
and the word, "peace on earth and good 
will to men." The French Catholic mission- 
aries were as loyal to their Government as 
they were true to their God. They planted 
the lilies of France and erected the cross of 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



2-)8 



the Mother Church in the newly discovered 
countries, and chanted the solemn mass that 
soothed the savage breast, and spoke peace 
and good will, and smoked the calumet with 
"wild men of the woods. 

The settlement of the West and the first 
discoveries were made by the French, and it 
was long afterward the country passed into 
the permanent possession of the English; the 
latter people wrote the histories and tinged 
them from first to last with their prejudices, 
and thus promulgated many serious errors of 
history. Time will always produce the icon- 
oclast who will dispassionately follow out the 
truth regardless of how many fictions it may 
brush away in its course. Thus, history is 
being continually re-written, and the truth is 
ever making its approaches; and the glorious 
deeds of the noble sons of France are becom- 
ing manifest as the views of our history are 
brought to light, particularly their occupancy 
of the valley of the Father of Waters. As 
early as 1504 the French seamen, from Brit- 
tany and Normandy visited the fisheries of 
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. These bold 
and daring men traversed the ocean through 
the dangers of ice and stormsto pursue the oc- 
cupation of fishery, an enterprise which to-day 
has developed into one of gigantic magnitude. 
France, not long after this, commissioned 
James Cartier, 'a distinguished mariner, to 
explore America. In 1535, in pursuance of 
the order, they planted the cross on the 
shores of the New World, on the banks of 
the St. Lawrence, bearing a shield with the 
lilies of France. He was followed by other 
adventurous spirits, and among them the im- 
mortal Samuel Champlain, a man of great 
enterprises, who founded Quebec in 1608. 
Champlain ascended the Sorel River; ex- 
plored Lake Champlain, which bears his 
name to-day. He afterward penetrated the 
forest and found his srrave on the bleak 



shores of Lake Huron. He was unsurpassed 
for bravery, indefatigable in industry, and 
was one of the leading spirits in explorations 
and discoveries in the New "World. 

In the van of the explorations on this con- 
tinent were found the courageous and pious 
Catholic missionaries, meeting dangers and 
death with a crucifix upon their breasts, bre- 
viary in hand, whilst chanting their matins 
and vespers, along the shores of our majestic 
rivers, great lakes and unbroken forests. 
Their course was marked through the track- 
less wilderness by the carving of their em- 
blems of faith upon the roadway, amidst 
perils and dangers, without food, but pounded 
maize, sleeping in the woods without shelter, 
their couch being the ground and rock; their 
beacon light, the cross, which was marked 
upon the oak of the forest in their pathway. 

After these missionaries had selected their 
stations of worship, the French hunters, 
couriers de bois, voyagers and traders, opened 
their traffic with the savages. France, when 
convenient and expedient, erected a chain of 
forts along the rivers and lakes, in defense 
of Christianity and commerce. 

France, from 1608, acquired in this conti- 
nent a territory extensive enough to create a 
great empire, and was at that time untrod by 
the foot of the white man, and inhabited by 
roving tribes of the red man. As early as 
1615, we find Father Le Carron, a Catholic 
priest, in the forests of Canada, exploring 
the country for the purpose of converting the 
savages to the Christian religion. The fol- 
lowing year he is seen on foot traversing the 
forests amongst the Mohawks, and reaching 
the rivers of the Ottawas. He was followed 
by other missionaries along the basin of the 
St. Lawrence and Kennebec Eivers, where 
some met their fate in frail barks, whilst 
others perished in the storms of a dreadful 
wilderness. 



254 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



In 1635, we find Father Jean Brebeauf, 
Daniels and Gabriel Lallamand leaving 
Quebec with a few Huron braves to explore 
Lake Huron, to establish chapels along its 
banks, from which sprung the villages of St. 
Joseph, St, Ignatius and St. Louis. To 
reach these places it was necessary to follow 
the Ottawa River through a dangerous and 
devious way to avoid the Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Cayugas, Senecas and Iroquois, forming a 
confederacy as the "Five Nations," occupy- 
ing a territory then known as the New York 
colony, who were continually at war with the 
Hurons, a tribe of Indians inhabiting Lake 
Huron territory. 

As early as 1639, three Sisters of Charity, 
from France, arrived at Quebec, dressed in 
plain black gowns with snowy white collars, 
whilst from their girdle hung the rosary. They 
proceeded to the chapel, led by the Governor 
of Canada, accompanied by braves and war- 
riors, to chant the Te Deum. These holy 
and pious women, moved by religious zeal, 
immediately established the Ursuline Con- 
vent for the education of girls. In addition 
to this, the King of France and nobility of 
Paris endowed a seminary in Quebec for the 
education of all classes of persons. A public 
hospital was built by the generous Duchess 
of D'Arguilon, with the aid of Cardinal 
Richelieu, for the unfortunate emigrants, to 
the savages of all tribes, and afflicted of all 
classes. A missionary station was established 
as early as 1641, at Montreal, under a rude 
tent, from which has grown the large city of 
to-day, with its magnificent cathedral and 
churches, its massive business houses, and its 
commerce. 

The tribes of Huron Lake and neighboring 
savages, in 1641, met on the banks of the 
Iroquois Bay to celebrate the " Festival of 
the Dead." The bones and ashes of the dead 
had' been gathered in coffins of bark, whilst 



wrapped in magnificent furs, to be given an 
affectionate sepulture. At this singular fes- 
tival of the savages the chiefs and braves of 
different tribes chanted their low, mournful 
songs day and night, amidst the wails and 
groans of their women and children. During 
this festival appeared the pious missionaries, 
in their cassocks, with beads to their girdle, 
sympathizing with the red men in their de- 
votion to the dead, whilst scattering their 
medals, pictures of our Savior, and blessed 
and beautiful beads, which touched and won 
the hearts of the sons of the forest. What a 
beautiful spectacle to behold, over the graves 
of the fierce warriors, idolatry fading before 
the Son of God! Father Charles Raymbault 
and the indomitable Isaac Joques, in 1641, 
left Canada to explore the country as far as 
Lake Superior. They reached the Falls of 
St. ]\rary's, and established a station at 
Sault de Ste. Marie, where were assembled 
many warriors and braves from the great 
AVest, to see and hear these two apostles of 
religion and to behold the cross of Chris- 
tianity. These two missionaries invoked 
them to worship the true God. The savages 
were struck with the emblem of the cross 
and its teachings, and exclaimed : "We 
embrace you as brothers ; come and dwell in 
our cabins." 

When Father Joques and his party were 
returning from the Falls of St. Mary's to 
Quebec, they were attacked by the Mohawks, 
who massacred the chief and his braves who 
accompanied him, whilst they held Father 
Joques in captivity, showering upon him a 
great many indignities, compelling him to run 
the gantlet through their village. Father 
Brussini at the same time was beaten, muti- 
lated, and made to walk barefooted through 
thorns and briars, and then scourged by a 
whole village. However, by some miracu- 
lous way, they were rescued by the generous 



HISTORY OF UNIOJS COUNTY. 



255 



Dutch of New York, and both afterward re- 
turned to France. Father Joques again re- 
turned to Quebec, and was sent as an envoy 
amongst the "Five Nations." Contrary to 
the savage laws of hospitality, he was ill- 
treated, and then killed as an enchanter, his 
head tung upon the skirts of the village, and 
his body thrown into the Mohawk River. 
Such was the fate of this courageous and 
pious man, leaving a monument of martyr- 
dom more enduring than the Pyramids of 
Egypt. 

The year 1645 is memorable, owing to a 
congress held by France and the "Five Na- 
tions," at the Three Rivers, in Canada. 
There the daring chiefs and warriors and the 
gallant officers of France met at the great 
council fires. After the war-dance and numer- 
ous ceremonies, the hostile parties smoked the 
calumet of peace. The Iroquois said: "Let 
the clouds be dispersed and the sun shine on 
all the land between us." The Mohawks 
exclaimed: "We have thrown the hatchet so 
high into the air and beyond the skies that 
no man on earth can reach to bring it down. 
The French shall sleep on our softest blankets, 
by the warm fire, that shall be kept blaz- 
ing all night." Notwithstanding the elo- 
quent and fervent language and appearance 
of peace, it was but of short duration, for 
soon the cabin of the white man was in 
flames, and the foot-print of blood was seen 
along the St. Lawrence, and once more a 
bloody war broke out, which was disastrous 
to France, as the Five Nations returned to the 
allegiance of the English colonies. 

The village of St. Joseph, near Hui-on 
Lake, on the 4th of July, 1648, whilst her 
warriors were absent, was sacked, and its 
people murdered by the Mohawks. Father 
Daniel, who officiated there, whilst endeavor- 
ing to pi'otect the children, women and old 
men, was fatally wounded by numerous ar- 



rows, and killed. Thus fell this martyr in 
the cause of religion and progress. 

The next year, the villages of St. Ignatius 
and St. Louis were attacked by the Iroquois. 
The village of St. Ignatius was destroyed, 
and its inhabitants massacred. The village 
of St. Louis shared the same fate. At the 
latter place, Father Brebeauf and Lalle- 
mand were made prisoners, tied to a tree, 
stripped of their clothes, mutilated, burnt 
with fagots and rosin bark, and then scalped. 
They perished in the name of France and 
Christianity. 

Father de la Ribourde, who had been the 
companion of La Salle on the Griffin, and 
who officiated at Fort Creve Cceur, 111., 
whilst returning to Lake Michigan, was lost 
in the wilderness. Afterward, it was learned 
he had been murdered in cold blood by three 
young warriors, who carried his prayer-book 
and scalp as a trophy up north of Lake Su- 
perior, which afterward fell into the hands of 
the missionaries. Thus died this martyr of 
religion, after ten years' devotion in the cab- 
ins of the savages, whose head had become 
bleached with seventy winters. Such was 
also the fate of the illustrious Father Rine 
Mesnard, on his mission to the southern 
shore of Lake Superior, where, in after years, 
his cassock and breviary were kept as amu- 
lets among the Sioux. After these atrocities, 
these noble missionaries never retraced their 
steps, and new troops pressed forward to 
take their places. They still continued to 
explore our vast country. The history of 
their labors, self sacrifice and devotion is 
connected with the origin of every village or 
noted place in the North and great Wesi 

France ordered, by Colbert, its great min- 
ister, that an invitation be given to all tribes 
West for a general congress. This remark- 
able council was held in May, 1671, at the 
Falls of St. Marv's. There was found the 



256 



HISTOKY OF UNIOX COUNTY 



chiefs and braves of many nations of the 
West, decorated in their brightest feathers 
and furs, whilst the French officei's glistened 
with their swords and golden epaulets. In 
their midst stood the undaunted missionaries 
from all parts of the country. In this re- 
markable congress rose a log cedar cross, and 
upon a staff the colors of France. 

In this council, after many congratulations 
offered, and the war dances, the calumet was 
smoked and peace declared. France secured 
here the friendship of the tribes, and domin- 
ion over the great West, 

Marquette, while on his mission in the 
West, leaves Mackinac on the 13th of May, 
1673, with his companion, Joliet, and five 
Frenchmen and two Indian guides, in two 
bark canoes, freighted with maize and smoked 
meat, to enter into Lake Michigan and Green 
Bay until they reached Fox River in Illinois, 
where stood on its banks an Indian village oc- 
cupied by the Kickapoos, Mascoutins and 
Miamis, where the noble Father Allouez offi- 
ciated. Marquette in this village preaches 
and announces to them his object of discover- 
ing the great river. They are appalled at 
the bold proposition. They say: "Those 
distant nations never spare the strangers ; 
their mutual wars fill their borders with 
bands of warriors. The great river abounds 
in monsters which devour both men and 
canoes. The excessive heat occasions death." 

From Fox River across the portage with 
the canoes they reach the Wisconsin River. 
There Marquette and Joliet separated with 
their guides, and, in Marquette's language, 
" Leaving us alone in this unknown land in 
the hands of Providence," they float down 
the Wisconsin whose banks are dotted with 
prairies and beautiful hills, whilst siir- 
rounded by wild animals and the buffalo. 
After seven days' navigation on this rivei% 
their hearts bound with gladness on behold- 



ing, on the 17th day of June, 1673, the broad 
expanse of the great Father of Waters, and 
upon its bosom they float down. About sixty 
leagues below this they visit an Indian vil- 
lage. Their reception from the savages was 
cordial. They said : ' ' We are Illinois, that 
is, we are men. The whole village awaits 
thee ; then enter in peace our cabins." After 
six days' rest on the couch of furs, and 
amidst abundance of game, these hospitable 
Illinois conduct them to their canoes, whilst 
the chief places around Marquette's neck the 
calumet of peace, being beautifully decorated 
with the feathers of birds. 

Their canoe again ripples the bosom of the 
great river (Mississippi), when further down 
they behold on the high bluffs aud smooth 
rock above (now Alton), on the Illinois shore, 
the figures of two monsters painted in vari- 
ous colors, of frightful appearance, and the 
position appeared to be inaccessible to a 
painter. They soon reached the turbid wa- 
ters of the Missouri, and thence floated down 
to the mouth of the Ohio. 

Farther down the river stands the village 
of Mitchigamea, being on the west side of the 
river. When approaching this place its 
bloody warriors, with their war cry, embark 
in their canoes to attack them, but the calu- 
met, held aloft by Marquette, pacifies them. 
So they are treated with hospitality, and es- 
corted by them to the Arkansas River. They 
sojourn there a short time, when Marquette, 
before leaving this sunny land, cele- 
brates the festival of the church. Marquette 
and Joliet then turn their canoe northward to 
retrace their way back until they reach the 
Illinois River, thence up that stream, along 
its flowery prairies. The Illinois braves con- * 
duct them back to Lake Michigan, thence 
to Green Bay, where they arrived in Septem- 
ber, 1673. 

Marquette for two years officiated along 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



257 



Lake Michigan; afterward visited Mackinaw; 
from thence he enters a small river in Mich- 
igan (that bears his name), when, after say- 
ing mass, he withdraws for a short time to 
the woods, where he is found dead. Thus 
died this illustrious explorer and remarkable 
priest, leaving a name unparalleled as a 
brave, good and virtuous Christian. 

Robert Caraiin La Salle, a native of Nor- 
mandy, an adventurer from France, arrived 
in Canada about 1670. Being ambitious to 
distinguish himself in making discoveries on 
this continent, he returned to France to so- 
licit aid for that purpose. He was made 
chevalier, upon the condition that he would 
repair Fort Frontenac, located on Lake On- 
tario, and open commerce with the savages. 
In 1678, he again returned to France, when 
in July, 1677, with Chevalier Tonti, his 
liieutenant, with thirty men, he left Rochelle 
for Quebec and Fort Frontenac. Whilst at 
Quebec, an agreement was made by the Gover- 
nor of Canada with La Salle to establish forts 
along the northern lakes. At this time he 
undertook with great activity to increase the 
commerce of the West, by building a bark 
of ten tons to float on Lake Ontario. Shortly 
afterward, he built another vessel, known as 
the Griflfin, above Niagara Falls, for Lake 
Erie, of sixty tons, being the first vessel seen 
on the Northern lakes. The GriflSn was 
launched and made to float on Lake Erie. 
"On the prow of this ship, armorial bearings 
were adorned by two griffins as supporters; " 
upon her deck she carried two brass cannon 
for defense. On the 7tli of August, 1679, 
she spread her sails on Lake Erie, whilst on 
her deck stood the brave naval commander 
La Salle, accompanied by Fathers Hennepin, 
Ribourdo and Zenobi, surrounded by a crew 
of thirty voyageurs. On leaving, a salute 
was fired, whose echoes were heard to the as- 
tonishment of the savages, who named the 



Griffin "The Great Wooden Canoe." This 
ship pursued her course through Lakes Erie, 
St. Clair and Huron to Mackinaw, thence 
through that strait into Lake Michigan, thence 
to Green Bay, where she anchored in safety. 
The Griffin, after being laden with a cargo 
of peltries and fui's, was ordered back by La 
Salle to the port from whence she sailed, but 
unfortunately on her x'eturn she was wrecked. 
La Salle, during the absence of the Griffin, 
determined with fourteen men to proceed to 
the mouth of the Mi am is, now St. Joseph, 
where he built a fort, from which place he 
proceeded to Rock Fort in La Salle County, 
111. La Salle hearing of the disaster and 
wreck of the Gi'iffin, he builds a fort on the 
Illinois River called Creve Cceur (broken 
heart). This brave man, though weighed 
down by misfortune, did not despair. He 
concluded to return to Canada, but before 
leaving sends Father Hennepin, withPiscard, 
Du Gay and Michael Aka, to explore the 
sources of the Upper Mississippi. They 
leave Creve Cceur February 29, 1680, float- 
ing down the Illinois River, reaching the 
Mississippi March 8, 1680; then explored 
this river up to the Falls of St. Anthony; 
from there they penetrated the forests, which 
brought them to the wigwams of the Sioux, 
who detained Father Hennepin and compan- 
ions for a short time in captivity; recovering 
their liberties, they returned to Lake Superior 
in November, 1680, thence to Quebec and 
France. During the explorations of Father 
Hennepin, La Salle, with a courage unsur- 
passed, a constitution of iron, returns to 
Canada, a distance of 1,200 miles, his path- 
way being through snows, ice and savages 
along the Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario 
Reaching Quebec, he finds his business in a 
disastrous condition, his vessels lost, his 
goods seized and his men scattered. Not 
being discouraged, however, he returns to his 



258 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



forts in Illinois, which he finds deserted; 
takes new courage; goes to Mackinaw; finds 
his devoted friend Chevalier Tonti in 1681, 
and is found once more on the Illinois River 
to continue the explorations of the Missis- 
sippi, which had been explored by Father 
Marquette to the Arkansas River, and by. Fa- 
ther Hennepin up to the Falls of St. Anthony^ 
La Salle, from Fort Creve Coeur, on the Illi- 
nois River, with twenty-two Frenchmen^ 
amongst whom was Father Zenobi and Chev- 
alier Tonti, with eighteen savages and two 
women and three children, float down until 
they reached the Mississippi on F ebruary 6, 
1682. They descend this mighty river until 
they reach its month April 6, 1682, where 
they are the first to plant the cross and the 
banners of France. La Salle, with his com- 
panions, ascends the Mississippi and returns 
to his forts on the Illinois; returns again to 
Canada and France. 

La Salle is received at the French court 
with enthusiasm. The King of France orders 
four vessels, well equipped, to serve him, 
under Beaugerr, commander of the fleet, to 
proceed to the Gulf of Mexico, to discover the 
Balize. Unfortunately for La Salle, he fails 
in discovering it, and they are thrown into 
the bay of Matagorda, Texas, where La Salle, 
with his 280 persons, are abandoned by 
Beaugerr, the commander of the fleet. La 
Salle here builds a fort, then undertakes, by 
land, to discover the Balize. After many 
hardships, he returned to his fort, and again 
attempts the same object, when he meets a 
tragical end, being murdered by the desper- 
ate Duhall, one of his men. During the 
voyage of La Salle, Chevalier Tonti, his 
friend, had gone down the Mississippi to its 
mouth, to meet him. After a long search in 
vain for the fleet, he returned to Rock Fort, 
on the Illinois. After the unfortunate death 
of La Salle, great disorder and misfortune 



occurred to his men in Texas. Some wan- 
dered amongst the savages, others were taken 
prisoners, others perished in the woods. 
However, seven bold and brave men of La 
Salle's force determined to return to Illinois, 
headed by Capt. Joutel, and the noble Father 
Anatase. After six months of exploration 
through the forest and plain, they cross Red 
River, where they lose one of their comrades. 
They then moved toward the Arkansas River, 
where, to their great joy, they reached a 
French fort, upon which stood a large cross, 
where Couture and Delouny, two Frenchmen, 
had possession, to hold communication with 
La Salle. This brave band, with the excep- 
tion of young Bertheley, proceeded up the 
Mississippi to the Illinois forts ; from thence 
to Canada. 

This terminated La Salle's wonderful ex- 
plorations over our vast lakes, great rivers 
and territory of Texas. He was a man of 
stern integrity, of undoubted activity and 
boldness of character, of an iron constitution, 
entertaining broad views, and a chivalry un- 
surpassed in the Old or New World. 

France, as early as possible, established 
along the lakes permanent settlements. One 
was that of Detroit, which was one of the 
most interesting and lovely positions, which 
was settled in 1701, by Lamotte de Cardillac, 
with one hundred Frenchmen. 

The discovery and possession of Mobile, 
Biloxi and Dauphine Island induced the 
French to search for the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi River, formerly discovered by La- 
Salle. Lemoine d'Iberville, a naval o£&cer of 
talent and great experience, discovered the 
Balize, on the 2d of March, 1699; pi-oceeded 
up this river and took possession of the 
country known as Louisiana. D'Iberville 
returned immediately to France to announce 
this glorious news. Bienville, his brother, 
was left to take charge of Louisiana during 



^^^. 



p-'-^A 





HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



361 



his absence. D'Iberville returned, when 
Bienville and St. Denis, with a force, was 
ordered to explore Red River and thence to 
the borders of Mexico. La Harpe also as- 
cended Red River in 1719 built a fort called 
Carlotte; also took possession of the Arkan- 
sas River; afterward floated down this river 
in pirogues, finding on its banks many thriv- 
ing Indians villages. France, in September, 
1712, by Letters Patent, granted Louisi- 
ana to Crozas, a wealthy Frenchman, who 
relinquished his rights and power in 1717 to 
the Company of the West, established by the 
notorious banker, John Law. Under a fever 
of great speculations, great efforts wei'e made 
to advance the population and wealth of 
Louisiana. New Orleans was mapped out in 
1718, and became the important city of 
Lower and Upper Louisiana. The charter 
and privileges of ' ' Company of the West, " 
after its total failure, was resigned to the 
crown of France in 1731. The country, em- 
bracing Louisiana, was populated by numer- 
ous tribes of savages. One of these tribes 
was known as the Natchez, located on a high 
bluff, in the midst of a glorious climate, 
about 300 miles above New Orleans, on the 
river bank. The Natchez had erected a re- 
markable temple, where they invoked the 
•'Great Spirit," which was decorated with 
various idols moulded from clay baked in the 
sun. In this temple burned a living tire, 
where the bones of the brave were burned. 
Near it, on a high mound, the Chief of the 
Nation, called the Sun, resided, where the 
warriors chanted their war songs and held 
their great council fires. The Natchez had 
shown great hospitality to the French. The 
Governor of Louisiana built a fort near them 
in 1714, called Fort Rosalie. Chopart, after- 
ward commander of this fort, ill-treated them 
and unjustly demanded a pai't of their vil- 
lages. This unjust demand so outraged their 



feelings that the Natchez in their anger 
lifted up the bloody tomahawk, headed by 
the "Great Sun,'' attacked Fort Rosalie No- 
vember 28, 1729, and massacred every French- 
man in the fort and the vicinity. During 
these bloody scenes the chief amidst this car- 
nage stood calm and unmoved, whilst Cho- 
part's head and that of his officers and sol- 
diers were thrown at his feet, forming a pyra- 
mid of human heads. This caused a bloody 
war, which, after many battles fought, termi- 
nated in the total destruction of the Natchez 
nation. In these struggles the chief and his 
400 braves were made prisoners, and after- 
ward inhumanly sold as slaves in St. Domin- 
go- 

The French declared war in 1736 against 
the Chickasaws, a warlike tribe, that in- 
habited the Southern States. Bienville, 
commander of the French, ordered a re-union 
of the troops to assemble on the 10th of May, 
1736, on the Tombigbee river. The gallant 
D'Artaquette from Fort Chartres, and the 
brave Vincennes from the Wabash River, with 
a thousand warriors, were at their post in 
time; but were forced into battle on the 20th 
of May without the assistance of the other 
troops; were defeated and massacred. Bien- 
ville shortly afterward, on the 27th of May, 
1736, failed in his assault upon the Chickasaw 
forts on the Tombigbee, where the English 
flag waved, and was forced to retreat, with 
the loss of his cannons, which forced him to 
return to New Orleans. In 1740, the French 
built a fort at the mouth of the St. Francois 
River, and moved their troops into Fort As- 
sumption, near Memphis, where peace was 
concluded with the Chickasaws. 

The oldest permanent settlement on the 
Mississippi was Kaskaskia, first visited by 
Father Gravier, date unknown; but he was 
in Illinois in 1693. He was succeeded by 
Fathers Pinet and Biaetan. Pinet became 



262 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



the founder of Cahokia, where he erected a 
chapel, and a goodly number of savages as- 
sembled to attend the great feast. Father 
Gabriel, who had chanted mass through Can- 
ada, officiated at Cahokia and Kaskaskia in 
1711. The missionaries in 1721 established 
a college and monastery at Kaskaskia. Fort 
Chartres, in Illinois, was built in 1720; be- 
came an important post for the security of the 
French, and a great protection for the com- 
merce on the Mississippi. "The Company 
of the West " sent an expedition under Le 
Sieur to the Upper Louisiana about 1720, in 
search of precious metals, and proceeded up 
as far as St. Croix and St. Peters Eivers, 
where a fort was built, which had to be 
abandoned owing to the hostilities of the 
savages. 

The French, as early as 1705, ascended the 
Missouri River to open traffic with theMissou- 
ris and to take possession of the country. M. 
Dutism, from New Orleans, with a force, 
arrived in Saline River, below Ste. Genevieve, 
moved westward to the Osage River, then 
beyond this about 150 miles, where he found 
two large villages locaf^^ed in fine prairies 
abounding with wild game and buffalo. 

France and Spain, in 1719, were contend- 
ing for dominion west of the Mississippi. 
Spain, in 1720, sent from Santa Fe a large 
caravan to make a settlement on the Missouri 
River, the design being to destroy the Missou- 
ris, a tribe at peace with France. This car 
avan, after traveling and wandering, lost their 
way, and marched into the camp of the 
Missouris, their enemies, where they were all 
massacred, except a priest who, from his dress, 
was considered no warrior. After this expe- 
dition from Santa Fe upon Missouri, France, 
under M. DeBourgment, with a force in 1724 
ascended the Missouri, established a fort above, 
on an island above the Osage River, 
named Fort Orleans. This fort was after- 



ward attacked and its defenders destroyed 
and by whom was never ascertained. 

The wars between England and France 
more or less affected the growth of this con- 
tinent. The war in 1689, known as " King 
William's war," was concluded by the treaty 
of Ryswick, 1697. "Queen Anne's war," 
terminated by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. 
" King George's war "concluded by the treaty 
of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748. These wars 
gave England supremacy in the fisheries, the 
possession of the Bay of Hudson, of New- 
foundland and all of Nova Scotia. 

The French and Indian wars, between 1754 
and 1763. The struggle between England 
and France as to their dominion in America 
commenced at this period. It was a disas- 
trous and bloody war, where both parties en- 
listed hordes of savages to participate in a 
warfare conducted in a disgraceful manner 
to humanity. France at this time had erected 
a chain of forts from Canada to the great 
lakes and along the Mississippi Valley. The 
English controlled the territory occupied by 
her English colonies. The English claimed 
beyond the Alleghany Mountains to the Ohio 
River. The French deemed her right to this 
river indisputable. Virginia had granted to 
the "Ohio Company'' an extensive territory 
reaching to the Ohio. Dinwiddle, Governor 
of Virginia, through George Washington, re- 
monstrated against the encroachment of the 
French. St. Pierre, the French commander, 
received Washington with kindness, returned 
an answer, claiming the territory which 
France occupied. The " Ohio Company " 
sent out a party of men to erect a fort, at the 
confluence of the Alleghany and Mononga- 
hela rivers. These men had hardly com- 
menced work on this fort when they were 
driven away by the French, who took posses- 
sion and established a "Fort Du Quesne." 

Washington, with a body of provincials 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY- 



2(i3 



from Virginia, marched to the disputed ter- 
ritory, when a party of French, nuder Jumon- 
ville, was attacked and all either killed or 
made prisoners. Washington after this 
erected a fort called Fort Necessity. From 
thence Washington proceeded with 400 men 
toward Fort Du Quesne, where, hearing of 
the advance of M. DeVilliers, with a large 
force, he returned to Fort Necessity, where 
after a short defense Washington had to 
capitulate with the honorable terms of re- 
turning to Virginia. 

On the 4th of July, 1754, the day that 
Fort Necessity surrendered, a convention of 
colonies was held at Albany, N. Y. , for 
a union of the colonies proposed by Dr. Ben. 
Franklin, adopted by the delegates, but de- 
feated by the English Government. How- 
ever, at this convention a treaty was made 
between the colonies and the ' ' Five Nations," 
which proved to be of great advantage to 
England. Gen. Braddock, with a force of 
2,000 soldiers, marched against Fort Du 
Quesne. Within seven miles of this fort, he 
was attacked by the French and Indian allies 
and disastrously defeated, when Washington 
covered the retreat and saved the army from 
total destruction. 

Sir William Johnson, with a large force, 
took command of the army at Fort Edward. 
Near this fort, Baron Dieskan and St. Pierre 
attacked Col. Williams and troop where the 
English were defeated, but Sir Johnson com- 
ing to the rescue defeated the French, who 
lost in this battle Dieskan and St. Pierre. 

On August 12, 1756, Marquis Montcalm, 
commander of the French Army, attacked 
Fort Ontario, garrisoned by 1,400 troops 
capitulated as prisoners of war, with 134 
cannon, several vessels and a large amount of 
military stores. Montcalm destroying this 
fort returned to Canada. 

By the treaty of peace of Aix la Chapelle 



of October, 1748, Arcadia, known as Nova 
Scotia, and Brunswick, had been ceded by 
France to England. When the war of 1754 
broke out, this territory was occupied by nu- 
merous French families. England fearing 
their sympathy for France, cruelly confiscat- 
ed their property, destroyed their humble 
homes and exiled them to their colonies in 
the utmost poverty and distress. 

In August, 1757, Marquis Montcalm, with 
a large army, marched on Fort William Hen- 
ry, defended by 3,000 English troops. The 
English were defeated, and surrenderd on 
condition that they might march out of the 
fort with their arms. The savage allies, as 
they marched out, in an outrageous manner 
plundei'ed them and massacred some in cold 
blood, notwithstanding the efforts of the 
French officers to prevent them. The mili- 
tary campaign so far had been very disas- 
trous to the English, which created quite 
a sensation in the colonies and in Eng- 
land. At this critical period, the illustrious 
Mr. Pitt, known as Lord Chatham, was 
placed at the helm of state on account of 
his talent and statesmanship, and he sent a 
large naval armament and numerous troops 
to protect the colonies. 

July 8, 1758, Gen. Abei'crombie, with an 
army 15,000, moved on Ticonderoga, defend- 
ed by Marquis Montcalm. After a great 
struggle, the English were defeated with a 
loss of 2,000 dead and wounded. 

August 27, 1758, Col. Bradstreet, with a 
force, attacked the French fort. Fort Fronte- 
nac, on Lake Ontario, took it with nine 
armed vessels, sixty cannon and a quantity 
of military stores, while Gen. Forbes moved 
on Fort Du Quesne, who took it, which fort 
was afterward called Pittsbm-gh, in honor of 
Mr. Pitt. 

In 1759, ihe French this year evacuated 
Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Niagara. Gen. 



264 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



Wolfe advanced against Quebec, then defend- 
ed by the gallant Montcalm, where a terri- 
ble and bloody battle took place between 
the two armies. Gen. Wolfe was killed 
and a great number of English officers. 
When the brave Wolfe was told the English 
were victorious, he said he " died contented." 
Montcalm, when told his wound was 
mortal said, "So much the better; I shall 
not live to see the surrender of Quebec,'' 
which city surrendered September 18, 1759, 

In 1760, another battle was fought near 
Quebec, which drove the English into their 
fortifications, and were only relieved by the 
English squadron. Montreal still contended to 
the last, when she was compelled to surren- 
der, which gave Canada to the English. 

Treaty of peace, February 10, 1763. By 
this France ceded to England all her posses- 
sions on the St. Lawrence River, all east of 
the Mississippi River, except that portion 
south of Iberville River and west of the 
Mississippi. At the same time, all the terri- 



tory here reserved being west of the Missis- 
sippi, and the Orleans territory, was trans- 
ferred to Spain. France, after all her la- 
bors, toil and expenditures, and great loss of 
life surrendered to England and Spain, her 
great domain in North America. The histo- 
ry of France, embracing a term of 228 years, 
is replete with interest and with thrilling 
events in this country up to 1763. The de- 
feats of the French in North America great- 
ly led to the establishment of the United 
States Government. The accomplishment of 
such a glorious end was largely due to the 
gallant Frenchmen. As long as the anni- 
versary of the American Independence shall 
be celebrated, the names of Washington and 
Lafayette will ever be remembered by a 
grateful people. We can but congratulate 
ourselves, as citizens of this great valley, 
that owing to the sympathy of France and 
her people under the great Napoleon and the 
immortal Jeflfersou, that we today are a por- 
tion of this grand republic. 



CHAPTER IV. 



FOLLOWING THE FOOTriTEPS OF THE FIRST PIONEERS— WHO THEV WERE— HOW THEV CAME- 
WHERE THEY STOPPED— FROM 1795 TO 1810— CORDELING— BEAR FIGHT— FIRST 
SCHOOLS, PREACHERS AND THE KIND OF PEOPLE THEY WERE—JOHN 
GRAMMER, THE FATHER OF ILLINOIS STATE-CRAFT. ETC. 



" Yet even these bones from insult to protect, 
Implore the passing tribute of a sigh." — Gray. 

More than two hundred years ago, a large 
portion of the territory of the Missis- 
sippi Valley passed nominally at least from 
under the exclusive dominion of the savage 
races and the wild beasts to that of the tri-color 
of France and the benign sway of the Catholic 
Church. In the year 1673, those bold ex- 
plorers, Joliet and Marquette, with their 



small company of five white men and three 
Indian guides, floated down the Mississippi 
River and within the bounds of the territory 
that is now Union County. It is not at all 
probable that they rounded to their frail, 
light crafts and placed their feet upon the 
actual soil of Union County, yet they were 
upon our waters, and as they floated down 
the " Father of Waters " they took possession 
by virtue of discovery, Joliet in the name of 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



265 



France and Marquette in the naroe of his 
church. This voyage of discovery resulted 
in the French settlement of Kaskaskia, and 
afterward of Cahokia — five miles below St. 
Louis, on the Illinois side. It is not at all 
probable that any of the early Kaskaskia 
settlers ever ventured as far away from their 
fort and fortifications as to come into the 
county, even upon hunting expeditions. The 
next nearest settlement of the white men was 
at Fort Massac, on the Ohio River, about 
thirty- six miles above Cairo. This was 
founded in 1711, and in the course of time 
became the only trading point for the earliest 
pioneers of the extreme southern limits of 
Illinois. It was for many years called 
Fort Massacre, and it got this blood-curdling 
name from some Indian strategy that re- 
sulted in the massacre of every man in the 
fort. The Indians dressed themselves in 
bear skins and appeared on the Kentucky 
side of the river, in full view of the fort, 
walking and acting like bears, when the 
soldiers and people, after watching their 
antics for some time, made up a company, 
including the most of the men in the fort, 
gathered their guns and crossed hhe river in 
skiffs for a great bear hunt. The few per- 
sons who did not go in the hunt were gath- 
ered upon the river bank watching with ea- 
ger interest their friends as they crossed the 
river. The moment the Indians saw their 
trick was successful, they retired to the brush 
from view, and, making a hasty detour, 
crossed the river unseen, in a bend a short 
distance above, and by a small circuit reached 
the fort from the rear and entering when 
there was not a soul left, secured the few re- 
maining guns and then commenced the mas- 
sacre, which only stopped when no white 
person was left alive in or about the fort. 
They then sacked and burned the buildings. 
A few years after, it was rebuilt and called 



for a long time Fort Massacre, but in the 
course of time it again resumed its original 
name, Fort Massac, by which it is known to 
this day. 

For some years after the trappers, fishers 
and pioneers began to skirt with sparse cab- 
ins the Ohio River and the Cache River, 
Fort Massac was the only point within reach 
where these people could resort for the little 
trading in those essential supplies of ammu- 
nition, etc., that they were compelled to have. 
For a long time, too, this place was the land- 
ing point for all those pioneers from the 
Carolinas, Virginia and Kentucky, that 
came down or crossed the Ohio River on 
their way to Kaskaskia or Cahokia. At first 
this was a route for nearly all the immigi-a- 
tion into Southern Illinois, much of which 
came down the Ohio River on batteaus, pi- 
rogues and canoes and skiffs, while some 
crossed the river at Shawneetown and some at 
Fort Massac. In the year 1 797, some years 
before any white man had ventui'ed into 
what is now Union County, in the hunt of a 
permanent home, a colony of Virginians, 
numbering 126 persons, landed at Fort Mas- 
sac, and pursued their toilsome and tedious 
way through the dense forests to New De- 
sign. The distance thus traversed was only 
about 135 miles, yet the little colony was 
twenty- six days on the road, and so great 
was their toil and exposure that within a few 
months after reaching their destination a 
majority of them died. These emigi-ants 
may have touched the northeastern portion 
of the county on their way through the ter- 
ritory to their destination. If they passed 
through any portion of Union County, then 
they were the first here after the long lapse 
of years since Joliet and Marquette had 
passed down the Mississippi, and in the 
name of France and Papal Christendom 
started that tremendous drama that lasted 



266 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



for more than ninety years, and in which 
France and the church were the principal 
actors. New Design, in the present county 
of Monroe, was established in 178^, and un- 
til the time of the advent of this Virginia 
colony, it was the attractive point in the 
territory for immigrants. But the news of 
the calamities that befel this colony were 
caiTied back to the old States, and for some 
years the impression widely prevailed that 
all this territory was a mere plague spot 
where civilized people could hardly hope to 
long survive a removal to it, and this re- 
tarded the heavy immigration that afterward 
came. 

In the year 1803 — just eighty years ago — 
the first white settlement was made in the 
territory now comprising Union County. 
This feeble colony thus braving the wilds, 
the dense forests and its almost impenetra- 
ble undergrowth, consisted of two families, 
namely, Abram Hunsaker's and George 
Wolf's. They had come down the Ohio 
River and up the Cache, hunting and fish- 
ing, and finally started on an overland route, 
intending, it is supposed, to strike the Mis- 
sissippi River and ascend the same to the 
settlements of Kaskaski a and Cahokia. Those 
wanderers camped one night a short distance 
from where Jonesboro now is, and the next 
morning the men found that they had to re- 
plenish their meat supply, and they shouldered 
their guns and in a few minutes killed a 
large and fat bear, and in a little while after 
getting the bear they added a fine turkey 
gobbler to their store. They were so de- 
lighted with the land of plenty, both of game 
and excellent water, that they concluded to 
rest a few days, and before the few days had 
expired the men were busy at work building 
cabins in which to house their families and 
make this their permanent home. Just 
eighty years! How feeble this little begin- 



ning of the white man and civilization must 
have appeared in the face of the riot of un- 
bridled strength of wilderness, the wild 
beast and the more deadly and treacherous 
savage. For two years, in all that region 
then included in Johnson County, these 
were the only white settlers. They knew of 
no neighbors in the Illinois Territory, and 
the nearest white settlements were at Kas- 
kaski a and Cahokia, which, for any purpose 
of trade or communication, had as well beon 
at the farthest ends of the earth. For years 
they saw no white face except the members 
of their own families. They held no inter- 
course with their fellow-men; they had placed 
behind them the comforts and blessings of 
civilization. 

There is a tradition, not well authenti- 
cated, that in the year 1804 a man whose 
name will never now be known, had fixed his 
residence in the hills of the northwest part 
of the county and here alone he lived for 
some years. The story is that he had se- 
lected this wild spot that he might hide him- 
self from his fellow- men, because at some 
time he had committed a great crime and 
was a fugitive from justice; that he fled as 
soon as he ascertained there had been a set- 
tlement in this part of the country, and it 
was only by the discovery of his deserted 
cabin long after he had gone, and probably 
there were some things found, either old 
files of papers or something else to give cur- 
rency to the stories as to who he was and 
why he thus fled from the presence of all 
men. 

The next year, 1805, David Green came 
with his little family and built his cabin in 
the Mississippi bottom, about a half mile 
north of what is known as the Big Barn. 
He was a Virginian, and had been engaged 
in navigating the rivers in the early flat-boat 
days, and in waiting upon the banks of the 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



267 



river and hunting for game he came upon 
the spot where he afterward lived, and re- 
turned to his family and brought them with 
him to his new home. It was a long time 
before he knew the Hunsakers and Wolfs 
were his nearest neighbors. 

There was an Indian trail that, as was 
generally the case, was following a buffalo 
path that passed diagonally across the lower 
portion of the State and passed near where 
Jonesboro now is but a little to the south. 

During even the early part of the eight- 
eenth century there were white men passing 
up and down the Ohio River, and the govern-- 
ments that at different periods had posses- 
sions had erected Fort Massac, Fort Wil- 
kinson and Fort Jefferson and here were sta- 
tioned soldiers, but these were merely guard 
posts of armed men for the purpose of keep- 
ing the possession and retaining the owner- 
ship of the country. And often the Indians 
would gather in great force and besiege the 
place and bloody battles would ensue, and then 
for years the place would be evacuated and left 
untenanted. The tenure of these possessions 
was frail and uncertaii}, as they were often 
the prizes to contend for among iinfriendly 
whites as well as with the native savages. 

Skirting along the Ohio River from Fort 
Massac to the junction of the rivers, there 
were temporary settlements or camps of pio- 
neers on the banks as early as 1795. At the 
junction where Cairo now is, William Bird, 
in company with his parents, remembered in 
his lifetime of stopping and camping a 
short time at the point where ^'he two rivers 
join, but after a rest of a few days the fam- 
ily proceeded up the river and settled near 
Cape Girardeau. He bearing in mind the 
impression the junction of the two great riv- 
ers had made, returned, being then hardly 
grown, to the place, in the year IS 17, and 
made a permanent and the first settlement of 



Cairo. Thus during all the early years the 
extreme point of land at the confluence of 
the two rivers was known as Bird's Point, 
and it was only in years after it came to be 
known as Cairo, and the name Bird's Point 
crossed the river when the Bird family made 
their residence at that place. 

James Conyers with his family came down 
the river from Kentucky and camped where 
Cairo now stands. His son, Bartlett Con- 
yers, was then seven years old. He is now 
an active, well-to-do man, eighty-five years 
old and lives in Menard County, 111. 

Through the politeness of Mr. Potter, of 
the Argus, we were shown a letter from Mr. 
Bartlett Conyers, of June, 1881, in which he 
gives some of his recollections of the country 
now composed of Alexander and Pulaski Coun- 
ties. Among other things he says: "We made 
our first halt and went into camp where 
Cairo now is. We had moved from Livings- 
ton County, Ky. It was then a wilderness, 
and wild game, such as turkey, deer, wolves 
and bears, was plenty." He says he killed 
a number of bears as well as other game in 
what is now the city boundaries. He tells 
of an encounter he had as follows: " [ went 
out hunting and had only two balls for my 
gun. The first shot I killed a very large 
bear dead in his tracks; with my second ball 
I slightly wounded another. Although I 
was but sixteen years old, I thought I could 
kill him with my knife, so I followed him 
up and went into the fight in earnest, but 
after a short tussle in which neither got 
much worsted, I beat a hasty retreat. The 
bear retreated at the same time I did, but 
for some strange cause, retreated in the same 
direction I did, and only a few feet behind 
me, but I soon got out of his way. T then 
cut a good, short club and followed ^him up, 
but was more cautious. I soon came up 
with him, and after a little maneuvering hit 



268 



HISTOIIY OF UNION COUNTY 



him a fair lick on the head. I expected to 
see him fall, but^, all the effect it had was to 
make him take right after me again. In this 
way we continued the tight foi at least an 
hour, when I accidentally hit him on the 
back of the head, which knocked him down. 
For the first time my knife came in good 
play, and I soon finished him. " 

Mr. Conyers remembers spending five 
years hunting exclusively, and all this time 
had only Indians for associates and bed- fel- 
lows. He says his father, James Conyers, 
located twelve miles from the mouth of the 
Ohio in 1805, at a point which was after- 
ward America, now Pulaski County. This 
was the first white family in that county. 
The Indians were friendly and often visited 
the house. The next settlement in the coun- 
ty was Jesse Periy and family. His place 
was two miles above Conyers.' The nearest 
settlement to these two families at that time 
was one near Jonesboro, in Union County. 

Mr. Conyers says they had no communica- 
tion with the outside world; each family de- 
pended solely upon itself for everything. The 
little bread they used was pounded in a mor- 
tar or eventually ground on a hand mill, 
depending wholly on game for meat, which 
was plenty. In 1807, Thomas Clark settled 
where Mound City now stands. And in a 
short time a man named Humphrey came 
and settled where Caledonia now stands. 

Solomon Hess next came and settled at the 
mouth of what was afterward called Hess 
Bayoa. A man named Kennedy was living 
on Clark's place in 1812, when the Indian 
Massacre occui-red. George Hacker was the 
first settler on Cache River; he came there 
in 1806; soon after, John Shaver settled near 
him, and, about the year 1810, Rice and 
William Sams located on the Cache. This 
includes every soul in all that region prior 
to the war of 1812. The people were not 



troubled for years in holding elections or 
paying any taxes. The war of 1812 stopped 
all immigration for some years, and the In- 
dians became troublesome, and the citizens, 
for self -protection, had to gather together, and 
the house of James Conyers was selected for 
the rendezvous and convei'ted into a fort or 
block-house, and the settlers all " forted " 
there. 

The Indians had a regular crossing about 
one mile above Conyers' place, and it was 
here Tecumseh crossed the river when he 
went south to incite the Creek and other 
tribes to go to war. This crossing may yet 
be found, as it is at the mouth of a little 
creek about one mile above America. 

Mr. Conyers furnishes us some new facts 
in reference to the first attempt to settle the 
point of land at the junction of the two riv- 
ers. His recollection is distinct that it was 
a man named Drakeford Gray. He built his 
house on posts or stilts, and above the high 
waters. During very high water, the build- 
ing caught fire and burned. A boat hap- 
pened to be passing, and took the people off, 
otherwise, there is hardly a doubt they 
would have all perished. 

The earliest settlements naturally were 
made along the Ohio River, and a short dis- 
tance up its tributaries. The pioneer river 
men became the pioneer settlers, and the 
name of Cache River is a history of itself^ of 
those who came thei'e and why they came. A 
" cache" is thus described in Irving's " Asto- 
ria:" " A place for the cache is situated 
near a running stream, a circular sod is cut 
out and laid aside, a hole is then dug wider 
at the bottom than at the top, the earth is 
thrown into the stream, the cache filled with 
such goods as are to be concealed and the 
sod carefully replaced." The earliest set- 
tlements, or rather encampments of settlers, 
at the mouth and a short distance up this 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



269 



stream, date back to 1795. In 1809, four 
families had settled in what is now Dogtooth 
Bend. They were named Harris, Crane, 
Wade and Powers. They built a school- 
house, the first so far as can be now ascer- 
tained in this section of the State. The lit- 
tle house was made of a cottonwood tree that 
had been split into rails, and the first teacher 
was an unknown Irishman. He took his 
toddy and shed the light of his birch rods 
with no scanty or light hand. One of his 
pupils was John S. Hacker, who, it seems, here 
laid the foundations for those political tilts 
that he was afterward to engage in with 
John Grammer. Many of the immigrants 
into this part of Illinois had fled for safety 
to these high hills from the great earth- 
quake of 1811. This brought ex-Gov. John 
Dougherty, a small child at that time; he re- 
moved to near Cape Girardeau and after- 
ward to Union County. The earliest settlers 
along the river were supplied with salt, iron, 
ammunition, etc., by keel -boats. The fol- 
lowing description of keel- boating was fur- 
nished Rev. E. B. Olmstead by Col. John S. 
Hacker, who had often acted as bowsman in 
trips up and down the river: The hull was 
much like a modern barge or small steam- 
boat; a mast about forty feet high was erect- 
ed near the bow, to the top of which a line 
nearly two hundred yards long was attached. 
The men, with the line on their shoulders, 
walked on the bank, drawing the load slowly 
against the current. To the tow line a line 
was attached about thirty feet long, called a 
stirrup; the end next the boat passed through 
a ring on the tow line, so as to be within 
reach of the bowman, who^ by this means 
kept the boat from swinging out, and with a 
pole kept it oif the banks. In this he was 
aided by the pilot or helmsman at the steer- 
ing oar. This was called cordeling. When 
the current of the river was very strong. 



warping was resorted to. A line was sent 
ahead, fastened to a tree and the boat drawn 
up; as the line was drawn in, another was 
paid out and sent ahead. Often two to four 
miles was all the advance a day's hard work 
yielded. But ten miles could frequently be 
made, and when the wind allowed a sail to 
be unfurled it proved a blessing to the men. 
It required ninety days to make the trip 
from New Orleans to Louisville, and forty 
men to man the boat. Wages were $100 for 
the trip up, and freight was $5 per huadred 
pounds. The adventurous and daring navi- 
gators saw the beautiful country along the 
banks of the river and marked them for their 
future homes. Prominent among these was 
Capt. James Riddle, of Cincinnati. He was 
afterwai'd one of the proprietors of Trinity, 
America and Caledonia, and still later of the 
Mounds. 

In 3816, James Riddle, Nicholas Berth- 
end, Elias Rector and Henry Bechtle entered 
lands extending from below the mouth of 
Cache River to the Third Principal Meridian, 
and by a general subdivision established 
Trinity. No town lots were sold, but James 
Berry and afterward Col. H. L. W'ebb, in 
about the year 1817, coumenced a hotel here 
and commenced a trading and supply busi- 
ness. Goods were shipped here for St. 
Louis, and as early as 1818 a town was laid 
out on an extensive scale. The propri- 
etors were James Riddle, Henry Bechtle and 
Thomas Sloo, of Cincinnati, and Stephen and 
Henry Rector, of St. Louis. The agent of the 
proprietors was William M. Alexander, who 
then resided at America. The agent of Mr. 
Riddle was John Dougherty, whose son Will- 
iam is a citizen of Mound City. Mr. Alexander 
was one of the extraordinary men of the 
early day. A physician of great eminence, 
and immediately upon the formation of Al- 
exander County, was elected its first Represen- 



270 



HISTORT OF UNION COUNTY. 



tative in the General Assembly, and was 
chosen Speaker of the House. Dr. Alexan- 
der was here when Union County did'not ex- 
ist; he was here and traversing the entire 
county, and was well known to all the peo- 
ple in the district when Union County era- 
braced all of the now three counties. His 
reputation extended throughout the State, 
-and he was intent upon building a great city 
at or near the confluence of the two great 
rivers. Something of what was going on in 
the way of city building may be gleaned 
from an extract or two of the Doctor's letters. 
In one dated ]" Town of America, April 4, 
1818," to James Biddle, of Cincinnati, he 
says: " The survey and additions will be 
<5ompleted in probably two weeks; nothing 
but a desire to promote the prosperity of the 
place could justify us in selling property 
which must become erelong of immense 
value." In another letter dated March 10, 
1819, not quite one short year, he says: "The 
present is the crisis of its [the town's] fate. 
I wish you could be at America and view 
with your own eyes the necessity for somo 
exertion. Only see what has been effected 
by my feeble exertions since the 1st of De- 
cember. I say it with dififidence, but I must 
say it, if I had not gone there at that criti- 
cal time, America must have fallen in a 
long sleop. The public mind of the coun- 
try was prejudiced against it. I opened 
Ohio street as far as Washington, Washington 
as far as the public square, a road to Jonesboro 
and one to Cape Girardeau. Had all the timber 
from the mouth of tbe creek leveled down 
with the earth, set the first example of erect- 
ing a house, have so conciliated the good 
will of the citizens that they have petitioned 
to have America made the seat of justice. 
Now all may bid defiance to opposition, but 
let us not sleep. What I have said of my- 
self is not by way of boasting, but to show 



the effect of limited means, to show what 
your superior ability could effect if exerted. 
The Commissioners for fixing the seat of jus- 
tice were selected by myself, and will of 
course be favorable to our views. The con- 
dition of its establishment will be the pay- 
ment of $4,000 in installments for public 
buildings. I have completely abandoned 
the idea of making an immediate specula- 
tion. We must wait patiently for the im- 
provement of the town. We must dig a well, 
build a free bridge over the Cache, so as to 
draw the trade of the Dutch in Union Coun 
ty Send us down mechanics o^ all sorts. 
As the Legislature has made the County 
Commissioners one of the most influential and 
respected offices in Ihe State, I shall be a 
candidate for that office in Alexander Coun- 
ty, which is the name the Legislature has 
given the new county. If I am elected, I 
will bend the whole county to such improve- 
ments as will promote the interests of Amer- 
ica. I shall take immediate steps for tne 
erection of the public buildings." 

William M. Alexander soon left America 
and Union County and resided at some time 
in Kaskaskia. He was determined to join 
his fate to some new Western town that 
would grow at once into a great and pros- 
perous city, and the fates seemed to pursue 
him. America went " to sleep," as the Doc- 
tor feared it would in one of his letters, and 
he was hardly more than fixed in Kaskaskia 
when the capital of the State was moved to 
Vandalia, and that old town followed the 
fate of its more humble contemporary, Amer- 
ica. After residing in Kaskaskia, he went 
South and died. 

In the year 1809, in the south part of what 
is now Union County, the family of Law- 
rences, three in number, and William Clapp, 
making four families, settled. They lived 
on Mill Creek. In a short time after this, 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



'^71 



John Stokes, William Gwinn, George Evans 
and Thomas Standard settled in the last part 
of the county in what has long been known 
as the Stokes settlement. 

Hon. John Grammer.— About this time, it 
may have been earlier, as the most diligent 
search has failed to fix the date, and which is 
much to be regretted, there came to this 
county John Grammer, the model, the won- 
derful, the extraordinary pioneer; the fisher, 
hunter, trapper, politician and statesman. 
So litfle was his appearance an index to the 
man that he was an old settler before any 
one there knew that stich a being existed. 
His presence was heralded by no star in the 
east or west to point him out and say to all 
the world " behold the man!^' The inferences 
from the early records are that he was accom- 
panied by his brother William in his com- 
ing. It cannot be ascertained what his age 
was when he came, or where he was from. 
We only know that among the early and re- 
markable productions of the county, Johnson 
County then embracing all the territory of 
Union, Alexander and Piilaski Counties, 
was the Hon. John Grammer, who settled in 
what is now Union County, a little south of 
Jonesboro. He was one of the first offi- 
cials in the county, representating John- 
son County in the first Territorial Legis- 
lature as early as 1812, when there were but 
five counties in the State, and the entire Assem- 
bly would gather about a good-sized table in 
Kaskaskia and talk in a coversational way 
for an hour or two, and then join in one of 
those exciting games of " crack-loo " for the 
drinks, and in this august assembly Gram- 
mer was a statesman of the rough diamond, 
barefoot persuasion. He was as illiterate as 
he was indifferent to fine clothes and per- 
fumed soap; as slouchy, careless and un- 
couth in manners mostly as he was reckless 
and indifferent in the use of the King's Engf- 



lish, when pouring forth from the stump one 
of his towering philippics. He came 
among the early simple hunters and trap- 
pers of Union County like an Aurora in 
soiled linen or an unshod, burr- tailed colt 
from the mountain " deestrict," and he 
waked the echoes of the primeval forests, and 
as a politician bore down all opposition, as 
he rode in triumph into the affections of the 
voters and into high official positions. In 
the very first election ever held in the coun- 
ty he was made a Justice of the Peace, from 
which foothold he essayed and accomplished 
dizzy flights to higher positions, until he was 
elected to the State Senate, which position 
he filled time and again, from which vantage- 
point his name and fame extended through 
the entire State, until " as John Grammer 
says " became a by- word from Galena to 
Cairo. He was no common man in any- 
thing; he was no man's man, but strong, 
original, honest and incorruptible, he trod 
alone, sword in hand, his great life pathway, 
with an eye that never quailed and heart for 
every fate. He was unlearned in the books, 
but original and strong in intellect. It was 
from the rude, simple, illiterate John Gram- 
mer that the statesmen of Europe learned 
that when a legislator is called upon to vote 
in a legislative body, if he don't fully under- 
stand the question, to always vote "no." 
This was John Grammer' s rule, from which he 
never deviated in the Illinois Senate. Nor had 
he any of that false pride and silly fear of be- 
ing laughed at that so often makes weaker 
minded men assume to know all things 
brought before them, and to hide their igno- 
rance in silence. This was John Grammer's 
cardinal idea of statesmanship: the idea and 
practice was his invention or discovery, and 
the great Frenchman De Tocqueville, when 
studying this government, was attracted to 
Grammer, and in his book on Amei'ican insti- 



272 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



tutions, the Frenchman called the attention 
of Europe to it in terms of highest commen- 
dation. 

What other statesman has America pro- 
duced that has been thus handsomely started 
on the road to a deserved immoi'tality, to 
equal this unwashed, unkempt, illiterate 
backwoodsman? Early Illinois produced 
many remarkable men, but none so strongly 
original, so uncouth, so illiterate, or so in- 
teresting as John Grammer. As said before, 
he borrowed nothing from the books, and 
his illiteracy was so marked that it amounted 
to a gift or talent. He borrowed or copied 
from nothing. He never hesitated for a word, 
for when he wanted one he would coin it 
upon the instant. When addressing the 
Senate, he would shake his frowsy locks 
and point his finger at the chair and exclaim: 
" Mr. President, I give you a 'pernipsis' of 
that bill." All other business stopped while he 
was giving his promised synopsis. When 
thoroughly warmed up, his eloquence was a 
Niagara of words, until sometimes his tongue 
would trip and he would land souse in a 
" tangled priminary," as he always called a 
dilemma, when he would appeal to the 
brother "siniters" to help him out of the 
difficulty, which some of them would always 
do, when with unruffled plumes he would 
sail away again so grandly, with such gor- 
geous home-made rhetoric as would have 
paled the meteoric glories of even Sir Boyle 
Roche himself. Something of his greatness, in 
fact, lay in his ready aptness in word-coin- 
ing and phrase-making, and it was no trav- 
esty upon grammar — the science of lan- 
guage — when his patronymic was solemnly 
recorded as John Grammer, the father of 
Illinois true Statecraft, the author of amus- 
ing bulls, quaint mistakes and pat phrases 
that deserve to live forever in connection 
with his name. The heaviest constitutional 



questions had no terrors for him, and when 
he found a fellow-senator attempting some 
real or fancied innovation upon the funda- 
mental laws, he snuffed the battle afar off 
and clothed his neck with thunder. Upon 
an occasion of this kind, he controlled his 
patience as long as he could, when he arose, 
and in a voice that pierced the marrow in 
members' bones, exclaimed, " You can't do 
that. It's fernent the compack! " and the 
country was saved, and John Grammer sat 
down immortal and to this day in all South- 
ern Illinois, when a thing is " fernent the 
compack," it is a dead cock in the pit. 

Many of the early statesmen in Union 
County, in fact in all this then very large 
Senatorial district, have been sadly worsted 
in their attempts to supersede him among 
the voters. They found him wily, tough, 
stubborn and full of resources. He under- 
stood the people. He did not, when in a 
campaign, or any other time for that matter, 
array himself in purple and fine linen; nor 
did he drive a tandem team of blooded trot- 
ters with gold-mounted harness. A log 
wagon bull team, trimmed with bark and 
hickory withes was the most sumptu.ous go- 
to meetin' rig he ever possessed or used. 
And when dressed in his best on such oc- 
casions, he was generally barefoot, and thus 
arrayed it only seemed to add force and fii'e 
to his vehement eloquence, if his breeches 
were rolled up to the knees, and a twist of 
tobacco in one pocket and the Democratic 
platform in the- other. He was Nature's un- 
adorned progeny — rather broad and liberal 
in his mode of thought, either in politics or 
religion, as well as his customs, manners, 
morals and habits. Like pretty much all of 
his day and time, he would sometimes in- 
dulge his appetite beyond stern puritan 
ideas, but he seldom went so far in this way 
as not to keep an eye on the main chance. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



273 



An instance of this is given when on one oc- 
casion there was a great political rally, for 
the benefit of candidates, down in the north 
part of Alexander County, and Grammer was 
posted for a big speech. He reached the 
grounds some time before speaking was to 
commence, and before that hour had arrived 
he was out of all condition, and he realized 
this so fully that he reported himself sick, 
and sought seclusion, where he would soon 
brace up and be all right for the ordeal. 
The crowd foolishly gathered about him 
densely, when his rival pushed into the 
crowd and shouted: " Stand back, men; give 
him air!" Grammer rolled his helpless head, 
eyed his rival and understood he only 
wanted to expose him, and he said : " D — n 
you, I understand you. I'll be thar or bust 
yet," and so he did, and made one of his 
most effective speeches. 

As did all men in those days, he hunted a 
great deal. On one occasion he was out in 
the rain all day, getting very wet; at night 
he hung his powder-horn on one side of the 
large open fixe-place, so that the large tow 
string by which he swung it over his shoulder 
might dry. During the night, the " fore- 
stick " burned in two in the middle, and 
the end flipped up and set the tow string on 
fire. It burned off and the horn fell into the 
coals, and soon the sleeping household was 
startled by the explosion, which scattered the 
fire all over the room, and even on the bed 
where the man and wife slept. The woman 
soon brushed and swept up the coals, and all 
was safe and serene again. But Grammer 
didn't retui'n to bed, but walked the floor in 
great distress, his hands clasped across his 
stomach. Finally his wife, in great alarm, 
asked what was the matter, " Oh, Lord! 
Oh, Lord!" exclaimed the poor man; " it is 
not the loss of the powder, or the horn. I 
could stand all that; but, Sal, suppose it 



purtends a sign!" And again and again 
the distressed man moaned like the sad, wet 
winds. 

In the simplicity of his soul, he dreaded 
a "sign," a portent from a displeased heaven. 
Here was greatness and childish simplicity 
and credulity that brings to mind the agony 
of fear that is sometimes said to seize the 
huge elephant upon seeing a ridiculous little 
mouse. 

He was a peculiar bundle of wisdom and 
weak and childish fears and superstitions; a 
medley of strange contradictions; a man 
who, perhaps, amid other surroundings, 
would never have emerged from the profound 
obscurity that surrounded his early life, and 
it now strikes the ear of the reader like the 
happy fictions of the romance writers, when 
they are told that this obscure, illiterate 
man, at the first moment an opportunity pre- 
sented itself in the State, to offer his services 
as a law-maker to the people, and they read- 
ily accepted the offer. How did this silent 
hunter, this illiterate recluse, ever come to 
know that Illinois had been advanced to a 
second grade Territory, and would want, as 
early as 1812, the people to elect a Legisla- 
ture, to go to Kaskaskia and enact laws, and 
fix the governmental machinery that was to 
bear aloft the weal and destiny of the young 
giant State. He read no newspapers, and the 
obscurity that envelopes the first years of his 
life in these wild woods, indicates that he 
held no converse or communication with liv- 
ing thing, except with the wild game, to 
which he spoke with the keen crack of his 
rifie, and its reverberating echoes among the 
hills. But when his adopted State called for 
statesmen he stepped forth, regal in coon- 
skin and deer-skin clothes, and filled the be- 
hest and was immortal. No proper histor}^ 
of Illinois will ever be written which omits 
the name of John Grammer. The first Ter- 



274 



HISTORY OF UXTOX COUNTY. 



ritorial Legislature convened November 25, 
1812, and adjourned December 25 of the 
same year. The second session met and com- 
pleted its session and adjourned on the 8th 
day of November, 1813. A prominent, if 
not pre-eminent, member of that body was 
John Grammer. He then retired from the 
legislative halls for one session, and then 
was elected in 1816 again. When Illinois 
became a State, he was elected to the State 
Senate. In the Territorial times, the Legis 
lative Assembly consisted of a Council and 
House of Representatives. In the first As- 
sembly — 1812 — John Grammer was a mem- 
ber of the House of Representatives, repre- 
senting one of the five counties, St. Clair, 
Randolph, Gallatin, Madison and Johnson, 
that then constituted the State. In 1816, he 
was elected again, but was promoted to a 
member of the Council (now called the Sen- 
ate), and was re-elected to the session of the 
same body for the session of 1817-18. He 
was again elected to the State Senate in 
1822-24, and again to the Assembly of 1824- 
26, and again re-elected Senator to the As- 
sembly of 1830-32, and again 1832-34. 
Here was a long service in the legislative de- 
partment of the State. The importance 
with which he was esteemed is fairly illus- 
trated by the fact that, while he was a mem- 
ber of the Senate, the first compilation of 
the Illinois laws was made, and among the 
people they were distinguished by the name 
of the " Grammer laws. " It is reported that 
a certain Judge Block was holding court in 
Vienna in the earl), rude times. Jeptha 
Hardin was arguing a case before him, and 
when he undertook to fortify himself by read- 
ing from a book which he held -in his hand, 
" What book is that yoa are reading from ?" 
demanded Judge Block, sternly. " May it 
please the court," said Hardin, blandly, " it 
is Chitfcy on Contracts." "Chitty!" said 



the Judge, " Chitty! Take it away, sir! take 
it away! What did our fathers fight for ? 
Take it away; we will try this case by the 
Grammer laws! " 

In Stuv6 and Davidson's history of Illi- 
nois, John Grammer is mentioned as the 
father of Illinois demagogues. This is an in- 
justice to that sturdy, honest-minded old 
pioneer. The charge is an injustice to his 
memory. He simply voted "No," and had 
the moral courage to oppose the public craze 
of 1837, on the subject of internal improve- 
ments, and for this wise stand in defense of 
the people he lost the affection of the voters, 
and was then, for their first time, defeated at 
the polls. Had he been a demagogue, he 
would have played the demagogue's part, and 
simply trimmed his sai Is to the popular breeze, 
and only have increased his power, not lost it. 
The same history relates an anecdote of 
Grammer, and while i* is nut well-authen- 
ticated, nor is it, on its face, a reasonable 
story, yet we give the substance of it, be- 
cause it, to some extent, explains his humble 
beginning in life. When he was first elected 
to the Legislature — so the story runs — there 
was much counseling and financiering in his 
own and his neighbors' families as to how a 
suit of clothes could be got for him to go to 
Kaskaskia in. Eventually, he and family 
gathered nuts and carried them to Fort 
Massac trading post, and exchanged them 
for a few yards of "blue drilling." This 
was carried home, and the neighbors called 
in to cut and make the clothes. After meas- 
uring, turning, twisting and stretching, the 
cloth was short and finally it was cut into a 
hunting shirt and then there was only enough 
left to make a pair of high "leggins, " and 
thus arrayed he served his term in the Leg- 
islature. 

This is something of the life and times 
and character of John Grammer — a hiwtorical 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



375 



landmark in the early history of Illinois — a 
study and a delight for the coming children of 
men. He left numerous descendants, but his 
scepter of power, originality and invention 
passed away forever with the breath from his 
body. He was a just man in his judgment 
it seems, and wholly fearless in following 
the convictions that took hold of him. It 
appears that he about equally divided his time 
in a rigid and exemplary membership of the 
church, and then a jolly, won't-go-home-till- 
morning with his good friends and neigh- 
bors, and whether it was one or the other, he 
allowed no grass to grow under his feet, as 
his energy and industry kept even pace with 
his quick mother wit, shrewd good sense or 
bad grammar. He never made a long speech 
in his life, but he never took his seat after 
an effort of the kind without having made 
just svich a speech, particularly in words. 



quaint phrases, construction, and sometimes 
ideas, as no other man in the world could 
have imitated, much less made. His was a 
rich and incomparable vein of originality — 
often the most humorous when he felt the 
most solemn, as at other times he was as 
fiinereal as a hearse when he fancied his wit 
and humor the most sparkling. He always 
opened a stumping campaign by announcing 
that he believed there were men " more fitner" 
for the office than he was, but his friends 
would "anomJnate" him " wherer or no," 
and " thairfore" he would make the race, 
and, if elected, would do the best he could; 
and thus he would beat his eloquent huzzy- 
guzzy and sound his thew-gag down the 
banks of the Mississippi and up the Ohio, 
till the deep-tangled wildwood echoed his 
eloquent refrain, and victory floated out 
upon his banners. 



CHAPTER V. 



SETTLERS IN UNION, ALEXANDER AND PULASKI— LEAN VENISON AND FAT BEAR— PRIMITIVE. 

FURNITURE — A PIONEER BOY SEES A PLASTERED HOUSE — HOW PEOPLE PORTED— 

THEIR DRESS AND AMUSEMENTS— WITCHCRAFT, WIZARDS, ETC.— NO LAW 

NOR CHURCH — SPORTS, ETC. — GOV. DOUGHERTY — PHILIP 

SHAVER AND THE CACHE MASSACRE — FAMILIES 

IN THE ORDER THEY CAME, ETC., ETC. 



"The sound of the war-whoop oft woke the 
sleep of the cradle." 

THEKE is much of romance in the story 
of the first settlers upon this southern 
point of Illinois, which is now comprised in 
the three counties — Union, Alexander and 
Pulaski. The first white men that were here 
trod the soil of St. Clair County, then em- 
bracing the State— 1790. Then they were 
citizens of Randolph County: then Johnson 
County, then Union County and from the 



territory of this last-named county was 
formed Alexander County, and eventually 
Pulaski — mostly from Alexander County, but 
partly from Pope and Johnson Counties. 

The spirit of adventure allured these pio- 
neers to come into this vast wilderness. The 
beauty of the country gratified the eye, its 
abundance of wild animals the passion for 
hunting. They were surrounded by an enemy 
subtle and wary. But those wild borderers 
flinched not from the contest ; even their 



276 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



women and children often performed deeds 
of heroism in the land where " the sound 
of the war-whoop oft woke the sleep of the 
cradle," fi'om which the iron nerves of man- 
hood might well have shrunk in fear. 

They had no opportunity for the cultiva- 
tion of the arts and elegancies of refined life. 
In their seclusion, amid danger and peril, 
there arose a peculiar condition of society, 
elsewhere unknown. The little Indian 
meal brought with them was often expended 
too soon, and sometimes for weeks or months 
ihey lived without bread. The lean venison 
and the breast of wild turkey thoy taught 
themselves to call bread. The flesh of the 
bear was denominated meat. This was a 
wretched artifice, and resulted in disease and 
sickness when necessity compelled them to in- 
dulge in it. loo long, preceded by weakness 
and a feeling constantly of an empty 
stomach, and they would pass the dull hours 
in watching the potato tops, pumpkin and 
squash vines, hoping from day to day to get 
something to answer the place of bread. 
What a delight and joy was the first young 
potato! What a jubilee when at last the 
young corn eculd be pulled for roasting ears, 
only to be still intensified when it had at- 
tained sufiicient hardness to be made into a 
johnny cake by the aid of a tin grater. 
These were the harbingers from heaven, that 
brought health, vigor and content with the 
surroundings, poor as they were. 

The first settlers along the rivers and 
among these hills of Southern Illinois 
judged the soil upon their first coming here 
by what they knew of North Carolina, Vir- 
ginia and Tennessee; and that, with a few 
years' cultivation, it would wear out and have 
to be abandoned. We now know they were 
utterly mistaken in this respect. ThQ 
grounds, when pastured, soon produced rich 
grasses, that afforded pasture for the cattle, 



by the time the wood range was eaten out, 
as well as to protect the soil from being 
washed away by rains, so often injurious 
to hilly countries. 

The difficulties these people encountered 
were very great. They were in a wilderness, 
remote from any cultivated region, and am- 
munition, food, clothing and implements of 
industry were obtained with great difficulty. 
Then, as early as 1810, the merciless savage 
had begun to paint himself for war and put 
on his tomahawk and scalping-knife, and 
there was then only increased danger, toil 
and suffering for the few and widely separ- 
ated settlers. 

The furniture for the table for several 
years after the settlement of the country 
consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and 
sometimes spoons, wooden bowls, trenchers 
and noggins, gourds and hard-shelled 
squashes, that wei-e brought from the old 
States, along with the salt and iron, on pack- 
horses. " Hog and hominy" were the viands 
that were served upon this table furniture. 
Johnny-cake and pone bread were in use for 
dinner and breakfast; at supper milk and 
mush was the standard dish. Ask any of 
these very old settlers you meet if, in his 
youth, he did not have many a scramble, and 
often a battle-royal, with his brothers and 
sisters, for the "scrapings" of the mush-pot. 

Dr. Doddridge, in 1824, said in his diary: 
" I well I'ecollect the first time I ever saw a 
teacup and saucer, and tasted coffee. My 
mother died when I was six years old; my 
father then sent me to Maryland, to school. 
At Bedford, everything was changed. The 
tavern at which I stopped was a stone house, 
and to make the change still more complete, 
it was plastered on the inside, both as to the 
walls and ceiling. On going into the dining 
room, I was struck with astonishment at the 
appearance of the house. I had no idea there 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



279 



was a house in the world not built of lo^s; 
but here I looked around the house and could 
see no logs, and above I could see no joists. 
Whether such a thing had been made so by 
the hands of man, or grown so of itself, I 
could not conjecture. I had not the courage 
to inquire anything about it. I watched at- 
tentively to see what the big folks would do 
with their little cups and spoons. I imitated 
them, and found the taste of the cofifee naus- 
eous beyond anything I had ever tasted in 
my life. I continued to drink, as the rest 
of the company did, with tears streaming 
from my eyes; but when it was to end I was 
at a loss to know, as the little cups were 
filled immediately after being emptied. This 
circumstance distressed me very much, and 
I durst not say I had enough. Looking at- 
tentively at the grand persons, I saw one 
person turn his cup bottom upward and pvit 
his little spoon atiross it. I observed after 
this his cup was not filled again. I followed 
his example, and, to my great satisfaction, 
the result, as to my cup, was the same." 

The hunting-shirt was universally worn. 
This was a loose frock, reaching half way 
down the thighs, with large sleeves, open 
before, and so wide as to lap over when 
belted. It generally had a large cape, and 
was made of cloth or buckskin. The bosom 
of this shirt served as a wallet, to hold bread, 
jerk, tow for wiping the barrels of his rifle, 
or any other necessary article for the warrior 
or hunter. The belt, which was tied behind, 
answered several purposes besides that of 
holding the dress together. Moccasins for 
the feet and generally a coon-skin cap Avere 
the fashion. In wet weather, the moccasins 
were only a " decent way of going bare- 
footed," and were the cause of much rheu- 
matism among the people. The linsey petti- 
coat and bed-gown were the dress of the 
women in early times, and a Sunday dress 



was completed, by a pair of home-made shoes 
and handkerchief. 

The people " f orted " when the Indians 
threatened them. The stockades, bastions, 
cabins and block-house were furnished with 
port-holes. The settlers would occupy 
their cabins, and would reluctantly move 
into the block-house when an alarm was 
given. The couriers would pass around in the 
dead hours of the night, and warn the people 
of the danger, and in the silence of death 
and darkness the family would hastily dress 
and gather what few things they could lay 
their hands on in the darkness, and hurry to 
the fort. 

For a long time after the first settlement, 
the inhabitants married young. There were 
no distinctions in rank, and but little of fort- 
une. A wedding often engaged the atten- 
tion of the whole neighborhood, and the 
frolic was anticipated by old and young with 
eager expectation. This was natural, a its 
was the only party which was not accompa- 
nied with the labor of log-rolling, building a 
cabin or planning some scout or campaign. 
On the morning of the wedding, the groom 
and his friends would assemble at the house 
of his father, and they would proceed to 
the house of the bride, reaching there by 
noon, and here they would meet the friends 
of the bride, and a bottle race would ensue, 
and the joy of life was in full sway. The 
gentlemen, dressed in shoe-packs, moccasins, 
leather breeches, leggins, linsey hunting- 
shirts, and all home-made; the ladies dressed 
in linsey petticoats and linsey or linen bed- 
gowns, coarse shoes, stockings and handker- 
chiefs, and all home-made. After dinner, 
the dancing commenced, and would generally 
last until daylight next morning. About 10 
o'clock in the evening, a deputation of young 
ladies would steal off the bride, and ascend 
the ladder to the loft, and passing softly over 

(6 



280 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



the loft floor, whicli was made of clapboards, 
lying loose, put the bride to bed. A deputa- 
tion of young men would then steal off the 
groom, and similarly put him to bed, and 
below the dance went on. The next day, 
the " infair" went on at the house of the 
bride, much as it had at the house of the 
groom, and sometimes this feasting and 
dancing was continued for days. 

A grater, the hominy block, the hand- 
mills and the sweep, were the order of the 
coming of the mechanic arts in bread-mak- 
ing. Pretty much each family was its own 
tanner, weaver, shoe-maker, tailor, carpenter, 
blacksmith and miller. The first water-mill 
was a grand advance in the comforts of civili- 
zation. They were often called tub-mills, 
and consisted of a perpendicular shaft, to the 
lower end of which a horizontal wheel of four 
or five feet in diameter was attached. 

Amusements are, in many instances, either 
imitations of the business of life, or at least 
of some of its particular objects of pursuit. 
Many of the sports of the early settlers were 
imitative of the exercises and stratagems of 
hunting and war. Boys were taught the use 
of the bow and arrow at an early age, and ac- 
quired considerable expertness in their use. 
One important pastime of the boys was that 
of imitating the noise of every bird and beast 
in the woods. This faculty was a very nec- 
essary part of education, on account of its 
utility in certain circumstances. The imita- 
tion of gobbling and other calls of the turkey 
often brought these keen-eyed denizens of the 
forest within reach of the rifle. The bleat- 
ing of the fawn brought its dam to her death 
in the same way. The hunter often collected 
a company of mopish owls to the trees about 
his camp, and amused himself with their 
hoarse screaming. His howl would raise and 
obtain a response from a pack of wolves, so 
as to inform him of their neighborhood, as 



well as to guard him against their depreda- 
tions. This imitative faculty sometimes was 
requisite as a measure of precaution in war. 
The Indians, when scattered about in a 
neighborhood, often collected together, by 
imitating turkeys by day and wolves by night. 
And sometimes a whole people would be 
thrown into consternation by the screeching 
of an owl. Throwing the . tomahawk was 
another sport, in which many acquired great 
skill. The tomahawk, with its handle a cer- 
tain length, will make a given number of 
turns in a given distance. At one certain 
distance, thrown in a certain way, it will 
stick in a tree with the handle down, and at 
another distance with the handle up. Prac- 
tice would enable the boy to measure with his 
eye the distance so accurately, that he could 
throw the ax and stick it into the tree any way 
he might choose. Wrestling, running and 
jumping were the athletic sports of the young 
men. A boy when twelve or thirteen years 
of age, when it was possible so to do, was 
furnished with a light rifle, and, in killing 
game, he soon could handle it expertly. Then 
he was a good fort soldier, and was assigned 
his port-hole in case of an attack. Dancing, 
quiltings, singing schools and "meetin's" 
soon were the amusements of the young of 
both sexes. Shooting at a mark was a com- 
mon diversion of the men, when their stock 
of ammunition would allow ; this, however, 
was far from being always the case. The 
modern mode of shooting off-hand was not 
then in practice. This mode was not consid- 
ered as any trial of the value of a gun ; nor, 
indeed, as much of a test of the skill of the 
marksman. Such was their regard to accuracy 
in those sportive trials of their rifles, and in 
their own skill in the use of them, that they 
often put moss, or some other soft substance, 
' on the log or stump from which they shot, 
for fear of having the bullet thrown from the 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



281 



mark by the spring of the barrel. When the 
rifle was held to the side of the tree, it was 
pressed lightly for the same reason. 

The belief in witchcraft was so prevalent 
among the early settlers as to be a sore afflic- 
tion. To the witch was ascribed the power 
of inflicting strange and incurable diseases, 
particularly on children ; of destroying cattle 
by shooting them with hair balls, and a great 
variety of other means of destruction ; of put- 
ting upon guns spells, and of changing men 
into horses, and after bridling and saddling 
them, riding them at full speed over hill and 
dale, to their frolics and places of reodez- 
vous. The power of the witches was ample, 
hideous and destructive. Wizards were men 
supposed to possess the same mischievous 
power as the witches ; but these were seldom 
exercised for bad purposes. The powers of 
the wizards were exercised almost exclusively 
for the purpose of counteracting the malevo- 
lent influences of the witches of the other 
sex. They were called witch -masters, who 
made a pi'ofession of curing the diseases in- 
flicted by the influence of witches, and they 
practiced their profession after the manner 
of physicians. Instead of "pill-bags," they 
carried witch balls made of hair, and in 
strange manner they moved these over the 
patient, and muttered an unknown jai'gon, 
and exorcised the evil spirits. One mode of 
cure was to make the picture of the supposed 
witch on a stump, and tire at it a bullet with 
a small portion of silver in it. This silver 
bullet transferred a painful, and sometimes 
mortal spell, on that part of the witch cor- 
responding with the part of the portrait 
struck by the bullet. Another method was 
to cork up in a vial, or bottle, the patient's 
urine, and hang it up in the chimney. This 
gave the witch strangury, which lasted as 
long as the vial hung in the chimney. The 
witch had but one way of relieving herself 



of any spell inflicted on her in any way, 
which was that of borrowing something, no 
matter what, of the family to which the sub- 
ject of the exercise of her witchcraft be- 
longed. And thus often was the old woman 
of a neighborhood surpi-ised at the refusal of 
a family to loan her some article she had ap- 
plied for, and go home almost broken-heart- 
ed, when she learned the cause of the refusal. 
When cattle or dogs were supposed to be un- 
der the influence of witchcraft, they were 
burned in the forehead by a branding-iron, 
or when dead, burned wholly to ashes. This 
inflicted a spell upon the witch, which could 
only be removed by borrowing, as above de- 
scribed. Witches were often said to milk the 
cows. This they did by fixing a new pin in 
a new towel for each cow intended to be 
milked. This towel was hung over her own 
door, and by means of certain incantations, 
the milk was extracted from the fringes of 
the towel, after the manner of milking a cow. 
This only happened when the cows were too 
poor to give much milk. Once upon a time, 
the German glass-blowers drove the witches 
out of their furnaces, by throwing living 
puppies into them. 

Voudouism was one of the miserable su- 
perstitions of witchcraft that was largely be- 
lieved in early times. The distinction 
between this and the original belief in 
witches is in the fact that it applies wholly 
to the negro conjuring. An African slave 
by the name of Moreau, was, about the year 
1790, hung on a tree, a little south of Caho- 
kja. He was charged with this imaginary 
crime. He had acknowledged, it is said, 
that by his power of devilish incantation, 
"he had poisoned his master ; but that his 
mistress proved too powerful for his necro- 
,mancy," and this, it seems, was fully be- 
lieved, and he was executed. In the same 
village, ignorantly inspired by a belief in the 



282 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



existence of this dread power of diabolism, 
another negro's life was offered up to the 
Moloch of superstition, by being shot down 
in the public streets. One of the first acts of 
the first civil Governor of Illinois Territory, 
Lieut. Tod, was an order to take a convict 
net^ro to the water's edge, burn him and scat- 
ter his ashes to the four winds of heaven, for 
the crime of voudouism. It was a very com- 
mon feeling among the French to dread to 
incur in any way the displeasure of certain 
old colored people, under the vague belief 
and feai* that they possessed a clandestine 
power by which to invoke the aid of the evil 
one to work mischief or injury to person or 
property. Nor was the belief confined to the 
French, or this power ascribed wholly to 
negroes. The African belief in fetishes, and 
the power of their divination, is well known. 
Many superstitious negroes have claimed the 
descent to them of fetish power ; the in- 
fatuation regarding voudouism is 3till to be 
found among the ignorant blacks and whites. 
In 1720, Mr. Renault, agent of the " Com- 
pany of the West," bought in San Domingo 
500 slaves, which he brought direct from 
Africa to Illinois. Mankind have been prone 
to superstitious beliefs ; there are many per- 
sons now who are daily governed in the mul- 
tiplied affairs of life by some sign, omen or 
aiTgury. 

The red children of the forest seem to 
have been as ignorant as the whites upon this 
subject. The one-eyed Prophet, a brother of 
Tecumseh, who commanded at the battle of 
Tippecanoe, in obedience, as he said, to the 
commands of Manitou, the Great Spirit, ful- 
minated the penalty of death against those 
who practiced the black art of witchcraft or 
magic. A number of Indians were tried, 
convicted, condemned, tomahawked and con- 
sumed on a pyre. The chief's wife, his 
nephew, Billy Patterson, and one named 



Joshua, were accused of witchcraft; the two 
latter were convicted and executed by burn- 
ing ; but a brother of the chief's wife boldly 
stepped fo'i'ward, seized his sister and led her 
from the council house, and then returned 
and harangued the savages, exclaiming : 
"Manitou, the evil spirit has come in our 
midst and we are murdering one another.'' 
.It is a sad confession to make that no white 
man had the sense and courage to thus save 
his friends and family and rebuke the miser- 
able murders that were being perpetrated in 
the name of witchcraft. 

For some time this was a country with 
"neither law nor Gospel, " and for a long 
time the people knew nothing of churches, 
courts, lawyers, magistrates, Sherifi's or Con- 
stables. Every one was, therefore, at liberty 
" to do whatsoever was right in his own eyes." 
Public opinion answered the place of church 
and State. The turpitude of vice and the 
majesty of virtue were then far more apparent 
than now, and people held these crimes in 
greater aversion then than now. Industry 
in working and hunting, bravery in war, 
candor, hospitality, honesty and steadiness of 
deportment, received their full reward of pub- 
lic honor and public confidence among these 
om'rude forefathers, to a degree that has not 
been sustained by their more polished de- 
scendants. The punishments they inflicted 
upon offenders were unerring, swift and in- 
exorable in their imperial court of public 
opinion and were wholly adapted for the ref- 
ormation of the culprit or his expulsion 
fi-om the community. They had no law for 
the collection of debts, and yet every man 
was rigidly compelled to sacredly keep his 
promises. Any petty theft was punished 
with all the infamy that could be heaped 
on the offender. A man on a campaign stole 
from his comrade a cake out of the ashes, in 
which it was baking. Hr was immediately 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



283 



named " the bread rounds." This epithet of 
reproach weh bandied about in this way; when 
he came in sight of a group of men, one of 
them would call, "Who comes there?" 
another would answer, " The bread rounds." 
Another would say, "Who stole a cake out 
of the ashes ?" when another would reply 
giving yie name of the man in full. And 
this he would hear during the campaign and 
after his return home. If a theft was de- 
tected, the thief was tried by his neighbors, 
and if guilty severely whipped and ordered 
out of the country. 

With all their rudeness, these people 
were given to hospitality, and freely divided 
their rough fare with a neighbor or stranger 
and would have been offended at the ofifer 
of pay. In their settlements and forts, 
they lived, they worked, they fought and 
feasted, or suffered together in cordial har- 
mony. They were warm and constant 
in their friendships. On the other hand, 
they were revengeful in their resentments. 
And the point of honor sometimes led 
to personal combats. If one man called 
another a liar, he was considered as having 
given a challenge which the person who re- 
ceived it must accept, or be deemed a coward, 
and the charge was generally answered with 
a blow. If the injured person was quite un- 
able to fight the aggressor, he might get 
a fi'iend to do it for him. The same 
thing took place on a charge of cowardice or 
any other dishonorable action, a battle must 
follow, and the person who made the charge 
must fight either the person against whom he 
made the charge, or any champion who chose 
to espouse his cause. This accounts for the 
great difference in then and now in speaking 
evil of your neighbors. 

. In a preceding chapter we have given an 
account of those who came into the territory 
now comprising Union, Alexander and Pu- 



laski Counties prior to the year 1810, and 
where the first settlements were made. The 
tide of immigration was then checked by the 
growing hostility of the Indians toward the 
whites, and the prospect of a general war 
which did commence in 1812. Indian mas- 
sacres and outbreaks commenced in 1811. and 
early in 1812 a most shocking butchery of 
all the settlers on Lower Cache occurred. A 
full account of this will be found in the 
chapter on Mound City and Precinct. 

Mr. George James came to this part of 
Illinois in 1811, and settled west of Jones- 
boro, but he had hardly fixed his location 
when he was warned by the Indians, and he 
returned to his old home in Kentucky, and 
after the war was over and a peace had been 
conquered from the Indians, he returned to 
what is now Union County. 

Ex-Lieut. Gov. John Dougherty came to 
this part of Illinois, in company with his 
parents, in the year 1811. Like most of the 
immigrants who came to Illinois that year, 
they were flying to the hills from the great 
earthquakes. John Dougherty was of poor 
parents, and when a lad was apprenticed to 
a hatter to learn the trade, at which he 
worked for some years. He married the 
daughter of George James, and lived out a 
long life among the people of Southern 
Illinois, practicing law, and fulfilling the 
many arduous duties of a politician and 
office-holder. He was State Senator, Circuit 
Judge and Lieutenant Governor, besides fill- 
ing several minor positions of trust. His 
politics was intensely Democratic until after 
the breaking-out of the war. In 1860, he 
was a candidate for a State office on what 
Judge Douglas called the Danite party's 
ticket. This party was known in Illinois as 
the " Breckenridge j^arty," and they bitterly 
opposed Douglas, because his Democracy was 
' ' too weak on the slavery question. " Out of 



284 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



nearly half a million votes, Dougherty got 
something over 4,000. The election over, he 
issued through a Cairo paper an address to 
the world, i-eading Douglas and his quarter 
million of deluded followers out of the 
Democratic party, and solemnly warned the 
approaching Charleston Convention not to 
admit the Democratic (Douglas) Delegates 
from Illinois. Mr. Dougherty attended the 
Charleston Convention, and, it is said, made, 
from the steps of the hotel, after that conven- 
tion had dissolved, a most able and fiery 
address to the Southern people on the subject 
of the state of the country. He ran upon the 
Republican ticket for Lieutenant Governor, 
and was elected and served out his tei-m with 
great fidelity to his party. 

When the war of 1812-15 was over, the 
stream of Illinois immigration again set in, 
and except occasional trouble from Indians, 
continued uninterrupted, and we note the 
following as the arrivals in what is now 
Union County, in the order of their coming: 

1812— Thomas D. Patterson, Phillipp 
Shaver, Adam Clapp, Eduiund Vancil. 

Phillipp Shaver was one of the parties that 
was in the Cache massacre of 1812, and the 
only one who escaped alive. He was badly 
wounded by a blow from an Indian's toma- 
hawk, and pursued by two savages, and swam 
the icy bayou, and on foot made his way to 
the neighborhood south of where Jonesboro 
now stands. 

Thomas Standard, John Gwin, John N. 
Stokes, settled in Section 12, Range 1 east, in 
the year 1811. Robert Hargrave came the 
same year. 

1814 — The arrivals included the following 
heads of the households and their families: 
George Lawrence, John Harriston, John 
Whitaker, A. Cokenower, Giles Parmelia, 
Samuel Butcher, Robert W. Crafton, Jacob 
Wolf, Michael Linbaugh, Alexander Boren, 



Hosea Boren, Richard McBride, Thomas 
Green, Emanuel Penrod, George Hunsaker, 
George Smiley, Daniel Kimmel, Robert Har- 
grave, John Whitaker, David Cother, David 
Brown, Alexander Brown, Alexander Boggs, 
Daniel F. Coleman, Benjamin Menees and 
Jacob Littleton. 

October 22, 1814, Thomas D. Patterson 
entered the northeast quarter, of Section 33, 
Township 11 south, range 1 east, the first 
entry ever made in the county. C. A. Smith 
settled near Cobden in 1815. 

Jesse Echols, who was appointed by the 
Legislature to fix the seat of justice in Union 
County, came to Illinois in 1809, and settled 
at Caledonia, and afterward mcjved into what 
is now Union County. 

Two brothers, Joseph and Ben Lawrence, 
came here on a trapping and hunting expe- 
dition in 1807. They were so pleased with 
the country that they selected a home on Mill 
Creek, and one of them returned to his old 
home and brought Adam Clapp and family. 

Jacob Lingle, it is supposed, came in 1807. 
His sOn lives west of Cobden. In company 
with two other families, the Lingles came 
down the Ohio River in batteaus, and landed 
near where Caledonia now stands, and slowly 
continued their way to their future home in 
Union County. Among the first settlers in the 
eastern and southern part of county was George 
Evans and family Then came John Brad- 
shaw, and Bradshaw's Creek bears his name. 
In 1808, John McGinnis and family settled 
near Mt. Pleasant. 

James McLaIn was born January 8, 1 783, 
in Rowan County, N. C, and died May 15. 
1870, aged eighty -seven years and four 
months. He came to Illinois and settled 
near Shawneetown in 1808, and in 1810 came 
to what is Union County, and lived here 
sixty years. He was for years a Justice of 
the Peace, and Associate Judge of the County 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



285 



Court, and had long acted as a Constable. In 
his last years, he was a pleasant picture of a 
bright and cheery old man, who was a friend 
to everybody, and nothing more pleased him 
than to get a good listener, when he would 
tell over by the hour the story of pioneer life 
in Illinois, when in the long ago he had to 
make trips over all this vast territory that 
was then under one jurisdiction. He carried 
his hotel with him in his saddle-bags, as 
often it was fifty miles or more between 
houses. He would stop when darkness over- 
took him and stake his horse, and his saddle for 
a pillow, bivouac beneath the twinkling stars, 



his lullaby the howl of the wolves. Like all 
travelers in those days, even on horseback, 
he had to carry with him a hand ax, to cut 
his way through the dense, tangled under- 
growth that often obstructed his way. He 
stood upon the banks of the Ohio, and saw 
the soldiers on their way to New Orleans to 
whip Packenham. McLain was a useful cit- 
izen, and much respected by all who knew 
him. In his death, there passed away one of 
the landmarks that divide the past from the 
present. He will long be remembered for 
his many sterling qualities and his social 
disposition. 



CHAPTER VI 



ORGANIZATION OF UNION COUNTY— ACT OF LEGISLATURE FORMING IT— THE COUNTY SEAL- 
COMMISSIONERS' COURT— ABNER FIELD— A LIST OF FAMILIES— CENSUS FROM 1820 TO 
1880— DR. BROOKS— THE FLOOD OF 1844— WILLARD FAMILY— COL. HENRY 
L. WEBB— RAILROADS— SCHOOLS— MORALIZING— ETC., ETC. 



''T'^HE act creating Union County bears date 
-^ of January 2, 1818. It is entitled 
*' An act adding a part of Pope County to 
Johnson County, and forming a new county 
out of Johnson County." 

Section 1 defines the boundaries of the 
new county of Johnson. 

' ' Section 2. And be further enacted, that 
all that tract of country l>ing within the fol- 
lowing boundary, to wit: Beginning on the 
range line between Kanges 1 and 2 east, 
at the corner of Townships 10 and 11 south, 
thence north along said range line eighteen 
miles to the corner of Towns 13 and 14 
south, thence west along the boundary 
line between Townships 13 and 14 south, to 
the Mississippi River, thence up the Missis- 
sippi River to the mouth of the Big Muddy 



River, thence up the Big Muddy River to 
where the township line, between Towns 10 
and 11 south, crosses the same, thence east 
along said township line to the place of be- 
ginning, shall constitute Union County ; 
Provided, that all that tract of country lying 
south of Township 13 south to the Ohio 
River, and west of the range line between 
Ranges 1 and 2 east, shall, until the same 
be formed into a separate county, be attached 
to and be a part of Union County. " 

Section 3 provides that the courts for 
the county shall be held at the house of 
Jaoob Hunsaker, Jr. , until a permanent seat 
of Justice shall be established and a court 
house erected. 

Section 4 provides for the appointment 
of Commissioners to fix the seat of justice, 



286 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



and, without explaining why, provides for 
two sets of these officials. It starts out by 
declaring that William Fatridge, James 
Bane and Isaac D. Wilcox be appointed 
Commissioners to fix the permanent seat of 
justice. It then proceeds to say that George 
Wolf, Jessee Echols and Thomas Cox are 
appointed Commissioners to fix the perma- 
nent seat of justice, etc. 

The first-named Commissioners are not 
recognized as of the old settlers of Union 
County, while the other Commissioners are. 
And in addition to this, Wolf, Echols and 
Cox did proceed at once to fulfill the position 
as their report following shows : 

To the Honorable the Justiceg of the County Court of 

Union : 

The undersigned Commissiones, appointed by the 
Legislature of Illinois Territory, for the purpose sf 
designating a seat of justice for said county, report as 
follows : That they met at the time and place men- 
tioned in the law establishing said county, and pro- 
ceeded to examine and to take into view the most cen- 
tial, convenient and eligible spot for the same, ihat 
iheyhave chosen and designated to (your?) Honors, 
the northwest quarter of Section No. 30, in Township 
12, Range 1 west, and that they have received a deed 
of conveyance for twenty acres, the donation required 
by law, to which you are referred for particulars. 

They also beg leave to designate and recommend the 
center of said donation as the suitable place for the 
erection of the public buildiugs. Given under our 
hands and seals this 25lh day of February, 1818. 
(Signed) .T. Echols, 

George Wolf, 
Thomas Cox. 

The first Commissioners were not residents 
of the county of Union, and as the bounda- 
ries of Johnson and Pope had been dis- 
turbed in order to fix the new county, it is 
probable they were to look after any change 
that might be necessary to make in these 
older counties. 

It will be noticed that the first part of the 
act describes the boundaries of Union County 
exactly as they are now, and it calls this 



original boundary line as including Union 
County, and then the proviso goes on to 
attach to this county and make a part thereof, 
" until a new county is formed," all of what 
is now Alexander County, and a large por- 
tion of Pulaski County. Union County, there- 
fore, extended to the junction of the rivers at 
Cairo and the major part of Pulaski County 
until Alexander County was formed, which 
act passed the Legislature March 4, 1819, at 
which time Union County assumed exactly 
the boundary lines that she now has. 

The land mentioned in the report of the 
Commissioners above given for a county seat 
belonged to John Grammer. On the 25 th of 
February, 1818, he and his wife, Juliet, duly 
executed a deed donating ' ' to the Justices of 
the County Court of Union County," the 
following described lands : "Being a part of 
the northeast quarter i;f Section 30, Town 
12, Range 1 west; beginning near the north- 
west corner of said section at a stake and a 
dogwood tree; thence running south 6 poles 
2 links; thence east 18 poles 24 links; thence 
south 21 poles 2 links; thence east 28 poles 
23 links; thence north 60 poles; thence west 
to the beginning." This is the tract of land 
that the Commissioners, fixing the county 
town, say they, " beg leave to designate, 
and recommend the center of said donation as 
the suitable place for the erection of the 
public buildings." 

The county seal when explained, tells how 
the county came to be named Union. The 
figures upon the seal represents two men 
standing up and shaking hands. One of 
them is dressed in the old-fashioned shad- 
bellied coat and vest, broad brimmed hat, 
and long hair. The other is in the conven-. 
tional ministerial suit. It represents a meet- 
ing of a Baptist preacher named Jones, and 
George Wolf, aDunkard preacher, mentioned 
in another place, as_^one of two men, first in 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



287 



this county. Jones had been holding a re- 
markable series of meetings, and Wolf and he 
met, shook hands, and agreed to hold or con- 
tinue the meeting, the two joining in the work, 
and calling it a Union Meeting. This was 
held in what is now the southeast portion of 
the county. The seal illustrating this his- 
toric incident in the county was designed 
and adopted by the County Commissioners in 
1850, and it was, it is said, the suggestion of 
Gov. Dougherty. The meeting of these pio- 
neer preachers that thus became historical, 
probably occurred about 1816 or 1817. 

A County Commissioners' Court for the new 
county was elected, and consisted of Jesse 
Echols, John Grammer, George Hunsaker, 
Abner Keith and Rice Sams. They met, 
organized and held the first coiirt at Hunsak- 
er's house, as the law directed, March 2, 
1818. The court's first ofiicial act was to 
accept John Grammer's donation, and name 
the town Jonesboro. 

Abner Field was Clerk of this court, and 
Joseph Palmer was the first Sherifl' of the 
county. The Clerk certifies that on the 2d 
day of February, 1818, George Hunsaker, 
William Pyle, John C. Smith, Rice Sams, 
Abner Keith, Jesse Echols and John Brad- 
shaw were each commissioned by the Gover- 
nor as Justice of the Peace for Union County, 
and the oath was taken and they entered upon 
their official duties. Robert Twidy was the 
first Constable. 

The court declared the road leading from 
Elvira to Jackson and from Penrod's to El- 
vira, public roads, and David Arnold, Will- 
iam Pyle, George Hunsaker, Ephraim Voce 
and Henry Larmer appointed Road Overseers 
and Viewers. Robert H. Loyd was licensed 
to open a tavern. The first county order 
ever issued was one for $2 to Samuel Penrod 
for a wolf scalp. The Constables for the 
county were John Wenea, William Shelton, 



Samuel Butcher, Samuel Hiinsaker and Wil- 
lie Sams. This court realized that the main 
stay of life was "suthin" to eat and drink, 
and with a wise forethought that is to be for- 
ever commended, they ordered that the price 
of whisky should be 12^ cents per half pint; 
rum, 50 cents ; brandy 50 cents; dinner, sup- 
per and breakfast, 25 cents each; bed, 12^ 
cents; horse to stand at hay and corn all night, 
37|^ cents. 

Thus, the young county was full blown, 
and was well started on her future great 
career. Courts and officers were in their po- 
sitions, and the roads arranged for, and the 
price of meat and drink regulated to a nicety. 
Who was here to enjoy all its blessings, fell 
the great forest trees and open farms, kill 
the wolves and wild animals and tame and 
civilize and make habitable for their descend- 
ants this great wilderness? 

A record of "marks and brands," opened 
at once after the county was organized, shows 
the following were here and were interested 
in domestic animals. Jacob Wolf, George 
Wolf, Edmund Vancil, William Dodd, 
Samuel Hunsaker, Michael Linbough, David 
Brown, William Thornton, Wilkinson Good- 
win, Edmond Hallimon, Joseph Hunsaker, 
William Pyle, William Grammer, Rice Sams, 
Abram Hunsaker, Thomas Sams, Benjamin 
Menees, John Mcintosh, George Hunsaker, 
James Brown, Jeremiah Brown, John Weigle, 
Christopher Hansin, Isaac Vancil, R. W. 
Crofton, John Cruse, James Jackson, George 
Smiley. Joseph Palmer, George James, Rob- 
ert Hargrave, John Hargrave, John Hunsaker, 
John Whitaker, Johnson Somers, Charles 
Dougherty, Joel Boggess, Jonas Vancil, 
Emanuel Penrod, John Stokes, Samuel Pen- 
rod, Cliff Hazlewoo I and John Kimmell. 

Those who had entered land that lies 
within the county up to and including the 
year 1818 were John Yost, Wilkinson Good- 



288 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



win, George Hunsaker, William Thornton- 
John Hunsaker, John Miller, George Law- 
rence, Henry Clutts, Christian Miller, James 
Mesam, John Harriston, John Kimmell, John 
Frick, Edmond Holeman, Adam Clapp. John 
Miller, George Devolt, Michael Dillon, John 
Grammer, Benjamin Memees, John Miller, 
Michael Halhouser, John Hartline, Anthony 
Lingle, John Whitaker, Phillipp Shaver, 
Phillipp Paulus, William Worthington, John 
Bradshaw, John Saunders, John R. McFar- 
land, John Tyler, Joseph Waller, Joseph 
Walker, A. Cokenower, Andrew Irwin, Giles 
Parmelia, Samuel Butcher, Samuel Penrod, 
Robert W. Grafton, Edward Vancil, John 
Gregory, Jacob Lingle, Israel Thompson, 
Adam Cauble, Jacob Rentleman, Jacob Wei - 
gle, George Wolf, Michean Linbough, Jon- 
athan Hasky, Joseph Barber, Lost Cope, 
John Cope, Barber, Isaac Biggs. Alexander 
Biggs, the Meisenheimers, John Eddleman, 
Thomas Mcintosh, Cornelius Anderson, Du- 
vall Lence, John Lence, Benedict Mull, Pe- 
ter Casper, John Wooten, Anthony Lingle, 
David Crise, William Morrison, Robert Crof- 
ton, Jacob Hileman, David Miller, A. Cruse, 
Abraham Brown, John Knupp, Andrew 
Smith, David Meisenheimer, Joseph Smith, 
Thomas H. Harris, Richard McBride, S, 
Lewis, Thomas Green, Benjamin J. Harris, 
Jacob Trees, Joseph Palmer, Thomas Green, 
David Kimmel, Alexander P. Field, Anthony 
Morgan, James Ellis, Joseph McElhany 
Abner Field, Thomas Deen, Rice Sams, Dan- 
iel Spence, William Craigle, David Miller, 
George Cripe, Isaac Cornell, Nicholas Wil- 
son, Henry Bechtle, Thomas Bechtle, Thomas 
Lanes, John Uri, Stephen Donahue, Jacob 
Littleton and S. W. Smith. 

From the best estimation we have been en- 
abled to make, there was here, in what is now 
Union County, a population of 1,800 souls. 
About one-third of the families were at that 
time freeholders. 



The official census of 1820 shows a popu- 
lation of 2,3B2. In the year 1830, it had 
increased to 3,239; in 1840, to 5,524; in 
1850, the population rose to 7,615; in 1860. 
to 11,181; in 1870, to 16,518, and in 1880, 
to 18, 100. The smallest increase was from 
1820 to 1830, which was a little over 1,000, 
and the lai-gest increase of any decade, from 
1860 to 1870, was 5,337. This is ac- 
counted for by the fact that it was the period 
of the coming of the railroad — a ray of light 
let in upon the eternal darkness. The com- 
pletion of the Illinois Central Railroad, in 
August. 1855, from Anna to Cairo, and 
finally to Dubuque, and then on the 1st day 
of January, 1856, the time of the fii'st through 
train on schedule time, from Chicago to 
Cairo, was an era in the county's history. 

The tide of emigration here was never in 
a strong and swollen stream, as it was in the 
northern portion of Illinois, and yet it was 
constant and increasing, as the census re- 
turns above given show. The county's growth 
has been a slow, yet a steady and healthy 
one, and it has never suffered from what is 
often a serious condition of affairs in locali- 
ties where the rush of people has been very 
great, and a sudden turn in affairs would 
produce a widespread distress and suffering, 
and a turbulent and restless population. 

The first marriage on the county records 
was John Murry and Elizabeth Latham, by 
John Grammer, on the 26th of February, 
1818. On the 7th of April, 1818, John Wel- 
don, Esq., certifies that he married James 
Latham and Margaret Edwards, on the 2d of 
March. Joseph Painter and Elizabeth Brown 
were maiTied on the 26th of April, 1818, by 
George Hunsaker. Samuel Morgan and Re- 
becca Casey were married by Abner Keith, 
Esq., on the 28th of May, 1818. July 5, 
1818, Fi-ancis Parker and Catharine Clapp 
were married by George Wolf, the Dunkard 
preacher, and, by the records, the first min- 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



280 



ister who performed the ceremony in the 
county. August 6, same year, Allen Crawl 
and Catharine Vancil were married by the 
same minister. September 24, 1818, John 
Rupe and Lydia Brown were married by 
John Grammer. December, same year, Eli 
Littleton and Ede Hughes were married by 
Wolf. This includes the entire list of mar- 
riages of 1818, as the record shows. 

The next year, 1819, there was quite a 
falling oflf in the activity of the marriage 
market, there being but two weddings the 
entire year. These were David Callahan and 
Elizabeth Roberts, February 25, and Isaac 
Finley and Polly Hai'grave, March 17. 

In looking fui'ther along in the records, we 
find the Dunkard preacher Wolf had per- 
formed four marriages in 1818, and he only 
made his returns to the County Clerk in 1820. 
His certificate reads as follows: "I did, on 
7th of June, 1818, join in marriage, as man 
and wife, William McDonald and Mary Mc- 
Lane, and Henry Johnston and Nancy Ath- 
ei'ton, all of the aforesaid county." Strictly 
speaking, the good old Dunkard married the 
double couple as men and wives, and not, as 
he states, as "man and wife." But we are 
told the marriage return was good and strong 
enough, and each couple picked themselves 
out of the jumble, and were happy and con- 
tent. 

The year 1820, however, showed a cheer- 
ful state of activity in the line of courting 
and marrying. We can account for this be- 
cause it was leap year, and the dear girls 
were resolved to "make hay while the sun 
shines." John Russell and Percy Huston 
opened the ball, by mai'rying on the 3d of 
February; Daniel Ritter and Elizabeth Iseno- 
gle, March 2; Peter Sifford and Leyah Mull, 
February 20; Jacob Hunsaker and Elizabeth 
Brown, March 9; A. H. Brown and Sarah 
Mathes, June 19; William Ridge and Esther 



Penrod, July 30; Abraham Hunsaker and 
Polly Price, May 20; George Dougherty and 
Rachean Hunsaker, August 3; John Biggs 
and Sarah Cope, September 1; William 
Clapp and Phoebe Wetherton, September 8; 
George Lemen and Susan Lasley, October 
2; John Price and Nancy Vancil, October 5; 
John Leslie and Catharine Wigel, and Peter 
Wolf and Margaret James, Messiah O'Brien 
and Charlott Hotchkiss, Daniel T. Coleman 
aud Lucy Craft, Samuel Dillon and Margaret 
Lingle, December 26. 

In the year 1835, the county had the cen- 
sus taken, and a careful count showed there 
were 4,147 persons in the county — 2,100 
males, and the remainder females. There 
were forty-seven negroes. Only one person 
over eighty years of age, five shoe-makers and 
saddlers, one tailor, two wagon -makers, two 
carpenters, and one cabinet-maker (supposed 
to be a man named Bond), two hatters (one of 
whom was James Hodge) eleven black- 
smiths, three tan-yards (one Jaccord's, 
south of Jonesboro, and the other, 
Randleman's, north of the town), twelve 
distilleries, two threshing machines, one 
cotton gin, one wool-carding machine (Jake 
Frick's), one horse and ox saw mill, eighteen 
horse and ox grist mills, two water sawmills, 
and five water grist mills. Of the shoe- 
makers, wore John Blatzell, David Spence, 
John Thames and Wesley G. Nimmo. The 
tailor probably was William Kaley, and 
George Krite and David Masters were the 
wagon-makers, and John Rinehart was one of 
the carpenters. 

The venerable Mrs. Mcintosh came to the 
county in 1817, settling south of Jonesboro. 
Her husband, John Mcintosh and one child, 
now Mrs. Malinda Provo, constituted the 
family. There were two othei's. Mrs- Mc- 
intosh was a married woman with a child 
seven years old when she came to this wild 



290 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



territory. She has lived here sixty-four 
years, and her physical strength is unusual, 
considering her great age. Her neighbors, 
she remembers at first, were John Grammer, 
Robert Hargrave, Samuel Hunsaker, Rice 
Sams, Thomas Sams, Daniel Kimmel, James 
Ellis, George Wolf, Jacob Wolf, Winsted 
Davie, Joseph McElhany, John Menees, Har- 
ris Randleman, Willis, Elijah and William 
Willard, George Weigle, Wiley Davidson, 
David Miller, J. S. Cabb, Jeremiah Brown 
and Mr. Verble. 

Her recollection is that the nearest carding 
machine, and where they had to go to get 
their wool carded, was at Jackson, Mo. — a 
trip that it took three days to make. Mr. 
Verble had a water grist mill seven miles 
southeast of Jonesboro. The only lumber 
then was cut with whip-saws. The woods 
were full of an undergrowth of the pea vine. 
A man named Griffin taught a school near 
the spring south of Jonesboro, in a small 
log cabin; afterward Winstead Davie taught 
the same school, and then Willis Williard' 
taught there for some time. 

Dr. B. W. Brooks lived about half a mile 
south of Jonesboro. He was a man pos- 
sessed of a thorough classical education, and 
had traveled and mingled with cultured so- 
ciety, and read and studied the best authors un- 
til he was an accomplished scholar and was a 
well-informed physician. His family were 
possessed of ample means, and it must have 
been a singular impulse for the fascinations 
of the wilderness that could have induced 
him to woo fortune here and spend his life 
among a rough and unlettered })eople. A 
strong mind, a finished classical and profes- 
sional education, of polished and courtly 
manners, when he felt the necessity of so be- 
ing, it seems strange that he preferred the 
rough and hard life of a pioneer, and was 
often ready to lay all his accomplishments 



aside, and with the keenest zest enjoy his un- 
couth surroundings. He was possessed of a 
fine vein of humor, and his practical jokes, 
sometimes very rough indeed, were inex- 
haustible. He had an extensive practice all 
over this part of the country, and his reputa- 
tion as a physician was wide and of the high- 
est order. He was one of the early County 
Commissioners, was a member of the Legis- 
lature, and filled mmierous minor otficial 
positions. His love of fun and his keen 
sense of the ridiculous were evenly balanced, 
and it was the delight of his life to get some 
Yahoo into a conversation and put the whole 
village into a roar over his making-up with 
his new acquaintance and so shrewdly would 
he quiz the fellow that he would soon con- 
vince him that he was a native of the particular 
neighborhood that " greeny " had come from, 
and finally that they were close blood relatives. 
Often he would call a stranger into the tav- 
ern and agree to give him $5 to let him 
abuse him as much as he pleased for one 
hour. The conditions being that if the 
stranger tired of his bargain and did not 
stand out the hour that he was to give back 
the money. It is said he always got his 
money back in the course of ten or fifteen 
minutes, and sometimes a fight to boot; and 
the Doctor would enjoy one about as well as 
the other. One of the first Irishmen that 
came to Union County had the usual ready 
Irish wit aad repartee, and he was a great 
admirer of Dr. Brooks, and many was the 
bout at chaffing that they had when the Irish- 
man would come to town. One day the Doc- 
tor told him how they caught the wild Irish, 
by putting potatoes in a ban-el with a hole 
just large enough for them to get their hand 
in, and they would reach in and grab a po- 
tato,and with this in their hand they were tight 
and fast. By the time the story was told the 
Irishman was fighting mad. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



291 



In looking over some of Dr. Brooks' old 
papers are found the following graphic and 
interesting account of the high waters in the 
Mississippi: "The Mississippi commenced 
rising on the 18th of May, 1844, and con- 
tinued rising at the rate of two feet to thirty- 
inches in twenty-four hours, until the 1st of 
June, at which time it stood within eight 
inches of the flood line of 1808. By the 
10th of June it fell five or six feet, and left 
the farms in the bottom all free of water. 
The bottom farms had been more or less cov 
ered with water except that of Jacob Trees. 
On the 11th of June, the waters commenced 
to rise again, the flood coming down the Mis- 
souri and Mississippi Rivers, and this time 
it rose from one foot to eighteen inches in 
twenty-four hours. This rise steadily con- 
tinued until it overflowed the bottom land in 
Union County from eighteen to thirty feet 
deep. This was the depth of the water on 
the road to Littleton's old ferry, and also to 
Willard's landing. Stock, crops, houses and 
fences were carried away in th« raging 
waters. The people made great eflforts to 
save their stock, and called to their aid ferry 
and coal boats and all floating craft, but 
soon they found they could only hope to save 
a few of their household effects, and the stock 
was left to its fate and the people fled to the 
hills. This rise continued steadily until 
June 29, when it came to a stand. On the 
1st of July it commenced slowly to recede. 
This was higher water than that of 1808 by 
ten or twelve feet. It was higher than was 
ever known, except in 1785, which Beck says 
in his history was the highest waters in 150 
years. Mr. Cerre, one of the oldest French 
settlers of St. Louis, said: 'The flood was 
higher by four or five feet in 1785 than in 
1844. In 1844, the steamer Indiana trans- 
ported the nuns from the Kaskaskia Convent 
to St. Louis. The boat received them from 



the door of Pierre Menard's residence, the 
water in front of the house being fifteen feet 
in depth. Two hundred people went from 
Kaskaskia on the Indiana, and about 300 
found shelter at Menard's, while yet others 
were sheltered in tents on the blufi's. The 
loss in the bottoms was at least $1,000,000. 
From Alton to Cairo there were 288,000 
acres of land overflowed. In Randolph 
County is a document soliciting a grant of 
lots from the crown of France, and urging as 
a reason the great flood of 1724, which over- 
flowed the village and destroyed it. Great 
overflows occurred in 1542, 1724 and 1785, 
and in 1844. The Mississippi bottoms are 
now very clean, as everything is washed off 
and many of the small trees are killed." 

Dr. Brooks died September 12, 1845, aged 
fifty-three yeax's. His widow, Lucinda 
Brooks, survived and died in 1881, 16th of 
July, aged eighty-one years. 

Mrs. Nancy Hileman came in 1817, with 
her father's (George Davis) family. She was 
then twelve years old, and for an active, 
healthy old lady, her long life here of sixty- 
six years tells a strong story in behalf of the 
health of Union County. 

Elijah Willard came to Union County 
in the year 1820, a poor boy, with a scanty 
education, and he was the only support of his 
widowed mother and three small children. 
The coming of this family was the most val- 
uable acquisition to the community it prob- 
ably ever made. At a glance, this boy realized 
the imperative wants of a rude people, and 
he laid the foundations of society upon which 
have been reared the structure we behold to- 
day. He was the architect and founder that 
converted an almost unorganized , and igno- 
rant gathering of trappers and hunters into a 
commercial and agricultural community, with 
all the arts and science of a splendid civili- 
zation. Before Elijah Willard came, the 



293 



HISTORY OF UNIOK COUNTY. 



people hunted game for food, and exchanged 
peltries and honey for the few articles of 
commerce that were necessary to their sim- 
ple, scanty lives. He saw that highways to 
the world's market were the only road to the 
change that must be brought among the peo- 
ple, and he therefore obtained leave and built 
the turnpike across the bottom to the river, 
and opened " Willard's Ferry," and showed 
the people that they could raise pi'oduce and 
export it, and that by selling and buying in 
the markets they could surround themselves 
with all the comforts of life. He not only 
pointed out the way, but he worked out his 
designs, and by opening the largest and best 
farm in the county demonstrated that there 
were higher walks in life than baiting bears 
and gathering coon-skins. He led the way, 
and the people followed, and he lived, short 
as was his great life, long enough to see the 
merchandise that could once be carried in its 
importation on a pack- mule, rise to such pro- 
portions that his annual sales were more than 
$100,000. When would the people without 
Willard have discovered that the key to civ- 
ilization and a powerful community of farm- 
ers, merchants, laborers, manufacturers, and 
the arts and sciences lay in the direction of 
the open doors of such markets as St. Louis, 
New Orleans, Cincinnati and New York? 
And he opened the way. We now look upon 
the great change, and how few know to whom 
they owe these blessings ? In the little more 
than twenty years of his active life, he gave the 
people ideas and public improvements that 
will continue to be invaluable benefits for 
generations yet to come. He was the master 
spirit of Union County while he lived, and 
his influence will be here when we are all 
gone and forgotten. How incomparably 
greater is such a life than are all the Napo- 
leons, Bismarcks or Alexanders that pver 
lived! His life was as different and as much 



greater than these men as it is better than the 
modern millionaires of the Gould kind who 
gather in colossal fortunes by gambling — 
pulling down and not building up a people. 
He had saved from a small salary $250, and 
with this he laid the foundation of the house 
of Willard & Co., and had so perfectly reared 
the' superstructure that at his death his 
brother was enabled to carry out his designs. 

It would only bespeak on the part of the 
people of Union County a just appreciation 
of the benefits the life of Elijah Willard 
has been to them to place in some of its 
public buildings a full-sized portrait of him. 
No act could be more appropriate to his mem- 
ory. No j)ublic expression of gratitude could 
be more just. 

Willis Willard. — Jonathan W^illard, a sol- 
dier in the war of 1812, came down the Ohio 
Kiver from Pittsburgh, and landed at Bird's 
Point in 1817. From here he went to Cape 
Girardeau, where he died the same year, 
and left his widow, Nancy, with four children 
— Elijah, Willis, Anna and William. The 
widow with her children came to Jonesboro, 
and in great poverty commenced the serious 
struggle for life. Elijah was old enough to 
commence clerking in a stoi'e in Jonesboro, 
and in a few years he bought out his employer 
and associated with himself his brothei Wil- 
lis. In 1836, Elijah was made Internal Im- 
provement Commissioner for the State of 
Illinois. He died in 1848, of consumption. 

The Williard family is of English origin, 
and dates back in this country to the first col- 
onists of Massachusetts, Simon Willard hav- 
ing landed in Boston in 1634. 

Willis Willard was born in Windsor Coun- 
ty, Vt., March 20, 1805. He died May 
12, 1881. He was but eleven years old when 
he came West, and had but little schooling, 
and but few opportunities for educating him- 
self in this new country. His mother came 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



29S 



to Jonesboro in 1820, and he was a clerk for 
different merchants until he was twenty-one 
years old. He took charge of his brother's 
business at his death, and rapidly rose to be 
the greatest merchant in Southern Illinois. 
He continued to merchandise for forty-three 
years, and the fame of the house of Willard 
& Co. extended over the entire country. He 
sold goods and operated extensively in real 
estate. At one time he owned 13,000 acres 
of land in Union County. He retired from 
active business in 1873, the owner of 4,000 
acres of the choicest lands in the county, and 
other property, making a total of over 
$500,000. 

For a long lifetime, he was the foremost 
man, not only in his county, but in Southern 
Illinois, in every enterprise tending to pro- 
mote the material and intellectual interests 
of the people. He erected many of the best 
business and private houses in Jonesboro. 
In 1836, he built the first steam saw and 
grist mill that was ever in the county. In 
1853, realizing the wants of Union County, 
he built at his own expense a female semi- 
nary in Jonesboro, and sent to Boston and 
brought two lady teachers to take charge of 
the institution. For years this was a flour- 
ishing school, and gave the people excellent 
facilities for educating their daughters, with- 
out being compelled to send them to the dis- 
tant and expensive seminaries of the country. 
His enterprise and benevolence went hand in 
hand. He was not a politician, and although 
often tempted and persuaded, could never be 
induced to accept office; yet, in local politics, 
he often took a deep interest, and here, when 
he so desired, he wielded a master hand. He 
was a consistent Democrat all his life, but in 
political friend or foe he I'espected honor 
and worth, and despised all frauds and 
shams, and for pretentious demagogues he 
had neither respect nor patience. 



In 1835, he was married to Frances Webb, 
and of this marriage there were eleven chil- 
dren, five of whom died in infancy. Henry, 
the eldest, who had become a successful mer- 
chant in Jonesboro, died in 1865, aged 
twenty- eight years. 

Willis Wi Hard's princely foi'tune was the 
accumulations that come of those sterling 
business qualities and sound judgment that 
wronged no man, but tended to aid and build 
up all around him. His word was never 
questioned, his good advice and ripe judg- 
ment was freely extended to all, the humblest 
as well as the highest. To his many em- 
ployes, he was a most generous master, and 
a duty well perfoi'med was not overlooked, 
but remembered and rewarded. After a life 
of unremitting toil and tireless energy, the 
declining years allotted him were spent in 
that quiet retirement which he so well had 
earned. And when the summons that awaits 
us all finally came, he folded in peaceful 
content those once strong and bounteous 
hands upon a breast stiJled of the desires, 
hopes, loves and hates of this world, and 
went peacefully to his fathers. May his 
memory linger for aye, as a benison to the 
good people of Union County. 

Mrs. Nancy Willard, the mother of Wil- 
lis Willard, died February 12, 1874, 
aged ninety-nine years ten months and five 
days, one of the noblest women that ever 
came West. Left poor, with four young chil- 
dren her whole life was her children's, with 
a devotion that never ceased, and in the rising 
fortunes of her children and grand-children 
was her whole life-thought and labor. For 
half a century she was widely known as 
"Mother Willard," and probably above all 
women that ever lived in Union County de- 
served that appellation of love. She was 
wise, earnest, active and charitable; she was 
the friend, the " mother " indeed of all who 



294 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



needed aid and comfort. She sought and 
cared for the poor orphans with ceaseless 
anxiety, and it is said in her just praise that 
no human being ever appealed to her for aid 
in vain. In every relation of life she was 
conspicuous and great; a loving mother, a 
dear friend, an earnest, good Christian, full 
of charity and forgiveness for all. For sev- 
enteen years before death, she was blind; 
her other faculties were unimpaired. Her 
end was peace and joy. She had wanted to 
fill out the even hundred years of life, but 
the summons came only a few days before 
the full century was reached, but she was 
ready and willing to go; she had prepared 
"or it more than fifty years before it came. 
A long life, a valuable life, a life the world 
could but illy have spared. What a sweep 
of great events and changes that one life 
witnessed. She well remembered the sur- 
render of Yorktown, and the rejoicing over 
the acknowledgment of oar nation's inde- 
pendence by Great Britain, in 1783. She was 
sixteen years old when our national Consti- 
tution was adopted, and thirty -one years old 
when Napoleon ceded to the United States 
the French possessions in America. She was 
forty- two years old when Napoleon was ban- 
ished to St. Helena, and fifty-three when La- 
fayette visited America. She had seen Illi- 
nois grow from a wilderness of wild beasts 
and Indians to a great State of over three 
millions of people. She had seen those who 
saw the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth 
Rock, from the Mayflower. Blessed " Mother 
Willard!" Hail, and farewell! 

The manner of home life and labor about 
the cabins of the early settlers is to some ex- 
tent well illustrated by the following account 
of a piece of goods shown us by Judge Daniel 
Hileman. It is a cotton- linen bed spread, 
and made sixty-five years ago in this county 
by his mother and sister. With their own 



unaided hands these good women planted the 
seed, both of the cotton and the flax, tended, 
gathered and did everything in the prepar- 
ation of the fiber in order to make it into 
cloth, and then wove and bleached it, and 
although it is now sixty-five years old, it is 
as white as driven snow and soft and strong 
of texture, and as smooth as any goods that 
can be made by the best of modern improve- 
ments. The nimble fingers that so deftly 
spun and wove this now interesting relic 
have been still upon their pulseless bosoms 
these many years, and, we confess, in con- 
templating the piece of goods we were car- 
ried back to those ancient days when the 
humble cabins of our fathers, each and all 
presented these scenes of " the good dames, 
well content, handling the spindle and the 
flax." This relic, telling its simple story of 
the dead, is now more precious than fine 
gold; of itself it is a history of the domestic 
life of those brave and hardy people who im- 
periled their lives in the preparation of this 
smiling land of happy homes for us and ours, 
and it is hoped that when Judge Hileman's 
family can no longer keep and care for this 
precious memento it may go into the care of 
the Government, the State, or some historical 
society, or, perhaps best of all, into the care 
of Union County, and be encased in glass, 
with a carefully prepared history of it, even 
to the minutest details, where it may be kept 
as a reminder and a monitor for the genera- 
tions to come in the future centuries. 

There are not many facts now attainable 
by which we are enabled to write the history 
of the growth of those ideas that have carried 
our people forward in civilization. We can 
only guess, mostly, about those important 
events that worked strong influences upon 
the general mind. They were a people that 
made as few records for our study and in- 
spection as possible. It seems strange, that 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



297 



among all those early pioneers there was so 
little care for what their posterity might be 
able to learn about them. That there was 
no Herodotus to jot down the details of every 
movement of the people, and realize that the 
most trifling and tiresome details would now 
be of intense interest. So far as we can now 
learn, in the three counties of Union, Alex- 
ander and Pulaski, there were only two men 
who wrote down their observations and ac- 
counts of events that passed before their 
eyes — Dr. B. W. Brooks and Col. Henry L. 
Webb. Dr. Brooks' papers and records are 
scattered, and many, doubtless, lost; and we 
almost accidentally came across his account of 
the high water of 1844, which we publish else- 
where. And we are indebted to Mrs. M. M. 
Goodman, of Jonesboro, for some invaluable 
reminiscences of Col. Henry L. Webb, which 
he had written out concerning the early set- 
tlement of what is now Pulaski County, and 
for the perusal of which we refer the reader 
to the history of that county, in another part 
of this work. 

The living but seldom realize in what light 
their humble lives may be reflected upon 
posterity. They know that they are deeply 
interested in the story of their fathers, but 
they never dream that such will also some 
day be the case of their own descendants 
about them. To their minds their fathers 
were important, great and good men, while 
they themselves and their surroundings are 
insignificant and wholly worthless. Hence 
the vagueness and imperfection of any his- 
tory of the human race that can ever be writ- 
ten. And just here comes in the one great- 
est loss to the human race. To know the 
true history of mankind is to have nearly all 
knowledge; for, indeed, this "history is phi- 
losophy teaching by example." It is not the 
dates and days of supposed great events that 
constitute any part of history. Battles, earth- 



quakes, floods, famines, the birth of empires 
and the death of kings, are interesting events 
to know, but they are little or no part of 
true history, because real history is an ac- 
count of the human mind — how it has been 
affected, what influenced it to march forward 
in the path of civilization, or caused it to 
recede or stand still and stagnate. It is the 
doings of the mind, and not so much the acts 
of the body, that constitute history. And 
what data has the student now for the gain- 
ing of this divine knowledge ? Could such a 
book be written, it would be worth a million 
times all that ever yet came from the print- 
ing press. The present century has produced 
two or three minds that weie great enough 
to grasp this truth, and the work of re-writing 
the world's history has now commenced. 
And the scant materials will some day be 
worked out and fashioned by great minds. 
If we had a complete chronology, or the full 
statistics of all the nations that have lived, 
there would soon come men who could write 
almost the true history — the tragic story of 
the ebb and flux of civilization. Hence the 
loss, the irreparable loss, of all those details 
and statistics about a people that constitute, 
not their history, but their chronology — the 
instruments and materials which, in the 
hands of a real historian, can be made into 
history — a text-book superseding all the 
school books, the schools, colleges and uni- 
versities in the world. True, with all the 
materials ready to hand, no mere chronicler 
could then write history, because he must be 
a philosoper, indeed, in order to trace cause 
and effect upon the general mind; not only 
such things as had strong effects, but to go 
deep enough to attach cause and effect together, 
wherein circumstances or events are to the 
ordinary mind, not only widely separatod, 
but so distant as to apparently have no pos- 
sible connection. 

17 



398 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



By all this disconnected moralizing we 
only desire to impress upon the reader that 
some time it may be many yeai's after he has 
passed away, there will come the future his 
torian, who will be prying into the circum- 
stances of his times, and even with a sharper 
interest than we are now tm-ning over, perusing 
and gathering up all the details oc those who 
have preceded us, and putting it in a story 
for the pleasure and instructions of the yet 
unborn generations. Preserve old files and 
records and papers; then, and yet more, when- 
ever there is an accident, an unusual season, 
an event of any kind, even trifling circum- 
stances, go and do as Capt. Cuttle, " when 
found, make a note on't." 

An extended account of the two railroads 
passing through Union County may be found 
in the chapter on railroads, in the history of 
Cairo, in another part of this volume. A fact 
illustrating how the most trifling circum- 
stances sometimes produce important results 
is given in the first operations of building 
the Illinois Central Railroad. The engineers 
had surveyed the line just where the road 
runs. The people of Jouesboro, that is, a 
few of them, became solicitous about the road 
not being surveyed through Jonesboro. A 
self-appointed committee of two or three 
of the people of that ancient town waited on 
the engineer, Ashley, and had an extended 
interview with him. They explained what they 
wanted, I and insisted that from the " pass " 
where the road would cross the hills north 
of this, a shorter and as good a line could be 
found via Jonesboro, as by the survey made. 
Mr. Ashley finally agreed that if the town 
would pay $50 to defray the expense Of a 
survey by that route, he would order one 
made. The committee reported to the 
people, but so confident were they that the 
road must touch their town, that they would 
not contribute a cent for the survey. They 



felt certain the survey as made and this offer 
of a new one, was only a weak attempt to 
get money fi'om them for nothing. They re- 
fused to give the money, and the result is the 
town of Anna came into existence, and has 
finally outstripped the old town in the race of 
life. Had the road been built through Jones- 
boro, it is easy enough to believe that it 
would have had many more people in it to- 
day than there are now in both the towns. 
For many years, Jouesboro was the leading^ 
town in Southern Illinois. It has lost that 
prestige. It is possible it could not have 
kept in the van under any circumstances, but 
one thing is certain, had the road been 
built there it would have made a thrifty, 
rich and prosperous little city. This would 
have greatly benefited the whole county, as 
it would have tended to bring people here of 
energy, capital and enterprise, and the farm- 
ers of the county would have kept pace to 
some extent with the prosperity of the town. 
In the end, Jonesboro lost the Central road, 
and in years after subscribed $50,000 to the 
Cairo & St. Louis Railroad, that now passes 
through the place, but as if fate was against 
it, there has sprung up several little towns 
about it that more or less divide the trade of 
the place instead of helping to build it up. 

Schools. — In another chapter we have 
spoken at some length of the early schools in 
the first settlement of the county. They were 
somewhat slow to come, and they did not 
seem to grow and flourish to any great extent 
when they did come. 

The law requires that school directors shall 
report the number of persons between twelve 
and twenty -one years of age who cannot read 
and write. The United States census of 1880, 
and the school census, show a strange incon- 
sistency on this point. The former report 
the number of persons under twenty-one in 
the county at 9,878. The school census re- 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



299 



ports it at 9,564. The school census reports 
the number of persons who cannot read and 
write between the ages of twelve and twenty - 
one at 130. The Government census I'eports 
this class of persons at 658, the last gives 
those between the ages of ten and twenty- 
one. This is a glaring discrepancy, and we 
have no hesitation in adopting the Govern- 
ment report as much nearer the truth. Union 
County is not any worse in this respect than 
the counties of the State generally. Not nearly 
so bad as many. For instance, Jasper re- 
ports twenty-three illiterates, and the Gov- 
ernment reports for that county 534, who can- 
not read and write. We do not believe in 
compulsory education, and yet we con- 
fess it is not a cheering sign to see a large 
per cent of illiterates. It is a misfortune for 
any people to have very many who cannot read 
and write, but it is a greater misfortune to 
the individual sufferer than the body politic; 
but so is it a misfortune to have poor health, 
poor teeth or a bald head. It is a misfortune 
to have young men grow to maturity without 
any of those refinements and polish that make 
social life so pleasant, but you cannot legis- 
'late away the clowns and roughs, though their 
presence may mar society never so much. We 
have too much law concerning the schools 
already and too little education. A compul- 
sory school law has been practiced in this 
country and in Europe for generations. It 
can hardly be said to be an experiment. If 
it corrects the evil of illiteracy, and in return 
gives us the much greater ills of a paternal 
government, where are the benefits? There 
are always a class of men who are infinitely 
more dangerous to society than are those who 
cannot read and write. These are the reform 
fanatics, who would legislate away all evils, 
and legislate into force all morals. They see 
a real or an imaginary wrong existing, and 
they tly to the Legislature and call for a police- 



man to remedy the wrong. They know no 
power for good except the brute force of gov- 
ernment. The same class of men a few years 
ago were in power in most of the governments. 
They made the blue laws of New England, 
and talked in a heavenly, pious twang, and 
burned poor old helpless women for witches, 
and murdered hundreds of thousands of other 
people for the shocking crime of heresy. 
Power in the hands of such lunatics is indeed 
a menace to mankind. They have no more 
idea of the part and province of a govern- 
ment than has an enraged bull- dog of human- 
ity and justice. It is not a great while since 
these fanatics had a compulsory church at 
tendence law in Scotland, and policemen ap- 
pointed to visit the houses and see that every 
one attended. Did they have a doubt, think 
you, that they could legislate people into 
heaven ? The work of forming strong pater- 
nal governments has been going on for six 
thousand years, at least, and the supreme 
evil that has afflicted mankind in all these 
centuries has been over- legislation — too much 
law, too much interference with the people, 
too many government officials, too much of 
governments trying to do what only individ- 
uals can do for themselves. That man is not fit 
for the noble duty of self-government, who 
thinks government ever did or ever can legis- 
late men either into morals, religion or educa- 
tion. That man is insuiferably ignorant who 
does not know that the only way to make men 
good, and to cleanse him from all evils is to 
first remove his ignorance. It is ignorance 
that has brought into this world all our woe. 
An ignorant man is a menace to a community. 
But simply to know how to i*ead and write is 
not a proof of the absence of ignorance. If 
people had the correct ideas of schools and 
education, there wou^ld not be a child (except 
idiots) that would grow to the age of twelve 
in the land but that could read and write. It 



300 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



is no more trouble to teach any child to do 
this than it is to teach it to eat with a knife 
and fork. When people's ignorance is re- 
moved, they will no more gi'ow children 
that cannot read and wi'ite than they will 
who cannot dress themselves, or talk, or 
play the innocent and healthy plays of chil- 
dren. A compulsory law to wash the child's 
face and comb its hair might now be neces- 
sary in say an avei'age of one family to a 
county. Reading and writing are not edu- 
cating; they are simply a species of training 
and of themselves of no higher grade than 
those of ordinary acts of politeness, cleanli- 
ness or decency. An ignorant, savage peo- 
ple must have a school, if their children ever 
learn to read and wriite, but no civilized fam- 
ily has to have any such assistance. And 
you may mark it well, that the day is either 
now hei'e or it is very near, when such a 
thing as people sending their children to 
school to learn to read and write will be as 
unknown as is now the custom of sendinsr 
them out to be washed and their heads 
cleaned. The reader who feels his own con- 
victions outraged by these sentiments is most 
respectfully requested to turn back and ex- 
amine carefully over again the definition of 
the word education. What is it? Not as the 
dictionaries will tell you e from, and duco to 
lead. You can get no idea from the defini- 
tion you will find in the dictionaries of what 
the real meaning of the word is. " To 
lead from ignorance " is like the old defini- 
tion of heat as the absence of cold, and cold, 
then, would be the absence of heat. You 
might study such definitions a thousand 
years and you would not have nearly so good a 
definition of heat as the child when it tells 
you " it burns." Ask any man you meet 



what education is, and the chances are ninety- 
nine in a hundred he will tell you so-and-so 
is highly educated, because he can read Latin 
and Greek, when the facts are a man may 
read all the dead and living languages of the 
world and still not be educated at all — still 
be very, very ignorant. You cannot think, 
much less talk, intelligently about education 
unless you first know the full and true mean- 
ing of the word. Education is getting knowl- 
edge, and knowledge is understanding the 
mental and physical laws. We start you on 
the way of mastering the understanding of 
the word education. You can pursue it and 
follow it out to its complete understanding if 
you so desire, i 

The School Superintendent of Union Coun- 
ty, W. C. Rich, in a report to the State 
Superintendent in 1884, says: 

" Irregularity of attendance in country 
schools — this can only be met by a compul- 
sory act. The object of the free school sys- 
tem is to give every child of school age a 
common school education, but in the absence 
of a compulsory law, the object of a free 
school system will never be accomplished." 

In Union County there are three brick 
schoolhouses, sixty frame houses and eleven 
loghouses, making a total number of school- 
houses seventy -four. One new one was built 
in 1882; of these are seven graded schools. 
Number of male teachers in graded schools, 
10; females, 15. Number of male teachers in 
ungraded schools, 52; number of females,20; 
making the total number of teachers in the 
county 97. 

Certainly a creditable showing as to both 
the number of houses, teachers and pupils in 
a county of only a little over 18,000 popula- 
tion. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



301 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE BENCH AND BAR — GOVERNOR REYNOLDS— EARLY COURTS — FIRST TERM AND OFFICERS- 
DANIEL P. COOK— CENSUS OF 1818— COUNTY OFFICERS TO DATE— ABNER AND ALEXANDER 
P. FIELD— WINSTED DAVIE— YOUNG AND M' ROBERTS— VISITING AND RESIDENT 
LAWYERS— GRAND JURIES PUNCHED— HUNSARER'S LETTER —WAR BE- 
TWEEN JONESBORO AND ANNA — COUNTY VOTE, ETC., ETC. 



"Ambition sighed; she found it vain to trust 
The faithless column, and the crumbling bust." 

TN the early organization of a county, 
-*- especially away back in the history of 
Illinois to 1817, the date of the formation of 
this county, the courts, and their short bi- 
ennial sessions, the judges, the judges' great, 
ness and dignity that those people readily 
conceded the judicial toga, the lawyers, as 
they traveled over the large circuits, through 
the many large and sparsely settled counties, 
were objects of much awe and admiration 
among the people. Even the Clerks of the 
Courts, the Sheriffs, the foreman of the grand 
juiy, as well as other petty officers about the 
court house, who, by virtue of their ofl&cial 
positions, could, on terms of apparent great 
famiiiarit}', exchange a few words with the 
Judge and the lawyers, were temporarily 
greatly enlarged and magnified, and perhaps 
envied sometimes by the common crowd. 
But soon after the organization of each 
county came the local lawyer, the permanent 
dweller at the county seat, and thus some of 
the glamour that invested the profession of 
the law passed away. Their numbers in- 
creased, and as law and politics were then 
synonymous terms, and they still more mixed 
among the people, and coaxed and wheedled 
them out of their votes, kissing the babies, 
patting the frowzled-headed, dirty-faced 
youths on the head, talking taffy to the vain 
old mothers, hugging, like a very brother. 



the voters, and dividing with them their 
plug tobacco, and making spread-eagle stump 
speeches everywhere and upon all occasions, 
and upon the slightest opportunities, and 
thus still more of the awe-inspiring great- 
ness of the px'ofession passed away. Thus, in 
the long process of time, a lawyer came to be 
only a human being, and even the high Judge, 
as the boy said about the preacher, " nothing 
but a man." But the fact remains that in 
the early settlement of the State, and in the 
formation of the county municipalities, these 
legal gentlemen had very much to do in 
those initiatory steps that have shaped and 
fashioned the destiny of both the State and 
the counties that transformed this wilderness 
of wild men and wild beasts into the fourth 
commonwealth in this cluster of great and 
growing States, and from this vantage-point 
our State is entered in the race for the third 
place, then the second place, and then the 
great goal of first place in the galaxy of 
States. The finger-marks of these founders, 
and largely the architects of the early State 
polity that has so swiftly led to these as- 
tounding results, are to be seen everywhere, 
and the meed of praise is justly theirs for 
this beneficent foresight, patriotism and un- 
yielding integrity that have stood like beacon 
lights upon the troubled waters, when the 
storms raged and beat upon the ship of 
State. 

Amon^ the earliest of the Illinois lawyers. 



302 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



who at one time lived in the county that then 
included what is now Union County, was 
John Eeynolds- -the Old Ranger. The ap- 
pellation of Old Ranger was "given him for 
his great services in the soldiery that fought 
the Indians. In the early days, these soldiers 
were mounted men, and often they were 
designated in their military capacity as 
rangers. 

Gov. John Reynolds was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, and came to Illinois and located in 
Kaskaskia in the year 1800. Only eighteen 
years after the first American flag had been 
unfurled over all this territory, and the land 
had become a part and parcel of the posses- 
sions of the United States, under Lieut. 
Todd, who had been commissioned by Gov. 
Patrick Henry to come here, take possession 
in the name of the United States, and put in 
force and operation the principles of our 
present free and enlightened Government. 
Gov. Henry wrote this important document 
within hearing of the booming of the guns 
of the Revolution. The Governor appointed 
a messenger to bear the important commis- 
sion to Lieut. Todd, who was fighting the 
Indians and British somev^here in the North- 
west, and it took the bearer nearly or quite 
a year to find Todd and invest him with 
the important authority of organizing and 
establishing upon an enduring basis the 
benign government that now blesses so many 
people of the great Mississippi Valley. Thus 
it was the soldier, Lieut. Todd, who laid the 
foundations of a free government here, and 
upon this foundation has risen the grand 
superstructure we now behold, and, as before 
remarked in this work, a great deal of credit 
is due the early lawyers of Southern Illinois, 
and among the earliest and most valuable of 
these, to the then young Territory, was John 
Reynolds, whose life, after he came here, was 
spared to us sixty-five years. He was a re- 



markable man in many respects. The writer 
hereof first saw him in 3844, and to his boy- 
ish eyes the Old Ranger was the one great 
man that he ever expected to see. He was 
tall, slim, erect, with classical features, soft, 
white hair, moderate mutton-chop whiskers 
of the same color, with a wonderfully pene- 
trating, restless gray eye. It was a warm day, 
and he had his coat off, and his shirt collar 
unbuttoned, and was battling for Polk for 
President. He talked rapidly, and held the 
closest attention of the men, women aud chil- 
dren present, ever and anon appealing per- 
sonally and by name to some voter in the 
audience, and always addressing him by his 
given name, and so adroitly did he manage 
this, that by the time he would finish his 
speech he had thus appealed to about every 
voter in his audience. It was told of him. 
that in about every county in Southern Il- 
linois he could pass through them on an elec- 
tioneering tour, and shake hands with every 
voter he met, and call him, by his given 
name. His knowledge of men, his ready wit, 
his practical, shrewd sense, his big, warm and 
generous heart, and incorruptible integrity 
both in private and public life, were the 
som'ces of his invincible power among the 
people. When the least bit embarrassed, he 
had a singular way of rubbing his hand down 
over his face and at the same time giving his 
nose a slight pull. His speeches were some- 
what in a familiar conversational manner, 
and interjected with side remarks that were 
explanatory and often intensely amusing. In 
many respects he was admirably equipped 
for a great and successful demagogue, and 
for sixty- five years he plied his vocation to 
such an advantage that he occupied from 
time to time nearly all the exalted positions 
in the State, as well as Financial Agent of 
the State in negotiating the Internal Im- 
provement Loan of $4,000,000 to Europe. 



HISTORY OF UNIOX COUNTY. 



303 



It is not proposed here to give a detailed 
biography of the Old Ranger, for this is a 
familiar subject to all our people. His last 
years among us was the happy rounding out 
of a well-spent and valuable life. And when 
started once upon his favorite^ theme, the 
venerable old kindly face would kindle and 
flame with recollections of the pioneer times 
and people, and his talk became as intensely 
interesting as his fund of incident and anec- 
dote seemed inexhaustible, and of him and 
about him there was current among the people 
nearly an equal fund of anecdote. These 
the old Governor never referred to in his 
conversations, especially that one in refer- 
ence to his sentencing, while on the circuit 
bench, a man to be hung: "Mr. Green," said 
the Judge, addressing the prisoner, " the jury 
and the law have found you guilty of murder. 
I am very sorry for you Mr. Green. I wish 
you would send word to your friends down on 
Flat Creek that it was the jury and the law, 
and not me, that sentenced you to be hung. 
What day would suit you best to be hung, 
Mr. Green? Well, 1 will do all I can for 
you. The law permits me to extend your life 
four weeks and I will give you all the time I 
can." Then addressing the clerk he said : 
* ' Mr. Clerk, I wish you would look at the 
almanac and see if next Friday four weeks 
comes on Sunday? " " You see, I don't want 
to hang you on Sunday, Mr. Green." And 
thus this really sad and afflicting duty of this 
kind-hearted ofl&cial was gotten through with. 
Green was duly hung, but his friends on Flat 
Creek, as Green exhorted them from the 
scaffold to do, always afterward voted for the 
Old Ranger unanimously. 

The old Governor would often in his 
speeches, especially if there were ladies 
present, tell the story about his riding along 
the road one day in the early time, and coming 



and wagon. He finally asked her opinion of 
the coimtry. "Oh; well," said the good 
dame, " it seems to be good enough for men 
and dogs, but is powerful tryin' on women 
and oxen." 

The first term of the Circuit Court convened 
in Union County was in Jonesboro, at the house 
of Jacob Hunsaker, May 11, 1818; Daniel 
P. Cook, Presiding Judge. A picture of 
this pioneer court room and the gathering of 
the people in this humble log house of jus- 
tice, in their hunting shirts, coon-skin caps, 
and generally each man with his shot -pouch 
hanging to his side, and early as it was in 
the spring, many of them barefoot, and the 
others with deer-skin moccasins; when the 
grand jury, after being charged by the court 
with the affairs of the county and the weal 
or woe of litigants or criminals, filed out in 
solemn silence in the charge of an officer of 
the court, who conducted them a short dis- 
tance in the woods to their grand jury room, 
which consisted simply of a log lying be- 
neath the old forest trees; and then, after a 
hot trial as to whom the meat belonged to of 
a certain wild hog that one hunter had shot 
and another had captured, to see the petit 
jury similarly file out to another log in 
another part of the woods to be "locked up," 
or rather seated on another log to deliberate 
on their verdict. We say, this in a picture 
would now look curious and very rude in- 
deed. And so it was in some respects, and 
yet when more deeply studied and under- 
stood, it would be seen that there were here 
in this log court house, with all its primitive 
surroundings, men of ability, education, 
and forensic talents, that might have adorned 
the most elevated or historical woolsacks in 
the world. 

Daniel P. Cook will take his place in the 
history of Illinois as second to no other man 
u ^ w,-j1 I woman who was driving an ox teamin the State except Stephen A. Douglas. He 



304 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



came from Missouri to Kaskaskia a very 
young man and in very delicate health; stud- 
ied law with his uncle, Nathaniel Pope; was 
admitted to the bar, and at once took his 
position among the great lawyers of his day; 
was the Territorial Delegate in Congress, 
and framed the measure and passed it 
through Congress admitting the State into 
the Union; in 1819, was elected Attorney 
General of the State, and afterward a mem- 
ber of Congress, defeating^ McLean in a con- 
test extending all over Southern Illinois, and 
that was conducted by joint discussions, and, 
it is said, was never excelled for displaying 
great talents, unless it was in the campaign 
of Douglas and Lincoln in 1858. In the bill 
to admit Illinois, the committee reported the 
north boundary line of the State to run due 
west on a line parallel with the southern 
bend of Lake Michigan, and it is due to 
Judge Cook that this was changed to its 
present line, and thus the fourteen northern 
counties, including the city of Chicago, were 
taken from the Territory of Wisconsin. He 
showed Congress that the lakes of the North 
and constant navigation at the confluence of 
the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers must not be 
separated by dividing State lines — that 
Illinois must be made a Keystone State of 
the Mississippi Valley. He then foresaw 
would come the great questions between the 
North and the South that did come, and his 
wise forethought was the architect of the 
West and of the Union as we now have it, 
and it is highly probable that his action here 
did more ultimately to preserve the integi-ity 
of the union of States in the late civil war 
than any other one thing in our history. 

Such was something of the magnificent 
record of a man who sank into his grave at 
the age of thirty- seven years, and who nearly 
all his life was an invalid and sufferer. His 
brief life, his wonderful achievements, his 



lingering death from consumption upon the 
threshold of his manhood, are, indeed, "a 
strange, eventful story." His was one of 
the few lives that adorned the morning of 
the nineteenth century, and was a blessing to 
American civilization that only ignoble de- 
scendants will ever forget or cease to cherish. 

At this, the first term of the court, the 
Sheriff returned the following grand jury: 
James Westbrook, George Woo If, John Riton, 
John Weigle, John Mcintosh, Michael Lin- 
burg, Thomas Sams, Joel Boggis, Alexander 
Beggs, Benjamin McCravens, James Murphy, 
John Whitaker, Nicholas Wilson, Samuel 
Sprood, Rice Sams, David Mclntuff, Benja- 
min Worthenton, Adam Clapp, Richard Mc- 
Bride, George Godwin, Henry Lamer, John 
Crise, David Penrod, and Owen Evans. John 
Whitaker was appointed foreman. 

James Evans, Esq., on exhibiting license 
from the Superior Court, was admitted as an 
attorney at law. 

This was then known as the Western Dis- 
trict of the Territory of Illinois. 

The first day's proceedings were a contin- 
uance of the case of Daniel Ritter vs. Joseph 
Taylor, action on the case. Letters of ad- 
ministration were granted John Bradshaw, 
on the estate of Charles Murphy. The case 
of Joseph Taylor vs. Thomas Giles, con- 
tinued. A judgement taken upon confession 
against John Stokes, one of the defendants, 
for $L10. 

The grand jary returned into court an in- 
dictment against John C. Thomas, felony. 
The court disposed of case of " Milly, a black 
woman," on habeas corpus, was dismissed. 

On the second day, the case of John C. 
Thomas, continued for the term. The next 
criminal case was the indictment against 
Samuel G. Penrod for retailing liquors. 

The second term of the court was held by 
Judge John Warnock. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



305 



Johnson Renny was, at the September term, 
May, 1818, admitted to practice law. At this 
term of the com't, William Russell is ad- 
mitted as an attorney. Mr. E. K. Kane also 
appeared as an attorney. At this term, John 
Reynolds, the " Old Ranger," appeared as an 
attorney. 

At a term court, May 13, Richard M. 
Young produced License and was admitted 
as an attorney. On Tuesday, September 
14, 1819, David T. Maddox was ad- 
mitted as an attorney. At this term of 
the court, Daniel T. Coleman prosecuted his 
suit for divorce against his wife, Judah. A 
jury was called and the divorce granted. 

At April term, on April 10, 1820, Charles 
Dunn produced in court a license to practice 
law and was duly enrolled. Thomas Rey- 
nolds was acting as Circuit Attorney. 

April term, 1821, Thomas C. Browne was 
the Presiding Judge. David J. Baker appears 
as an active and practicing attorney at this 
term. 

In another chapter, we have given the ox'der 
of the organization of the County Commis- 
sioners' Court, the platting of the town of 
Jonesboro, and the election and appointment 
of the county officers, and the commence- 
ment of the work of putting into operation 
the county machinery, which constituted the 
county's government. When the little county 
ship of State was duly launched, it was in 
power over the large territory that now em- 
braces Union, Alexander and Pulaski Coun- 
ties, and contained a population in 1818 of 
2,482 souls, and was in the number of its in- 
habitants the fifth county in the State. The 
counties outnumbering it were Gallatin, with 
3,256 people; Madison, 5,456; Randolph, 
2,939; and St. Clair, 4,519. The total pop- 
ulation of Illinois at that time was 40,156. 

Joseph Palmer, as stated, was the first 
Sheriff of the county, and he and the Com- 



missioners' Court, upon a settlement, could 
not agree, and the court cjlaimed he was $260 
behind in his payments of money collected, 
and they entered judgments for that amount, 
and also assessed the State penalty, which 
was that such delinquents were to pay twelve 
per cent per month from the rendering of 
such judgments until the judgment should be 
paid. The case was in litigation some time, 
and finally compromised by the court allow- 
ing a part of Palmei^'s set-offs, and his pay- 
ing'the remainder. In 1821, George Hun- 
saker was the Sheriff of the county. Abner 
Field was acting as County and Circuit Clerk, 
and his entire salary for performing the 
duties of the two offices for one year was .|60. 
He resigned. 

Wiustead Davie, at the April tenn, 
1822, of the Circuit Court, was ap- 
pointed Clerk, by Judge Browne, Presiding 
Judge. And at the March term, 1823, there 
appears upon the records the following : 
" Winstead Davie having been before ap- 
pointed Clerk, in the place of Abner Field, 
resigned, he presented his bond as Clerk of 
the Circuit and County Court, Recorder and 
Notary Public." The bond was approved. 
There is no man whose history is more 
closely interwoven with the early accounts of 
the county, or whose history is more interest- 
ing and instructive, than that of Winstead 
Davie. A complete story of his life would 
read like a well-constructed romance. Born 
with physical infirmities that rendered him 
a cripple for life — requiring the constant use 
of two crutches — he commenced in poverty 
the struggle for existence, and worked out a 
career that points him out as the child of 
destiny. He was the crippled, helpless in- 
valid child of poor parents, with a large 
family of children. It is told of him, that 
in his youth he overheard his parents talking 
and lamenting over his affliction and his 



306 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



gloomy outlook for the future. They agreed 
he would be a burden upon them as long as 
he or they lived ; that they would tenderly 
care for him as long as they lived, then in- 
voke the protecting mercies of heaven, and 
resign him to this not very charitable world. 
The hearing of this conversation was the 
tiu-ning point in the youth's life. Every 
word had sunk deeply in his heart, and, 
young and crippled as he was, he looked 
fortvine in the face, and resolved that he 
would go out into the world and tight his own 
battles of life. He commenced to educate 
himself, and in a year or two concluded he 
was prepared to teach school. It is told of 
him that the first house he visited for the 
purpose of making up his school, the family 
saw the poor cripple hobbling toward their 
door, and, supj^osing he was a beggar, 
slammed the door in his face, and he was 
compelled to turn away. But he persevered, 
and became a school teacher. In 1817, he 
came to Illinois, and among those rough peo- 
ple commenced a school a short distance be- 
low Jonesboro. Afterward he was put in 
possession of a small stock of goods in Jones- 
boro, to sell on commission. For many years 
he was Recorder, County and Circuit Clerk, 
and Probate Judge, and he was eventually 
able to purchase the stock of goods that he 
had been managing on commission. 80 in- 
timately had his life become interwoven wdth 
the courts of the county, that when it came 
to adopt the design for the county seal, 
it appropriately was formed representing 
Davie sitting at a desk writing, showing^ his 
crooked and crippled lower limbs, and crossed 
and forming an arch above the desk were his 
two crutches. It is now to be regretted that 
this design was ever changed and a new seal 
adopted, as was done, and an account of 
which appears in the preceding chapter. 
When IVIr. Davie had purchased the little 



store, he then commenced his true career, and 
he extended, enlarged and pushed the busi- 
ness, successfully fighting his way against 
Willis Willard, his brother-in-law, or any 
and all competition that could come against 
him, and he retired from office and gave his 
entire attention to his business, which soon 
grew to vast proportions. He possessed an 
energy, clear, strong judgment and a fore- 
sight in all business affairs that were never 
at fault. His physical defects were more 
than compensated for in his active and pow- 
erful intellect, and he amassed great wealth, 
and at one time had more employes and de- 
pendents than any other man in the county. 
His master mind guided and controlled and 
managed much of the business affairs of the 
county, and here he was even more valuable 
to the growing young community than he had 
been as an officer and executive in the official 
matters of the county. His charity was ex- 
pansive and just, and while he ruled with 
firm decision and strong emphasis, he scrupu- 
lously rewarded merit and never overlooked, 
even in his humblest dependents, true worth. 
Nature had so equipped him for life that the 
very misfortunes that environed him were 
converted into stimulants to urge him forward 
to the accomplishment of great enterprises, 
where others under the same circumstances 
would have despaired and turned their faces 
to the poor house. 

He married Anna Williard and it is whis- 
pered that at this important period of his life 
he met the same troubles that attended his 
first effort to secure a school. The same old 
objection was made, that he was a cripple and 
poor, and here again came back and was re- 
newed the great resolve of his boyhood, that 
he would have a fortune that should equal or 
surpass that of those who urged these objec- 
tions against him, and he did. 

Like the generality of cripples, he was 



HISTORY OF rXION COUNTY. 



30" 



very sensitive on the subject, and never al- 
luded to it. When it was spoken of by others 
in his presence, he would change the subject, 
and any attempt to force sympathy upon him 
was sternly rejected. On one occasion, after 
he had sold a customer a large bill of goods, 
and all was satisfactorily settled, the custom- 
er commenced the usual story of his sorrow 
and sympathy for Davie's misfortunes. Da- 
vie made several efforts to turn the subject, 
and when h*s patience was exhausted he gave 
the man a most meaning look and answered, 
' ' Yes, yes, but after all it is better to be crip- 
pled in the legs than in the head." 

Some years ago, Mr. Davie divided the bulk 
of his large property among his children and 
retired from business life. His great mind 
had burned out its strength and brightness, 
and a recluse and an invalid he day by day 
and now almost hour by houi- calmly awaits 
that summons from the high court of God 
that will come to us all. 

Richard M. Young was among the earliest 
lawyers in Union County. He was appointed 
pro tern. Circuit Attorney at the March term 
of the Circuit Court in 1823. Judge Young 
was a bright young man, and had the gift of 
fine colloquial powers, and in his intercourse 
with men was smooth and urbane, and al- 
together an address well calculated to irh- 
press all he met as a man of excellence and 
worth, in which lay the secret of his success, 
rather than in the force, vigor and compass 
of intellect. His talents were respectable, 
and above mediocrity. He was a Kentuckian, 
of spare build, rather tall, educated, and a 
lawyer by profession. In 1824, he was 
elected by the Legislature one of live Circuit 
Judges, and assigned to the Second Circuit 
He was elected to succeed Gen. W. L. D. 
Ewing in the United States Senate, and 
served out a full term, from March 4, 1837, 
to March 4, 1843. Samuel McRoberts was 



his principal opponent ; Archie Williams 
and Gen. Ewing also received some votes, 
the former twenty-one and the latter thirteen. 
In 1839, Judge Young was appointed by Gov. 
Carlin one of the State agents, in connection 
with Gov. Reynolds, to negotiate the $4,000,- 
000 canal loan, for which purpose they re- 
paired to Europe, and their advances of $1,- 
000,000 in Illinois bonds to the house of 
Wright & Co., of London,- proved a heavy loss 
to the State. Yet, under party operations, be- 
fore his Senatorial term expired, he was made, 
February 3, 1842, a Supi-eme Judge, a posi- 
tion which he held until 1847. He died in 
W^ashington in an insane asylum. 

Alexander and Abner Field were here at 
the very commencement of the county's ex- 
istence. They were men of strong charac- 
ters, and Alexander Field's long life career 
clearly points out that he was no ordinary 
man. He took from the very tirst of his en- 
try into the bar a commanding position. 
A good lawyer, sound reasoner and a brilliant 
orator, either at the bar or on the stump. 
He won his way to a large law practice, and 
from county offices was appointed Secretary 
of State December 31, 1828, and with a con- 
stant war upon him of rival candidates for 
that office, he held it until November 30, 
1840. When he became Secretary of State, 
be changed his residence to Vandalia and 
Springfield, and for years he was one of the 
" circuit riders " of the Illinois bench and 
bar, and continued to add to his already ex- 
tended reputation as one of the celebrated 
lawyers of that time that was noted for its 
remarkable men. He seems to have been of 
a roving, restless disposition. He removed 
his home to St. Louis, and for some years 
was among the foremost lawyers of that city. 
Then he went to New Orleans, and there 
made his home until his death, a few years 
ago, at an advanced age. 



3C8 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



In 1821, George Hunsaker was Sheriff of 
Union County. At the September term of 
this year. Constantine Kessler appeared iu 
open court, and, after taking the oath of 
allegiance, was admitted a citizen of the 
United States. 

At the March term, 1824, Thomas Browne 
was the presiding Judge. This year. John 
Hunsaker was elected and qualified as Sherifi'. 
In 1825, Samuel McRoberts was the Circuit 
Judge, Sidney Breese, Circuit Attorney, W. 
Davie, Clerk, and John Hunsaker, Sheriff. 

Judge Samuel McRoberts, the first native 
Illinoisian ever elevated to the high office of 
a United States Senator from this State, was 
born April 12, 1799, in what is now Monroe 
County, his father residing on a farm. He 
received a good English education, and at the 
early age of twenty, he was appointed Cir- 
cuit Clerk of Monroe County, a position 
which afforded him opportunities to become 
familiar with the forms of law, which he 
eagerly embraced, pursuing at the same time 
a most assiduous course of reading. Two 
years later, he entered the law department of 
Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., 
where, after three full courses of lectures, he 
graduated with the degree of Bachelor of 
Laws. He commenced the practice of law 
in competition with such men as Kane, Rey- 
nolds, Mills, Mears, Blackwell, Star, Clark, 
Baker, Eddy, McLean, etc. In 1824, at the 
age of twenty-five, he was elected by the 
Legislature one of the five Circuit Judges. 
As Judge, he first publicly exhibited strong 
partisan bias. In 1824, he had been a violent 
convention advocate and now, in defiance of 
a release by the Legislature, he assessed a fine 
against Gov. Coles for settling his emanci- 
pated slaves in Madison County, without 
giving bond that they should not become a 
public charge; he also removed a Circuit 
Clerk in the same county, and appointed 



another in his place, from partisan motives, 
which caused a great outcry at the time and 
contributed largely to the repeal of the Circuit 
Court system in 1827. In 1828, he was 
elected a State Senator, and in 1830 was ap- 
pointed United States District Attorney for 
this State; in 1832, Receiver of the public 
money's in the Danville Land Office, and in 
1839 Solicitor of the General Land Office at 
Washington. When the State banks of 1837 
passed into Whig control by their organiza- 
tion, Judge McRoberts, with others, opposed 
them and they were refused the Land Office 
moneys as deposits, to aid in crippling them. 
On the 16th of December, 1840, Samuel 
McRoberts was elected United States Senator 
for a full term, commencing March 4, 1841. 
He received on the first ballot seventy-seven 
votes, Cyrus Edwards, the Whig nominee, 
fifty and E. D. Baker, 1. He died March 22, 
1843, in Cincinnati, at the house of his old 
friend Judge James Hall, formerly of Shaw- 
neetown, on his route home from Washington, 
in the vigor of his intellectual manhood, at 
the age of forty- four years. Judge Mc- 
Robert was of medium height, spare build, 
nervous, bilious temperament. His mind 
clear and strong and precise. An industrious 
student and given to over-exertion. He was 
swayed by a stubborn will, high ambition 
and unbounded energy. He governed by the 
power of will, rather than address and bland- 
ishments. 

Sidney Breese, who appeared as prosecut- 
ing attorney at this same term of the court, 
with Judge McRoberts, succeeded R. M. 
Young to the United States Senate for a full 
term, from March 4, 1843. He was the 
Democratic caucus nominee, and was elected 
December 17, 1842, on the first ballot, by 
108 votes, to his opponent, Archibald Will- 
iams' 49. 

He was a native of Oneida County, N. Y., 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



309 



and was educated in Union College. He 
had been the school-fellow of Elias Kent 
Kane, who was his senior. After the latter 
had been appointed Secretary of State, in 
1818, he wrote for young Breese to join him. 
This gave him great advantages in the new 
State. In 1820, he commenced the practice 
of law in Jackson County, but met with only 
failure before court and jury, and, over- 
whelmed with mortification, resolved to aban- 
don his profession. The next year, he was 
Postmaster at Kaskaskia. la 1822, Gov. 
Bond appointed him Circuit Attorney, in 
which position Gov. Coles retained him, but 
Edwards did not. In 1831, he prepared and 
published "Breese's Reports" of our Supreme 
Court decisions, being the first book ever 
published in the State. The next year, he 
took part in the Black Hawk war — being a 
Major. On the establishment of the Circuit 
Court system, in 1835, he was chosen Judge, 
in which capacity the McClernand Field case 
came before him— an exciting political ques- 
tion—concerning the power of the Governor 
to remove the incumbent of the office of the 
Secretary of State, which he decided with 
an elaborate opinion in favor of the relator, 
but which the Supreme Court reversed. Upon 
the reorganization of that court, in 1841, 
resulting in a great part from this question, 
he was elected one of the five Democratic 
Supreme Judges. 

As a Senator, he occupied the seat of his 
old schoolmate and friend, E. K. Kane. 
Upon the expiratioji of his term, he was 
elected, in 1850, to the Legislature, and was 
made Speaker of the House. In 1855, he 
was again elected Circuit Judge, and two 
years later, on the resignation of Judge 
Scates, again elevated to the Supreme bench, 
which position he held to the time of his 
death. An estimate of his mental character- 
istics, and his estimate as a statesman and 



jurist, will be found in another chapter of 
this work, in which is the account of the 
Illinois Central Railroad. 

At the October term, 182G, David J. Baker, 
Sr., was appointed Circuit Attorney. The 
next year, 1827, Phillip Hargrave was Sheriff 
of the County, and W instead Davie filed 
bonds and entered upon a new term of oflice 
as Circuit Clerk. In 1828, William J. Gate- 
wood was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for 
the term. October term, 1828, Phillip Har- 
grave entered upon second term of Sheriff. 
At the October term, 1830, Richard J. Ham- 
ilton was appointed, p/"o tern., Prosecuting 
Attorney. The next year, Henry Eddy ap- 
pears as the regular Circuit Attorney. Octo- 
ber term, 1831, Alvan Cook presented license 
and was enrolled. A. F. Grant was the 
Prosecuting Attorney. In 1832, the records 
show the name of John Dougherty as a regu- 
lar attorney of the coui't; and at this time 
appear the names of Hardin, Rumsey and 
Evans as of the bar of Union County. In 
1832, Champin Anderson was sworn into the 
office of Sheriff; Davie still Clerk; Jacob 
Grammer, Coroner. These were all re-elected 
in 1834. At the May term, 1835, Alexander 
F. Grant was Presiding Judge. In the 
same year, Justin Harlan held the November 
term of the court, and John Dougherty was 
the Prosecuting Attorney. Walter B. Scates 
was one of the attorneys at this term of 
court. At the April term, 1836, Jeptha Har- 
din was Judge, and same term, iu 1837, 
Walter B. Scates presided. Wiley J. David- 
son was the Sheriff and Jacob Grammer was 
still Coroner. In 1840, Jacob Davis was 
Sheriff, and Judge C. Campbell, Coroner. 
At the May term, 1841, Willis Allen was 
Prosecuting Attorney, and among the other 
attorneys was Judge Billings. At this term 
of the court, Sidney S. Condon was appointed 
Clerk. October term, 1841, Willis Allen was, 



310 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



pro tern., Prosecuting Attorney. May, 1842, 
John A. McClernand appeared uraong the 
attorneys. In 1842, Thomas Hodges was 
Sheriff, S. S. Condon, Clerk, and H. F. 
Walker, Coroner. AV. A. Denning was Pros- 
ecuting Attorney in 1845. 

In 1844, Daniel Hileman was Probate 
Judge of the county. At September term, 
1847, W. A. Denning was the presiding 
Judge; John Grear was County Coroner. In 
1849, Thomas Hileman became Clerk of the 
Circuit Court, Master in Chancery, and Pro- 
bate Judge. The last two offices he has held 
ever since, and when he fills out his present 
term of office, will have held the positions 
thirty-six years — an average life-time. May, 
1851, Alexander J. Nimmo was Sheriff, W. 
K. Parish, State's Attorney, and John C. 
Albright, Coroner. May, 1852, James W. 
Bailey was County Clerk. In 1853, Syrean 
Davis was Sheriff, John A. Logan, Prosecut- 
ing Attorney, W. K. Parish, Judge, A. J. 
Nimmo, Sheriff. 1858, M. C. Crawford was 
State's Attorney. 1859, Thomas J. Finley, 
County Clerk, A. M. Jenkins, Judge, Nimmo, 
Sheriff, Hileman, Clerk, and A. P. Corder, 
Prosecuting Attorney. 1861, Lorenzo P. 
Wilcox, Sheriff. At the May term, 1863, 
Thomas J. Finley, Sherifi, and at the Octo- 
ber term of the same year, William C. Rich 
was the Sheriff. 1864, John H. Mulkey, 
Judge, W. C. Rich, Sheriff, M. C. Crawford, 
Attorney, and Hileman, Clerk. At May term, 
1865, George W. . Wall was Prosecuting At- 
torney, and A. J. Nimmo, Clerk. 1866, W. 
H. Green, Presiding Judge. October term, 
1867, M. C. Crawford, Judge, Joseph McEl- 
hany. Sheriff. 1869, W. C. Rich, Sheriff. 
1871, Jacob Hileman, Sheriff, Jackson Frick, 
Prosecuting Attorney, and A. Polk Jones, 
Clerk. Jones died about one month after 
entering upon the duties of his office for the 
third term. The Court appointed Henry P. 



Cozby Clerk pro tern., who colitinued to fill 
the place until the election of the present 
incumbent, Ed. M. Barnwell. In 1878, there 
were elected for this judicial district Judges 
Daniel M. Browning, Oliver A. Harker, and 
David J. Baker. 

Among the attorneys resident of the coun- 
ty, we have given an extended account of the 
earliest who were here, including Gov. 
Dougherty. Succeeding these were M. C. 
Crawford, John E. Nail, James H. Smith,. 
David L. Phillipps, W. A. Hacker, W. L. 
Dougherty, Wesley Davidson, Semple G. 
Parks, who is now Judge of the County Court 
of Perry County. 

W. A. Hacker was a native of this county, 
and was educated at West Point. He re- 
moved to Alexander .County, and died there 
a few years later. 

W. L. Dougherfcy was a son of Gov. 
Dougherty, and was considered one of the 
promising young attorneys of the county. 
Wesley Davidson was a school-mate of the 
writer of these lines at McKendree College. 
He was a good, average bright student, but 
was impulsive and inclined to be erratic. He 
was drowned a few years ago. 

John E. Nail was a common law and chan- • 
eery practitioner of good abilities. Read 
law with J. H. Smith, of Chicago. Located 
in Union County, and commenced the prac- 
tice of his profession. Married Sarah J. 
Dishon. 

Alexander N. Dougherty studied law in 
his father's (Gov. Dougherty's) office. Was 
admitted to the bar in 1863, and died in 
Jonesboro in 1878. 

W. A. Spann was a native of Union Coun- 
ty, now of Johnson County. He has been 
twice in the Legislatui'e from his district, 

W. S. Day is a native of Tennessee. He 
came to Union County when very young, 
studied law with Judge Crawford, and has 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



•611 



already reached a prominent position at the 
bar. 

Robert W. Townes, a native of Illinois, 
was admitted to the bar in 1861, and imme- 
diately went to the war as Orderly Sergeant 
in Company C, Eighteenth Illinois Volun- 
teers. He was soon transferred to the Thir- 
ty-first Regiment and made Adjutant thereof, 
acting as Acting Adjutant General to Gen. 
Logan in the Fort Donelson battle. He 
was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. When 
he returned from the war, he located in 
Duquoin, and. engaged in the active practice 
of his profession. He was elected Prosecut- 
irg Attorney for the Third Judicial District, 
and. served the term with ability and great 
fidelity. He was at one time Secretary of 
the Illinois State Senate. 

David L. Brooks, a son of Dr. B. W. 
Brooks, was a member of the Union County 
bar as far back as 1852. He was a very 
bright young lawyer. He died in 1845. 

Jackson Frick, son of Caleb Frick, was 
born in Jonesborn in 1849. He graduated 
at Yale College, and was universally consid- 
ered a most promising and brilliant young 
man. He studied law with Judge Crawford. 
He died on the very threshold of his young 
life in 1877. 

Mathew J. Inscore, a native of Robinson 
County, Tenn. Was admitted about 1860, 
and has commanded a large practice. 

Thomas H. Phillipps, a native of St. Clair 
County, 111. His biography will be found in 
another column. 

William C. Moreland, born in Tennessee, 
studied law with Col, Bob Townes, and was 
admitted in 1877. 

Hon. Sidney Greer is a native of Union 
County, studied law with Gov. Dougherty; 
was licensed as attorney in 1879, and is now 
serving a term in the Legislature as a Repre- 
sentative. 



David W. Karraker, the present County At- 
torney, is a native of Union County, read law 
with Gov. Dougherty, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1879. 

W. C. Rich was admitted in 1880 to the 
practice of the law. He has served the peo- 
ple as County Treasurer and also us County 
Superintendent of Schools. 

Hugh Andrews, one of the present practic- 
ing attorneys of the county. His biography 
will be found in another part of this work. 

Jesse Ware is a native of Ohio, and was 
licensed as a lawyer in 1857. He came to the, 
State in 1855, and studied law with Judge 
Reeves, of Bloomington, 111. He has served 
two terms in the State Senate, commencing 
in 1872 and retiring in 1880. 

W. B. Maxey came to the county when 
three years old, and has lived in Union Coun- 
ty. He studied law with W. S. Day and was 
admitted to the practice in 1882. 

H. F. Bussey, a native of St. Louis, came 
to Anna in 1877. He is thirty-one years old; 
studied law with M. J. Inscore, and was ad- 
mitted in 1881. 

Judson Phillipps is a native Illinoisian, 
only recently admitted to the bar, and has 
opened an office in Anna. 

Townsend W. Foster, of Cobden, was ad- 
mitted in 1881. 

This includes the prominent facts of the 
bench and bar of Union County. The rem- 
iniscences and anecdotes and remarkable cir- 
cumstances of the earliest day of the legal 
life of the county are now mostly forgotten, 
and are buried with those who were here and 
were actors, but have now passed away. Pre- 
vious to the organization of Union County, 
there was here a community which grew to 
more than two thousand people, and were 
literally without " law or gospel " — without 
schools, churches or officers of the law. Their 
courts and police and marshals were only 



312 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



public opinion, and a few simple modes of 
punishing bad men that were mild, swift, 
certain and efifective. All crimes above a cer- 
tain grade, such as are now here grand and 
petit larceny, were punished by banishment, 
and others by whipping, and still others by 
the contempt and manifest loathing toward 
the guilty by the entire community. 

The establishing of the new order of things 
came strangely to these people. We believe 
it was Gov. Reynolds who tells of an early 
court. The grand jury found a true bill 
against a man for hog stealing. The jury 
had not the assistance of trained lawyers to 
write their indictments, and they had no idea 
how to word it. They searched among the 
records and law books, and finally found an 
indictment for murder. They copied this, 
merely substituting the thief's name for that 
of the murderer, where it occurred in the in- 
strument, and depended on an "aside remark" 
to the court to explain that that particular 
case was hog murder and not human slaugh- 
ter. And upon this indictment the man'^was 
tried, convicted, whipped and ordered out of 
the country, with as much justice, accuracy, 
and with as certain bringing out of the truth 
in the case as was ever done in a court where 
the most learned and noted lawyer had 
drawn all the miserable verbiage and idiotic 
iteration and reiteration that would make 
a perfect indictment. It is an old story that 
necessity is the mother of invention. In 
this necessity of this jury was made a true 
discovery, but it was allowed to sleep and be 
forgotten. Its memory passed away and left 
no impression. The reader can see for him- 
self the moral force of the incident. It dem- 
onstrated that the idea of the old common 
law indictment and its technicalities, and 
quibs, and quibbles are mere nonsense, and 
that their day of usefulness has passed away 
centuries ago. The vast intricacies, machin- 



ery, subtleties, formalities, red tape and child- 
ish puerilities of our ignorant ancestors of 
the dark ages — the dreary ages of feudalism 
and slavery — are brought down to afflict and 
curse the people, and the courts, legislators 
and lawyers cling to these barbarisms with a 
tenacity that makes our highest courts and 
most learned law-makers the objects of the 
sneers and contempt of all men of sense. The 
result is that the law that should only pi-otect 
and guard the people's rights and liberties 
is a vast machinery of oppression, outrage 
and wrong. The courts are largely the refuge 
of scoundrels, and the dread and horror of 
good men. Can any man tell why we retain 
the grand jury — a secret star chamber — that 
is a menace to the rights and privileges of 
every good man in community ; with its pre- 
miums and rewards to every sneak, coward 
and scoundrel in the world to go and stab his 
neighbor in the dark and assassinate his fair 
name, and make the people foot the bills of 
his diabolical acts. This clinging to old bar- 
barisms and abominations for centuries are 
an index, that cannot be mistaken, that the 
majority of men are mere creatures of custom 
and habits, and are no more given to look at 
things and reflect about them than is a nest 
of blind mice. 

1818 — The convention to adopt the State 
Constitution assembled at Kaskaskia in July. 
Adjourned August 26, of same year. There 
were thirty-three delegates. The Constitu- 
tion was adopted without being submitted to 
the people. Approved by Congress Decem- 
ber 3, 1818. The members from Union 
County were William Echols and John Whit- 
aker. 

In the State Legislature of the same year 
Thomas Cox was Senator, and Jesse Echols, 
Representative. 

1820 — Edmund B. W. Jones, Senator, and 
Samuel Omelveny, Representative. 




m:m 





'x£^^aJ 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



315 



1822 — John Grammer, Senator; Alexander 
P. Field, Representative. 

1824 — Alexander P. Field, of Union, was 
a Presidential Elector. In 1828 Richard M. 
Young was an elector, and in 1852 Edward 
Omelveny. 

Assembly, 1824-26 — John Grammer was 

^ Senator for Union and Alexander ; John S. 

Hacker and John Whitaker, Representatives. 

Assembly, 1826-28 — George Hunsaker, Sen- 
ator, and Alexander P. Field, Representative. 

1830-32 — John Grammer, Senator, from 
Union, Johnson and Alexander Counties, and 
Joseph L. Priestly, Representative from 
Union. 

1832-34 — John Dougherty, Representative 
from Union. 

1834-36— John S. Hacker, Senator, Brazil 
B. Craig, Representative. 

1836-38 — John Dougherty, Representa- 
tive, 

1838-40— John S. Hacker, Senator, and 
Jacob Zimmerman, Representative. 

1840-42 — John Dougherty Representative. 

1842-44 — John Dougherty, Senator, and 
John Cochran, Representative. 

1846-48 — John Dougherty, Senator, Mat- 
thew Stokes, Representative. 

1848-50 — John Cochran, Representative. 

1850-52 — Cyrus G. Simmonds, Repre- 
sentative. 

1852-54 — John Cochran, Representative. 

1856-58 — John Dougherty, Representative. 

1858-60 — W. A. Hacker, Representative. 

1862-64 — James H. Smith, Representative. 

1864-66— W. H. Green, Senator, H. W. 
Webb, Representative. 

1868-70— John Dougherty, President of 
the Senate; Lieutenant Governor. 

1872-74 — Jesse Ware, Senator, M. J. 
Inscore, Representative. 

1880 — Sidney Grear, Representative. 

In the Constitutional Convention of 1847, 



Samuel Hunsaker represented Union County. 
In the Convention of 1862, W. A. Hacker 
represented Alexander, Union and Pulaski 
Counties. In the Convention of 1870, W. 
J. Allen represented the same counties. 

The following letter will be read with 
universal interest, and is an admirable illus- 
tration of the ideas of a government as 
entertained by our fathers. It is from the 
Hon. Samuel Hunsaker, and was written 
while in attendance at Springfield upon the 
Constitutional Convention of 1847, and is ad- 
dressed to Judge T. Hileman. 

Springfield. 111., July 17, 1847. 

Dear Sir: I received your kind letter of the 10th 
inst. on yesterday, and will proceed to give you all 
that I have of interest, though it is but little. We 
are moving along but slowly in framing a constitu- 
tion for the people. I am entirely disappointed in 
my calculations, knowing as I did that I had but 
one motive in coming to this convention, and that 
was, to do the will of the people in making such 
changes as would be conducive to their interests and 
promote their future welfare. I reasonably con- 
cluded that at least a majority of the members 
would feel a like disposition, but, sad and strange to 
tell, it appears entirely different, for whenever any- 
thing is brought up that looks like retrenchment it 
is jumped on by lawyers and doctors and young 
politicians and strangled instantly. We have gone 
through the executive and legislative reports in 
committee of the whole, made some changes, but if 
we can get them through the convention as they 
are, I think they will do some good, though they 
are not according to my mind. The Governor is to 
be elected once in four years, salary, $1,250, appoint 
his own Secretary, with a salary of $800; the num- 
ber of members in the Legislature, seventy-five in the 
House and twenty-five in the Senate, with $2 per day 
for the first forty-two days, and $1 per day after that; 
10 cents per mile for travel; elections to be on the 
first Monday in November, which we of the south are 
entirely opposed to, and will use every exertion to 
have changed. The report of the Committee on 
the Judiciary will come up on Monday, which I 
presume will occupy at least a week ; it is very ob- 
jectionable, I think, in some of its features; it 
creates three Supreme Judges and twelve Circuit 
Judges, the Supreme Judges to receive $1,200 and 
Circuit Judges $1,000 per annum. I suppose the 



316 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



salary would not be much too high, but their num- 
ber is too great; it also provides that one term of the 
Supreme Court shall be held yearly in each Judicial 
Circuit, the Judges, Clerks and all, to be elected by 
the people. I have no idea now that we shall get 
away from here before September, and when I look 
forward and see the amount of business before us, 
and look back on what we have done, it appears as 
though we would not get through in twelve months, 
but I still hope for the better. I still think they 
will get tired after awhile, and become willing to do 
things up and go home. I think that I shall never 
have any desire to be in such a body again, but I 
will try to perform my duty faithfully, to the best 
of my abilities this time. I am enjoying reasonable 
good health. I have lost no time from the House. 
Give my respects to all, and accept for yourself my 
true friendship. (Signed) Samuel Hunsaker. 

A letter from Jonesboro, published in the 
Cairo Bulletin, of December 9, 1870, tells of 
an episode that thrown much light on the 
loQg-drawn struggle of rivalry between the 
towns of Jonesboro and Anna. The letter, 
among other things, says: " Yesterday was 
a day of intense excitement in Jonesboro and 
Anna. It is known that a spirit of opposi- 
tion and rivalry exists between the two places. 
Two years ago an effort was made in our 
State Legislature to submit the question of 
the removal of the county seat from Jones- 
boro to Anna to a vote of the people of 
Union County. This effort failed through 
the schemes, etc., of certain parties. The 
County Court, at a recent session, ordered 
Mr. Keonig, County Surveyor, to prepare 
plans and specifications for building a new 
jail. The people of Anna, etc., were opposed 
to building a jail until the location of the 
county seat had been decided by the people 
at the ballot box, and prepared a petition, 
very numerously signed, to be presented to 
the County Court. Yesterday was the day 
appointed to receive the report of Mr. Keo- 
nig; whereupon Charles M. Willard, Esquire 
Bohanan and Mr. Lence came over from 
Anna, appeared before the court and asked 



permission to present their petition. Per- 
mission was granted, and Mr. Willard read 
it. Soon as he concluded the reading, the 
County Judge fined Messrs. Willard, Bo- 
hanan and Lence $50 each, and ordered them 
to remain in the custody of the Sheriff until 
the fines were paid, for contempt of court. 
The Deputy Sheriff immediately marched 
them to the jail. Upon arrival at the gloomy^ 
desolate and filthy old stone hut, Mr. Wil- 
lard, on account of ill health, concluded not 
to pass its iron grates, and paid his fine. 
Bohanan and Lence, on the contrary, marched 
into the felon's cell with a firm step and a 
determinatioD to await their fate. When 
Mr. Willard returned to Anna and gave an 
account of the affair, the excitement beggared 
description. ' Let us go over and tear down 
the jail and liberate Bohanan and Lence,' 
said one. * Oh, what an outrage,' said an- 
other. ' Did not our fathers fight the Revo- 
lution for the right of petition?' was fre- 
quently asked. Attorneys left immediately 
for Cairo with a petition to Judge Baker for 
a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of the pris- 
oners." 

Of course these martyrs in the " old stone 
bastile " were in the end liberated — the ex- 
cited people of Anna slept off their anger 
and " grim-visaged war smoothed his wrink- 
led front," but the rivalry and opposition of 
the two towns have kept their fires still burn- 
ing brightly upon the watch-towers. In the 
matter of moving the county seat, Jones- 
boro is in possession, and with the " nine 
points of law," she has been able to thwart 
the plans of Anna thus far. 

A little incident in the office of the County 
Clerk is deemed worthy of mention: Andrew 
Deordoff succeeded Davie as County Clerk 
in' 1841, and served one term. He was suc- 
ceeded by Wilcox, who served one term. 
Randolph V. Marshall was then elected 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



317 



Clerk, and had served one term, and was bo 
popular that he was re-elected, and just after 
he had entered upon his second term he ran 
away, and was never heard of again. Judge 
Hileman appointed Wesley Davidson to fill 
out his term until an election was held, when 
Thomas Finley was elected to the office, in 
which he remained until 1861, when A. J. 
Nimmo was elected, and the next term James 
Evans was elected, and the Governor refused 
as long as he could to issue Evans' certificate 
of election, because he deemed him disloyal. 
Evans' disloyalty, it seems, Cfjnsisted in be- 
ing the Democratic editor of the county at 
one time, and a strong and vigorous writer; 
he had lashed without mercy the Belknaps, 
Babcocks and Dorseys of the other party, 
and therefore he was disloyal. Nimmo was 
elected Clerk again in 1869, and at the end 
of his term William Hanners was elected, and 
continued in the office until 1883, when the 
present incumbent, J. H. Hilboldt,wa8 elected. 

The circumstances attending the sudden 
disappearance of Marshall were somewhat 
singular. He was a man of pleasant address 
and great piety, a leading member of the 
church and Sunday school His morals were 
considered most exemplary. In some way or 
other he came into the possession of a coun- 
terfeit $20 bill. He had passed it once and 
it was returned to him. He had offered it 
to a Jonesboro merchant, who judged it to 
be counterfeit. He then passed it upon a 
preacher, who was a book agent, who sent it 
to ^Baltimore, when it was returned and 
marked "counterfeit," and again it confront- 
ed Marshall. By this time the grand jury 
was about to assemble, and Marshall fled. 

The following references to all the laws 
passed by the Illinois Legislature in refer- 
ence to Union County, may prove a valuable 
aid to any one desirous of looking up or in 
vestigating these subjects: 



County to share in proceeds of Gallatin 
Salines; L. Februaiy 16, 1831, 14; borrow 
money to complete county buildings; L. Feb- 
ruary 1, 1840, 75; A. Deardoff, acts as Coun- 
ty Clerk, legalized: L. February 26, 1845, 
295; management of school fund; Id. March 
3, 321 ; taxes of 1844 remitted in part, ac- 
count of loss by high water; Id. Februaiy 21, 
353; borrow $1,000 to repair coui't house; 
L. February 11, 1853, 234; borrow $2,500, 
to build jail; Pr. L.March 4, 1854, 167; bor- 
row $5,000 to build courthouse; Pr. L. Janu- 
ary 19, 1857, 25; Sheriff discharged from 
liability for failing to collect land tax; L. 
March 27, 1819, 300; Isaac Worley indicted 
for murder, change of venue; Pr. Laws, Jan- 
uary 24, 1827, 17; road, America to Vanda- 
lia, re-location, L. January 7, 1831. 141; ex- 
amination of said road between Jonesboro 
and county line south, Pr. L. December 20, 
1832-33, 199; same, Jonesboro to Snider's Fer- 
ry, a State road, L. February 13, 1835, 122; 
same, Manville's Mills to Saratoga, and Jones- 
boro to Fredouia, locations, L. February 20, 
1843, 252; Champion Anderson, $28.17, for 
selling bank property, L. February 7, 1835, 
78. School lands, Town 12 — 3, sale of; L. De- 
cember 19, 1835-36, 13Q. Saratoga changed 
to Western Saratoga, L. January 21, 1843,297. 
Hygean Spring at West Saratoga chartered; L. 
March 1, 1845, 113. County charcoal I'oad 
chartered, Pr. L. February 28, 1847, 160. An- 
drew Deardoff, $32.67 repaid; Id. February 
24, 181; Union Turnpike Co., chartered, Pr. 
L. February 12, 1849, 104; Jonesboro Plank 
Road chartered, Pr. L. February 13, 1851, 
112; Amended, Pr. L. February 14, 1855, 
467; County Agricultural and Mechanical 
Society chartered, Id. January 30, 110; Va- 
cated, Pr. L. February 9, 1857, 310; Rand 
J. Stacy convicted of larceny, restored; L. 
February 24, 1859, 18; Joseph G. Webb re- 
stored to citizenship; 2 Pr. L. February 21, 



318 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



1867, 812; J. H. McElhaney robbed of 
$9,363.68; time of payment extended, L. 
March 13, 1869, 337; D. Gow released from 
judgment, on recognizance, Id. April 7, 
340. 

The total vote of Union County, 1880, was 
3,418. In 1882 it was 3,160. Hancock's 
majority in the county for President, 1880, 



was 1,120. The total vote of the precincts 
were: Anna, 577; Cobden, 473; Alto Pass, 
415; Dongola, 523; Jonesboro, 575; Mill 
Creek, 109; Rich, 218; Stokes, 181; Preston, 
42; Union, 152; Saratoga, 201; Meisen- 
heimer, 112. In the election for Congress- 
man, 1882, Murphy (D.) 1954; Thomas (R.) 
993; McCartney (Pro.) 86. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 



THE PRESS— FINLEY AND EVANS, AND THE FIRST NEWSPAPER-' UNION COUNTY DEMOCRAT"— 

JOHN ORE AR — THE " RECORD," " HERALD" AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS — HOW THE 

TELEGRAPH PRODUCED DROUGHT — DR. S. S. CON DEN — PRESENT 

PUBLISHERS AND THEIR ABLE PAPERS — ETC. 



"A cheil's amang ye, takin' notes." 

— Burns. 

THOI^IAS J. FINLEY and John Evans 
were the first men that had the nerve to 
start a newspaper here away back in 1849— 
the Gazette. It was a modest, seven-column, 
long primer, Democratic weekly paper. 
Finley was the writer, it seems, and Evans 
the practical business man. When first is- 
sued, it attracted some attention, and those 
who could read at all looked through its well- 
filled columns with a curious interest, and a 
good many people had the enterprise to be- 
come regular subscribers, but the most of 
them, we are told, made their subscriptions 
very short-timed, as they had no idea it 
could possibly live more than a few weeks, 
and they only cared to get the first few copies 
in the expectation of laying them away, and 
after awhile they would have a curiosity to 
show the people of what a rash attempt 
Evans and Finley had made to establish a 
paper in these wild woods. But these print- 
ers did the most of their own work, and lived 
along in the most economical way and kept 



the paper alive — generally getting it out 
each week, but when their paper failed to 
come, or the 4th of July came in their way, 
or Christmas, and sometimes the circus and 
such distracting accidents and incidents, 
would cause them to miss a week or two, but 
they would rally and make ample amends by 
flooding their readers with resounding edi- 
torials and anecdotes and quips and italic 
lines and exclamation points, that would put 
to shame the most hardened grumbler. The 
county paper of thirty years ago and now 
differed in many respects. There was very 
little of this modern, personal journalism 
that is so common now. Papers then were 
more given to long, dry, moralizing and 
heavy editorials on metaphysical subjects and 
were quite indififerent, compared with papers 
of to-day, in the enterprise for news, or scan- 
dalous sensations. The appetites of readers 
then had not been whetted for much of the 
prurient stuff' that is now wired all over the 
world for the delectation of newspaper read- 
ers. Publishing papers thirty-five j'ears ago 
Was not so nearly a distinct profession as it 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



319 



is now. There were fewer readers, but they 
were more select, and their tastes were not 
vitiated as now. They studied over the 
market columns, knowing they were from a 
week to a month old, with great interest and 
satisfaction, never dreaming that many of 
them would live to see the day that the 
markets and weather reports would some time 
be reported instantaneously to every village 
and hamlet in the land. In those days 
people waited to see what George D. 
Prentice had to say about a subject 
before they wotild come to a conclusion. 
There were two or three editors in the country 
whose names were a great power in the land, 
and their printed opinions in their papers 
were a potent influence upon the country. 
And scholars were content to wait the coming 
of the Quarterly Reviews for their mental 
pabulum on the questions of the day. The 
country editor was an institution but little, if 
any, below, in importance, wisdom, and all 
knowledge upon all subjects, the village 
schoolmaster. He was in the eyes of many 
a master of the " black art, " a magician. In 
the highest work of mankind — the building 
up of civilization — the press is the one su- 
preme factor. The post office, bookstore 
and news stand are places where you may go 
and see, and measure the ratio of intelligence 
among the people. Men without thought 
say, ''look at our schoolhouses and churches!" 
While back and beyond and more potent than 
all these combined are the books, periodicals 
and papers, of which the post office and 
book store tell the story. A country print- 
ing office is a dingy place, yet in the hands 
of a mai_ of an intellect, u.nderstanding his 
responsible place in life, it is the home and 
resting-place for genius, where it pauses and 
plumes its feathers for those inspired and 
dazzling flights that attract and awe mankind. 
When the late war closed, there had been 



completed a revolution in the newspaper pub- 
lishing business. The telegraph had been 
utilized, and men had been taught to look 
for news, and not for the opinions and fine 
writings of certain individuals. The business 
of writing for the paper had to adjust it- 
self to the change of circumstances, and 
short, crisp editorials, and the news of the 
hour, and, instead of the long "thundering 
leader," came the wit, that largely consisted 
of slang and bad spelling. The metropol- 
itan press, through the telegraph, and the 
perfected Hoe press, began to absorb from the 
country, first, its talent among writers, and 
then to monopolize the business itself, until 
the country paper found no other avenue to 
walk in except the purely local news, 
gossip, and chit-chat of its immediate lo- 
cality. The result has been the deteriora- 
tion of quality of the writing in the countiy 
press, and improvement in the mechanical 
department, and somewhat better edited 
Sheriif sales and tax lists. 

The solitary county newspaper antedates 
the railroad in this county. Finley & Evans 
started their paper in 1849, and the railroad 
came in 1855. Can you imagine what Fin- 
ley's rather sharp and trenchant pen was 
doing for his subscribers when it had failed 
to scrape off such ignorance as is told of 
in another part of this work, where they 
were going to tear down the telegraph wires 
because they concluded it took all the elec- 
tricity — thunder and lightning — out of the 
county, and thus produced the great drought 
of that year ? The people were suffering for 
rain, the crops were burning up, and the 
sufferers called upon the learned pundits 
and the preachers and big farmers, and they 
issued their " Pope's bull against the comet," 
and in the firm conviction that God had ab- 
dicated, mostly in their favor, they were 
going to regulate the heat, the cold and the 



320 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



weather. Such egotism and ignorance was 
never excusable, and it was the high duty of 
the local paper to have exposed it, and held 
it up to the ridicule and contempt of all 
men. There was no paper published here 
in the early forties, and probably not two 
subscribers to any papers or paper published 
in the world, when F. H. Kroh's father 
startled the county by bringing and exhibit- 
ing the first matches ever seen here. He 
had been away off traveling, and had been 
shown some matches, and he secured a few, 
and arrived in Jonesboro with them. He 
told the astounded people what he had, and 
they wanted to see him "strike fire" with 
them. He told them to assemble in the pub- 
lic square after dark and they should see 
the marvelous exhibition. The word passed 
around, and the population gathered en 
masse. Kroh ascended a platform where all 
could see, and scraped the match, and the 
bright blaze flashed upon the astounded 
people. They looked on in awe and terror. 
The luminous mark made where the match 
was scraped was felt and smelled and exam- 
ined by all who could get near enough, and 
it was pronounced, sure enough, lightning. 
Mr. Kroh only burned two or three — they 
were too precious to waste, and the few were 
enough. The sulphurous smell, the luminous 
track it left on the wall, the bright and hot 
blaze of the sulphm- and wood, all combined, 
warned the people of the angry artillery of 
heaven, the lurid lightnings of the storm, 
and the thrice heated and flaming lake of 
fire and brimstone that was so often preached 
in ragged thunderbolts at their heads from 
the Sunday pulpits. And the public made 
up their minds that matches were a danger- 
ous, forbidden and unholy invention, and 
there must not be any more brought to Jones- 
boro, either to sell or for the purposes of 
exhibition. They could see nothing but evil 



in thus mixing the lightning and brimstone, 
and Kroh was admonished in his future 
travels to bring no more matches with him, 
but to leave them to the ungodly and the 
ignorant. 

Finley & Evans found but a meager sup- 
port for their paper, and often it was close 
work to find ready ways and means to pay 
for the little white paper they used. They 
sold the paper to H. E. Hempstead, who ran 
it with varying success for about two years. 
In 1855, it was purchased by John Grear, 
who successfully conducted it for two year^, 
when it passed, by pm'chase, into the hands 
of Gov. Dougherty. The Governor was just 
then deeply engaged in politics, and the 
paper had carefully trimmed its sails in ac- 
cord with the Democratic party, under the 
leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, and when 
Douglas and Lincoln were arranging the pre- 
liminaries for the contest for Senator, the 
paper had begun to skirmish for Douglas, 
when Dougherty, who was in Springfield, 
telegraphed to change its course — oppose 
Douglas, and support the Breckinridge, or 
" Danite" party. After the election, Dough- 
erty sold it to a joint stock company. Then 
McKinney had the control of it for some 
time, and just about the time of the break- 
ing-out of the late war, it again passed into 
the hands and control of Evans. In 1861, 
Evans went to the war, and before going, 
sold out to William Jones, who was making 
it a very successful paper, when a military 
donkey named Newbold suppressed it be- 
cause it was a Democratic paper. It had 
probably had the effrontery to say it loved 
the Constitution of the United States, or that 
George Washington was a great and pure 
patriot, and this masterly idiot, screeching 
for free speech, suppressed it for treason. 
The commanding officer of the district re- 
voked this order of suppression as soon as it 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



321 



came to his knowledge, yet the proprietors 
did not receive it, and for six months the 
office was closed. It was then purchased and 
revived by Joel G. Morgan, who made qaite 
a successful paper of it. He continued in 
possession until 1864, when he was offered 
the position of editor of the Cairo Democrat, 
and he sold to J. D. Ferryman, and removed 
to Cairo. Morgan was well calculated to run 
a successful country paper, and was out of 
his element on a pretentious daily as was 
then the Cairo Democrat. J. D. Ferryman 
ran it a short time, and finding it unsatisfac- 
tory in its returns, left the office and returned 
to Bond County, his home. 

During much of the time of the real life of 
the paper — of its days of ability and useful- 
ness — it was under the editorial management 
of Dr. Sidney S. Canden, the strongest and 
ablest writer the county has yet had. He 
wrote and published a great deal of matter 
during twenty years of his life here. His 
facile pen ran smoothly over the paper, and, 
when he cared, he could invest his subject 
in strong and glowing language, but he was 
negligent about dates, and this often made 
some of his best contributions almost worth- 
less. His death, about six years ago, was 
most sad and terrible. He had been called 
to see a patient, and on his way returning he 
was stricken dead by paralysis, and his body 
was not found until the next day, when it 
had been mutilated. 

The Union County Democrat was started 
in Jonesboro as a Douglas paper or organ, 
intended to counteract the baneful influence 
of the Gazette under Dougherty, which was 
an ti -Douglas. The Democrat was started in 
the early part of 1858, by a joint-stock com- 
pany. The principal stockholders were L. 
P. Wilcox, W. A. Hacker, Mr. Toler, and 
other leading Democrats. After the election 
of 1858, the office was moved to Anna. The 



editor of the Democrat was A. H. Marschalk. 

Union County Record.— This was a six- 
column paper, weekly. Was started in Anna 
in July, 1860, by W^ H. Mitchell, and was 
strongly Republican in politics. This was 
quite a vigorous party paper, and was edited 
and managed with considerable ability. Mr. 
Mitchell, when he ceased publishing a paper 
in Anna, left Illinois, and is now engaged in 
publishing a paper in Minnesota. 

Union County Herald. — This was venture 
No. 3 in the way of newspaper enterprises in 
Anna. This was independent in politics, 
and its proprietor, Mr. Rich, had been paid 
a bonus of $500 to establish his paper. Mr. 
Rich soon sold to Dr. J. J. Underwood, and 
after a short and precarious existence it died. 
The office was sold and moved to Cairo. 

The Anna Union was started in 1874 by 
A. J. Alden, a Republican organ in politics. 
Mr. Alden lived in Cairo, and came to Anna, 
and when his paper was sold to J. J. Penny 
he returned to Cairo. Mr. Fenny published 
the paper about six months, when it died. 

The Advertiser was published by Dough- 
erty & Galigher, and was established in 
1870 — a seven-column weekly. Republican 
paper. After being published about two 
years, it was taken to Jonesboro, where in a 
short time it stopped publication, and the 
office was sold to John H. Barton, and taken 
to Carterville, in W^illiamson County, and 
then in a short time sold to Mr. Feck, and is 
now used in publishing Peck's Southern 
Illinoisan. 

Farmer and Fruit- Gi'ower. — Mr. H. C. 
Bouton's agricultural paper was started in 
1877 as a modest little experiment, issued 
semi-monthly A four-column, eight-page 
paper, devoted exclusively to the agricultural 
and horticultural interests of Union County 
and Southern Illinois. In the fall of 1877, 
it was changed into a five- column quarto, 



323 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



and was then published as a weekly, and 
then again the demands npon its columns 
were such that its size was increased to a 
six-column quarto, its present size. The 
Farmer and Fruit- Grower was, as stated, an 
experiment in the beginning, and rather a 
daring venture, but its success has been 
great, and the good influence it has exerted 
upon this entire southern part of Illinois has 
been wide and lasting. Mr. H. C. Bouton 
has built up the best printing oflSce that was 
ever in the county, and the circulation of his 
paper has reached the unparalleled figures of 
over 1,200 copies. The farmers and fruit- 
growers all over the country deeply appreciate 
this as their friend and organ, and all over 
the State it is already well known and highly 
valued. The horticultural department is in 
editorial charge of Dr. J. H. Sanborn, 
who renders tis department valuable to the 
horicuitural and fruit-growing interest. 

Union County News, by Hale, Wilson & 
Co., was first issued in 1880, a five-column 
quarto semi-weekly paper. Republican in 
politics. Messrs. Hale, Wilson & Co. contin- 
ued the publication for about two years. It was 
soon changed from a semi-weekly into a five- 
column folio weekly. It was then sold to the 
Advocate Printing Company, and changed in- 
to the Southern Illinois Advocate, A. J. Nis- 
bet as editor. He was succeeded by D. W. Mil- 
ler, andMillerby W. C. Ussery. In February, 
1882, it was leased for one year to J. H. 
Gropengieser, who continued its publication 
until his lease expired, when the ofiice was 
closed. Mr. Gropengieser left Illinois and 
is now publishing a paper in Montana. When 
Mr. Gropengieser retired, Willard Rushing 
rented the office and ran it as a job office for 
a short time. 

The Talk was started by Mr. W. W. Faris, 
of Clinton, he having purchased the princi- 



pal stock shares of the News Company, and 
during the spring of this year (1883) started 
in the old Advocate office his present spicy 
and vigorous weekly paper, that bids fair to 
rapidly win its way to general favor. The 
Talk is independent in politics, but full of 
life in all that goes to make a good paper, and 
we predict a long and successful career for 
it. Mr. Faris is a much better writer than is 
generally to be found on weekly papers, and 
we deem the people of Anna most fortunate 
in securing his location among them. 

The Missionary Sentinel, by Rev. S. P. 
Myers, was published first in 1879, in the in- 
terests of the German Reformed Church. 
After being published about one year, it was 
moved to Dayton, Ohio, and its publication 
continued. 

A parting word of the newspaper men of 
Union County, with whom we have spent the 
last few months so pleasantly, and we con- 
clude this chapter. The publishers of Union 
County includes the names of H. C. Bou- 
ton, of the Farmer and Fruit Grower ; John 
Gropengieser, of the Advocate, recently gone 
to Montana, and Mr. W. W. Faris, of The Talk 
— all clever and affable gentleman, of whom 
the good people of Union County need not 
be ashamed, and not one of whom will ever 
disgrace or dishonor the responsible positions 
they fill, and tj all and each of whom we 
return sincere thanks for many and valuable 
favors and divers and oft-repeated courtesies 
and great kindness. And when the next cen- 
tennial history of Union County comes to be 
written, and one and all of us are silent dust, 
we beg the historian not to forget to perpet- 
uate the name and fame and good deeds of 
these gentlemen, and of the Fruit Grotver 
and The Talk we most heartily wish, esto per- 
petua. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



323 



OHAPTEE, IX 



MILITARY HISTORY— "WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS "—AND SOME OF THE GENUINE ARTICLE- 
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS — MEXICAN WAR — OUR LATE CIVIL STRIFE— UNION 
COUNTY'S HONORABLE PART IN IT — THE ONE HUNDRED AND NINTH 
REGIMENT— ITS VINDICATION IN HISTORY— ETC., ETC. 



"Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of warl" 

— Shakf.sfeare . 

WHEN the learned Hardshell announced 
that of the "hull lot on 'em," he 
reckoned that St. Paul was the "most know- 
ensomest man," but St. Peter was the " most 
fightensomest man " of all the Scripter men" 
of that good old time, he was only giving 
expression to that world-wide love of bullies, 
prize-fights and bloody battles that is a lin- 
gering relic of man's barbarism. The men 
of the new West have more fight in them 
than their brethren of the older States; not 
that they are more quarrelsome by nature, 
but once when war is declared they are first 
in the field, and in private life, especially 
the pioneers, when deliberately insulted, they 
generally are found always with an armful 
of fights on hand. In the early day here in 
Illinois, there were more fist fights, especially 
when the general election day was in August, 
than we have now, even with the great increase 
of population. The time was when every 
county had its "bully," and he always 
whipped every one who stood up against him, 
until finally he would force a fight upon some 
peaceable non-combatant and get thrashed 
soundly, and then he would be branded 
Ichabod, and anybody could bluff and abuse 
him at pleasure and with impunity. Then some 
other fighting hero would step to the front, 
generally to wind up with the same ignoble 
ending. These old-time bullies were great 



men in their day, they received the adula- 
tions of the ignorant and coarse and vulgar 
people. The bully of the early day has 
passed away and the prize-fighter of civiliza- 
tion has taken his place. And curious as it 
may be, the rough has as an institution quit- 
ted the'West and taken up his abode in the 
old States of the East. There is not a gen- 
uine " fighter for fun " in Southern Illinois, 
where at one time a fair per cent of the 
grown men at times indulged in this godless 
pastime, and esthetic Boston — the land of 
baked beans — is the proud possessor of the 
greatest bruiser in the world, and he is ad- 
mired and worshiped to the extent that his 
presence in a theater will draw the biggest 
paying houses of any living man. The nat- 
ural bull-dog in man clings to his nature 
with a desperate tenacity. When driven 
from one place of lodgment, it appears in 
another, and when extirpated in one form it 
bobs up serenely in some other. In times pf 
peace, this disposition to fight is not a public 
good, nor can it be reckoned among the valu- 
able accomplishments that adorn the race; 
yet, in times of war, the hour of justifiable 
war, when the invader is driven away or 
killed, the belligerent propensities of men 
may be made to subserve the noblest purposes, 
and fight the battles of humanity and win 
victories that make true heroes who deserve 
to live in immortal epic. 

Many of the earliest settlers here were from 



334 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



North Carolina, and some of them were of 
that noble stock who constituted the heroic 
band of 

Revolutionary Soldiers. — Of these we find 
the names of Elias Moiers, Joseph C. Ed- 
wards, Christopher Lyerle, Jacob Frick, 
Peter Meisenheimer and Travers Morris, and 
there were no doubt others whose names we 
could not find on the records, who stood 
shoulder to shoulder in these trying times, 
with their brothers in arms, and fought, bled 
and suffered and toiled so hard, so patiently 
and so well in that immortal battle for the 
independence and all the blessings of a free 
government we now enjoy. At the April 
term, 1828, of the Union County Circuit 
Court, Elias Moiers filed a petition in open 
court, making application for a pension as a 
Kevolutionary soldier. The afiidavit states 
he is wholly disabled by reason of his serv- 
ice in the army, and then says: "I did not 
apply for a pension sooner because I have 
heretofore been able to make my own liv- 
ing," but now, "being wholly unable to so 
do," he appeals to hie country for a small as- 
sistance, etc. In his affidavit, he enumer- 
ates his earthly possessions as "one horse, 
$60; saddle, bridle and saddle bags, $15. 
Total, $75. He says he volunteered for a 
term of ten months in the State of South 
Carolina, under Capt. Williams in the regi- 
ment of Col. William Polk, and that he 
served out his term and was discharged on 
the "High Hills of Sautee, S. C." The af- 
fidavit states that he has no other property in 
person, trust or otherwise, and is " wholly 
disabled by age and disease." The applica- 
tion is long and is very minute in details, 
and to this there are the corroborating affi- 
davits of two witnesses and a physician. A 
transcript of this long record was made by 
the County Clerk, Winstead Davie, and 
transmitted to the Secretary of War. 



At April term, 1829, of the Union County 
Circuit Court, Joseph C. Edwards, aged 
seventy-nine years, filed his sworn declaration 
and application for a pension as a soldier in 
the Revolution. He enlisted, he says, for 
nine months in the year 1776, in Virginia, 
in Col. Adam Slencar's regiment, served 
out his term and was discharged at Martins- 
burg, Va. His property is scheduled as one 
bed, 13; one ax, $2; one plow, $3; one hoe, 
$1. Total, $9. 

In 1831, Christopher Lyerle, a soldier of 
the Revolution, filed his declaration for a 
pension. His age then was sixty-seven years. 
He enlisted 1780 in North Carolina, in Capt. 
Lytle's company, Col. McRea's regiment, and 
served eighteen months, his full term of en- 
listment. His property was three horses, 
$100; cattle, $12; hogs, $10; household fur- 
niture, $20; farming utensils, $5; wagon, 
$40; one- quarter section of land, $150. 
Total, $337. 

At the October term of the Circuit Court, 
1832, Jacob Frick and Peter Meisenheimer 
made application for pension for services in 
the Revolutionary war. And at the April 
term, 1833, Travers Moiers made his similar 
application. 

The Black Hawk War. — This was the most 
important of the Indian wars in the West. 
During Gov. Edwards' administration, as ex- 
ecutive of the State, the Indians upon the 
Northwestern frontier began to be very 
troublesome. The different tribes not only 
commenced a warfare among themselves, in 
regard to their respective boundaries, but 
they extended their hostilities to the white 
settlements. A treaty of peace, in which the 
whites acted more as mediators than as a 
party, had been signed at Prairie du Chien, 
on the 19th day of August, 1825, by the terms 
of which the boundaries between the Winne- 
bagoes and Sioux, Chippewas, Sauks, Foxes 



HISTORY OF UNI0:N COUNTY. 



325 



and other tribes were defined, but it failed'to 
keep them quiet. Their depredations and 
murders continued frequent, and in the sum- 
mer of 1827, their conduct, particularly that 
of the Winnebagoes, became very alarming. 
A combination was formed by the different 
tribes of Indians under Red Bird, a chief of 
the Sioux, to kill or drive off all the whites 
above Rock River. They commenced opera- 
tions by a massacre, on the 24th of July, 1827, 
of two white men near Px-airie du Chien, and 
on the 30th of the same month they attacked 
two keel boats on their way to Fort Snelling, 
killing two of the crew and wounding four 
others. Gov. Edwards sent an expedition 
against them which punished the sav- 
ages and captui'ed Chiefs Red Bird and Black 
Hawk. The tribe was apparently humbled, 
and a peace was declared, the Indians agree- 
ing to mov^e west of the Mississippi and give 
up the Rock River country to the whites. 
Bxit they did not go, and in 1830 there was 
another outbreak. Black Hawk had assumed 
command of the combined tribes, and he 
ordered the whites to leave the country, and 
in April, 1831, he re-crossed the river at the 
head of a force variously estimated at from 
three to five hundred braves of his own tribe, 
and two hundred allies of the Pottawato- 
mies and Kickapoos, to regain the possession, 
as he declared, of the ancient hunting 
grounds and the villages of his tribe. He 
commenced first to destroy the property of the 
whites and order them away. Gov. Reynolds 
was Governor when he learned of the state 
of affairs ; issued a call for volunteers (May 
27, 1831), and the whole northwestern part 
of the State at once resounded with the hasty 
preparations of war. No county south of 
St. Clair, nor east of Sangamon was included 
in the call, which was limited to seven hun- 
dred men, who were to report in fifteen days' 
time, mounted and equipped, at the place of 



rendezvous, which was fixed at Beardstown, 
on the Illinois River. More than twice the 
number called for responded, and the Gov- 
ernor concluded to accept the whole sixteen 
hundred men. June 15, 1831, they took up 
their march, and arrived at Rock River June 
25. There were six companies of regulars 
sent up from Jefferson Barracks, under com- 
mand of Gen. Gaines. This met the volun- 
teer forces on the Mississippi River, and the 
forces were combined under Gen. Gaines. 
But the wiley Black Hawk, when he found 
this force approaching him, deserted his vil- 
lage and re-crossed the river, and the soldiers 
took possession of the deserted village and 
burned it. Gov. Ford says: " Thus perished 
this ancient village, which had been the de- 
lightful home of 6,000 or 7,000 Indians, 
where generation after generation had been 
born, had died and been buried." Gen. 
Gaines sent word to Black Hawk to come in 
and treat for peace, and on June 30, 1831, 
Black Hawk met Gen. Gaines and Gov. Rey- 
nolds in full council, in which the Indians 
agreed that in future no Indian should cross 
to the east side of the Mississippi without 
permission. The troops were then disbanded. 
Thus ended without bloodshed the first cam- 
paign of the Black Hawk war. 

Notwithstanding the treaty, the trouble 
was not yet ended. In the spring of 1832, 
Black Hawk recrossed the Mississippi (April 
6) with 500 braves on horseback. When 
Gov. Reynolds heard of this, he called for 
1,000 volunteers from the central and south- 
ern portions of the State, to rendezvous at 
Beardstown, but this call was soon extended 
to the whole of the State. Eighteen hundred 
men met at Beardstown, and an election for 
field officers was held. Col. John Thomas 
was elected to the first regiment. Col. Jacob 
Fry to the second, Col. Abram B. DeWitt 
to the third regiment, Col. Samuel L. 



326 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



Thompson to the fourth. Maj. James D. 
Hemy was elected to command the Spy Bat- 
talion, and Maj. Thomas James to command 
the " Odd " Battalion, and there were eight 
companies not attached to any regiment. 
Gov. Reynolds accompanied the expedition, 
and he placed Brig. Gren. Whiteside in im- 
mediate command. 

On the 29th of April, 1832, the army left 
camp near Beardstown and marched to the 
Mississippi River, near where is the present 
town of Oquawka. From here they marched 
up Rock River, where they were all received 
into the United States service, and 400 regu- 
lars and an armament of cannon was joined 
to the force. 

In May, 1832, was fought the battle of 
" Stillman's Run," in which the Indians 
were victorious against Gen. Stillman's de- 
tachment. 

During the night after this battle, Gov. 
Reynolds made a requisition for 2,000 addi- 
tional men, to be in readiness for future 
operations, while the utmost consternation 
spread throughout the State and nation. 

Gen. Scott, with 1,000 troops, was immedi- 
ately ordered to the Northwest, to superin- 
tend the future operations of the campaign. 
Black Hawk and his forces retreated up the 
river. On the 6th of June, Black Hawk at- 
tacked Apple River Fort with 150 warriors. 
There were only twenty-five men in the fort. 
The fort held out bravely, and was finally 
relieved by the army marching to the relief 
of the besieged, when Black Hawk retreated 
and his forces scattered. Our army was put 
in pursuit, and on the 2d of August overtook 
the Indians on the banks of the Mississippi 
as they were preparing to cross, and the bat- 
tle of Bad Axe was fought and the Indians 
completely vanquished. Their loss was over 
150 killed, besides a large number drowned 
and many more wounded. A large number 



of women and children lost their lives, owing 
to the fact that it was impossible to distin- 
guish th^ra from the men. The American 
loss was seventeen. Black Hawk was soon 
after captured and sent to Fortress Monroe. 
In September, 1832, a treaty was made 
which ended the Indian troubles in this 
State. 

Union County had one full independent 
company that had been called into service 
and mustered July 13, 1832, and mustered 
for discharge August 10, 1832. The men 
were enrolled June 19, 1832. The following 
is a complete roster of the company : Cap- 
tain. B. B. Craig; First Lieutenant, Will- 
iam Craig; Second Lieutenant, John Newton; 
Sergeants, Samuel Moland, Solomon David, 
Hezekiah Hodges, John Rendleman; Cor- 
porals, Joel Barker, Adam Cauble, Martin 
Uri, Jeremiah Irvine; Privates, Aaron Bar- 
ringer, John Barringer, John Corgan, Mathew 
Cheser, Daniel Ellis, AVilliam Farmer, 
Thomas Farmer, Moses Fisher, Abraham 
Goodin, William G. Gavin, Hiram Grammer, 
William Grammer, Lot W. Hancock, Daniel 
P. Hill, Jackson Hunsaker, Peter Lense, 
John Langley, Moses Lively, A. W. Lingle, 
John Murphy, P. W. McCall, John Morris, 
Nimrod Mcintosh, John A. Mackintosh, 
Solomon Miller, Thomas McElhany, James 
Morgan, Washington McLean, Elijah Mo- 
Graw, John Penrod, John Parmer, John 
Quillman, W. H. Rumsey, Elijah Shepherd, 
Daniel Salmons, Preston I. Staten, John 
Vincent, and Jessee Wright. 

I'he Mexican War. — This war made Illi- 
nois the first military State in the Union. 

On the 11th day of May, 1846, Congress 
passed an act declaring that " By the act of 
the Republic of Mexico, a state of war exists 
between that Government and the United 
States." At the same time that body made an 
appropriation of 110,000,000 to carry on the 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



327 



war, and authorized the President to accept 
50,000 volunteers. 

Illinois was called on for three regiments 
of infantry or riflemen. Gov. Ford issued 
a call for thirty full companies of volunteers, 
of a maximum of eighty men, to serve for 
twelve months, and with the privilege of elect- 
ing their own company and regimental officers 
The response to the call was enthusiastic and 
overwhelming. Within ten days thirty-five 
full companies had organized and reported. 
By the time the place of rendezvous had been 
selected, there had been seventy-five com- 
panies recruited, each furious to go, of which 
the Governor was compelled to select thirty, 
and leave the remainder to stay at home. 
Three regiments were formed: First, Col. 
John J. Hardin; Second, Col. W. H. Bissell, 
and the third, Col. Ferris Foreman. These 
three regiments were mustered into the 
service at Alton, on the 2d of July, 1846. 

Hon. E. D. Baker prevailed on the Govern- 
ment to accept another regiment, and on the 
18th of July the Fourth Regiment was mus- 
tered into the service. 

Union County furnished Company F of the 
Second Regiment, Capt. John S. Hacker. 
The Second Regiment was transported down 
the Mississippi River and across the Gulf, 
and went iuto quarters at Camp Erwin, near 
the old town of Victoria, on Wenloop River, 
march ing from thence to San Antonio, Tex. , 
and there joined Gen. Wool's army of the 
center. They left that city on the 26th day 
of September. On the 24th of October, they 
entered Santa Rosa. Thence they marched 
to Monclova, thence to Parras, where the 
original idea of the march — -the capture of 
Chihuahua — was abandoned. 

They remained here twelve days, and 
started to intercept, if possible, Santa Anna's 
attack on Monterey, and on the 2 let of De- 
cember occupied Agua Neuva, thus complet- 



ing in six weeks' march about 1,000 miles, 
which had been barren of results. On the 
22d day of February, 1847, was begun the 
battle of Buena Vista, which ended on the 
23d, and resulted in a complete victory for 
the American forces, and in which the Second 
Regiment, Company F included, covered 
itself with glory. 

The roll of Company F, when mustered * 
out of the service, was as follows: Captain, 
John S. Hacker; First Lieutenant, Sidney S. 
Condon; Second Lieutenants, John Roberts 
and Joseph Masten; Third Lieutenant, Al- 
phonso Grammer; Sergeants, John C. Hun 
saker, Alex J. Nimmo, Abram Hargrave 
and John Grammer; Corporals, Adam Creese, 
Wright C. Pender, Henderson Brown, Abram 
Cover; IVTusicians, Jacob Greer and George 
H. Lemley; Privates. Talbot Brown, John 
Bevins, John Brown, Charles Barringer, John 
Z. Burgess, Peter Cripps, Peter H. Casper, 
Elijah Coffman, Scipio A. B. Davie, John 
Davie, Daniel Dougherty, Simeon Fisher, 
Charles A. Finley, James Fike, Jesse Gray, 
Franklin Geargus, James Grammer, Henry 
Flaugh, William N. Hamby, William Henry, 
Samuel Hess, Benjamin F. Hay ward, Henry C. 
Hacker, Fielding A. Jones, Silas Jones, John 
Kerr, Frederick King, Adam Lingle, Phillip 
Lewis, John Lingle, Daniel W. Lyerle, An- 
drew J. Lemons, Daniel Lingle, Chesterfield 
Langley, John Menees, Harrison McCoy, 
Jefferson Menees, William Miller, John H. 
Millikin, John Moland, Samuel Martin, 
Washington L. Mcintosh, John McGinnis, 
James M. Phelan, Samuel Parker, Gax-rett 
Resink, John W. Regan, Franklin Sprey, 
Amalphus W. Simonds, James A. Springs, 
.A.zel Thornton, Le Roy Thomas, James I. 
Toler, Thomas F. Thurman, Reuben Vick 
and James Walker. 

Charles A. Finley was on detached service 
in Quartermaster's Department December 30. 



328 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



Henry C. Hacker was Hospital Steward from 
July 25 to October 5, and from December 17 
to January 20. Pless Martin was discharged 
on Surgeon's certificate, at Saltillo, March 21. 

Died: Felix G. Anderson, in hospital, 
Saltillo, April 9; Alexander Davie, San An- 
tonia, Tex., date not known; Joseph Ledger- 
wood, in hospital at Saltillo, March 21. 

The company was discharged June 18, 
1847, at Comargo, Mexico. 

The Civil War. — The history of all civil war 
—the butchery of brother by brother — should 
be written upon the water, or at least the horrid 
record should be made only by that kindly 
angel who recorded Uncle Toby's oath, and 
when the entry was made ' ' dropped a tear up- 
on it that blotted it out forever." A family 
quarrel is about the meanest thing a human 
being can engage in, and there are few con- 
ceivable sights more pitiful or disgusting 
than to hear one member of a family boast- 
ing that he had whipped his little brother, 
sister, father or mother. To any well-reg- 
ulated mind, it is inconceivable how such deg- 
radation can come and root out every elevating 
impulse, and all essence of self-respect, as to 
glory in a family light or butchery. A victory 
in a civil war may be a good thing, but a 
dire necessity, but it is in fact but as the chas- 
tisement inflicted by a kind father upon his 
wayward child. He whips his child, in- 
flicts the lash with a bleeding heart, and do 
you suppose that a natiiral father could 
cherish and boast over his victoi'y, and the 
cries of pain that he extorted from his poor 
erring child? A nation is but a large family 
of brothers and sisters, and that individual 
is badly made up who has trained his heart 
to maltreat without an irresistible cause any 
portion of that great family. War at best is 
bad and brutalizing in its very essence, and 
enough of bloody victories will in the end 
bring only woe and desolation to the victors. 



There is biit one kind of war that can be ex- 
cused, or that is not a high crime against 
God, and that is a war to repel invasion — to 
drive out the armed enemy that invades a 
country for conquest and to destroy the 
liberties of the people. Here are the fi!elds 
of glory to the ambitious soldier. Here 
alone may be gained laurels that may be ever 
kept green, and the battle-scarred veterans 
merit the love and rt-spect of the 8:)ns and 
daughters of those to whom they gave liberty 
and national glory. 

The action of the people of Union County 
in the late war is a demonstration that the 
early people here and their descendants, had 
kept brightly burning the fires of patriotism 
upon the altars of their country, and were 
ever ready upon the call of their country, to 
respond to that call and take their position 
in the "red gaps of war'' and peril their 
lives with unequal ed heroism in the defense 
of the integrity of their country. The 
patriotic bravery and warlike spirit 
is manifested by the simple statement 
that Union County, under all the heavy calls 
of the Government for 'men, was one of the 
few counties in Illinois that was never sub- 
jected to the draft in order to fill up their 
quota, she always having in the field more 
than her share of men, and this was true after 
furnishing substitutes for the busy brokers 
all the way from Massachusetts to Chicago, 
and nearly every other regiment from Illinois, 
and even some for Missouri and Kentucky reg- 
iments. From the Adjutant General's Reports, 
it is impossible to find any account of those 
men from the county who went as squads ov as 
individuals and volunteers in companies and 
regiments that were credited to other locali- 
ties. From the best information we can 
gather, there is no doubt that Union County, 
from first to last, gave 3.000 men to the 
armv; Illinois altogether 256,000 men. 



HISTORY OF U2^I0N COUNTY 



329 



There are 102 counties in the State, an av- 
erage of 2, 500 men to the county, and but 
few counties but that a portion of these were 
forced into the service by the draft. These 
figures are a severe rebuke to the slanders 
upon Southern Illinois from those sections 
that raked the country for negro substitutes 
to fill their ranks and the demands of the 
" lottery of death," the draft wheel. Locali- 
ties that were so loud with their patriotism, 
so loyal in their votes, and so brave in sup- 
plying sutlers, cotton speculators and camp 
followers, and who so tenderly cared for the 
war widows, and made millionaires of them- 
selves, and with their mouths put down the 
rebellion, and waxed fat and great at the 
public crib, and volunteered in the Home 
Guards, and hunted down their unarmed 
neighbors and arrested them, because they 
were "off" in their politics, and sent them 
to the bastile or mobbed and killed them, and 
by their cant and hypocrisy made the name 
" loyalty " a by- word and a synonym of all 
that is detestable in human nature. 

The records show that Union County, in 
addition to the full One Hundred and 
Ninth Regiment, furnished Capt. Mack's 
Company, as well as a number of 
men to the Eighteenth Regiment, one 
company, Capt. Reese, to the Thirty-first 
Regiment. A portion of the Sixtieth Regi- 
ment was enlisted here. This regiment ren- 
dezvoused in this county, and was filled out 
with Union County men. The county also 
furnished a large number of men to the Sixth 
Cavalry, in addition to Capt. Warren Stew- 
art's Company. 

As it is not intended to give a history of 
the war of the rebellion, we would be con- 
tent to close this chapter just here, but the 
truth requires that some errors be corrected 
in reference to the One Hundred and Ninth 
Regiment, and wrongs heaped upon some of 



the best people of the county to some extent 
righted, and the truth of history vindicated. 
The following military orders that are neces- 
sary to an understanding of the matter are 
given in full: 

Headquarters Seventeenth Army Corps, | 
Lake Providence, La., April 1, 1863. ' \ 
GfUfral Orders, No. 8. 
I.— Commanding Officers will immediately send 
in to these headquarters the names of all officers 
who, in their judgment, should be required to sub- 
mit to an examination before the " Board of Exam- 
iners," convened in pursuance of Special Orders, 
No. 53, from these headquarters. 

H. — Field officers will be examined in all that is 
required of company officers; Evolutions of the line; 
elementsof military engineering; the circumstances 
under which the use of field artillery is proper, and 
all other requirements necessary to the capable and 
efficient officer. 

HI. — Company officers will be examined; 
1st, On the manner of instructing recruits. 
2d, In the schools of the soldier, company and bat- 
talion. 
3rd, In the duties of Officers of the Day and Officers 
of the Guard, and particularly in the proper con- 
duct and necessary requirements of sentinels. 
4th, On the reports and returns required under ex- 
isting orders and regulations. 
5th, In all matters deemed by the board necessary 
and proper. 
IV. — Commanding officers are reminded that they 
are responsible for the efficiency of their subordi- 
nates, and they will accordingly be held to a strict 
compliance with the requirements of this order. 
By order of 

Maj. Gen. McPherson. 

This order bears date, it will be noticed, of 
April 1, 1863. From this there emanated 
the following order only ten days after the 
above, as follows: 

Special Orders, No. 6. 
Lake Providence, La., April 10, 1863. 
The officers of the One Hundred and Ninth Regi- 
ment Illinois Volunteers, except those of Company 
K, having been reported as utterly incompetent to 
perform the duties of their respective commissions, 
and evincing no disposition to improve themselves, 
are hereby discharged from the service of the United 
States. This is the regiment which was within a 
few miles of Holly Springs, when attacked by the 



330 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



rebels, failed to march to the support of their com- 
rades, but drew in their pickets, aud stood ready to 
surrender. 

From nine companies, 287 men deserted, princi- 
pally at Memphis, and but one from Company K. 

To render the men efficient, it is necessary to 
transfer them to a disciplined regiment, and they are 
accordingly transferred to the Eleventh Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers, Company K, to make the Tenth 
Company. 

It then proceeds to enumerate by name 
every officer then belonging to the regiment, 
except those of Company K. 

The following letter from the War Depart- 
ment in Washington, dated February 2, 1882, 
among other things, says : 

" April 9, 1863 (the day before the above 
order), Col. T. E. G. Ransom, commanding 
Second Brigade, Sixth Division, Seventeenth 
Army Corps, reported that the One Hundred 
and Ninth Illinois Volunteers was assigned 
to his brigade March 30, 1863, that he had 
inspected the regiment thoroughly, as well 
as reviewed and drilled it; that he found the 
men physically good, but the officers all in- 
competent to command, except the officers of 
Company K; that 237 deserters had been 
dropped from the rolls, most of whom de- 
serted at Memphis; that he did not believe 
that the regiment could be made efficient 
under the organization it then had, and there- 
fore recommended that the officers (except 
those of Company K) be mustered out of serv- 
ice, and that the remaining officers and men 
be transfeiTed to some Illinois regiment. 
The recommendation was 'heartily approved' 
by Maj. Gen. J. B. McPherson, Commanding 
Department Tennessee." 

Upon the report and recommendation re- 
ferred to, Brig. Gen. L. Thomas, Adjt. Gen. 
U. S. Army, who was at Lake Providence, 
La., the station of the One Hundred and 
Ninth Illinois Volunteers, issued Special 
Order No. 6, ' 'discharging the officers of the 
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment." 



A careful reading of the above orders and 
the letter of explanation given of them by 
the letter from the War Department are not 
difficvilt of explanation. Col. Ransom was in 
a position where he was ambitious to succeed 
to the position of a Brigadier General. His 
own regiment was decimated, and it is pos- 
sible he may have coveted these men of the 
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment, and he 
could only get them by first getting rid of 
the officers. Then again, if they were re- 
organizing the army and consolidating or 
merging the small l^giments into the larger 
ones, then this would necessitate,* perhaps, 
the mustering out of those officers who were 
so unfortunate as to belong to these regi- 
ments of few men. Thus, Col. Ransom may 
have been deeply interested in the very mat- 
ter he was appointed to investigate and report 
upon. If he was so interested, he was in a 
position where he was judge, jury and exe- 
cutioner, as well as party to the suit. 

With these facts borne in mind, the out- 
rage of the stab at the good name of these 
men — a stab, bear in mind, in the dark, is 
the better understood. They were sentenced 
without trial, without conviction, and above 
all, without the slightest opportunity to de- 
fend themselves. They were not called be- 
fore a court of investigation, nor were they 
reviewed, nor were they inspected in their 
drill. The order dismissing them says they 
were incompetent, and some of the men 
had deserted. In short, without trial, 
without opportunity \o vindicate themselves, 
and without justice or cause, they were dis- 
missed the service. On the face of the order 
of dismissal, its injustice is as apparent. It 
makes the unsubstantiated charge that the 
officers were not competent because some had 
deserted. Is there a child in the world who 
cannot see the gross and infamous injustice 
of this star chamber conviction? Is it a 





22,^.^ x^^^^^,^^ 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



333 



crime for which officers are cashiered when 
the men desert? Was such a punishment 
ever before inflicted in any army ? Are men 
to be cruelly assassinated in their good name 
and fame by a court in secret sitting, and 
that is deeply interested in convicting the ac- 
cused, and dismissed the service because cer- 
tain privates deserted? Is the officer pun- 
ished for the men's crimes ? This order is 
fiill of falsehood and slander. There were 
officers in the One Hundred and Ninth Kegi- 
ment, particularly Col. Nimmo, Capts. Hun- 
saker, S. P. McClure, Hugh Andrews and all 
the Lieutenants, whose courage, patriotism 
and competency were of the highest order. 
And either one of whom as a soldier had no 
superior in the service. It is possible there 
were officers in the One Hundred and Ninth 
Eegiment unworthy the uniform they wore, 
and who should have been dismissed the serv- 
ice, but even they were entitled to a fair 
trial and examination, and dismissed only 
when found guilty. 

In the name of the Government was an un- 
holy attempt made to blur the fair fame of 
some of the best men in the army, and 
blacken thereby the good name of Union 
County. It was a cruel act, and all mankind 
should resent it with scorn and indignation. 

To re-read "Special Order No. 6" is to see 
that it is the work of some man trying to 



hunt for a pretext or excuse for some unjusti- 
fiable act he is about to do. It is evident 
the writer of that order was racking his brain 
to find a charge against men against whom 
nothing could be proven. It says : * ' This 
is the regiment which was within a few miles 
of Holly Springs when attacked by the rebels, 
failed to march to the support of their com- 
rades, but drew in their pickets and stood 
ready to surrender." That is not only a 
slander but a cunning and dastardly false- 
hood. The charge had been circulated in 
camp, and the matter had been investigated 
by a court of inquiry and the regiment exon- 
erated. And yet the "order " re-asserts and 
puts upon record, not as the finding of a 
court, not as an established and proven fact, 
but as an assertion merely, and in the face 
of the truth that a court of examination — the 
only one ever granted the One Hundred and 
Ninth Regiment, and that investigated, and 
had before it no other question but the one 
named above, had pronounced it false. 

These are the facts as they are furnished 
by the records and the very officers who thus 
attempted to heap disgrace upon, and did 
grossly wrong the officers and men of as brave 
a regiment as ever kept ste- to the music of 
the Union or upheld the flag amid the din 
and smoke of battle. 

19 




334 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



CHAPTER X.* 



AGRICULTURE— SIMILARITY OF UNIOxN COUNTY TO THE BLUE GRASS REGION OF KENTUCKY- 
ADAPTABILITY TO STOCK-RAISING — FAIR ASSOCIATIONS— HORTICULTURE — ITS RISE, 
WONDERFUL PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION— VARIETIES OF FRUIT 
AND THEIR CULTURE — THE FRUIT GARDEN OF THE WEST- 
VEGETABLES— SHIPMENTS— STATISTICS. ETC., ETC. 



"For as ye sow ye shall reap, etc." 

AGRICULTURE is the great source of 
our prosperity, and is a subject in 
which all are interested, from the day- laborer 
to the banker and railroad king. It has been 
said that gold is the lever that moves the 
world, and it may be very truly added that 
agriculture is the power that moves gold. 
We speak of our moneyed kings, our railroad 
kings and political kings, but these dwindle 
into insignificance when compared to that 
monarch — the farmer. All important in- 
terests, all thriving industries, and all trades 
and professions receive their means of sup- 
port, either directly or indirectly, from this 
noblest of sciences — agriculture. " In the 
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," was 
spoken to the erring pair in the garden of 
Eden, and with them the tilling of the ground 
for subsistence began, and must continue to 
the end of time. It is the foundation of 
support of the human family; none other has 
been devised. With all of our inventive 
genius, we must ever draw our sustenance 
from Mother Earth. 

"Where is the dust that has not been alive? 
The spade, the plow, disturb our ancestors; 
From human mold we reap our daily bread." 

The progress of agriculture in Union 
County has been much slower than in other 
and less favored regions of the country. 

*By W. H. Perrin. 



With a soil, timber, drainage and climate 
that cannot be excelled, it is capable of sus- 
taining a greater agricultural people to the 
area she possesses than any other county in 
the State. Nature has strewn here beauties 
rich and inexhaustible, and when cu.ltivated, 
as it will be some day, to its full capacity, 
there are more dollars per acre in Union 
County than in any other spot of like extent, 
almost in the world. The Blue Grass Region 
of Kentucky is celebrated and world-famed 
for its fine stock — horses, cattle and sheep. 
Examine that locality, critically and scientif- 
ically, and then turn to this county, and the 
two sections will be found very similar in all 
their physical features. The cheapest lands 
here, the roughest hills, when the heavy 
timber is cut oflf and the brush and under- 
growth cleared away, and the land pu^" under 
pasturage, will spontaneously set a splendid 
growth of blue gi'ass — nature thus making 
the finest pastures known to the stock-raiser. 
It has been satisfactorily demonstrated to 
the intelligent mind that blue grass, spring- 
ing from a limestone soil, possesses nourish- 
ing and fattening powers over any other veg- 
etable growth. A writer, from a scientific 
standpoint, speaks thus of the Blue Grass 
Jlegion of Kentucky: " The vigor and lux- 
uriance of the vegetable growth, and the 
superior development of the animals of the 
farm, are now acknowledged by the world at 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



335 



large. Even man himself seems to take on 
a higher development in this favored region. 
The native Kentiickian has, from early times, 
been noted for his size and strength, and this 
traditional opinion was fully sustained, dur- 
ing the late oivi] war, in the actual measure- 
ment of United States volunteers of differ- 
ent nationalities. From the report of the 
Sanitary CommiKsion, compiled by B. A. 
Gould, it is shown that the men from Kentucky 
and Tennessee, of whom 50,333 were meas- 
ured, exceeded those from other States of 
the Union, as well as those from Canada and 
the British Provinces, and from England, 
Scotland, Ireland, Germany and Scandina- 
via." This is but a proof of the nourishing 
qualities of blue grass, and particularly where 
it grows upon a limestone soil, such as pre- 
dominates in this county. Central Kentucky, 
as a stock-raising district, has not its equal 
in the world. Its horses, mules, cattle, hogs 
and sheep are produced in their most perfect 
form and development- The South and West 
look to its great annual sales of short-horns 
for their supplies of breeding animals, and 
the East to its annual horse sales for their 
supplies of fast trotters and fleet-footed 
coursers. Many of its best bloods have found 
the way across the ocean, with a view to im- 
proving the studs and herds of Great Britain. 
All that this section wants and requires to 
make it the peer of the famous Blue Grass 
Region of Kentucky is energy and enterprise 
on the part of the farmers. They have the 
soil, climate, market facilities and, indeed, 
everything to bring them into successful com- 
petion with that celebrated locality. 

Especially is Union County adapted to 
shgep -raising. It requires no very astute in- 
dividual to see the advantages it possesses 
over those far-western regions, for the im- 
mense profits in sheep are plain and self- 
evident; indeed, so plain that " even a fool 



need not err therein." Where there are cents 
in the far West in sheep, there are dollars in 
them in Union County, and that, too, after 
the farmer pays for the dogs annually killed 
by — vicious sheep. With the climate, location 
and markets tliat are best adapted for sheep- 
raising, that is to raise the best sheep for the 
least money, and then to enjoy the best 
markets and cheapest^' transportation, any 
school -boy can figure out the colossal fort- 
unes for all who understandingly engage in 
the business. The secret of certain success 
is in finding the best location for the business. 
The nearest of those Western sheep ranches 
are 500 miles from market, and some of them 
1,500 miles or more. Then in addition to 
the expense of transporting their wool, which 
would make wool here worth five cents per 
pound more, there is little or no accessible 
markets for their mutton — one of the chief 
sources of profit in sheep -raising. 

Slow and backward as Union County has 
been in agriculture, yet the science is not the 
least interesting, nor the least important of 
its history. The pioneers who commenced 
tilling the soil here, fifty or sixty years ago, 
with a few rude implements of husbandry, 
laid the foundation of the present system 
of agriculture. They were mostly po<>r and 
compelled to labor for a support, and it re- 
quired brave hearts, strong arms, and willing 
hands — just such as they possessed — to con- 
quer the difficulties which confronted them 
at every step. But they went to work in 
earnest, and faltered not, and their labors 
have brought the county to what it is to-day. 
It does not equal the perfect system of 
agriculture in the central and northern part 
of the State, but in this section it is unsur- 
passed in its agricultural prosperity. 

The tools and implements with which the 
pioneer farmers had to work were few in 
number and of a poor kind. TJie plow was 



336 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



the old "bar-share," wooden mold-board and 
long beam and handles. Generally, they 
were of a size between the one and two -horse 
plows, and had to be used in both capacities. 
The hoes and axes were clumsy things and 
were forged and finished by the ordinary 
blacksmith. There was some compensation, 
however, for all the disadvantages under 
which the pioneer labored. The virgin soil 
was fruitful and yielded bountiful crops, even 
under poor preparation and cultivation. The 
first little crop consisted of a " patch " of 
corn, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, and in some 
cases a few other " eatables. ' ' If possible, a 
" patch " of flax was grown, from the lint of 
which the family clothing for summer was 
manufactured. This brought into active op- 
eration the spinning-wheel and loom, then 
useful implements, and which had been 
brought to the country by the pioneers, and 
constituted the most important articles of 
housekeeping, as all the women and girls 
could spin and weave. 

In the early history of the county, the 
pioneers were favored by the mildness of the 
climate, the abundance of wild game, and 
the fertility of the land when brought into 
cultivation. Step by step the hardy settlers 
made their inroads into the heavy forests, 
enlarged their farms and increased their 
flocks and herds, until they found a surplus 
beyond their own wants and the wants of 
of their families. There was then but little 
outlet for the products of the farms, and far 
less of the spirit of speculation than at the 
present day. The result was, that the farm- 
er's had plenty at home; they handled less 
money, it is true, but they lived easier. 
They did not recklessly plunge into debt; 
they lived more at home with their families, 
and wore far happier. There was, too, much 
more sociability, neighborly feeling and good 
cheer generally among them. There was 



not such a rush after great wealth, and hence 
fewer failures among farmers. The accumu- 
lated wealth of fai'm products directed atten- 
tion to the question of markets, which had 
hitherto been confined to a kind of neighbor- 
hood trafiic among the farmers themselves. 
Bxit now the navigation of the Ohio and 
Mississippi Rivers was looked to as a means 
of reaching better markets, and New Orleans 
became the great center of trade from this 
region. It was the principal market until 
the completion of the Illinois Central Rail- 
way opened the best marts of trade, and 
brought them, by means of competition, 
within the very limits of the county. No 
section has better market facilities; markets 
that can never be overstocked are so easily 
accessible that transportation is merely nom- 
inal. With Cincinnati, Chicago, St Louis 
and New Orleans, at their very doors, what 
more could any community desire, in the way 
of market facilities? With both railroads 
and the great rivers, to take her surplus 
products to all the world. Union County is 
certainly a most favored region for the 
farmer. 

The following statistics compiled from the 
last report of the State Board of Agriculture, 
show something of the material resources of 
Union County, and will doubtless be of in- 
terest to our readers: 

Number of acres in corn 19,941 

"Number of bushels produced 698,256 

Number of acres in winter wlieat 26,081 

Number of bushels produced 287,999 

Number of acres in spring wheat 102 

Number of bushels produced ... 643 

Number of acres in oats 4,056 

Number of bushels produced 51,927 

Number of acres in timothy 1,825 

Number of tons of hay produced 1,214 

Number of acres in clover 4,046 

Number of tons produced 5,265 

Number of acres in apple orchards 3,800 

Number of bushels produced 149,591 

Number of acres in peach orchards 543 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



337 



Number of bushels produced 48,690 

Number of acres in pear orchards 142 

Number of bushels produced 3,904 

Number of acres in other fruits and berries, 2,573 

Value of the same $56,040 

Number of acres in pasturage 4,164 

Number of acres in woodland 31,865 

Number of acres of uncultivated lands 3,216 

No. of acres of city and town real estate area 475 

Number of acres not reported elsewhere 10,180 

Total number of acres reported for county. . 114,045 

Number of fat sheep sold 661 

Number of sheep killed by do^s 182 

Value of sheep killed by dogs $342 

Number of pounds of wool shorn from sheep, 9,643 

Dairy products — Number of cows kept 1,899 

Number of pounds of butter sold 42,169 

Number of gallons of cream sold 1,100 

Number of gallons of milk sold 5,125 

Number of fat cattle sold 951 

Number of fat hogs sold 2,721 

Number of hogs and pigs died of cholera. .. 2,187 

Fairs. — Union County is well supi 'lied with 
agricultural fairs and associations, it having 
two excellent organizations of this kind. The 
oldest of these is the Union County Agricult- 
ural and Mechanical Society, which dates 
back to 1855. It was organized and held 
under the auspices of the citizens of Jones- 
boro and the county, and the veteran Jacob 
Hunsaker was its first Prsident. The next 
year, it was re- organized under a special act 
of the Legislature, and Col. A. J. Nimmo was 
the first President under the new organization. 
Some years later, it was again re-organized 
under the present State law governing agri 
cultural societies, and is now known as the 
Union County Agricultural Board. The pres- 
ent officers areas follows: L. J. Hess, Presi- 
dent; C. Barringer, Treasurer; T". C. Cozby, 
Secretary, and Harrison Anderson, Fred Oli- 
ver, Henry P. Stout, and M. J. Lockman, 
Directors. 

The association owns ten acres of ground, 
which were purchased at $50 per aci*e, and is 
well improved. The buildings and sheds 
are extensive and in good repair, and the 



grounds are well shaded and watered. The 
society is flourishing, and additional im- 
provements are being made every year. 

The fair held at Anna was organized un- 
der special act of the Legislature December 
13, 1879, and is entitled "The Southern 
Illinois Fair Association." The first set of 
officers were elected in August, 1880, and 
were as follows: M. V. Ussery, President; 
C. M. Willard, Treasm-er, and E. K Jinnette, 
Secretary. The officers elected in 1881 were: 
Jacob Hileman, President; M. V. Ussery, 
Treasurer, and C. E. Kirkpatrick, Secretary. 
In 1882, the same officers were re-elected, 
and are now in office. The association is 
under the supervision of twenty-one direct- 
ors elected for three years, seven of whom are 
elected each year. They bought some fifty - 
four acres of land, for which $80 per acre 
was paid. Since its purchase, a portion has 
been sold to the city of Anna, for $3,000, 
for a cemetery. The fair grounds are well 
improved, and have buildings and other im- 
provements, worth perhaps $5,000. The 
fair grounds at Jonesboro belong to Union 
County; those at Anna are a private enter- 
prise, and owned by a joint stock company. 

Horticulture.^ — Sacred history furnishes 
evidence of the early devotion of mankind to 
the pursuit of horticulture; and both sacred 
and profane history abound with proof that 
the condition of horticulture in any country 
or community may safely be taken as a crite- 
rion from which to judge the stage of ad- 
vancement of that people in civilization and 
refinement. The greater the progress any 
nation makes in the arts and sciences, the 
nearer to perfection will be the ways and 
means employed in producing those crops 
upon which the nation subsists. The Romans 
not only had quite a catalogue of cultivated 
fruits, but well understood the art of pruning 

*By Dr. J. H. Sanborn. 



338 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



and grafting. During the decline of that 
empire and the long night of the Dark Ages, 
horticulture, in common with the other arts 
and sciences, suffered by neglect, and fell 
only to rise with greater glory at a later a ad 
better period. France, Belgium and En- 
gland have since taken the lead in horticult- 
lu-al matters, and from these countries we 
have derived the majority of our improved 
fruits, bulbs and flowering plants, and many 
of our choicest vegetables. But our own 
country is fast advancing to the front, con- 
taining, as it does, all the plants of the most 
genial climes, on soil owned and occupied by 
a people constantly striving, with the aid of 
mind and muscle, to wrest from Dame 
Nature those productions which a diligent 
and enlightened system of labor can alone 
obtain, and of which the results are already 
most satisfactory. Almost the only success- 
ful fruits now cultivated in this county and 
the West are those of American origin. Our 
natural advantages for gardening are so 
great that many are satisfied with the prod- 
ucts of but little, often too little, labor and 
skill, frequently depriving themselves of 
much which more liberal culture would give. 
Horticulture forms the aesthetic part of 
rural life; it is the poetry of agriculture. It 
generates and fosters a deeper love for the 
beautiful, and a better appreciation of and 
regard for those things which satisfy the 
longings of our higher nature. It com 
bines in one harmonious whole the practical 
and the ornamental. No man can watch the 
development of a plant from the time it first 
lifts itself above the ground, tiny and weak, 
until it is crowned with rich blossoms or fair 
fruit, and see how the rains and dews nourish 
it, and the sunlight gives it beauty and 
strength, without becoming better and more 
humble for the lessons he thus learns. No 
man can thus watch the mysterious processes 



of nature and her loving, tender care over 
every plant that springs from her bosom, and 
not be led from nature up to nature's God. 

As our country advanced with giant strides 
toward the front rank of enlightened nations, 
horticulture kept pace with its onward march 
until, from the few sour and imperfect fruits 
of our forefathers' time we can now revel in 
the delights of hundreds of varieties most 
luscious to the taste and most pleasing to the 
eye. With the Westward progress of the 
settler and civilization, there came the desire 
for more and better fruit, for the seedlings 
planted by those who first made their homes 
in this country failed to satisfy the craving 
demands of those who came later. Sprouts 
and suckers taken from varieties highly 
prized around the old homes in other States, 
were brought here and planted near the log 
cabin. These in their turn, though answer- 
ing a good purpose, were found unsatis- 
factory, and gradually the European fruits 
were introduced with a hope that they might 
find a climate and soil adapted to their cult- 
ure and growth. The science of horticult- 
ure had, however, at this time, received but 
little attention or study, and the adaptation 
of particular soils to fruits, had not been de- 
termined in this country with any degree of 
exactness. Horticultural journals were un- 
known in the West, and horticultural societies 
and associations, for promoting the cultiva- 
tion of fruit and the diffusion of knowledge 
pertaining to this science, had no inception. 
The only knowledge obtainable was that by 
individual experience. 

For the fifty years composing the first half 
of the present century, from 1800 to 1850, 
the history of horticulture in this county is 
the history of a struggle abounding in dis- 
appointments, and unassisted by any of the 
more modern aids furnished by the press and 
local or State associations. Even as late as 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



339 



the advent of the raih-oad in the year 1854, 
the only considerable orchards existing were 
those of seedling trees, grown in the effort to 
reproduce the fruit most in favor in the lo- 
cality whence the owner had emigrated; and 
as some of the settlers came from the South 
Atlantic States, the seedling stocks were not 
all sufficiently hardy nor suited to this sec- 
tion of country. There were some small or- 
chards of grafted, or nursery trees, which had 
been brought by team long distances, often 
fifty miles and more. 

With the commencement of the running 
of regular trains on the Illinois Central Rail- 
road, a new era in horticulture burst upon 
Southern Illinois, which more directly affect- 
ed that portion embraced in Union County. 
It had already been discovered that such va- 
rieties of fruits as succeeded here at all, grew 
with wonderful vigor and attained a surpris- 
ing degree of excellence. Through the facil- 
ities afforded by the railroad, large quanti- 
ties of grafted and budded trees were now 
obtained, forest lands were cleared of the 
encumbering timber and converted into or- 
chards; extensive portiotis of the fields 
hitherto devoted to the production of wheat 
and corn, fields that had once helped to make 
this country famous as the land of plenty and 
entitle it to be called Egypt, were now set 
with fruit trees, and in a few years, instead 
of a harvest of grain, there were annually 
gathered untold quantities of rarest fruits, 
fragrant with the richest odors, and rivaling 
in magnificence of color, size and flavor all 
that the most vivid imagination can paint of 
the fruits of Paradise. 

The first shipment of peaches from this 
county to the Northern markets were so ex- 
traordinarily superior that they attracted 
great attention, both to the fruit and to the 
section where they were produced. As a 
natural consequence, the hill lands of Union 



County rapidly rose in public estimation and 
price. Men of experience and men of inex- 
perience flocked to the new Eden and en- 
gaged in the raising of fruit. Horticultural 
societies were now formed, the mails brought 
newspapers and agricultural periodicals, and 
the greatest interest was manifested in the 
successful prosecution of the new entei'prise. 
A spirit of inquiry was evolved, experiments 
were instituted, and under such a system of 
observation and investigation there originated 
new and better methods of culture and im- 
proved varieties of fruit. The small and 
poor seedling apples and peaches were quickly 
superseded by the improved kinds, and every 
department of fruit culture made rapid prog- 
ress. The remnants of several of those fa- 
mous orchards of twenty years ago are still to 
be found, and isolated specimen trees yet 
stand, tottering monuments of their former 
glory. 

Though the beginning of fruit culture in 
this county may be said to date from the 
beginning of the present century, it received 
but little attention till the completion of 
the Illinois Central Railroad gave it its great 
impetus. From that time it became a lead- 
ing industry with the people, especially 
those living near the depots, and gave char- 
acter to the whole population and section of 
country. In 1858, the shipments of fruit 
to Chicago first began to assume importance. 
The earliest fruit-grower on the Coben range 
was George Snyder, who came there in 1857, 
and embarked at once in the business. He 
had great faith in the future of Southern 
Illinois and in this section as a fruit-growing 
region, and he showed his faith by his works. 
Purchasing land about one mile north of the 
station, he cleared off the heavy timber and 
planted out fruit trees, apple, pear and peach, 
and continued to plant till now he has ex 
tensive orchards that are not only a source of 



340 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



considerable income, but an object of just 
pride and satisfaction to the owner. The 
next, perhaps, to engage in this new business 
and one of the most prominent growers and 
shippers at that early stage of the enterprise, 
was Allen Bainbridge, who lived on the Bell 
hill, near South Pass, and from 1850 to 1860, 
by his enthusiasm on the subject of fruit- 
growing, his experience and his knowledge 
of the capabilities of the soil and fitness of 
the climate, enlisted many others in this 
branch of horticulture. 

About the year 1858, E. N. Clark and G. 
H. Baker came to South Pass and engaged 
in fruit-growing. These gentlemen, by their 
skill and enterprise, did much to develop the 
business and increase its importance. From 
1855 to 1860, the shipments consisted almost 
entirely of seedling fruit. Benjamin Vancil 
had meantime started a nursery not far from 
the village, which now began to supply fruit 
trees of improved varieties. He also planted 
large orchards of the best fruits, and for 
years was known as a leading horticulturist 
in this county. Later still, James Bell, A. M. 
Lawver, J. A. Carpenter & Co. and others had 
nurseries, more or less extensive, which aided 
in supplying the demand for grafted trees. 

The years 1860 to 1865 witnessed a large 
influx of people who at once became earnest 
and enthusiastic fruit-growers. The whole 
fruit-growing interest had, up to this time, 
centered around the station and village 
known as South Pass, but thenceforth called 
Cobden. Lands hitherto of little woi-th now 
rapidly rose in value. Farmers in other 
parts of the county began to give more atten- 
tion to the raising of fruit. Orchards in- 
creased in number and extent as if by magic, 
all over the county, and in 1866 the volume 
of fruit exported by railroad from Union 
County had reached such enormous dimen- 
sions as to necessitate the running of a daily 



special train to carry it, the very freight on 
which alone amounted in that year to over 
$75,000. From that year to the present 
time, the fruit crops have annually deman- 
ded the continuance of this daily fruit 
train. 

Among all the fruits grown in this lati- 
tude, the apple ranks first in importance. 
Its many uses, its healthfulness, its long 
keeping qualities and its ease of production, 
all serve to make it the favorite fruit, in town 
and on the farm. No farm is complete with- 
out its apple orchard, and it will be safe to 
say that no such incomplete farm exists in 
Union County. The total area given to this 
fruit amounts to about 3,800 acres. The 
early varieties commence to ripen in July. 
These are sent off in one- third b^ishel boxes, 
and command good prices. The Astraehan, 
Red June, Early Harvest and Benoni are the 
profitable kinds. Summer and fall varieties, 
of which the most popular kinds are Maiden 
Blush and Buckingham, are shipped North 
in barrels, and often pay the grower very 
handsomely. The Baldwin, Spy and some 
other winter varieties ripen here in the fall, 
and will not keep into winter. The favorite 
varieties, Ben Davis, Rome Beauty, Smith's 
Cider, Winesap, Jonathan, Janet, Rhenish 
May aud Romanite, succeed admirably. 

The apple is the most satisfying of all 
fruits, and, like bread and meat, never cIoy& 
the stomach. Since the days of Adam and 
Eve, it has been cultivated and held in high 
esteem, and is likely to continue in favor and 
maintain its supremacy so long as the world 
repeats its seasons. But the apple in this 
county has probably seen its best days and 
reached its highest glory. The small fruits 
have been found to yield, so far, greater re- 
turns, and the profit from apple orchards is 
so inferior in comparison with the same area 
in berries taking one year with another, that 



HISTORY OF UN'ION COUNTY. 



341 



relatively few trees have been planted for 
several years past. 

Though our location and climate are pecu- 
liarly favorable to this fru.it, as well as to all 
other fruits of this zone, and our rich clay 
soil most admirably adapted to its growth, 
some skill and good judgment are requisite 
in planting and managing an orchard. The 
warm sun of our winter renders a northern 
slope preferable for this arid most other fruits, 
as the spring frosts are more to be dreaded 
than the extreme of the winter' s cold. On a 
northern slope the buds will survive a tem- 
perature of 25° below zero, and are seldom 
killed here. The apple is properly a fruit 
belonging to a cold climate and flourishing 
best in Northern latitudes. The more nearly 
the location of the orchard approaches in 
character that of the habitat of the fru.it, the 
more successful will be its conduct. Young 
orchards have here been uniformly remunera- 
tive. The White Winter Pearmain, ten to fif- 
teen years ago, produced abundant crops of 
excellent fruit. Now, the old trees have be- 
come scabby, and the fruit knotty and un- 
marketable. As soon as this stage occurs, it 
generally pays better to cut down the trees 
and plant a new orchard elsewhere. The 
land needs rest and manure. Of the apple- 
growers, there might scores be named whose 
orchards and their crops deserve honorable 
mention. James Bell's orchard, at Cobden, 
is kept in prime order, and produced last 
year 3,000 bushels of apples. C. D. Hol- 
combe, of Cobden, is a large shipper of this 
fruit. Jacob Hilemau and Hugh Andrews, 
of Anna, obtain large crops of remarkably 
fine Ben Davis apples. Caleb Miller, of 
Anna, in 1881, picked over 3,000 boxes of 
Red June apples fx'om about six acres of 
sparsely set and old trees. In 1881, there 
were shipped from this county 58, 993 bushels 
of apples. 



The apple, both tree and fruit, in the early 
history of fruit-growing in Union County, 
was quite free from disease. The forests 
furnished shelter to the orchards and also to 
innumerable birds, which destroyed the in- 
sects. The forests are now mostly gone and 
the insect-destroying birds are much less nu- 
merous, while the insects themselves have 
multiplied beyond conception or endurance, 
and fruit crops of any kind are only raised 
with the expenditure of much care and labor. 
The woolly aphis, the bark louse, the borer, 
canker worm, caterpillar, blight, codling moth, 
etc., are perennial troubles, to which the 
fruit-grower gradually gets accustomed, and 
which he can combat, but the semi-annual 
tree peddler is the greatest enemy to the horti- 
culturist, ensnaring him with wily tongue, 
and beguiling many fools to trade their hard- 
earned cash for his worthless trees. In view of 
all the disturbing influences, the future ex- 
tensive planting of apple orchards in this 
county is hardly warranted. What is desired 
is the introduction of more good winter va- 
rieties that can be kept through till the 
spring months. 

The pear is another popular fruit, greatly 
desired by all horticulturists, but very difii- 
cult to raise. The insect enemies are not so 
numerous as with other fruits, but the dread 
disease known as blight has kept the cultiva- 
tion of the pear in check from the earliest 
history of fruit culture in the West. Seed- 
ling trees, sprouts and nursery grown trees 
have been planted in this county year after 
year, from the time of the first settlers, but 
only a very small fraction of them now sur- 
vive, though the tree is naturally long-lived, 
seedling trees being known to attain the age 
of 200 years and more. Some of the improved 
varieties came quickly into bearing, while 
many others were so tardy as to discourage 
growers, and but few are now in the business. 



342 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



Near Cobden, Parker Earle has sixty acres 
iB pears. W. L. Parmley, E. D. Lawrence 
and James Bell also have excellent orchards 
of this fruit. At Anna, S. D. Casper and A. 
O. Finch are the principal pear gi'owers. 
The old Bell pear is still one of the most 
reliable. The Bartlett, Howell and Duch- 
esse d'Angoiileme are the most profitable. 
The Buerre d'Anjou, Sheldon and Mount 
Vernon are excellent varieties here. The 
best preventive of blight, found, after long 
trials and experiments with numberless so- 
called remedies, is a wash composed of four 
pounds of lime, two pounds of copperas, and 
one pound of glue dissolved in a bucketful 
of hot suds, and applied warm with a brush. 
This, also, is a most effectual meaus of pre- 
venting rabbits and mice from injuring the 
trees, if used often and thoroughly. Abovit 
300 acres are planted with this fruit in this 
county. 

The quince has been raised here in small 
quantities, and does well when the trees are 
on moist land, and kept well manured and 
cultivated. In such cases the crops are large 
and very profitable, outselling the pear in 
price at that time of the year. This fruit 
deserves more extended planting, where 
suitable soil and location can be found. The 
borer has damaged the trees some, and the 
blight has killed a few. There are now, per- 
haps, thirty acres in this county set with 
quince. The same wash recommended for 
the pear trees has been found highly bene- 
ficial to the quince and apple alpo. • 

The peach is a fruit well suited to this 
climate. The winters are very seldom cold 
enough to injure the trees; never cold enough 
to kill them, and only occasionally does the 
mercury sink sufiiciently low to affect the 
buds, which requires a temperature of twelve 
degrees below zero. This fruit has been of 
great value to Union County, and is likely 



to again assume its due importance. As a 
general thing, high elevations have been 
proved the best locations for peach orchards. 
About 1,000 acres are given to the peach, 
but froia 1860 to 1870 the peach acreage 
probably exceeded this area. It was in those 
years that this fruit made this section of 
country famous throughout the land as a 
wonderful fruit region. The northern people 
were astonished at the marvelous beauty and 
perfection of the peaches that reached them 
from the hills of Union County. 

During the palmy days of this fruit, the 
railroad stations were daily for hours sur- 
rounded with heavily laden teams waiting 
their turn to unload into the north-bound 
train. At the height of the season, from 
twenty-five to thirty-five carloads of peaches 
left Cobden daily for the Chicago and way 
markets. The growers quickly discovered 
that a single day's shipments poured into 
Chicago alone would break the market flat, 
and hence began the system of distributing 
the fruit to other cities all over the West. 
Under this plan, prices were maintained, and 
the orchards continued sources of great profit. 
In 1881, the total shipments of peaches from 
this county were 10,654 bushels, as reported 
to the Assessor. The true yield undoubtedly 
greatly exceeded this amount. 

But many difl&culties attended the success- 
ful manasrement of these orchards. The cur- 
culio, rot, root grub and spring frosts gradu- 
ally discouraged and drove from the field 
many of the growers, so that, although the 
fruit is still greatly esteemed, and in favor- 
able years pays well, the former big ship- 
ments exist only in memory, and the large 
orchards have dwindled to comparatively 
small ones. The growers, however, may yet 
be numbered by hundreds, among whom 
George Snyder, J. J. Keith, Jacob Eendle- 
man and H. C. Freeman may be mentioned 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



343 



as large growers and shippers. The first 
named gentleman has about 4,000 trees of 
tested and approved varieties, 3,000 of 
which are in bearing and will pay a hand- 
some dividend this }'ear (1883), being loaded 
down with fruit. The early and late varieties 
have paid well, the middle-season peaches only 
serving to glut the markets and lower prices. 
The late sorts have occasionally been sent 
South with remarkable profit, but the bulk 
of the crop has been distributed among the 
principal cities of the Northwest. 

The plum, worse than the peach, suifers 
by the carculio and rot, so that only the wild 
kinds can be raised here. Experiments 
with the other sorts have invariably resulted 
in failures. The Wild Goose and other sorts 
of the Chickasaw plum flourish well and 
yield fair crops nearly every year, the profits 
on which vary greatly. Only about fifty 
acres have been planted with this fruit, the 
immense crops of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis- 
sissippi and Arkansas plums forestalling the 
markets and checking any tendency to exten- 
sive planting in this county. The apricot 
and nectarine, from the same reasons, are not 
grown, except as specimen trees near the 
dwelling-house. 

Cherry trees were early planted in this 
county, and propagated by seeds and 
sprouts. Trials of the sweet varieties de- 
veloped the fact that they rarely succeed in 
ripening crops. The Early Richmond, May 
Duke and English Morello have seldom 
failed to yield good crops of cherries, which, 
when thoroughly ripe, are quite palatable, 
their 'acidity disappearing as they acquire 
color and size. The Yellow Spanish suc- 
ceeds the best of the sweet sorts. Knight's 
Early Black does well in suitable localities, 
and is worth trial. The Early Purple 
Guigne is grown to some extent with fair 
success. The principal cherry growers at 



Cobden are J. B. Coulter, "C. C. Pelton and 
E. N. Clark. In the whole county there may 
be, all told, about sixty acres devoted to this 
fruit. 

Man has a natural, inborn desire for fruit. 
His appetite continually craves it, and this 
inner craving prompts him to provide for its 
gratification by the planting of trees and 
vines. Thus Noah, as soon as the subsidence of 
the waters would permit, hunted for a suitable 
location and set out a vineyard. In case of 
another flood, experience would dictate the 
selection of some other site for a vineyard 
than Union County. The grape does not 
flourish remarkably here. The vines grow, 
but bear not. In other words, the grapes 
rot, wither and come to naught. Long and 
costly years of experiment have proved this. 
The soil is too rich and too fine a loam, or 
something else is wrong. 

During the sixth and seventh decades of 
this century, the prevailing mania for fruit- 
growing led to the planting of numerous 
small vineyards in this county, mostly of the 
Concord and Catawba varieties. The labor 
was all lost, and the vineyards, several of 
which were terraced and trellised at large 
cost, went rapidly to destruction. Great has 
been the grief among the fruit-growers, but 
time has satisfied them that there was and is no 
help for it, and they have retired in disgust 
from the struggle. During the last twenty-five 
years, scores of new grapes, native seedlings, 
crosses and hybrids, have been brought into 
notice, some of which have proved equal to 
the emergency. The Ives' Seedling has been 
proved to be a good grape for general culti- 
vation, rotting but little, ripening early, 
and bringing in a good average profit. The 
Delaware succeeds quite satisfactorily 
in most hands and localities. The Tele- 
graph rota but little. Norton's Virginia 
and Cynthiana never rot, and bear enormous 



344 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



crops. The Noah and Elvira are beautiful 
white grape?, bearing heavy crops entirely 
free from rot and mildew. The Perkins has 
borne large crops of sound grapes for the 
last ten years, and is a reliable grape. The 
Pearl and the Amber (Rommel's) are among 
the best grapes for this section, and do not 
rot. The Brighton and Prentiss have, so 
far, done well, and are grapes of great prom- 
ise. Grapes which otherwise rot must be 
protected by tying each cluster in a muslin 
bag when the grapes are not larger than 
small peas. 

Union County has had, at different times, 
many vineyards, but can now boast of 
none of any magnitude, and twenty acres 
will embrace all the room at present 
given for this purpose. There seems no 
reason why grape-crowing should not be 
profitable here, if those varieties are planted 
which do not rot. The season is long and 
the location favorable. That superior grape, 
the Goethe, which does not ripen well north 
of this latitude, here develops its best qual- 
ities. The Worden and all the hybrids are 
here magnificent grapes, but require to be 
protected in sacks while attaining their 
growth. 

It is in the production of the small fruits 
and early vegetables, notably berries and to- 
matoes, that Southern Illinois finds her pres- 
ent fame, and in this division of horticult- 
ure Union County takes the lead. The North 
may exceed in apples, pears and plums, and 
the South may boast of its peaches and 
oranges, but the great cities of the North- 
west look to Egypt for their main supplies of 
the early fruits and vegetables. The fra- 
grant strawberry is pre-eminently the most 
popular, profitable and widely cultivated of 
all the berries. Careful inquiry shows that 
there are fully 1,200 acres of this berry, old 
and new plantings, now under cultivation in 



this county, by about 300 growers. Since 
the earliest days of berry-culture here, this 
berry has been constantly growing in favor, 
and never was more popular than just at this 
time. Mr. B. F. Smith, formerly in the em- 
ploy of the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany, furnishes the following history of the 
early shipments of this berry. 

" I very well remember the first package 
shipped from that country to the Chicago 
market. It was a small box, containing 
about three gallons of small berries, probably 
Early Scarlets. I carried them into the 
baggage car. It was in May, 1860. They 
were grown at a little station twenty miles 
north of Cairo. In the years 1861 and 1862, 
some parties from the East bogan berry-grow- 
ing at Anna and Cobden, thirty-six and forty- 
two miles north of Cairo. About this time 
the Wilson's Albany seedling was brought to 
notice in the West. By the years 1863 and 
1864, the small fruit business began to at- 
tract the attention of Southern Illinoisans, 
and desirable fruit lands, near Cobden and 
Anna, sold for high prices, and the farmer 
who had two or three acres of strawberries 
was the lion of the day. In those days men 
made from $800 to $1,000 per acre on their 
strawberries. 

" The growth of the berry business so in- 
creased that by 1864-65 we had to attach 
from two to three cars to each afternoon pas- 
senger train. By the spring of 1867, the 
strawberries raised in Southern Illinois de- 
manded a fast fruit train, which was put on 
the road, starting from Anna. Thus the trade 
had grown in seven years from three gallons 
to a train load. In the berry season of 1879, 
from fifteen to twenty carloads were the daily 
shipments from Southern Illinois to Chicago 
and other points in the North." 

From the outset, Cobden has been the 
heart-center of the fruit interests, and " Cob- 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



345 



den fruit " has become a general appellation 
abroad for all that goes from this county, the 
shipments from that station comprising two- 
thirds of the county's exports. Fruit-grow- 
ing, however, is acquiring increased impor- 
tance in the other portions of this county and 
in the counties north and south of this. In 
1880, Cobden alone shipped 113 car loads of 
strawberries, and in 1881 sent off 116 car 
loads, or about 50,000 cases of twenty-four 
quarts each, besides large quantities sent by 
express in odd lots. The total strawberry 
shipments from the whole county the same 
year were 67,182 cases, or 1,612,368 quarts. 
The net receipts from these berries by the 
growers will average $1,000 a car load, thus 
showing Cobden's income from this one crop 
to be over $100,000. As a matter of record, 
a few names of the principal growers are 
given: At Cobden, W. F. Lamer, Willis 
Lamer, E. N. Clark, G. W. James, A. H. 
Chapman, James Bell, Fay Rendleman and 
G. H, Baker have from ten to thirty acres 
each in strawberries. At Anna, Parker Earle 
& Sons have eighty acres in strawberries, and 
are the leading growers. A. D. Finch, E. 
Babcock, J. W. Fuller, S. D. Casper, Caleb 
Miller, D. H. Rendleman, J. G. Page and S. 
Martin cultivate from ten to twenty acres 
each. F. A. Childs,of Kansas, was formerly 
a leading grower of this berry at A ana, and 
an active horticulturist. Cyrus Shick, of 
Pennsylvania, was also, till 1880, an exten- 
sive berry grower and shipper. 

Until the year 1880, berries were shipped 
in the fruit cars specially constructed for that 
purpose, and went by the fruit train, or else 
the fruit was sent by express on the regular 
passenger trains, as the shipper found it to 
be most convenient or necessary. In that 
year, the berry shippers commenced using re- 
frigerator cars. In 1881, cooling houses in 
Cobden and Anna svere built in which to store 



and cool the fruit preparatory to shipment. 
These were the first buildings erected for this 
purpose in Southern Illinois. The refriger- 
ator cars delivered the berries in prime con- 
dition at Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and 
Buffalo. In 1883, cooling houses were built 
at other stations along the railroad. The use 
of these cooling houses and refrigerator cars 
permitted the growing and shipping of varie- 
ties otherwise too soft for carriage to distant 
markets, and thus allowed a more extended 
planting of berries than would have been 
possible without them. 

Refrigerator cars are also used for the 
transportation of raspberries, blackberries, 
peaches, tomatoes, etc., in their season. The 
cooling houses in the winter form storage 
places for sweet potatoes and fruit. The 
house in Anna was built by P. Earle & Sons, 
to accommodate their own immense crops. 
The Cobden cooler was built by the Cobden 
Refrigerator & Shipping Company, a stock 
company which receives berries from any 
grower, and at the low charge of 10 cents 
per case of twenty-four quarts gives them 
the benefit of the cooling house and of the 
refrigerator car to Chicago. The freight, 
$90 per car, is an additional expense, divided 
among the shippers according to the number 
of cases sent. A car will carry 500 cases, 
and on a trip to Cleveland is recharged 
with ice at Indianapolis. When sent to Chi- 
cago, the expense of loading the berries at 
Cobden, and unloading in Chicago, is $6.50 
per car extra. The " Cobden Fruit Growers' 
Association," known also as the "Tha Peo- 
ple's Line," is another organization to facil- 
itate the cheap transportation and delivery 
of fruit, and handles the great bulk of the 
shipments. These companies are great aids 
to the gi-ower in economizing expense, and 
have helped largely to develop the fruit- 
growing business in the county. 



346 



HISTOKY OF UNION COUNTY. 



The black raspberries have been raised 
here iu great quantities in past years. About 
the year 1873, the Turner red raspberry 
came into extensive cultivation in this county. 
It was so early in ripening, and so excellent 
in its other characteristics, that it created a 
new era in raspberry culture. The profits on 
this berry for several years were exceedingly 
large, and stimulated the growers to over- 
production. Fields of from ten to twenty 
acres of these raspberries multiplied rapidly. 
In 1879, Union County shipped 3,411 bush- 
els of raspberries, of which amount Gobden 
shipped 2,736 bushels, all in pint boxes. Of 
these, about one -fourth were black varieties, 
and the rest were the Turner. In 1880, 
there were hundreds of acres of these berries 
in bearing, and the market price fell below 
the cost of production. This was the crown- 
ing year of the raspberry business, the crop 
amounting to over 5,000 bushels, of which 
Cobden furnished 11,027 cases, or 4,135 
bushels. The growers then plowed up their 
fields, and betook themselves to other fruits. 
Parker Earle & Sons, who were always the 
largest growers of this berry here, still have 
thirty acres of ii; in bearing at Ana a. In 
its best days, cases of twenty- four pints often 
sold for $7 and $8 each. There are at pres- 
ent only 400 acres in raspberries, of all kinds, 
in this county. The Turner variety is the 
general favorite of the red sorts, and the 
Miami of the black sorts. By the careful 
method used here in picking and packing, 
the Turner, though naturally a soft berry 
when fully ripe, was carried in good order 
to such distant points as Chicago, Milwaukee 
and Dubuque. Walter S. Lamer is the larg- 
est shipper of raspberries at Cobden. His 
berries are superior in quality and in pack- 
ing, and bring the highest price in market. 

The Lawton and KittatiuQy blackberries 
were grown to the extent of 180 or 200 acres, 
between the venrs 1870 and 3880, but now 



the total acreage given to the blackberry in 
Union County does not probably exceed 100 
acres. The fruit ripens during the hottest 
season of the year, when it is difficult to 
make long shipments in anything like good 
condition, and when the pickers are all tired 
out with their tasks in the strawberry and 
raspberry fields. The market also is very 
tickle, as in some years the wild berries are 
so good and so plentiful as to seriously affect 
the sale of the cultivated varieties. The old 
growers have had their experience, are satis- 
fied with it, and are now pretty much out of 
the business. The largest blackberry ship- 
pers this year are P. Earle & Sons, who 
have out thirty-two acres of the Early Har- 
vest, Wilson's Early and other varieties in 
their extensive berry plantation at Anna. 

The red and white currants have been 
tried, time and again, but no great profit 
was found in them. They grow and yield 
well. The black currants succeed finely and 
make a delicious wine, the Black Naples va- 
riety being the best for this purpose. 

Gooseberries have been grown by the acre, 
but the cash returns were n(.-t such as to 
fascinate the grower, and so this fruit also 
has become merely a side show. The crops 
were large enough, but sugar is still too 
costly. When the great West becomes a 
sugar- producing section, and the sorghum 
lands reduce the price of sugar to a par with 
the gooseberry, quart for quart, then this 
great colic promoter will assume an honora- 
ble position among the small fruits which 
.bring fame and wealth to Union County. 
The tig tree is a treacherous plant here, no 
matter how well sheltered. Trees have been 
grown here out of doors, of the Brown Ischia 
and Early Violet varieties, and borne fruit, 
but the only certainty is found by trans- 
planting the tree or bush to the cellar 
through the winter. 

The mulberry grows to perfection here; 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



Ml 



and now that silk culture is being revived in 
this country and is found to be a profitable 
pursuit, there might be some advantage de- 
rived from giving it some attention on our 
rich lands. The English walnut ripens here 
perfectly. There ai'e over a dozen trees near 
Jonesboro, some of which bear annual crops. 
A grove of these trees would rival the orange 
in profit. The sweet American chestnut is 
also at home on the Union County hills. 
The pecan, shellbark hickory, black walnut, 
butternut, etc., all flourish here, and may be 
made sources of considerable profit by judi - 
cious planting. The American elm, the ash, 
beech, horse chestnut, locust, linden, maple, 
oak, sweet gum, poplar and willow are all 
grown as ornamental and shade trees and 
abound in the forests. The evergreens re- 
quire more care, but are successfully grown. 
Many private residences in different parts of 
the county have their lawns graced with 
groups of the arbor vitse, junipers, pines and 
cedars. The holly is also seen here. Bos 
and privet serve as borders for walks and 
beds. The mock orange and the Osage 
orange thrive, and the magnolia grandifiora 
shows its huge snowy flowers in sheltered 
places. 

Flower gardens, filled with the richest and 
gayest of roses, shrubs, vines, bulbs and 
flowering plants, that bewilder an amateur, 
are to be seen around every village and town 
in the county. The cut-flower business has 
not grown in proportion to the other depart- 
ments of horticulture, or to its merits. 
James Bell constructed quite an extensive 
green house several years ago, from which 
considerable quantities of roses, ferns, etc., 
have been sent to Northern cities, realizing 
excellent retui-ns. T. A. E. Holcomb also 
built a beautifu.1 little conservatory, which 
has been a soiirce of delight and profit to 
the owner. The science of horticvilture has 



not yet developed here its aesthetic side suffi- 
ciently to attract the masses. Only a por- 
tion of the people take other than the prac- 
tical, matter of fact view of it. The culti- 
vation of flowers and care of lawns are now, 
to many of the farmers, just what the grow- 
ing of small fruit was twenty-five years 
ago — too small business for men to bother 
about. 

Befoi'e taking up other subjects, it is well 
to mention here that great efforts, many of 
them quite costly to the people, have repeat- 
edly been made to economically and profita- 
bly dispose of the vast amount of third-class 
fruit which annually goes to waste on the 
fruit farms, for want of time and means to 
save it. Evaporators, under the Alden 
patent, were erected in Anna and Cobden in 
1872, costing about $10,000 each, the peo- 
ple, as stockholders, putting in $5,000 cash 
and land, and the Alden Company offsetting 
this with the building and machinery, thus 
making it a stock concern. The evaporators 
were set to work on fruit and vegetables ; but 
two years' experience under the most careful 
management showed the mortifying fact that, 
do the best they could, the evaporated fruit 
cost more than it would sell for in market. 
In other words, the Alden system was a fail- 
ure here. The heat was developed from a 
steam coil beneath the drying shaft. By re- 
moving the coil, putting the furnace in its 
place so as to use direct heat, and avoiding 
all use of steam, as has been done elsewhere, 
the business might have taken a profitable 
turn; but the stockholders had no great de- 
sire to experiment further, and abandoned 
the whole affair, converting the building to 
other uses. 

At different times distilleries have been 
put in operation in different parts of the 
county, and made apple and peach brandies, 
etc. ' The injury proved greater than the 



348 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



benefit derived, and the growing temperance 
movement soon crowded the distilleries out. 
At the present writing, the whole county is 
a solid unit for temperance, the principal 
towns working under iron-clad ordinances, 
and no intoxicating liquor being allowed to 
be sold or made. 

The tomato, often improperly classed as a 
vegetable, is a fruit which has of late years 
acquired such prominence in the shipments 
from Union County as to outrank the berries 
in quantity if not in value. Col. F. E. 
Peebles, Secretary of the Fruit Shippers' 
Association, supplies many of the following 
facts: Tomatoes were raised by David Gow, 
at Cobden, in 1858, but the business was 
fairly opened in 1859 by D. Gow, G. H. 
Baker and Henry Ede, gentlemen who still 
rank high among the tomato growers. At 
that time, these three growers were able to 
supply the Chicago market with all the to- 
matoes it needed, and from not over 10,000 
plants. As the tomato grew in favor as an 
article of diet,the demand called for increased 
production, until in 1882, thei-e were around 
Cobden 220 growers cultivating 500 acres set 
with nearly 1,000,000 plants, from which 
over 225,000 third-bushel boxes of tomatoes 
were shipped; and not less than 15,000 
bushels were allowed to rot, when the price 
fell too low. The fruit was shipped in fruit 
cars to points as far as Western New York, 
Canada, Dakota and Colorado. 

Cobden, for several years, has annually 
grown and shipped more tomatoes than any 
other place in the United States. In 1882, 
the crop exceeded that of any former year, 
the total shipments by freight and fruit ex- 
press aggregating 220 car loads. On July 
29 of that year, twenty -five car loads of to- 
matoes left Union County, of which Cobden 
furnished over twenty -two car loads, and 
could have sent off thirty car loads, had the 



prices warranted it. This immense shipment 
on one day was too much for even Chicago 
to hold up. The great markets of the West 
broke down and were weak for several days, 
during which the shipments continued, 
though at a daily loss to the shippers of not 
less than $1,000. The tomatoes cost at the 
Cobden depot at least 12 cents a box. The 
early sales reach $1 per box, and then rapidly 
fall as the supplies increase. In 1863, they 
sold as high as $3 per box, but now the ship 
ments from Bermuda and the South take the 
early market prices. Willis Lamer is a lead- 
ing grower. E. N. Clark excels in quality. 
J. T. Whelpley, J. Metz, Green & Vener- 
able, H. R. Buckingham and A. H. Chapman 
are also large growers of the tomato. Some 
of these growers cleared $2,000 each on the 
crop of 1882. 

The watermelon succeeds in this county 
only in particular localities. The soil is 
generally too heavy for it; but the musk- 
melon grows finely and has become one of the 
famous products of Union County. The 
Japan variety has been grown in quite large 
quantities, to the extent of eighty to 100 
acres. In 1870, Horace Eastman began the 
growing of melons at Anna, and for several 
years obtained extraordinary prices, ranging 
from $8 to $12 per crate of twenty-five mel- 
ons. In 1879, the melon business was at its 
height, with opening prices at $6 per crate 
of one and one-half bushels. Anna was the 
principal shipping point, with sixty acres in 
this crop, which yielded 9,200 crates and 
paid about $300 profit per acre above ex- 
penses. The leading growers at Anna were H. 
Eastman, I. C. Piersol, E. G. Robinson, J. 
A. Noyes, Asa Harmon and J. B. Miller. At 
Cobden, G. H. Baker is a leading grower of 
this fruit. 

In vegetables as in fruits. Union County 
is a principal source of supply and Cobden is 



"p^ 



A^-7*"^^- 



? «-J^ 




HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



351 



the lai'gest shipping station. In any city to 
which Cobden chooF.es to send its products, 
it can, with a single day's shipments, break 
down the markets with either of the follow- 
ing articles : Strawberries, tomatoes, rhubarb, 
asparagus, spinach or sweet potatoes. Of 
asparagus, it has about eighty acres, grown 
principally by Amos Poole, M. A. Benham, 
A. Buck and E. Leming & Co. Other parts 
of the county have twenty acres or more in 
this crop, making a total of 100 acres. There 
are seventy-five acres of rhubai'b grown in the 
county, of which Cobden has fifty acres, and 
ships by the car load. The shipments of 
rhubarb fi'om that station for 1880 were 340,- 
465 pounds, or 170 tons. A. Poole was the 
principal grower at the origin of the busi- 
ness, and last year he gathered a barrel of 
rhubarb from seven hills at one picking. The 
net profits are about $125 per acre. There 
are about 120 acres in the county planted 
with spinach, of which Cobden grows seventy- 
five acres, and in 1882 shipped fourteen car 
loads, or 13,500 crates, holding three-fourths 
of a bushel each. 

But small attention is given to peas, beans, 
lettuce, beets, I'adishes, cabbage, etc. , on ac- 
count of the increasing production of these 
crops at points further South. The total an- 
nual shipments of peas and beans from this 
county will average about 2,000 boxes; of 
Ifittuce, 2,000 cases; of radishes, 400 cases; 
of squashes, 200 cases, and of cucumbers 
about 500 boxes. Early onions are exten- 
sively grown, the crop of 1882 amounting 
to 1.200 cases, principally of the variety 
known as Scallions, or winter onions. The 
field onion is also extensively grown. The 
sweet potato is grown in great quantities. 
The shipments for 1882 were, from Cobden, 
530,460 pounds; from Aima, 522,650 pounds; 
from Dongola, 322,550 pounds; from other 
places, 50,000 pounds, or a total of 23,880 



bushels. In these statements, Anna gets the 
credit of much that is grown around Jones- 
boro, and Cobden the credit of much that is 
grown around Alto Pass. In 1882, the total 
fruit and vegetable shipments from Cobden 
wpire 6,480,160 pounds; from Anna, 3,285,- 
685 pounds; from Dongola 1,444,960 pounds, 
and fi'om Alto Pass 407,040 pounds. In the 
year 1877, the fruit train shipments from 
Cobden reached the enormous amount of 10, - 
287,835 pounds, equal to 643 car loads. 

The packages used in shipping the prod- 
iicts of Union County are the one third 
bushel box for peaches, early apples, pears, 
plums, tomatoes, early potatoes, etc. ; the 
twenty-four quart case for strawberries, 
blackberries, cherries and vegetables; the 
twenty-four pint case for raspberries, and the 
one and one-half bushel crate for melons. 
These packages are manufactured in the 
county, principally by Mesler & Co. , at Cob- 
den, M. M. Henderson & Son, at Anna, and 
R. T. Shipley, at Jonesboro. These firms 
turn out several million packages annually, 
which are supplied direct to the growers in 
all parts of the West, and cannot be ex- 
celled for quality of material or workmanship. 
The third bushel boxes are supplied at 
a cost of $37.50 per 1,000. 

The reputation of Union County as a fruit- 
producing section is not based wholly upon 
the immense quantities of fruits, etc., shipped 
from here, but largely upon the excellent 
quality of the fruit, the superior character of 
the packages, and the unrivaled perfection 
of the packing. In do other section is fruit 
packed better, nor is there anywhere else so 
great skill and care -used in the preparation 
of the shipments. The long distances over 
which much of the fruit is sent requires the 
utmost nicety of preparation and attention 
to the minutest particulars. The growers 
and shippers pride themselves on the excel- 



352 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



lence of their shipments, and in sustaining 
the fair fame of their county as the finest 
fruit garden in the valley of the Mississippi. 

Thus the cultivation of the fruits and 
vegetables in this county has progressed 
from the rudest beginnings to its present 
noblo proportions. The wild fruits have 
gradually given place to improved and cul- 
tivated varieties. Horticulture has risen to 
a science calling for the genius and talent of 
the most intelligent men, and affording ob- 
jects for the expenditure of wealth and taste 
to a most liberal extent. Several new fruits 
have originated here through the skill of some 
of the more studious horticulturists. The 
Freeman's late peach was originated by H. 
C. Freoman, of Alto Pas.s; the Lawver apple 
by John S. Lawver, of Cobden, and the 
Sucker State strawberry, by John B. Miller, 
of Anna, all of them fruits that do honor to 
the county and State which gave them origin. 

The future of horticulture in Union County 
is full of glorious promise. As the great 



West absorbs the limitless population of the 
four quarters of the globe, its crowding mill- 
ions will call unceasingly for more and more 
of the fair fruits that bless the soil of South- 
ern Illinois. The resources of this favored 
region and the energies of its people will be 
taxed to their utmost capacity. The time is 
not far ahead, and the day of preparation is 
now at hand. The beginning is already well 
made, but the tenth part of what is to be has 
not yet been done. Though the history of 
the past fifty years of horticulture in this 
county may seem sufficiently honorable and 
grand, that of the next half century will far 
transcend anything that the proudest fruit- 
grower of this day and generation can con- 
ceive. To our children and our successors is 
committed the great work of achieving this 
result, and for them this history of our own 
labors is written, with the hope that the 
same God who has prospered us thus far will 
also prosper them, even to the end of time. 



CHAPTEK XI 



JONESBORO PRECINCT— TorOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES— COMING OF THE WHITES— PIO- 
NEER HARDSHIPS— EARLY INDUSTRIES— ROADS, BRIDGES^ TAVERNS, ETC.— RELIGIOUS 
AND EDUCATIONAL-ST.\TE OF SOCIETY— PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENTS, ETC. 



" And the names he loved to hear 
Have been carved for many a year 
On the tomb." 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

"TONESBORO PRECINCT is situated in 
^ the west central pari of Union County, 
and comprises Township 12 south, in Range 
2 west, of the Third Principal Meridian, with 
a few additional Sections which have been 
attached to it for the sake of convenience. It 

*By John Grear. 



is bounded on the north by Ridge or Alto 
Pass Precinct, on the east by Anna Precinct, 
on the south by Meisenlieimer Precinct and 
on the west by Union Precinct. The surface 
is rolling, and often rough and hilly, with 
numerous small water-courses. The princi- 
pal of these is Clear Creek, which flows 
through the western part, in a southerly 
course, and passes into Meisenheimer Pre- 
cinct. Several small streams flow into it in 
this precinct. In addition to the streams 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



'd56 



mentioned, there are a number of springs 
which afford an abundant supply of excelleat 
water the entire year. Originally, the land 
was covered with heavy timber, but much of 
it has disappeared before the encroachments 
of the " relentless pioneer," but enough still 
remains for all practical uses. The St. Louis 
& Cairo Railroad runs through the precinct, 
and has greatly improved the country since 
its completion. The principal products are 
corn, oats and wheat, some stock and a little 
fruit. The latter, however, is grown more 
for family use than for sale, none of the farm- 
ers devoting especial attention to it, as in 
some of the neighboring precincts. 

Jonesboro Precinct is one of the oldest set- 
tled portions of Union County, more than 
seventy years having elapsed since the first 
white people penetrated thus far into tlie 
wilderness. See the figures: 1809—1883! 
More than two-generations have passed be- 
tween these milestones, and many of their 
names have long ago been " carved on the 
tomb." The pioneers who bore the brunt of 
life in the wilderness have passed away, and 
their bodies have moldered into dust. We 
shall never see their like again, for the times 
in which they lived have changed, and there 
can be no necessity for the repetition of their 
experiences fifty or seventy-five years ago. 
The life which the pioneer of the far Western 
Territories leads is vastly different to pioneer 
life in Southern Illinois. Here they had none 
of the comforts or luxuries of civilization, 
but endless toil and extreme privation were 
required to maintain existence. With the 
railroads penetrating the Great West and the 
unsettled Territories, the pioneer can take 
with him to his new home not only the com- 
forts, but many of the luxuries of the 
older settled States with trifling cost, and 
live with comparative ease. Even houses 
can be transported to the contemplated settle- 



ment, and set up in a short time ready for 
their occupants. Not so fifty years ago. 
The settlers came with nothing, and for years 
it was an incessant struggle for life itself. It 
was only by the most superhuman efforts and 
persevering industry that a comfortable home 
was finally obtained. 

The first settlement of this precinct was 
made by North Carolinians, as were nearly 
all of the early settlements of the county. 
It is generally conceded that John Grammer, 
the hardy, rough, rude old pioneer — the rough 
diamond —was the first settler in Avhat now 
ffu'ms Jonesboro Precinct, and that 1800 was 
about the date of his settlement. ^\e have 
but little to say of John Grammer in this 
chapter, as considerable space has been de- 
voted to him in the preceding pages, and any- 
thing further would be a repetition. The 
following pioneex's, and early and prominent 
citizens of Jonesboro, town and preci«.ct, 
have also been written up, and their lives and 
deeds placed upon record in other chapters 
of this work. Dr. S. S. Condeu, Thomas Fin- 
ley, John Evans, W^insted Davie, Dr. B. W. 
Brooks, the W^illar<is, George Wolf, Judge 
Daniel Hileman, Jacob Hunsaker, John 
Mcintosh, James Provo, Mrs. Nancy Hileman, 
Richard M. Young and Abner and Alexander 
P. Field. • Nothing new can be said of them 
in this chapter. They were pioneers, and 
were fitted for the work they had to do, and 
they did it without flinching or quailing. 

In addition to those already given, we may 
mention the following, who were also early 
settlers in this precinct: Abraham Hunsaker, 
Philip Shaver, Adam Clapp, Edmond Vance, 
James Smiley, Thomas D. Patterson, Benja- 
min Menees, Christian Flaugh, Jacob Little- 
ton, John Whittaker, A. Cokenower, Giles 
Parmlee, Jacob Wolf, Michael Limbrough, 
William Grammer, Emanuel Penrod, George 
Hunsaker, Daniel Kimmel, Robei't Hargrave, 



354 



HISTOKY OF UNION COUNTY. 



David Brown, Daniel F. Coleman, a man 
named Heacock, Dr. Priestly, L. B. Lizen- 
bee, Dr. Jones, Nimrod, Fergueson, Fullen- 
wider, etc. Up to and previous to 1815, 
Abraham Hunsaker, Philip Shaver, George 
Wolf, Adam Clapp, Edmond Vance and 
Thomas D. Patterson came into the precinct. 
Most of the others mentioned settled during 
the year 1816. George Wolf was a Dun- 
kard preacher, and Abraham Hunsaker was a 
kind of striker, to use a backwoods expres- 
sion, for him. They used to bold meetings 
in the pioneer settlements, and were esteemed 
wherever they went for their unswerving 
honesty. Smiley opened a large farm near 
Jonesboro; Lizenbee was long Deputy Clerk 
of the court. Of all those mentioned as 
coming into the precinct up to 1816, George 
Wolf is the only one known to be alive. He 
was living, when last heard from in Califor- 
nia, but was gi'owing very old and feeble. 
The others have gone to their final reward. 
Philip Shaver was the only survivor of the 
Cache Massacre, which occurred within the 
present limits of Mound City, in 1812, and 
a full account of which will be found in 
that chapter. Although he was badly wound- 
ed, he succeeded in making his escape, by 
swimming the bayou, and then making his 
way on foot to Union County. He settled a 
short distance below Jonesboro, where he 
lived for many years. Shaver's name fre- 
quently appears among the county records, 
and sometimes as Shafer and Shaffer, but the 
correct name is Shaver. He was a North 
Carolinian, and came to Southern Illinois 
previous to the war of 1812. Among the 
other pioneers of Jonesboro Precinct, whose 
names have been mentioned above, were men 
noted in the community and the times in 
which they lived for more than ordinary in- 
telligence, but space will not allow extended 
notices of them here. It is enough to say 



that they were rough, uncultivated, unrefined, 
but still noble in a rugged way, and possess- 
ing the true qualities of heroism, courage 
and freedom. Such were the early settlers 
of Jonesboro Precinct, and the antecedents 
of those who now fill their places. 

Surrounded by difficulties and dangers, the 
early settlers labored to improve the land 
and bring it into subjection. Step by step 
the hardy pioneer made his inroads upon the 
forests, and increased his flocks and herds, 
until he had a surplus beyond his immediate 
wants and those of his family. By dint of 
hard labor, and the denying of himself many 
of the actual necessaries of life, he at length 
became well to do and independent. 

The pipneer improvements of this section 
of the county were few and rude. They 
comprised chiefly mills and distilleries. 
The first mills were run by horse-power, and 
were poor things at best, but they answered 
the purpose at that early day. To grind a little 
corn and wheat was the extent of their useful- 
ness and ability. One of the first water mills 
we have heard of in the precinct, was built 
and operated by Christian Flaugh, an early 
settler who lived about a mile and a half below 
Jonesboro. It was in operation as early as 
1817, and was an important institution, and 
a great improvement upon the old horse- 
mills. Other mills were erected, as circum- 
stances demanded, and the community has 
never lacked for these useful industries since 
the building of Flough's mill, nearly seventy 
years ago. 

The attention of the people was early 
directed to roads and highways. As early as 
1819, a road was laid out from Jonesboro to 
Vienna, and one from Elvira to-Jackson, of 
which William Pyle was made Overseer. A 
road was laid out from Penrod's ferry to El- 
vira, and David Arnold was appointed Over- 
seer. Another road was laid out from JouoS- 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



355 



boro to Elvira, and of it William Pyle was 
made Overseer. Thus roads were opened and 
laid out wherever business required them. 
Streams were bridged, and the means of 
travel from one place to another promoted, 
and made more safe and easy than it had 
been through the thick forests and over the 
turbulent streams. At an early term of the 
Commissioners' Court, it was ordered that " a 
good substantial bridge " be built over Clear 
Creek, on Penrod's road, and another over 
Bradshaw's Creek, on the Elvira road. For 
the Bradshaw bridge, $50 was appropriated, 
and $150 for the Clear Creek bridge. As 
there were no railroads then, all travel was 
over these roads, and mostly on horseback. 
This caused the opening of many taverns 
along the public roads, with accommodations 
for " man and beast. ' ' All such had to take 
out a tavern license for the privilege of en- 
tertaining the wayfaring man. Among the 
pioneer tavern-Eeepers, William Shelton was 
licensed to keep a tavern at his hoiise, on the 
road between Jonesboro and Elvira. An- 
other was Robert H. Lay, on Green's road, 
in which he was required to give a bond of 
$100 and pay a special tax of $2. Many 
other such were granted by the Commission- 
er's Courts, until one would almost be led to 
believe that nearly every householder in the 
county kept a tavern. 

Early educational facilities were meager, 
and the children of the piooeers had few 
advantages in that direction. A few months 
in the log-cabin schoolhouse, with its punch- 
eon floor and big lire-place, were the ex- 
tent of the ' ' larnin' '' they received, and the 
advantages the precinct then aflforded. For 
forty years or more after the first settlement, 
education was at a low ebb. Like the stag- 
nant water in the river bottom swamps, it 
was difficult to tell whether the current flowed 
backward or forward. The schoolhouses, 



school books, school teachers, and the man- 
ner of instruction were of the most primitive 
character. An old man named Fullenwider 
was one of the first teachers not only in this 
precinct, but in the county. He is said to 
have been a very fair teacher for that day. 
The science has changed, and the mode of 
teaching has changed and improved, with 
everything else. The precinct has, at pres- 
ent, some half dozen schoolhouses outside of 
Jonesboro, and hence is well supplied with 
good schools. 

The first preacher in " these parts" was 
old Father Wolf, the Dunkard preacher 
already alluded to. He preached to the pi- 
oneers for many years, not only in this pre- 
cinct, but throughout the county. The early 
religious history centers principally in Jones- 
boro and Anna, and is given in those chap- 
ters. 

An important era, in both civil and social 
life here, as well as in all Southern Illinois, 
was tho building of the Central Railroad. 
Although it did not pass through this pre- 
cinct, or through Jonesboro, yet both were 
more or less affected by it. There were those 
in that day, even as there are still, who were 
opposed to railroads in every sense of the 
word. They believed they would ruin the 
country, and would be of no benefit to any- 
body. Their ignorance and prejudice pre- 
vented them from discovering any advantage 
to the people or country from railroads. The 
majority of the people, however, were far 
more liberal-minded, and took an active in- 
terest in this species of internal improve- 
ment. And the completion of the Illinois 
Central was hailed by them with as much 
delight almost, as if it had passed thi'ough 
their own town. The project of the St. 
Louis & Cairo Railroad, twenty years aftei', 
received their hearty support and approval. 
It brought " the war into Africa;" that is, it 



35fi 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



gave them a railroad through their own town 
and Precinct, and, in a word, it was their own 
raih-oad. Then, too, opinions and views re- 
garding railroads and their beneficial results 
had undergone a great change. The old fos- 
sils and fogies had discovered that the country 
had not gone to the dogs, as they had sagely 
predicted, but had increased in wealth with 
the increase of railroad facilities, and hence, 
they were forced to the conclusion that rail- 
roads, after all, were a good thing in their 
wav. Thus the narrow-gauge railroad did 
not lack for friends in this community. Its 
completion has wonderfully improv^ed this 
side of the county. It has developed the re- 
sources, and brought the best markets of the 
country into close proximity with the people. 
Said an old farmer: "What do I want with 
railroads ? Will they make my plants bear 
more strawberries, or my orchards more ap- 
ples and peaches?" Yes, old friend, they 
will, in that they bring active markets to 
your very door. 

With the building of railroads, great 
changes came to the country. In nothing 
were these changes more apparent than in 
the system and mode of agriculture. The 
first settlers here knew nothing of railroads; 
they had never heard of a locomotive, nor 
dreamed of the improvements of to-day. 



Steam threshers, sulky plows, mowers and 
reapers were alike unknown to them. The 
old wooden plows, drawn by a yoke of oxen, 
the scythe and cradle and the reap- hook were 
implements with which they were better 
acquainted. To chronicle the changes, and 
note the improvements and the progress of 
our common country, since the era of rail- 
roads, is not the least interesting part of the 
historian's work. In the traditions handed 
down, he sees " the wilderness rejoice and 
blossom as the rose;" the log cabin changed 
into comfortable homes, and the land teem- 
ing with peace and plenty. 

Jonesboro Precinct is largely Democratic 
in politics. The old citizens were Jackson 
Democrats, and some of them would perhaps 
vote for him still, but for the fact that they 
believe the old hero is — dead. Upon all 
impoi'tant occasions, the precinct rolls up 
large majorities for the Democratic standard- 
bearers. In the late war, it was loyal to the 
core, and sent a majority of its able-bodied 
men to tight the battles of the Union. 

This comprises a brief sketch of Jonesboro 
Precinct, from its settlement to the present 
time. With this imperfect record of it, we 
will conclude the chapter, and in a new one 
take up the history of the town — the seat of 
justice of the county. 




HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



357 



CHAPTER XII, 



CITY OF JONESBORO— SELECTED AND SURVEYED AS THE COUNTY SEAT— ITS HEALTHY LOCATION 

—EARLY CITIZENS— SOME WHO REMAINED AND SOME WHO WENT AWAY— FIRST SALE 

OF LOTS— GROWTH OF THE TOWN — MERCHANTS AND BUSINESS MEN — TOWN 

INCORPORATED— SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES— SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC. 



TONESBORO is located near the center of 
^^ Union County, and on the dividing ridges 
separating the waters flowing into Cache; 
thence into the Ohio River, near Mound City, 
and the waters flowing in and forming Clear 
Creek, which enters the Mississippi five 
miles above Cape Girardeau. The town 
was located in and amongst innumerable 
hills, more on account of the many bold run- 
ning springs, than for any great advantage 
to be derived from beautiful location^ 
It is situated amongst the hills, on the 
hills, under the hills and by the hills. 
In fact, we do not know but it has all the 
advantages of ancient Rome in the number 
of its hills. Its many pure springs and fine 
under-drainage, perhaps, caused those that 
had the matter in hand to select the spot 
they did, and now, after more than sixty 
years have passed, experience has shown the 
wisdom of its founders. We are fully war- 
ranted in saying, that few spots on earth are 
more healthy than the town of Jonesboro, 
and, in proof of the statement, we now have 
half a dozen persons living in the town who 
have resided here over sixty years. They are 
in excellent health, and have long since 
passed the allotted time of man. 

The town, though an old one, compara- 
tively, does not contain a large population, 
perhaps not more than one thousand persons. 
Good schools, good health, and plenty of 

*By John Grear. 



chiirch facilities are some of the strongest 
recommendations to the town. But that in- 
domitable spirit of pioneerism, inherited 
from ancestors who first settled the country, 
caused many of the young men to follow the 
advice of the sagacious editor of the New 
York Tribune and wend their way westward. 
Some went to Missouri, some to Arkansas, 
some to Texas and some were even led to 
pitch their tents beyond the Sierras. Among 
those whose names we can now call to mind 
are Abram Hargrave, Joseph P. Hargrave, 
Carroll Ury, George Wolf, Daniel Craver, 
James E. Mitchell, Joshua L. Meisenheimer, 
Robert Henly and William K. Lee, together 
with hundreds of others, who, with their 
families, have found homes in the far Western 
States and Territories. These were not dis- 
satisfied spirits, but were the cream of the pop- 
ulation, were good citizens here and are good 
citizens in the land of their adoption. They 
went West to better their condition, and their 
exodus has served the purpose to keep the 
population of Jonesboro, and in fact all the 
old towns in Southern Illinois, at about the 
same level as to numbers. 

The site where Jonesboro now stands was 
selected in the spring of 1816, and so named 
for a Dr. Jones, a kind of representative man 
who lived in the neighborhood. Another site 
for a county seat was selected upon the. farm 
of Thomas Sams about two miles southeast 
from Jonesboro, and quite a contest sprung 



358 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



up between the friends of John Grammer 
and Thomas Sams, owners of the respective 
farms named. Eut the Commissioners ap- 
pointed in the legislative act for the for- 
mation of the county selected the site upon 
the Grammer farm, and in 1838 Jacob Een- 
dleman, Thomas Sams and Joseph Palmer 
were appointed trustees to lay out into lots 
the ten acres of land donated to the county 
of Union and now known in the description 
of town lots as "Grammer's donation." The 
first sale of lots was at public auction July 
6, A. D. 1818. The first lot was purchased 
by Robert Grafton for $108. It was Lot No. 
25, and is the one upon which now stands 
the Willard Block. 

The Lots No. 33 and 34 were sold to Alfred 
Penrod for $299, and are the lots upon which 
the Dishon Block stands. Many of the out- 
lying lots were given away to blacksmiths, 
carpenters and other mechanics, with the un- 
derstanding that they were to be improved 
with buildings and occupied by them at once. 
Among the most prominent of these pioneer 
tradesmen was Peter Jaccard, an enterprising 
German, who occupied Lot No. 60. He was a 
tanner by trade, and erected a tannery that 
did an excellent business for m^y years, 
and was a great convenience to the surround- 
ing country. Louis Jaccard, the founder of 
the great jewelry house of Eugene Jaccard & 
Co., of St. Louis, was a citizen of the new 
town, and had a shop near where the town 
spring is, for a short tirn^e previous to his set- 
tling in Str Louis. Henry Cruse and Peter 
Cruse, from the old State of North Carolina, 
were the sturdy blacksmiths, and made the 
plows and wagons needed by the farmers in all 
the country for miles around. George Grear, 
the father of the writer, was the millwright and 
carpenter, and plied his trade industriously 
from 1819 until 1840. James Hodges and 
Daniel Hileman were the hatters. Dr. B. W. 



Brooks, Dr. Jones and Dr. Priestley were the 
physicians. A. P. Fields, Abner Fields and 
John Dougherty were the resident lawyers 
and politicians. They became famous thi-ough- 
out the State, and held many offices of im- 
portance, as noticed in another chapter of . 
this worlc. James Edwards and Jeremiah 
Brown were the first Baptist ministers. Mr. 
Edwards also taught the first school. David 
McMichael, James Shelby and William R. 
Hazzard were among the early school teachers. 
They were all men of excellent education, 
and graduates of the best American colleges, 
except David McMichael, who graduated in 
" auld " Ireland. He not only left an im- 
pression of his substantial accomplishments 
upon the rising generation, but he also left 
many imjyressions upon the boys-- for like 
the most of the early teachers, he handled the 
birch with as much dexterity as he solved a 
pi'oblem in arithmetic. Many of our old citi- 
zens remember McMichael and his birch rod. 
Nimrod Ferguson, Elijah Willard, Win- 
sted Davie and Charles Rixlaben were among 
the first merchants of Jonesboi'o. Nearly all 
of these, with many others, acquired great 
wealth, chiefly by selling goods and buying 
the products of the farmers, and " flat-boat- 
ing " them to New Orleans. The latter, to 
say the least, was hazardous in the extreme. 
But when attended with ordinary good luck, 
produced large and lucrative returns. The 
proceeds of the cargoes were then invested in 
sugar and coffee, and a few other necessaries, 
and brought back upon some of the few steam- 
boats that were then navigating the "Western 
rivers. Dry goods were usually bought in Phil- 
adelphia on twelve months' time, and trans- 
ported overland on wagons to Pittsburgh, 
Penn. , thence by river to Hamburg Lauding, * 
on the Mississippi River, and hauled to town 



* This was about five miles below Willard's Landing aad our 
nearest point to the Misslseippi River. 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



359 



upon large wagons, usually drawn by four to six 
strong horses, or as many yoke of oxen. A large 
portion of the goods procured in this way 
was again sold to other merchants and hauled 
away to the interior of Southern Illinois, to 
be sold to consumers. 

Nearly all of the salt used by the people 
was procured at the Saline Salt Works, in 
what is now Saline County, 111. For this 
"was exchanged corn meal and other farm 
products — the mode being to load a wagon 
with such things as were consumed by the 
people ac the salt works, strike out through 
what was then called the "wilderness," and 
proceed to the works. A trip generally oc- 
cupied about ten days, and sufficient salt to 
last a year was brought back to the settle- 
ment. 

Mills. — In the matter of breadstuff, the peo- 
ple wero nearly as badly off as in that of salt. 
Mills were exceedingly scarce and of the 
most primitive kind. Hand mills, located in 
the chimney corners, were not uncommon, 
and are well remembered by many people 
yet living. The horse mill was the next best 
thing, and many traces of them are yet to be 
seen. Water mills came next, but on ac- 
count of the streams drying up in summer 
and great floods in winter washing away 
dams, they were rendered more vexatious 
than profitable. But about the year 1838, 
Willard & Co. erected the first steam flouring 
mill in Jonesboro, in fact in the county, after 
which meal and flour were more easily pro- 
cured. In fact, it was not long after the date 
above-named until flour began to be exported, 
which has continued until the present time, 
and which now forms one of the chief indus- 
tries of the town and county. Col. Bain- 
bridge erected the next steam flouring-mill 
in 1847. The next one was erected by Sam- 
uel Uargrave in 1858, which is yet standing 
and in operation. The two first named were 



long since burned away. Melzer & Bruch- 
hauser, two enterprising Germans, erected 
the fourth mill in 1880. It was burned the 
same year it was built. The same firm, 
however, erected another mill upon the same 
site the following year. It was a much 
finer and better mill than the one burned, 
and is now doing an excellent business. E. 
A. Willard erected a large grain elevator in 
1880, which is now owned and operated by 
Breedlove Smith, of St. Louis. The elevator 
is 112 feet high and 50x80 feet upon the 
ground, with fifteen bins. Altogether, it is 
of about 90,000 bushels capacity, and has all 
the improved machinery for handling grain 
of all kiods, loading or unloading grain 
from or into cars. It stands immediately on 
the line of the Cairo & St. Louis Railroad. 

Railroads. — The first locomotive engine ever 
seen in Jonesboro "poked its nose" around the 
bend, just north of the public square, on Sun- 
day, February 14, 1875, amidst a large crowd 
of spectators from Jonesboro and Anna. The 
first passenger train went over the road 
March 2, 1875, and was the first train that 
ever passed over the entire length of the 
road from St. Louis to Cairo. It left St. 
Louis March 1, but on account of delays at 
the tunnel did not arrive at Cairo until the 
morning of the 3d. 

The first court house erected in Jonesboro 
was built by Thomas Cox, contractor. It 
was of round logs, floor loosely laid down, 
one door and one window, with clapboard 
roof, was twenty feet square and contained a 
"Judge's bench," the total cost of which was 
$40. Another room was added soon after, fif- 
teen feet square, for a jury room, and cost $15. 
" Men in those days were giants," and evil- 
doers could get a "send-off" to the peni- 
tentiary or the "rope's end" from a house 
like this just as easy and with just as much 
dignity as now-a-days from a court house 



360 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



which costs half a million. The next court 
house was a frame building, erected in the 
center of the public square in 1820, and cost 
$000. This was superseded by one built of 
brick in 1838 on the same grounds, and 
which cost 15,000. It was really a fine 
house for that day, and ought to have lasted 
fifty years. But it was allowed to go to 
destruction from utter neglect of those hav- 
ing it in charge. The present court house 
was built in 1858, and cost about $12,000, 
and is a substantial brick building. The 
courts held in all of these buildings have 
been presided over with dignity by learned 
Judges, and many have been the forensic 
"set-tos" within these walls by the Fields, 
the Douglasses, the Semples, the Logans, 
the Aliens, the Doughertys, and other legal 
lights of equal ability. 

Jonesboro was first incorporated February 
14, 1821, along with America, Covington, 
Vienna and the village of Prairie du Rocher. 
The charter was amended in 1823. but no 
organization took place. The charter was 
again amended in 1857, and Willis Willard, 
Caleb Frick, John E. Naill, John Grear and 
William Green were appointed first Board of 
Trustees. They held their first meeting early 
in March, laid out the city into wards, and 
advertised an election to take place as speci- 
fied in the charter, that is, on the first Mon- 
day in April, 1857, and which resulted in the 
election of Dr. H. C. Hacker, Mayor; Paul 
Frick, Thomas J. Fiuley and O. P. Jones, 
Aldermen. They held their first meeting 
May 9, 1857, under this new organization. 
The city government has gone on to the pres- 
ent time, with very little change or interrup- 
tion. The following are the present city 
oflScers: John Grear, Mayor; B. M. Fullin- 
wider, O. P. Storm, B. H. Anderson, Ed 
Jones, W. D. Frick and Martin Carter, Alder- 
men. 



Jonesboro contains about one thousand in- 
habitants, four churches, one large school- 
house, school six months in the year, with 
daily attendance of about 300 pupils, two 
mills and the usual number of shops and 
stores, one box factory, and six miles of good 
gravel roads and streets. The city is con- 
sidered a very healthy place. It has seen its 
period of prosperity, and its period of de- 
pression, but at no time has it met with any 
serious disaster, either by fire or epidemics. 
It has had small-pox in its limits but once, 
in 1852, which was its nearest approach to 
an epidemic. The town has produced many 
wealthy men, or at least men who became 
wealthy. Among them were Elijah Willard, 
William Willard, Willis AVillard, Charles 
Eixlaben, John E. Naill, James Evans. Caleb 
Frick, Alexander Frick, John Dougherty, 
James L. Hodges and others, all of whom are 
now dead. But there is an equal niunber 
that are living, some of whom have retired 
from business on a competency, and others in 
the full tide of prosperity, and who might 
date the beginning of their prosperity to 
Jonesboro. 

Our early citizens were not forgetful of 
the moral training necessary to the welfare 
of a new country, and to this end churches 
were built and religious societies organized 
in an early day in the town. 

The Clear Creek Baptist Church was or- 
ganized in 1821, by Rev. James P. Edwards, 
Jeremiah Brown, John Mcintosh and others- 
Worship was held at first in the dwelling 
houses of its members, but soon a house of 
hewn logs was erected upon lands given to 
the church by John Mcintosh, where the 
Jonesboro Cemetery now is. It was a com- 
fortable, large building, and worship was regu- 
larly held here for many years, with varied suc- 
cess. There would be prosperous times, when 
the chui'ch would receive large accessions of 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



361 



"members, and at other times there would be 
troiible, and the church would be nearly de- 
pleted in numbers. But the good faith of 
those remaining would continue to hold meet- 
ings regularly once a month. During the 
sixty-two years of its existence, many excel- 
lent Christian men have figured in its history, 
notably among them were James P. Edwards, 
Jeremiah Brown, Francis Brown, D. L. Phil- 
ips, C. Q. F laugh, David Gulp, D. S. News- 
baum and many others that cannot now be 
remembered. Dr. Sanders now presides over 
the church as pastor. The church is a large 
frame building near the public square, 
erected and dedicated in 1848. In its belfry 
was sounded, soon after its erection, perhaps 
the first church bell ever heard in Southern 
Illinois, outside of Kaskaskia or Shawnee- 
town. It was donated or given to the church 
by one of its enterprising members, Caleb 
Frick. After being placed in position on 
Saturday, it pealed forth its solemn notes on 
the following Sunday morning, calling the 
children to Sunday school, to the delight of 
all the people of the little town, and has con- 
tiniaed to do so from that time to the present. 

The church contains about 200 members, 
who hold their regular business meetings 
once a month, but have worship every Sab- 
bath. 

The Methodists were numerous in this 
county from its earliest settlement, but at 
first had no regular or settled place of wor- 
ship. They preached from house to house 
during the year, but about once a year held 
what was known as "camp-meetings." At 
these times great revivals would take place. 
Many able preachers from this and adjoining 
States would attend, and uuvler their com- 
bined efforts great good would be accom- 
plished. Their first church house was erect- 
ed in Jonesboro in 1842, south of the public 
square, chiefly under the direction of the 



Rev. Charles Adkins, circuit preacher, who 
was also a carpenter, and worked constantly, 
at the building until it was completed. This 
building was taken down and another erect- 
ed near the court house in 1859, and is the 
one now occupied by the church. It is now 
presided over by the Rev. G. W. Waggoner, 
a very able and devout Christian. 

There is also a German church, where 
regular worship is held, and also a Sabbath 
school, all in the German language. 

There is also a church known as the 
Christian Church, where regular worship is 
held, making four churches in Jonesboro, 
which, with the six at Anna, vr ten in all, 
within one mile of each other. This speaks 
well for the moral and religious training of 
the community. 

The oldest lodge in Jonesboro is that of 
the Masons. It was first organized on the 
22d day of June, A. D. 1822. Richard J. 
Hamilton was its first Master. Among the 
original members were James S. Smith, 
William M. Alexander, Geoi'ge Wolf, James 
Finney, Benjamin W. Brooks, Abner Field, 
Jeptha Sweet, Richard M. Young, Jacob 
Hunsaker, H. B. Jones, George Hunsaker, 
John C. Callins, Samuel Hunsaker and 
James F. Bond. It was known as Union 
Lodge, No. 10, and continued to do business 
until about 1848-49, when its charter was 
surrendered and its membership merged into 
and became part of Lodge No. Ill, organized 
early in 1851, since which time it has con- 
tinued to meet in a building of its own on 
the north side of the public square. 

The Odd Fellows Lodge is known as 
Southern Lodge, No. 241, and was instituted 
October 13, A. D 1857. O. P. Jones was 
its first presiding officer; John M. Moyer, A. 
H. Marschalk, Leonard G. Faxan and John 
Q. Harmon were among the charter members. 
The lodge has continued to prosper and has 



36-3 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



now a large membership. It has its lodge 
room neatly furnished and about $1,300 in 
its treasury. 

The Knights of Honor have a lodge, No. 
1,891, which was organized November 14, A. 
D. 1879, by L. G. Eoberts, Grand Dictator. A. 
Polk Jones was its lirst presiding officer. 
Among its permanent members are Judge M. 
C. Crawford, W. S. Day, O. P. Baggot, G. 
AY. Fink, Alford Lence, James K. Walton 
and Hariy Grear. with many others not now 
remembered. The lodge contains a member- 
ship of 73, and it is benevolent in its nature. 
It also pays $1,000 to the widows or orphans 
upon the death of a member. It is in a pros- 
perous condition and has $500 in its treasury. 
This hall is well furnished in which weekly 
meetings are held. 

Flora Lodge, No. 596, Knights and Ladies 
of Honor, was organized November 28, 1882, 
with thirty-one members. The institution is 
in good condition, out of debt and has money 
in the treasury. It is also benevolent in its 
chaiacter and pays from $1,000 to $2,000 
upon the death of a member. It has a good 
hall well furnished and meets weekly. 

Last, but not least, is the Union Coiinty 
Agricultural and Mechanical Society, a sketch 
of which appears in a preceding chapter. A 
few words, however, in concluding the 
history of Jonesboro, is not out of place. 
The first meeting^ was held in 1855, and the 



society has continued to grow in interest and 
importance ever since. And now, after 
nearly thirty years, it has become one of the 
institutions of the county. It is annually 
artended by hundreds of people from the ad- 
joining States of Kentucky and Missouri, as 
well as nearly all the counties of Southern 
Illinois. The meetings continue the entire 
week, with an attendance from 8,000 to 12,000 
persoijs daily, and the show of stock, grain 
and other farm products is simply immense. 

The fair is conducted vigorously by the 
young people, while their elders sit around 
and talk over old times. An old lady recently 
remarked to the writer that when she first 
attended these fairs, " the young childi'en 
were asking parents and friends for money to 
buy candy. A few years more found the 
girls with beaux, and still a few years more 
found them rolling baby wagons about the 
grounds well loaded with bouncing babies, 
while their young husbands were found in 
the arena contesting manfully for premiums." 

Although Jonesboro is an old town, yet it 
has not the dilapidated appearance of many 
old towns in Southern Illinois, and it is kept 
in a clean and healthy condition. Nearly all 
of its inhabitants own the property upon 
which they live, and many of them own good 
farms in the vicinity. They pay more or less 
attention to farming, and are well to do and 
prosperous. 




HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



363 



CHAPTEE XIII.^ 



ANNA PRECINCT— GENERAL DISCKIPTION AND TOPOGRAPHY — EAULY SETTLEMENT — THE COLD 

YEAR— ORGANIZATION OF PRECINCT — INCIDHINT OF THE TELEGRAPH —SCHOOLS AND 

CHURCHES— BEE-KEEPING, DAIRYING, ETC.— CROP STATISTICS— A HAIL-STORM, ETC. 



" The Past and Present here unite 
Beneath Time's flowing tide, 
Like footprints hidden by a brook. 
But seen on either side." 

IN this utilitarian age, in the rush of inven- 
tion and discovery, men give but little 
time or care to the preservation of facts and 
incidents that render history valuable and 
instructive. As the period of mortality 
shortens, activity increases, and selfishness 
becomes a predominating motive. The dead 
and the past are too quickly forgotten in the 
hurry of the present and the anxiety for the 
future. But the reflecting mind always de- 
rives satisfaction in reviewing the events of 
preceding years and forming a mental con- 
trast between the then and the now. Could 
we but go back again to our boyhood days 
and handle the old wooden plow, the sickle 
and cradle, and once more listen to the hum 
of the spinning-wheel in the old log-cabin, 
after so long enjoying the benefits of modern 
implements and machinery, it would seem to 
us impossible that the people of the olden 
time could live as contentedly and happy as 
we know they did. But the old settlers 
have, many of them, passed away. The slow 
ox team has given place to the more rapid 
Norman span. The reaping hook of our 
fathers has become a curiosity to our chil- 
dren. And so, in their turn, perchance our 
grandchildren may laugh and wonder at the 
implements and machinery which we now 

*By Dr. J. H. Sanborn. 



use and consider so perfect. The methods 
of harvesting and machinery in use by the 
coming generation may put our boasted self- 
binders and steam threshers to shame. These 
changes are inseparably blended with the 
changes in population and with the progress 
in civilization and social life. It is the duty 
and task of the historian to make note of all 
these transitions, and the history of Anna 
Precinct would be imperfect without this 
reference to the old-time ways and customs 
which are yet dear in the memory of many 
still living. 

Anna Precinct, so named from the city of 
Anna, which it includes, comprises all of 
Township 12 south, and Range one west, of 
the Third Principal Meridian, except Sections 
1, 2, 3, 11, 30 and 31, the north half of 12, 
the west half of 19, and the southwest quar- 
ter of 18, and includes also a portion of Sec- 
tions 2 and 3 in Township 13 south, and 
Range 1 west. This precinct is quite cen- 
trally situated as regards the county bounda- 
ries, and embraces within its limits some of 
the best of the hill lands of the county. 
These hills are not broken, precipitous lands, 
but are generally broad and gently rolling, 
forming fine farming and grazing lands. 
The surface is elevated, from 50 feet to 200 
feet higher than the level of Chicago, and 
varies from 800 feet to 900 feet above the 
level of the sea. This elevation is consid- 
ered of more value by the inhabitants than 
is the fertility of the soil, as by it the fruit 



364 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



crops are rendered more certain, and the 
salubi-ity of the climate is greatly enhanced. 
For the purposes of fruit growing, garden- 
ing and dairying, the lands in this precinct 
are not surpassed by any in Southern 
Illinois. 

Originally, this was a densely wooded 
country, but much of the forest has been 
cleared away, and broad, open fields of wav- 
ing grass and grain, or prolific orchards of 
choice improved fruits occupy its place. The 
original growth of timber comprised princi- 
pally nak, walnut, hickory, elm, soft and 
hard maple, poplar, etc. Though there is 
still considerable wooded land within the 
precinct, it is rapidly decreasing in amount 
under the great demand from the box facto- 
ries, saw mills and manufacturing establish- 
ments within the county, and from the city 
and town wants. This precinct lies on the 
divide between the waters of the Ohio and 
those of the Mississippi, and is well drained 
by the streamlets which form the head-waters 
of Cache, Cypress, Big and other creeks. 
Cool springs of clear, flowing water are 
numerous, and are made to serve most prac- 
tical uses on the dairy and stock farms 
which abound in this precinct. A large 
spring issuing from a cave on land belong- 
ing to the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany, about one and a half miles north from 
Anna, foi'ms the source of supply for the 
water tank at Anna. A stranger standing 
on the high hill west of Anna, and over- 
looking both Anna and Jonosboro, is strong- 
ly reminded of the scenery in the Atlantic 
and Eastern States. The mingling of hill 
and dale, forest and field, the autumn tints 
of the foliage and the soft rays of the setting 
sun enchant the eye. 

The first settlement within the bounds of 
the precinct is involved in doubt, but among 
the earliest were those formed in 1818-19 by 



the following families: George Hartlinecame 
in 1818. He had five sons and six daughters- 
Charles is the only son now living, and Mrs. 
Joseph Hess the only daughter. Frank, 
John and Isaac Hartline are grandsons. Peter 
Casper came in 1818. He had four sons and 
five daughters. Henry is the only son now 
living. Mrs. David Miller and Mrs. Levi 
Davis are the only daughters living. Peter 
Dillow came in 1818. He had seven sons 
and two daughters. Three sons. David, 
Michael and Simon, are still living. David, 
the eldest, being now eighty years old. John 
Hess, who also came in 1818, had one son 
and five daughters, of whom the son Joseph, 
aged about eighty- four years, and two daugh- 
ters, Mrs. Joseph Eddleman and Mi's. Henry 
Rendleman, are still living. Peter Sifford, 
who came in 1819, had three sons and eight 
daughters. All the sons, Silas, Jackson and 
Daniel, are living; also four daughters, Mrs. 
Jacob HilemaU; Mrs. A. L. Sitter, Mrs. Mas- 
ton Treese and Mrs. Columbus Abernathy. 
John Treese came in 1819, and had five sons 
and three daughters; Moses and Isaac still 
live. Conrad Sitter also came in 1819. He 
had ten sons and seven daughters. Five 
sons, Solomon, Isaac, Abraham, Benja- 
min and Conrad, and two daughters, Mrs. 
Catherine Henly and Mrs. Susan Vancil, are 
now living. Christian Hileman came to this 
county in 1819, married Nancy Davis, and 
settled near the site of the Insane Asylum. 
He had four sons, Jacob, George W., Levi 
and Christian M. , and four daughters, Mrs. 
Silas Hess, Mrs. Charles Barringer, Mrs. 
John Barringer and Mrs. Josiah Bean, all 
now living. Peter Miller, grandfather of 
John B. Miller, farmer, came from North 
Carolina about 1816, and about 1821 settled 
in this precinct. He had one son, Abraham, 
and three daughters, one of whom, Mrs. 
Sarah Hileman, is living. Henry Barringer 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



365. 



came here about the year 1820, and had five 
sons and two daughters, none of whom are 
living. John Menees came about 1816. He 
had five sons and two daughters. Two of the 
sons, William and Marion, are living in this 
county. William Holmes, from Kentucky, and 
Abraham F. Hunsaker lived on the Horace 
Eastman farm about the years 1818 to 1820. 
Isaac Bizzel, Sr., Avas an early settler. Wes- 
ley G. Nimmo, father of Col. A. J. Nimmo, 
was also one of the early settlers. A ma- 
jority of these early settlers came from North 
Carolina. Rev. Daniel Spence fought in the 
battle of New Orleans; came here from North 
Carolina in 1819; had sixteen children, and 
lived to see fifty-one grand and seventy-one 
great-grandchildren. He died in 1875. 
There are six daughters living, of whom Mrs. 
Nancy Davis, seventy years old, is the eldest. 
The year 1816 was the coldest ever known 
in the United States. Tn the North there 
was no summer. In Central. Illinois, north 
of Vandalia and as far south as Kaskaskia, 
every green crop was killed repeatedly, hs 
often as planted. Ice formed an inch thick 
in May, and frost and ice were common in 
June. On the 17th of June, ten inches of 
snow fell in Vermont, and three inches in 
Massachusetts. Ice and frost were frequent 
in July. On the 5th of July, ice, thick as 
window glass, formed all through Northern 
Illinois, and in August was half an inch 
thick. The latter part of September found 
ice an inch thick in Ohio. Southern Illinois 
was fortunate in its mildness of temperature, 
and harvested an abundant crop, the fame of 
which spread to all parts of the country and 
drew to this county a large immigration 
during the following years, from both the 
North and South. Sume of those families 
from Kentucky and North Carolina are men- 
tioned above. Long streams of teams from 
Central Illinois came here for cor . and pro- 



visions. This was one era in the settlement 
of Union County. The completion of the 
Illinois Central Railroad produced another 
era of settlement, and the breaking-out of 
the civil war produced a third era, or flow of 
immigration. Thus, Anna Precinct was set- 
tled, receiving its share of population during 
each of these periods. 

The organization of Anna Precinct was 
effected in 1866. Until this year, the voters 
of Anna and Anna Precinct had cast their 
ballots in Jonesboro at all county and State 
elections. For years, in the history of the 
early settlements, the roads were mei'e wao'on 
trails blazed through the timber, but with 
the organization of the county into precincts, 
the roads received more attention and were 
soon in a greatly improved condition. Popu- 
lation increased, churches were erected, and 
schoolhouses multiplied. There are now 
eight public schoolhouses in the precinct, 
several of them highly creditable to their 
districts, and well supplied with modern fur- 
niture, etc. Education is now an object of 
great care with the people throughout the 
precinct, and the rising generation will re- 
ceive a liberal amount of instruction under 
well qualified teachers. Of the country 
chu.rches, the Baptists have a flourishing 
society in a little church near Big Creek, four 
miles south of Anna, in Township 18 south, 
and Range 1 west. This church was organ- 
ized as "Big Creek" Church in 1852. The 
first pastor was F. M. Brown; the second 
pastor was H. H. Richai'dson; the third was 
S. L. Wisner; the fom'th was David Culp; 
the fifth and present pastor is W. A. Ridge. 
Each pastor served acceptably for several 
years. Two miles north of Anna is the 
Union or Casper Chm'ch, originally a log 
house, built in 1830. In 1847, the jjresent 
frame building was erected for the joint use 
of the German Reformed and Lutheran con- 



366 



HISTORY OF UNIOX COUNTY. 



gregations. D. H. Rendleman, Peter Siftord, 
David Miller, Jr., and Samuel Dillow com- 
posed the Building Committee, and the con- 
tract was let to Joshua Roberts. Near this 
church is the burial place of many of those 
whi) figured prominently in the early history 
of this precinct and county. 

The intelligence of the mass of the people 
was always adequate to the demand of the 
times, but the march of invention and im- 
provement was too rapid for the comprehen- 
sion of a few, as is the case in almost every 
community. An instance of this slowness to 
grasp the marvels of modern science occurred 
in 1854, soon after the completion of the 
railroad. A terrible drought had prevailed 
dm-ing the summer of that year and ruined 
the hopes of many v.t the hard-working farm- 
ers. It was while the fierce rays of the mid- 
summer sun were still scorching the growing 
crops, and withering and blasting the results 
of months of severe toil, that a large crowd 
of countrymen was gathered near the railroad 
some distance sou.th of the station, awaiting 
with eager curiosity the oncoming of the, to 
them, wonderful locomotive and its accom- 
panying train, whose advance had already 
been heralded by the more wonderful and 
mysterious electric wire. As the train sped 
by, faithful to its appointed time, the idea 
suddenly seized possession of some of the 
more superstitious, that the telegraph wire 
had conducted away to some remote region 
all the eh^ctricity belonging to this county, 
and consequently there could be no thunder 
storms and rain. This belief became con- 
tagious and quickly spread among the throng. 
The cry " Down with the poles ! Down with 
the wire!" was speedily followed by heavy 
axes borne to the front by strong arms, and 
it was only by extraordinary exertions that 
the wiser ones were able to save the telegraph 
line from destruction. The iron rails of the 



railroad track were alsopartly blamed for being 
concerned in causing this drought. The wrath 
of the farmers was not yet appeased, and 
another time was set for a general demolition 
of telegraph and railroad track. Preparations 
for an awful destruction and wrecking of 
these iron enemies of agriculture were made, 
but before the time arrived copious showers 
fell and watered the thirsting crops, and thus 
dispelled the disagreeable delusion. 

The principal crops raised before the com- 
pletion of the railroad, in 1854, were such 
grains as could be profitably fed to live stock 
or hauled to the river landing. Live stock, 
both then and since, has been an important 
factor in swelling the income from the Union 
County farms. After the railroad opened 
the Northern and Southern markets to our 
people, the fruits came largely into cultiva- 
tion. Gardening and the growing of early 
vegetables for shipment were also found 
profitable. In 1882, the shipments of early 
and mixed vegeftables from this precinct sta- 
tion amounted to 1,587,790 pounds; those of 
sweet potatoes to 2,860 barrels, in addition, 
equal to 514,800 pounds; those of spinach to 
2,260 cases, equal to 33,900 pounds. In this 
same year there were shipped 6,000 barrels 
of flour and 116 car loads of bulk wheat, 
equal to a total of 19,733 barrels of flour. 
The amount of melons shipped that year was 
121,670 pounds; in 1879, there were shipped 
from this precinct 1,210 crates of melons, 
besides 30 car loads of melons and cucumbers. 
In 1881, the strawberries shipped amounted 
to 450, 190 pounds. In 1880, the eggs shipped 
were 53,960 pounds, and of peaches that 
year there were shipped 32,040 pounds. In 
1879, the shipments from this precinct in- 
cluded 32,660 pou.nds of rhubard and 35,700 
pounds of raspberries. Of apples, there were 
shipped in 1877, by freight alone, 7,650 bar- 
rels and 4,615 boxes, besides 1,680 boxes by 





//fO^.../9U-^.,f.^ /^ ^ 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



369 



.press, a total of 1,502,900 pounds of apples. 

he same year there were shippud 372,700 
lounds of onions. Of live stuck, shipped in 
1880, there were 23 cars of hogs and 24 cars 
of cattle. All the above were shipped from 
Anna station during the respective years 
named, in connection, and do not, of course, 
represent the large amounts used at home and 
unsold. A full account of the rise and prog- 
ress of fruit culture and general horticulture 
in this county, will be found written in 
another chapter of this history. 

Other crops were also the subject of more 
or less experiment, among which was cotton. 
The production of this fibre in 1868 reached 
the amount of 1,300,000 pounds in Southern 
Illinois, of which Anna Precinct raised a 
proportionate part. Tobacco was consider- 
ably cultivated between the years 1860 and 
1870, but now hardly plays any part in the 
list of crops annually grown. Oats and rye 
are still favorite crops, to which some farm- 
ers add millet and sorghum for fodder pur- 
poses. Barley, flax and hemp have never 
been leading or popular crops in this pre- 
cinct. Of the minerals, lime abounds in 
large quantities, and is extensively quarried. 
In 1882, John Barringer discovered a three- 
feet seam of bituminous coal on his farm, 
about fifty feet below the surface. Indica- 
tions of coal in other places in this precinct 
have been noticed, but no coal in quantity 
has yet been mined here. The wool clip is 
not large, nor likely to increase so long as 
the people prefer dogs to sheep, the last cen- 
sus showing 410 dogs in this precinct, while 
a much larger number is not reported. The 
demand upon the forests for fuel has been 
large, and, in addition, there has been a big 
sacrifice of the best timber for ties and pil- 
ing, large quantities of both having been 
taken away. Nevertheless, the shipments of 
lumber have been constantly gaining in quan- 



tity, amounting last year, 1882, to sixty-two 
car loads. 

The dairy business has become quite an 
important industry. Tlie first dairy in this 
precinct was started in 1864, by C. L. Brooks, 
principally to supply the local trade and de- 
mand. This dairy terminated with the death 
of the proprietor, about eight years after. 
Edward G. Robinson was the next to venture 
into this new business. His dairy was start- 
ed in 1873, and supplied milk and butter to 
the local market and families. Mr. Robin- 
son's business increasing, he added to his 
dairy stock some choice Jersey cows, and be- 
gan shipping milk and butter to Cairo. His 
were the first shipments of these articles to 
that market from Anna, or from Union 
County, by a dairyman. In 1877, he kept 
twenty-four milk cows, averaged |90 mcmthly 
milk sales, and marketed in Cairo $55 worth 
of butter in April, and $84 worth of butter 
in May. In June and July, his butter sales 
in Cairo for the two months were $152. 
Bran at that time was worth $7 per ton at 
the mill. He used the rectangular churn, 
and set the milk in deep six-gallon stone jars 
in a spring house tank. This was really the 
beginning of the dairy business. Mr. Rob- 
inson's daily is still in operation, with grat- 
ifying success. Horace T. Eastman was the 
next man wise enough to embark in this 
profitable business. He started a butter dairj 
in 1877, and shipped the whole of his butter 
to Cairo. In 1879, he ceased the manufact- 
ure of butter and shipped only milk to 
Cairo, for hotel use. This milk shipment he 
still continues from a dairy of over thirty 
cows, and including home sales, averages 
about $200 as monthly sales. The next party 
to enter the dairy field was Miss Sarah E. 
Davis. She began in 1880 with one cow, 
and sold the milk to Mr. Eastman, increas- 
ing the number of cows as fast as possible 

21 



370 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



until she had nine cows. She then com- 
menced to fm-nish the steamboat trade in 
Cairo with milk, and took into partnership 
her brother, S. E. Davis. They still carry 
on the business together, with enlarged facil- 
ities and capital. In 1880, William Kratz- 
inger started a butter dairy, which he still 
keeps in oj)eration, and ships a choice article 
of Jersey butter to Cairo, supplying hotels 
and private families. This is the only sta- 
tion now shipping Union County milk to 
Cairo, the aggregate of which is about 17,- 
000 gallons annually. The total milk 
shipped in 1881 was only 11,200 gallons 
from this station. 

Bee-keeping is another industry or busi- 
ness that has arisen and grown in this coun- 
ty within a comparatively few years. Prior 
to 1866, there were a few "gums" of bees 
owned and kept by some of the bee-loving 
farmers, who depended more upon charms 
and whims for luck than upon skill or sys- 
tem. They believed it a cause of bad luck 
to sell a swarm. The price was marked on 
the "gum," and whoever bought the bees 
must deposit the mon^y on the stand and 
take the bees unseen by any of the owner's 
family. If discovered removing them, the 
charm was broken, and good luck departed 
with the bees. If any member of the own- 
er's family died, the bees must be told of 
the death, and a piece of crape attached to 
the hive, or the swarm would desert the 
place and fly away for a new home. When 
the bees swarmed they must be serenaded 
with tin pans, bells, tin horns, and anything 
that will make a noise, under the impression 
that the horrible din will cause the bees to 
settle. In 3859, D. S. Davie, of Anna, ex- 
perimented with a "palace hive," or a hive 
large enough to hold a ton of honey, but the 
experiment was a failure. In 1866, the not- 
ed California apiarist, John S. Harbison, 



came to Anna and started an apiary, for the 
purpose of rearing and selling Italian bees, 
queens, and his patented hives with mova- 
ble frames. Among the first to get and use 
the new hives were D. S. Davie, H. T. East- 
man and Jacob Hileman, of Anna Precinct. 
Others in the county also adopted the same 
hive and the Harbison system of manage- 
ment. D. S. Davie soon sold his bees to J. 
W^. Fuller, who still keeps quite an apiaiy. 
In the same neighborhood are H. T. East- 
man and John B. Miller, extensive bee-keep- 
ers, the three having an aggregate of over 
one hundred swarms. The profits of bee- 
keeping are large, very large, in proportion 
to the outlay and expense of maintenance. 
Almost every farmer in that portion of the 
precinct has a few swarms of bees. The 
shipments and sales of honey in this precinct 
during 1881 amounted to 6,110 pounds. It 
is found that the dairy industry and bee- 
keeping go well together. As the pastures 
are increased, the bees can also be increased 
in the same locality. At the present time,^ 
there are no apiarists in this section of coun- 
try who make a specialty of bee -keeping, but 
they conduct the business in connection with 
their farming operations or other pursuits. 
Thei'e are localities in the county where it 
could undoubtedly be made a success if a 
man should give it his whole attention. Mr. 
H. T. Eastman, who supplies much of the 
above information, has been instrumental in 
causing many to go into this business by his 
own extraordinary success with it. 

The area of this precinct, since the crea- 
tion of Saratoga Precinct, is about 17,280 
acres, with a population of about 1,600. The 
value of improved farming land varies from 
$20 to $30 per acre. The wages of farm 
hands range Erom $15 to $25 per month, 
with board. The agricultural progress of 
the precinct has thus been briefly sketched. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



371 



Outside of the city limits there has been lit- 
tle manufacturing done. In years gone by, 
there were a few horse mills, which supplied 
the needs of borne consumption. Now, the 
large steam-mills of the city convert large 
quantities of grain into flour for export. 

One of the most memorable events in the 
history of this precinct was the remarkable 
shower of ice which fell on May 6, 1869. 
The term " hail storm" fails to express the 
real nature and consequence of the storm. 



Blocks of ice nearly the size of a man's list 
fell in places in such quantities as to l>att(!r 
the bark from the trees, destroying the fruit 
crop, and pitting the earth with large holes, 
visible for months afterward. The steady 
progress being made in agriculture and hor- 
ticulture throughout the precinct, and the 
noticeable improvement in farms and build- 
ings, are evidence that the capabilities of the 
soil and people are in rapid development, 
and are indicative of a brilliant future. 



CHAPTER XIV/- 



CITY OF ANNA — THE LAYING-OUT OK A TOWN — ITS NAME — EARLY GROWTH AND PROG HKS8 
INCOKPORATED— FIRES— NOTABLE EVENTS— SOCIETIES, SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES— MANU- 
FACTURES— ORGANIZED AS A CITY— HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE— CITY FINANCES. 



"Towered cities please us then, 
And the busy hum of men, 
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes 
Rain influence." — Milton. 

C CITIES are generally founded with i-egard 
^ to some great commercial advantage, 
either as seaports possessing deep harbors 
adapted for trade with foreign countries; as 
manufacturing depots convenient to labor and 
fuel or water-power; or lastly, as agricultural 
centers in the heart of fertile regions where 
the products of the soil must be exchanged 
for those other commodities necessary for 
human comfort, enjoyment and health. It 
was rather the last of these influences, if 
either, that prompted the founding of the 
city of Anna. Though the town possesses a 
feminine appellation, there was nothing of 
romance connected with its origrin or naming. 
In the year 1850, the United States Gen- 
eral Government ceded a portion of the pub- 
lic lands lying within the State of Illinois 

* By Dr. .1 H. Saobotn. 



and extending fifteen miles on each side of 
the proposed line of railroad between Cairo 
and Dubuque and Chicago, to the State of 
Illinois to aid in the construction of the said 
railroad. These lands were conditionally re- 
conveyed to the railroad company, and in 
1852 the engineers were permanently locat- 
ing the line of the railroad. In 1853. they 
passed through Union County establishing 
and grading the line of the road-bed as now 
located, the intention being to make the 
shortest practicable route between the above- 
named cities. 

During the year 1853, Winstead Davie, 
who then owned the most of the land which 
is now the site of the city of Anna, and Col. 
Lewis W. Ashley, Division Engineer, who had 
come into possession of a portion of the 
same tract, determined to lay out a town at 
this point. The proper surveys were made by 
Francis H. Brown, the County Surveyor, and 
lots were laid out on both sides of Main 
street and the railroad. Mr. Davie decided 



372 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



to name the town in honor of his beloved 
wife Anna, and under this name the plat was 
entered upon the county records on March 
3, 1854. The railroad company had mean- 
while determined to establish a station here 
for the convenience of the laborers, and thus 
the nucleus of the present city was formed; 
but for many years (till 1873) the company 
persisted in calling this " Jonesboro Station," 
much to the chagrin and displeasure of the 
citizens. During the construction of the 
railroad in 1853, the trading by the laborers 
was done in Jonesboro. In the spring of 
1853, there were only four buildings on the 
site of the town of Anna as first incorporated 
(including a mile square, the east half of 
Section 19 and the west half of Section 20), 
viz., the old, original, log farmhouse, occu- 
pied by Basil Craig and belonging to the 
farm on which the city is located (this house 
is still standing, July, 1883, on the hill 
directly north of the Anna City Mills); a 
log house on the John Halpin place on Main 
street, still standing, owned and occupied in 
1853 by Levi Craver, and a log store back of 
Lot 132, kept by Charles Pardee, to which he 
added another building daring the fall, and 
took boarders. Mr. Pardee ran the first hack 
line between here and Jonesboro, which has 
now developed into quite a business. In the 
fall and winter of 1853, Bennett & Scott 
started a store on Lob 81, now owned by 
Oliver Alden. The fourth building, perhaps 
the oldest of all, was a log hou.se on Lot 143, 
now owned by J. E. Terpinitz. 

During 1854, building was active. W. W. 
Bennet built a house on the Mackey, now 
Lufkin place; S. E. Scott built the house 
now on Lot 5 ; C. C. Leonard built the Corgan 
house on Lot 14; Isaac L. Spence built the 
house on Lot 72, now owned by Mrs. Parks; 
Dr. McVean built Walter Willard's house on 
Lot 56, and Dr. Love built the house and 



store on Lot 124; D. L. Phillips built the 
European Hotel on Lot 105, and Winstead 
Davie erected the famous "Column Store" 
a large, two-story frame building, on Lot 82, 
at tne corner of Main and West Railroad 
streets. In all, about nineteen buildings 
were erected that year, including the school - 
house on Lot 45, at the corner of Franklin 
and Monroe streets, afterward consumed by 
fire. In the fall of that year, the first pas- 
senger train on the Southern Division of the 
Illinois Central Railroad passed through 
town, but the first through train over the 
main line of the railroad did not come 
through till the fall of the succeeding year, 
1855, on the 7th of August. During 1854, 
the first year in the history of the city of 
Anna, there occurred the following marriages 
of parties who have been more or less iden- 
tified with the origin, growth and prosperity 
of the city. On March 18, Shalem E. Scott 
and Lucy Ann Bennett, by D. L. Phillips, 
Esq. This was probably the first marriage 
that ever took place within the present cor- 
porate city limits. On March 26, Isaac L. 
Spence and Elizabeth T. Williams, by W. G. 
Nimmo, J. P. ; also James K. Walton and 
Mrs. Serena Walker, by James P. Edwards, 
Baptist minister. On April 11, Moses Good- 
man and Amanda C. Peeler, by Valentine G. 
Kimber, J. P. On May 19, Benjamin F. 
Mangold and Piety E. Cox, by P. H. Kroh, 
minister of the German Reformed Church. 

In 1855, the city progressed rapiiily in 
population and buildings, the principal 
structures erected consisting of several com- 
fortable dwellings, storehouses, and the 
Roman Catholic Church. The inhabitants 
of the town were full of enterprise, and very 
sanguine and hopeful of the suOTess of their 
city. As yet they had been living without 
any organized government, but on July 19 
there was an election held in pursuance of 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



373 



public notice, at whicli the following parties 
each cast one vote for incorporating the town 
of Anna, C. C. Leonard acting as Judge, 
and J. L. Spence as Clerk of the Election: 
for Incorporation, John Cochran, W. W. 
Bennett, J. J. Mangold, E. C. Green, S. E. 
Scott, B. F. Mangold, J, Halpin, J. Hunter, 
J. F. Ashley, W. Leonard, J. M. Ingraham, 
T. A. Brown, J. B. Jones, James I. Toler, 
A. W. Barnum, W. B. Stuart, T. J. Green, 
D. Love, G. B. Harrison, W. N. Hamby, J. 
T. Atkins, A. W. Eobinson, G. W. Feeright, 
J. Keer, C. G. Leonard and J. L. Spence. 
Against Incorporation, none. Total vote 
cast, twenty-six; unanimously for the incor- 
poration of the town. 

At an election held in the town of Anna, county 
of Union, State of Illinois, on Saturday, July 28, 
1855, agreeably to public notice given, for the pur- 
pose of electing live Trustees for said town, the fol- 
lowing persons having received a majority of all the 
votes cast, are declared duly elected Trustees for 
one year next ensuing from the date of their elec- 
tion, or until their successors are elected. 

David L. Phillips, 
C. C. Leonard, 
W. W. Bennett, 
W. N. Hamby, 
John Cochran. 
Attest: J. L. Spence, Clerk. 

C. C. Leonard, Judge. 

early ordinances, etc 
The above constitute the first official docu- 
ments connected with the inception and es- 
tablishment of the city of Anna. At the 
first meeting of the Trustees, W. W. Bennett 
was elected President, and John Halpin 
Clerk. The first steps taken by the first 
Trustees of this city, at their first business 
meeting, were the passage of three memor- 
able ordinances, the first of which is a last- 
ing monijjQent of their wisdom, and re- 
strained the sale and use of intoxicating 
liquors in the following stringent terms: 
Ordinance No. 1, passed August 10, 1855: "Be it 



ordained by the President and Trustees of the town 
of Anna, that, from and after the 1st day of Sep- 
tember next, no person shall sell, barter, exchange 
or give away any spirituous or malt liquors or wine 
in any quantitj' less than one baiTel, unless for 
medical purpose, and in no such case for medicine 
imless ordered by a regular physician ; and auj- per- 
son who shall violate this ordinance shall forfeit 
and pay for the first offense the sum of $50, and 
for every other offense not exceeding f 90, which 
fines shall be sued for and recovered by any Justice 
of the Peace in and for Union County. 

John Halpin, Clerk. 

W. W. Bennett, President." 

Thus was the city of Anna born a tem- 
perance town of the strictest type. This or- 
dinance continued in force three years, till 
its repeal August 21, 1858. From the date 
of the city's birth up to the present time, its 
best citizens have been strong advocates of 
temperance, and foremost in every movement 
to restrain and prevent the use of intoxicat- 
ing liquors. Other ordinances to accomplish 
the same purpose have been passed and re- 
pealed, from time to time, after short trials 
of their efficacy, and as the preponderance 
of the votes cast favored or disfavored the 
cause of temperance. In 1877, the blue rib- 
bon and the red ribbon temperance organiza- 
tions and clubs swept the saloons out of 
Anna, and the city has been free of them 
from that time to this. 

The second ordinance established the 
limits of the town as extending " one half 
mile from the northeast corner of Lot No. 14 
each way." On September 6, 1858, the 
boundary lines were established by ordi- 
nance as containing the east half of Section 
19 and the west half of Section 20, in Town- 
ship 12 south, of Range 1 west, of the Third 
Principal Meridian. On the 8th day of Sep- 
tember, 1869, an ordinance was passed ex- 
tending the city limits so as to include the 
south half of Section 17, the east half of Sec- 
20, the north half of Section 29, and all of 



374 



HISTORY OF U:fnON COUNTY. 



the northwest quarter of Section 19 not in- 
chided in the legally established boundaries 
of the city of Jonesboro, all in the township 
above mentioned. 

A third ordinance called for the taking of 
a census, and D. L. Phillips, B. L. Wiley 
and J. M. Ingraham were appointed census- 
takers. This census, taken during August, 
]855, the first official enumeration of the in- 
habitants of the city of Anna, showed the 
following heads of families, with thenum- 
ber of individuals belonging to each: M. 
C. Massey, 4; John Halpin, 4; M. Thorp, 5; 
W. W. Bennett, 10; Mrs. Bay, 4; S. E. 
Scott. B; William Melton, 12; J. E. Ingra- 
ham. 4; R. Stubblefield, 4; B. F. Mangold, 3; 
C. Hendersou, 2; Mrs. Blackstone, 4; J. 
Humpter, 4; E. C. Green, 5; Zadoc Elms, 3; 
C. C. Leonard, 7; M. Freeman, 5; G. B. 
Harrison, 8; T. Brown, 4; Mrs. Davis, 4; J. 
C. Hacker, 5; W\ N. Hamby, 8; D. Love, 6; 
James Musgrave, 12; A. S. Jones, 2; I. L. 
Speace, 5; A. S. Barnum, 4; Thomas Green, 
7; J. Tripp, 6; James I. Toler, 7; John Coch- 
ran, 9; James Faulkner, 9; J. B. Jones, 8; 
John Keer, 4; G. Brown, 6; G. Elms, 3; G. 
Barnwell, 6; D. L. Phillips (hotel), 25; A. 
Bartlett, 7; Mrs. Henderson, 6. Total popu- 
lation of the town, 251. 

This organization continued in force until 
a special charter was passed by the General 
Assembly of the State of Illinois, which was 
approved February 16, A. D. 1865, and on 
June 5, A. D. 1865, the President and Trust- 
ees put said charter into full force and effect. 
This organization was continued until 
amended by an act of the General Assembly, 
approved Mai'ch 8, 1867. 

The President and Trustees ordered that 
an election be held on the 18th day of July, 
1872, when the qualified electors cast seventy 
votes for dividing the town into wards, and 
for the election of a Mayor and Alderman; 



and eight votes were cast against said propo- 
sition, and upon the result of said election, 
the President and Trustees did, by ordinance, 
divide the town into four wards and ordered 
an election for a Mayor, and one Alderman 
from each ward. The said election was held 
on the 12th day of August, 1872, when C. 
Kirkpatrick was elected Mayor, and W^illiam 
M. Brown, Alderman of First Ward; C. 
Nordling, Alderman of Second Ward; A. D. 
Finch, Alderman of Third Ward; F. S. 
Dodds, Alderman of Fourth Ward. 

An election was held at the Council Cham- 
ber in Anna, on the 22d day of October, A. 
D. 1872, and at said election there were cast 
sixty-seven votes for city organization under 
the general law, and none against city organi- 
zation under the general law. On the 4th 
day of November, A. D. 1872, the town Coun- 
cil of Anna declared that by virtue of the 
aforesaid election, the town of Anna became 
organized as a city under the general law of 
the State of Illinois, as provided by an act 
entitled "An act for the incorporation of 
cities and villages, passed and approved 
April 10, A. D. 1872." 

By ordinance passed and approved March 
3, 1873, the city of Anna was divided into 
three wards, limited as follows: 

Ward No. 1 shall contain all the territory 
lying within the city limits north and north- 
east of the Illinois Central Railroad. Ward 
No. 2 shall contain all that portion of terri- 
tory lying west of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road and south of Main street. Ward No. 3 
shall contain all the remaining territory of 
said city lying west of the Illinois Central 
Railroad and north of Main street. 

As provided in Section 48 of the city and 
village act, approved April 10, 1872, an 
election was held on Tuesday, April 15, 
1873, at which election C. Kirkpatrick was 
elected Mayor; W'illiam M. Brown and J. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



170 



O. Sublett, Aldermen of First Ward; T. M. 
Perrine and J. L. Inscore, Aldermen of Sec- 
ond Ward; P. P. Barlow and P. H. Kroh, 
Aldermen of Third Ward. And as provided 
in said act, the annual election for city offi- 
cers has been regularly held on the third 
Tuesday in April of each and every year, up 
to and including the year A. D. 1883. 

Growth of the City. — C. Kirkpatrick con- 
tinued to act as MayoL' till April 17, 1877, 
beiug re-elected in 1875. He was succeeded 
in 1877 by William M. Brown, who was 
Mayor till 1879. At his election, the friends 
of temperance gained a lasting victory, cast- 
ing 156 votes against licensing saloons to 81 
votes in favor of saloons. This memorable 
victory has since been repeated in the other 
towns of the county, until the whole county 
■ has become a unit in sentiment in opposition 
to saloons. On April 19, 1879, John Spire 
was elected Mayor, and was re-elected to the 
same office in 1881. On April 17, 1883, C. 
Kirkpatrick was again elected Mayor without 
opposition. 

The progress of the city was steady, 
and the improvements of a nature solid 
and lasting. In June, 1865, just ten years 
from the date of the organization of the 
town, and on the year of its special char- 
ter by act of the State Legislature, the total 
valuation of real and personal property, as 
assessed in the town of Anna, was $168,704. 
This valuation, however, was immediately 
following the war, when prices of real estate 
had risen to figures unwarranted by the bus- 
iness transacted — figures that soon declined 
to a proper level with those of the previous 
years The Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany had become an immense corporation, 
doing a tremendous amount of business, for 
many years the greatest in the whole West. 
Anna was a constant gainer through this 
channel, and through its means and by the 



enterprise of its citizens, has grown in thirty 
years to become the most populous and 
thrifty town in the county, while its original 
four log buildings have meantime multi- 
plied into over 300 dwellings, besides store- 
houses and manufacturing establishments 
not counted. 

Judge John Cochran was the first railroad 
agent at this station during the transition 
period from wilderness to settled town. He 
was one of the most active in promoting 
every measure that looked to the prosperity 
of the settlement, and was succeeded in of- 
fice by Nathan Dresser, afterward Post- 
master. The next manager of the railroad 
interests in this town was W. Walker, who 
was succeeded by J. H, Samson, a most 
efficient officer, who is still in the "railroad 
land" and real estate business in Jonesboro. 
C. B. Crittenden succeeded Mr. Samson, 
and was himself followed by J. H. Hine, 
after whom Mr. Crittenden was re- instated 
in his old office, and attended to railroad 
matters as before. T. C. Turley was the 
next railroad agent at this station, and left 
here to take a position in the land depart- 
ment at Centralia. Mr. Turley was succeed- 
ed by N. Meisenheimer, the present very capa- 
ble agent, who has most faithfully managed 
the a£fairs of the company at this station for 
the past nine years, the business often de- 
manding one or two assistants in the fruit 
season. 

The mercantile business has kept pace with 
the growth of the town, and at times exceed- 
ed the needs of the population. The one 
store of Bennett & Scott, in 1853, was fol- 
lowed in 1854 by the hardwaie store of B. 
L. Wiley, the dry goods store of D. D. Cover 
& Moses Goodman, the general merchandise 
store of Daniel Davie, and by other stores in 
rapid succession. Diu'ing the erection of 
the Illinois Southern Hospital for the Insane 



376 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



at this place, the mercantile business so in- 
creased that the establishment of some kind 
of a banking house and money exchange be- 
came an absolute necessity. At this juncture, 
C. M. Willard, in January, 1873, opened the 
Union County Bank in his store on Lot 129, 
at the corner of West Railroad and Main 
streets. C. Nordling was the first depositor 
in this bank. It was destroyed in the lire of 
April 22, 1879, but was rebuilt during the 
fall of that year, and is still doing a large 
business. The hotels have been prosperous 
from the first, and while fire destroyed other 
portions of the town no hotel has as yet 
been a suiferer. The European, already 
mentioned, was followed by the erection of 
the Verble House and the St. Nicholas Hotel. 
In 1870, W. Davie built the Winstead House, 
now Otrich House, a large three- story brick 
structure costing $10,000, which, with tl;e 
European, will rank as first-class hotels. 

The first pretentious mansion erected was 
that of Col. L. W. Ashley, which yet stands, 
though in the possession of J. C. Peeler. It 
is a fine specimen of the aesthetic tastes of 
the builder, wainscoted and paneled in the 
Elizabethian style, with decorated ceilings 
and ornamentations at once unique and 
pleasing. Among the other and more re- 
cently erected residences which lend a charnx 
to the city by their beauty of design or el- 
egance of lawns and shrubbery, may be men- 
tioned those of E. H. Finch, A. D. Finch, 

C. M. Willard, Walter AVillard and L. P. 
Wilcox. That of Mr. Wilcox was built by 

D. L. Phillips in 1856-57. The well-kept 
lawns around these residences are models of 
elegance. The first brick building erected 
in Anna was the small square dwelling on 
Lot 34 on South street, adjoining the Luther- 
an Church, and built by John Stiner in 1856. 

As is evidenced by the numerous springs 
of clear water that burst forth in many por- 



tions of the city, the surface overlies streams 
of living water in the greatest abundance. 
Nevertheless, the people largely prefer cis- 
terns to wells. In 1854 and 1855, much 
trouble was experienced in procuring water, 
which was carried in buckets long distances. 

In 1856, the town authorities ordered the 
digging of the public well on Washington 
street. A living stream, inexhaustible in 
quantity, was reached. In 1860, the public 
well at the pottery of C. & W. Kirkpatrick 
added a new supply, which was still further 
increased in 1880 by the public well on 
Franklin street. In the latter, the water 
was found at a depth of about twelve feet. 
Several private wells, and some on the 
grounds of the Southern Illinois Fair Asso- 
ciation; fm'nish water without limit at a 
depth of only ten or twelve feet below the 
surface. 

In 1870, fifteen years from the organiza- 
tion of the town, there were but three brick 
business houses within the corporate limits, 
viz., that of C. M. Willard, on the corner of 
Main streeb; the Corgan store, on Lot 133, and 
that of Jesse Lentz, on Lot 126, built in 
1868. The only other brick buildings in 
town at the commencement of the year 1870, 
were the residences of Jesse Lentz, James 
M. Smith, Cyrus Shiek, Daniel Davie, C. 
Nordling, Charles M. Willard and J. Stiner, 
as before mentioned. Du.ring 1870, the 
erection of the Winstead House added two 
moi'e brick stores, on the first floor. From 
1870 to 1876, several brick buildings were 
erected fronting the railroad, including the 
post office building, by J. B. Miller, C. K. 
Park's drug store, the Alden Evaporating 
House, and other buildings. 

On February 28, in 1876, occurred the 
first of the great fires which devastated the 
business portion of the town of Anna, In 
this fire were consumed the stores and ware- 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



377 



house of T. M. Perrine, on the corner of 
Main street, and the grooery store and ware- 
house belonging to J. E. Lufkin, besides 
several other smaller buildings. In 1872, 
August 4, there was a smaller fire on Main 
street, which burned the stores of J. E. Ter- 
pinitz and J. T. Carroll, and the dwelling 
of Mrs. Seay. The lire of 1876 was fol- 
lowed in 1877 by the erection of a block of 
two-slory brick business houses, on the old 
site by J. E. Lufkin and L. P. Wilcox. 
The same year, 1877, the Brockman wagon 
shops, facing the depot, were converted by 
M. V. Ussery into an opera house, with two 
business rooms on the first floor, and a large 
concrete warehouse in the rear. The Alden 
Evaporator was ateo changed into a business 
block, with two stores below, offices on the 
second floor, and the Armory Hall on the 
third floor. J. C. Peeler that year erected 
his brick store on Lett 130, with a hall on the 
second floor for the secret societies. 

On April 22, 1879, occurred the second 
memoi'able lire, the worst that has yet vis- 
ited the city. Ten buildings were destroyed, 
including C. \\.. Wil lard's fine brick block 
on the corner of Main street, the three-story 
building belonging to C. H. Williford, the 
stores of Miss S. E. McKinney, C. M. Wil- 
lard, C. L. Otrich, J. L. Inscore, Kirkham & 
Brown. Herts & Craver, J. D. Walters and 
A. D. Bohannon; the offices of Dr. "A. D. 
Finch, Dr. J. I. Hale, Dr. F. S. Dodds and 
T. H. Phillips; Mi's. D. Cover's residence, 
and other property. A general rebuilding 
followed. Messrs. J. E. and J. M. Cover 
and W. M. Brown erected a twostory block 
on the old site, and C. M. Willard built a 
two- story banking house. Messrs. R. John- 
son, J. E. Lentz, E. Babcock and C. Nord- 
ling built the Union Block on Lots 130 and 
J 31, uniting with J. C. Peeler's building 
alreadv mentioned. Oliver Alden erected a 



two-story brick building, occupied since as 
The Farmer and Fruit Grower printing 
and publishing house, where is weekly issued 
the only agricultural and horticultural jour- 
nal published in Southern Illinois; estab- 
lished in 1877 by H. C. Bouton, the present 
editor and proprietor. 

Among the other notable events of the year 
1879 was the construction of the sidewalk 
uniting Anna with Jonesboro. On May 1 i 
of this year, there was a re-union of the Hile- 
man family, one of the oldest families in the 
county, at the residence of Jacob Hileman. 
Seveuty-two members of the family were 
present, the oldest member being Mrs. 
Christian Hileman. She was born in North 
Carolina, and came here in 1817, when 
twelve years old, with her parents. At that 
time all produce was hauled to the river, 
where the trading was done. Clothing was 
all made at home, and it was not till she was 
twenty-six years old that her first calico drees 
was bought at a cost of 36 cents a yard, the 
second calico dress costing 50 cents a yard. 
Mrs. Hileman weighed 184 pounds, and 
with eight of her descendants weighed 
1,732 pounds, an average of 193 pounds. 
Fifteen of the famil}-^ were absent. The no- 
table events of 1880 were the annual fair of 
the Southern Illinois Fair Association, on its 
grounds in Anna, from August 31 to Septem- 
ber 3; and the death in December of IVIi's. 
Anna Davie, after whom the city took its 
name. 

At the incorporation of the town in 1855, 
D. L. Phillips secured the establishment of 
a post office here, and was appointed the fu'st 
Postmaster. He was succeeded by John B. 
Jones, who was removed after a few months, 
owing to certain tamperings with the mail by 
his son. Rev. John McConnell was the next 
appointee. He was succeeded by Nathan 
Dresser, at whose death his wife Nancy E. 



•378 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



Dresser, was appointed Postmistress. Thomas 
H. Phillips was the next Postmaster, and held 
the office till October 23, 1873, when John B. 
Miller, the present officer, was appointed.. 
For ten years Mr. Miller has served the citi- 
zens as Postmaster, most efficiently and satis- 
factorily, having the good will, approval and 
esteem of the entire community. 

Societies. — The secret societies which hold 
their meetings in Anna are well established, 
and include in membership a large proportion 
of the intelligent population. Egyptian 
Chapter, No. 45, of Royal Arch Masons was 
instituted October 5, 1858. The charter 
members were M. M. Inman, J. H. Samson, 
L. W. Ashley, H. O. Gray, A. F. W. Bur- 
master, T. J. Chapman, H. (1 Hacker, L. W. 
Hogg, T. Q. Searle, J. F Smith, H. A. Sykes, 
W. C. Gleason, W. H. Willard, J. V. Brooks, 
Adam Harvie, W. M. Hamilton, Samuel Hess, 
Silas C. Toler. Anna Lodge of A., F. & 
A. Masons, No. 520, was instituted October 
1, 1867, with the following cLarter members: 
N. Dresser, M. V. B. Harwood, F. S. Dodds, 
J. D. Smith, J. A. McKinney. C. Kirkpat- 
rick, J. I. Toler, P. H. Kroh, Jesse Roberts, 
A. W. Robinson, W. H. Willard, E. A. Free- 
man, John Harwood, C. M. Willard, Jr., C. 
Shick, E. H. Finch, J. P. Bohannon, M. M. 
Inman and F. E. Scarsdale. The first officers 
were N. Dresser, W. M. ; C. Kirkpatrick, S. 
W. ; W. H. Willard, J. W. The officers of 
the Grand Lodge conferring the charter were 
AV. Jerome, G. M. ; N. W. Huntley, Deputy 
G. M.; Charles A. Fisher, S. G. W., and 
John W. Clyde, J. G. W., pro tern. 

Hiawatha Lodge, No. 291, L O. O. F., was 
established by the Grand Lodge of Illinois, 
on October 11, 1860. B. J. F. Hanna, G. M., 
Samuel Willard, G. Secretary. The original 
members were C. Kirkpatrick, Jacob M. Bris- 
bin, George W. Mumaugh, T. M. Perrine, 
and J. E. Terpinitz. Anna Encampment, 



No. 69, I. O. O. F. , was established October 
10, 1876. Jacob Krohn, G. Patriarch, J. C. 
Smith, G. Scribe. The original members 
were C. Kirkpatrick, E A. Finch, J. E. Ter- 
pinitz, T. M. Perrine, W. Kirkpatrick, A. J. 
Smith and B. F. Mangold. 

The " Supreme Lodge of Protection," of 
the Knights and Ladies of Honor, granted a 
charter to lonett Lodge, No. 315, at Anna, 
on October 1, 1881. H. A. Gage, Supreme 
Protector, Freeman Wright, Supreme Secre- 
tary. The lodge was instituted May 20, 1880, 
with the following charter members: H. C. 
Bouton, Mrs. A. D. Bouton, F. L, Harris, 
Mrs. I. Harris, C. F. McNamee, Mrs. L. E. 
McNamee, E. A. Finch, Mrs. A. D. Finch, 
J. M. Shipley, G. H. Galvin, S. J. Owen, 
Mrs. M. Ottmar, J. W. Dandridge, Mr.s. E. F. 
Dandridge, A. W. Sims, W. S. Meisenheimer, 
Mrs. M. S. Meisenheimer, C. W. Hunsaker, 
Mrs. E. S. Hunsaker, H. M. Dietrich. Anna 
Lodge, No. 1892, of the Knights of Honor 
was instituted Nov. 20, 1879, and a charter 
was granted by the Supreme Lodge on August 
25, 1880. W. B. Hoke, S. D., J. C. Plum- 
mer, S. R., to the following charter members: 
J. E. Lufkin, J. D. Lynch, E. T. Lewis, N. 
Meisenheimer, B. W. Manees, W. S. Meisen- 
heimer, David McNamee, Daniel Northern, T. 
H. Phillips, W. H. Smart, J. M. Shipley, C. 
H. Shafer, A. W. Sims, H. P. Tuthill, C. M. 
Willard, Jr., P. C, Willoughby, H. F. War- 
ren, A. G. Britton, George Kranz, J. W. 
Lowery, W. Kratzinger, J. I. Hale, C. H. 
Hughes, G. W. Hunsaker, W. M. Green, A. 
D. Finch, E. A. Finch, H. M. Dietrich, F. 
S. Dodds, J. W. Dandridge, W. H. Clark, E. 
W. Cover, A. Beecher, A. D. Bush, D. W. 
Bvown, F. P. Anderson. 

Of the non-secret societies, the " People's 
Library Society" was organized in 1879, and 
has at the present time 160 volumes in its 
library. Rev. C. W. Sifferd is President and 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



379 



AV alter Grear, Secretary. A series of meet- 
ings in the interest of temperance was 
opened in this city on Tuesday, November 
20. 1877, by Dr. Henry A. Eeynolds, of 
Maine. On the 22d, an organization of a 
"Reform Club" was effected, whicli soon 
numbered 150 members. Upon the eradica- 
tion of saloons from the city, the work of the 
Reform Club was gradually thrown upon the 
" Women's Christian Temperance Union," 
and the club ceased existence. The Wom- 
en's Christian Temperance Union, which was 
organised in 1878, has been active in its 
labors, and it is almost entirely through the 
untiring exertions and watchfulness of the 
ladies composing this society that this city 
maintains its standing as a temperance com- 
munity. Its present officers are Mrs. J. K. 
Thompson, President; Mrs. S. A. Fletcher, 
Secretary; Mrs. A. Davie, Corresponding 
Secretary; Mrs. A. W. Sims, Treasurer. The 
society now numbers over fifty members. 

The Anna Literary Society and Lyceum 
has held meetings and debates weekly dur- 
ing cool weather every year since 1860, 
changing its officers semi annually. The 
" Nineteenth Century Club " was organized 
in the fall of 1882, and holds meetings every 
Sunday afternoon for conversation on relig- 
ious topics and the free interchange of opin- 
ion. Oliver Alden is President. The "Anna 
Driving Club " was organized in 1881, and 
holds annual races on the 4th of July. Its 
officers are E. H. Finch, President; J. E. 
Lentz, Treasurer; M. V. Eaves, Secretary; 
G. yV. Norris, Master of Arena. This club 
is auxiliary to the Southern Illinois Fair As- 
sociation. 

On the completion of the brick schoolhouse 
in 1869, classes in music were formed and 
instruction in reading by note and solfeggio 
practice given. A glee club was organized, 
concerts were given by the pupils, and an 



organ purchased with the proceeds and 
placed in the high school room. A taste 
for music rapidly developed. Musical in- 
struments multiplied in all parts of the city. 
The church choirs were well filled with young 
singers having musical voices. From that 
time on, the young people gave much atten- 
tion to music. Under the leadership of J. 
E. Terpinitz, a fine brass band was formed, 
which for years furnished music at all cele- 
brations and on public occasions. Mr. Ter- 
pinitz was devoted to music, and infused 
into others his enthusiasm for the art. 

From the year 1870 to the present time, 
the young people of Anna have been noted, 
at home and abroad, as possessing a remark- 
able degree of dramatic and musical talent. 
The Anna Dramatic Society, formed in 1870, 
brought upon the stage many difficult 
dramas, which were performed in a manner ex- 
ceedingly creditable to the youth of this city. 
The. drama gradually gave place to the con- 
cert, the cantata, the operetta and the opera. 
In 1882, the Anna Choral Society was 
started, with the following charter members: 
Charles H. Ward, Daniel W'. Perrine, Charles 
L. Otrich, Winifred Sanborn, and Winsted 
D. Walton. The society has produced 
the operas Patience and loJanthe, besides 
concerts, etc., in a highly artistic and credit- 
able manner. The first reed instrument 
used in town was the melodeon, belonging to 
Lewis W. Ashley, in 1855. The first piano 
was used by Mrs. Daniel Davie, in 1859. In 
1860, C. M. Willard brought the second 
piano to town. On January 1, 1870, there 
were four pianos and three organs in the 
city. 

The latest musical organization is the 
Union County Philharmonic Society, formed 
in Anna in April, 1883. This society com- 
prises the best musical talent in the county, 
and was organized for self-calture rather 



380 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



than money profit. Its present officers are 
F. P. Grear, President; Will C. Ussery, Sec- 
retary; George Spire, Treasurer, and J. E. 
Terpinitz, Musical Conductor. The enthusi- 
asm for music among the people may be 
judged from the fact that in 1880 there were 
five brass bands in the county, namely: One 
in Jonesboro, Anna, Cobden, Dongola, and 
at the hospital for the insane. 

Public Schools. — The city of Anna has 
ever been justly proud of her public schools. 
The first schoolhouse, built in 1854, on the 
coruer of Franklin and Monroe streets, was 
destroyed by fire. The city then built the 
frame schoolhouse on Lot 28, donated by W. 
Davie, and adjoining the fair grouads, about 
1860. In this building, the youth of the city 
were educated, from 1860 to 1870, under 
Mr. Young, Mr. Congor, William Cochran, 
E. Babcock, J. M. Brisbin, John Green, C. 
L. Brooks, H. Andrews, A. Inman, W. H. 
Hubbell and J. H. Sanborn. In 1869, the 
city felt the need of a new building and 
larger accommodations. The district direct- 
ors, Messrs. C. M. W^illard, Cyrus Shick and 
L. P. Wilcox, issued bonds as needed, and 
erected under contract the present large and 
elegant three-story brick edifice on Lot 23, in 
the northwestern part of the town, at a total 
cost, including furniture, of about $22,500. 
The bonds, which originally bore ten per 
cent interest, have been reduced in amount 
to $10,000, bearing six per cent interest. 

On W^ednesday, January 5, 1870, the chil- 
dren were moved from the small frame build- 
ing before mentioned, where the total enroll- 
ment was 126 pupils, to the new house, 
where the number was increased to 237 
pupils, with J. H, Sanborn as Principal in 
charge. The school was thoroughly graded, 
and remained in a highly prosperous con- 
dition for three years under the charge of the 
same Principal. Since then, the following 



gentlemen have acted as Principals, assum- 
ing control in the fall of the year named in 
connection with each name: In 1872, W. 
H. Hubbell; in 1873, W. C. Smith; in 1875, 
A. B. Strowger; in 1876, F. S. Wood, who 
resigned in January, 1877, the remainder of 
the term being completed with H. C. Forbes 
as Principal; in 1877, James England; in 
1879, J. H. Sanborn. On January 5, 1880, 
just ten years from the opening of the new 
building, andwiih the same Principal again 
in charge of the school, the total enrollment 
had increased to 353 pui:)ils, requiring six 
teachers. In the fall of 1880, S. P. Myers 
took charge of the school, which position he 
resigned after about two months, and was 
succeeded by W. C. Rich, Jr. In 1881, J. 
R. Deans was Principal, and was succeeded 
in 1883 by James England. 

At the present time, there is urgent need of 
additional school facilities, the lower grades 
being exceedingly cramped for room. This 
pressure is about to be relieved by the open- 
ing of an academical school in the frame 
schoolhouse, under the charge of W". V\'. 
Faris and C. W. Sififerd. Quite a number 
of the Catholic children receive instruction 
from the priest, and some of the older youth 
attend schools elsewhere. The census o!: 
1880 showed this school disti-ict to number 
311 males and 381 females under twenty- 
one years of age; total, 722, of whom there 
were 218 males and 249 females between the 
ages of six and twenty-one, or 467 schoolable 
children. 

Churches. — The people of Union County 
have always been largely influenced by re- 
ligious sentiment, and the church has been 
an object of solicitude and care from the 
earliest settlement to the present time. The 
earlier settlers were from North Carolina 
mostly, and were mostlj' Lutherans. In the 
year 1817, a company of immigrants composed 



HI8T0RY OF UNION COUNTY. 



381 



of John Yost, John Miller, Jacob Rendle- 
man and a few others from Rowan County, 
N. C. , arrived and settled in Union County. 
The county had already been settled to a 
limited extent, but the great earthquake in 
1811 dispersed the people, some returning to 
their old homes and others penetrating fur- 
ther into the great wild West. Thus these 
pioneer homes were vacant fi'om 1811 till 
1817, on the arrival of the first immigrrants 
from North Carolina. In the following year, 
others arrived, among whom was Adam Cruse, 
and in 1819 another party came, of which 
Jacob Hileman was one. The fourth arrival 
was in 1820, and included John Fink and 
others. These families chiefly settled south 
of what is now the town of Jonesboro. but a 
few settled north of and around that point. 
These immigrants were brethren from the 
North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church. During the first two 
years after their arrival, there was no church 
organization, but in 1819 a congregation 
known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
of St. John was organized, and in the year 
1822 a log church was built by the Reformed 
and Lutherans, near the line which divides 
the old cemetery from the new addition made 
by Wiley Barnbert. Diu'ing these years, 
there was no regular pastor. Religious serv- 
ices were held usually in the house of John 
Miller, grandfather of Adam M. Miller, who 
now occupies the old homestead. Rev. J. H. 
C. Shoenberg, of the North Carolina Synod, 
was the first pastor, though Rev. Murrets 
preached and taught school during 1828-24. 
Mr. Shoenberg was the first Lutheran mis- 
sionary sent to the State of Illinois. His 
health failing, he resigned in 1829. Daniel 
Scherer, of the North Carolina Synod, ar- 
rived in Illinois in 1831. He lived in Hills- 
boro and visited this congregation and Cas- 
per Church once every three months during 



the three years of his ministration. Rev. 
Pasthour, his successor, remained only a 
short time. Edward Armstead came in 1837, 
and remained as pastor seven or eight years. 
The charge, composed of St. John and Union, 
or Casper Churches, then remained vacant 
until the arrival of John Krack of Louis- 
ville, Ky., who served as pastor until 1854. 
Meanwhile, the Mount Pisgah Church was 
erected in 1853, and the parsonage in Jones- 
boro in 1850, on the lot donated by Willis 
Willard. 

October 1, 1854, Daniel Jenkins became 
the pastor. Under the labors of this able and 
zealous man, the church prospered greatly. 
The log house was sold, and in 1855 a new 
church building was erected on the same 
ground by Jacob Barnbert, contractor. In 
November, 1856. S. W. Harkey, D. D., and 
other clergymen, organized the Evangelical 
Lutheran Synod of the Southwest, the officers 
at that time being Daniel Jenkins, Pastor; 
Jacob Dillow and Jacob Barnbert, Elders; 
Jacob Miller and Samuel Hileman, Deacons. 
Rev. D. Jenkins died on June 21, 1861; H. 
M. Brewer, of Pennsylvania, succeeded him 
as pastor, and remained until March, 1863. 
Isaac Albright was his successor during 1864 
and 1865, Rev. I. Short, meantime, serving 
the Mount Pisgah congregation. 

In 1865, D. Sprecher, of Iowa, was called 
to serve Union, St. John's, Mount Pisgah, 
Jonesboro, Meisenheimer Schoolhouse, and 
one or two other places. In ] 866, the charge 
was divided into the Dongola and Jonesboro 
pastorates. In 1866, Rev. H. M. Brewer or- 
ganized a congregation in Dongola, and soon 
afterward began the erection of a church, the 
parsonage being completed in 1867. In 
March, 1868, J. R. Shoffner, of Tennessee, 
was called to the charge, which had by this 
time become entirely English, and on June 
10, 1869, an English constitution for St. 



382 



HISTORY OF UNIOX COUNTY. 



John's Chiirch was adopted. Kev. Shoffner 
remained three years and two months, during 
which time fifty members were added to the 
charge, and the Anna Church was organized. 
L. C. Groseclose, of North Carolina, became 
pastor April 1, 1873, and resigned the charge 
on July 1, 1874, from which time to May, 

1875, the charge was again without a pas- 
tor. 

April 1, 1885, at a council meeting of the 
charge, J. Treese, A. N. Eddleman and M. 
N. Heilig only were present out of sixteen 
members. These three determined to call a 
pastor at their own expense,*if need be, and 
addressed C. W. Sifferd, then a student at 
the Theological Seminar}^ in Philadelphia. 
He accepted the call, arrived in Anna on May 
7, and preached at St. John's on Sunday, 
May 9. After five months' service, he was 
elected pastor by the three congregations of 
Anna, Union and St. John's without a dis- 
senting vote. On January 30, 187G, the 
council bought the Lots 29 and 30, in W. 
Davie's Third Addition to the town of Anna, 
and the house thereon, at a cost of $600, for 
the use of the pastor, and on February 1, 

1876, the pastor and family took possession. 
In January, 1878, the Anna congregation 
purchased Lot 33, and on May 1 the corner- 
stone of the new church was laid, an appro- 
priate address being made by Rev. A. L. 
Yount. On August 11, the building was 
dedicated, free of debt, and soon afterward 
the organ and bell were purchased. 

About the year 1850, some German Luther- 
ans from Austria settled two miles south of 
Jonesboro, on Dutch Creek. In 1854, they 
began the erection ol the St. Paul's Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church. Among the prom- 
inent men connected with the church were 
Joseph Myer, Sr. , and Joseph Kollenner. 
The Lutheran Church in the county, German 
and Euglish, numbers about 600 communi- 



cants, and for convenience has been written to- 
gether in this chapter. The German con- 
gregation belongs to the Iowa Synod; the 
English congregations belong to the Synod 
of Southern Illinois. 

The Roman Catholic Church was early 
represented in the city by zealous workers^ 
four of whom, viz., L. W. Ashley, John Hal- 
pin, Michael Brady and Jeremiah O'Connor 
were mainly instrumental in bringing about 
the erection of the present church edifice, 
which was built in 1855. Service was held 
at irregular times until the arrival of Rev. 
Father Theodore Elshofif in 1860. Then in 
succession came Fathers L. E. Lambert, 
Edward Fokel, Henry Helhake. John Herlitz 
and Peter Sylvester, the latter of whom is 
the present officiating priest. lu 1866, a 
comfortable dwelling, since enlarged, was 
erected ■ adjoining the church. The total 
value of the buildings is in the neighborhood 
of $2,500. A Sunday school is regularly 
held with an attendance of about fifty, old 
and young. A day school is also maintained 
during the most of the year. 

On January 15, 1859, Elder J. H. Settle- 
moir formed the Anna Presbytery of the Bap- 
tist Church, with twenty-seven members, of 
whom only oue member, J. M. Hunsaker, now 
remains connected with the church then 
formed. H. H. Richardson was the first pas- 
tor. F. W. Carothers became pastor in 
1865; S. L Wisner in 1866; H.H.Richard- 
son again in 1868; J. M. Hunsaker in 1872^ 
J. A. Rodman in 1874; J. INI. Bennett in 
1878; and D. R. Sanders in 1879. Dr. 
Sanders is still the pastor in charge. The 
membership now numbers 120. Until 1865, 
services were held in the public schoolhouse. 
In 1865, the present frame chm-ch was 
rected, but was found to be too small, and in 
1876 was considerably enlarged. Services 
are now held every two weeks in Anna. The 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



383 



Sunday school has, at times, been quite large 
and prosperous. 

There was a Reformed congregation organ- 
ized in Anna in the year 1859, by Rev. John 
McConnell. Among the original members 
were Henry Miller and Jacob Hileman. From 
1859 to 1863, Rev. P. H. Kroh was pastor 
in charge. He was succeeded by Rev. Thorn- 
ton Butler. This newly organized congrega- 
tion not having a suitable house of worship, 
could not have regular services, and there- 
fore, instead of increasing in numbers, suf- 
fered a falling oif in membership until the 
year 1872, when J. A. Smith became pastor, 
and the congregation was re-organized. In 
the following year, the brick building, since 
occupied as a place for worship, was erected. 
After four years* labur, Mr Smith resigned 
his charge, and during the following year 
the church had no settled pastor. S. P. 
Myers then became pastor, and for five and a 
half years sei'ved very acceptably. 

After Mr. Myers' resignation, the congre- 
gation was again for awhile without a pas- 
tor. In June, 1881, J. H. Lippard was called 
to the pastorate of this church, and has since 
remained in charge. The membership was 
never large, and has at no time increased very 
rapidly, numbering about forty at this date, 
June, 1883. The church edifice is an orna- 
ment to the city, and is well located on one 
of the most eligible sites obtainable. The 
total cost aggregated about 13,500. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Anna 
was organized in the fall of 1856, by Rev. 
Willoughby, and held services in the piiblic, 
schoolhouse till 1857, when the present frame 
church was built. Daniel Spence and wife, 
Mr. Hannah and family, Nancy and Ellen 
Manees and Martha A. Wood were among 
the first members. G. W. Jenks, L. C. Eng- 
lish, J. W. Phillips, M. N. Powers, M 
House, F. L. Thompson, D. B. Van Winkle. 



J. C. Green, A. Campbell, N. H. Nichols, C. 
J. Houts, J. W. Van Cleve, E. Lathrop, M. 
House and G. W, Waggoner have, in the 
foregoing order, served as pastors of the con- 
gregation in this charge, G. W. Waggoner 
being now near the close of the third year in 
his pastorship. In the early existence of the 
church in this city, it formed a part of a 
large four weeks' circuit, and the records of 
that time have come down very imperfect, so 
that a full history is impossible. The church 
building has been enlarged to accommodate 
the increasing membership, which now num- 
bers 110. A flourishing Sunday school is 
connected with this church. 

The first Presbyterian Church of Anna was 
organized by A. T. Norton, D. D., of Alton, 
on April 29, 1866, with seventeen members, 
viz. : Mrs. Ellen D. Willard, Dr. F. S. Dodds 
and wife, S. B. Marks and wife. Dr. J. G. Un- 
derwood and wife, Mrs. Jennie S. Shick, Mrs. 
R. J. Phillips, Mrs. M. Reardon, C. W. Col- 
lins, Virgil Beale, Mrs. Kate Beale, Mrs. H. 
L. Foster, Mrs. Mary Slater, Mrs. S. A. 
Finch, Mrs. M. J. Short and Mrs. A. David- 
son. The organization took place ia the 
Methodist Church in Anna, with Elders V. 
Beale and C. W. Collins. Since then the 
following persons have been chosen Elders: 
John D. Newbegin, James I. Hale, L. E. 
Stocking, J. Ryder, H. P. Tuthill and E. R. 
Jinnette. David Dimond, D. D., was pas- 
tor from 1867 to 1870; E. L. Davies was 
pastor from January 7, 1872, to June, 1874, 
W. B. Minton from Januarv, 1875, to Novem- 
ber, 1877; E. L. Davies again from Decem- 
ber, 1877, to May, 1879; J. W. Knott fi'om 
January, 1880, to July, 1882; J. M Paris 
from October, 1882, to May, 1883, and W. 
W. Paris from May, 1883, to the present 
time. The church now numbers sixty mem- 
bers. The congregation at first held services 
in the Methodist Church, then in a store 



384 



HIISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



room fitted up as a chapel, and lastly in the 
present edifice, on Lot 11 of W. Davie's Sec- 
ond Addition to the town of Anna. This 
edifice was dedicated June 28, 18G8, and cost 
$3,560. It is a substantial, convenient house, 
40x60 feet, and occupies an excellent site. 
A very neat and comfortable parsonage be- 
longing to the church is situated on the block 
adjoining. 

On the 8d day of March, 1867, a Sunday 
school was organized by the pastor, David 
Dimond, in the Presbyterian chapel on Main 
street, with twenty-five scholars, among 
whom wei'e Hanson, Samuel and James Marks, 
Frank and Ford Dodds, Calvin and Frank 
Miller, Annie, Josie and Jessie Phillis, Mel- 
lie Dodds, Helen and Avis Underwood. The 
teachers were the pastor, D. Dimond, Col. 
Marks, J. D. Newbegin and Mrs. Underwood. 
There have been five Superintendents since 
then, E. R. Jinnette holding the office at 
present. There have been enrolled 847 schol- 
ars, 57 of whom are known to have become 
members of the Presbyterian and other 
churches. Fifty eight persons have labored 
as teachers. The whole number of officers, 
teachers and scholars now enrolled numbers 
143, with an average attendance of 70. The 
library has contained 1,146 volumes, of 
which at present over 320 volumes remain in 
use. For many years, Cyrus Shick was chor- 
ister in this church, and the excellence of the 
singing did much toward maintaining the 
intei'est in the church service, and sustaining 
the membership in church and Sunday 
school. 

Episcopal services were held in the Re- 
formed Church during 1880, and in the 
Lutheran Church during 1882. In the spring 
of J883, arrangements were made with Rev. 
J. B. Harrison, of Carbondale, to hold regu- 
lar services semi-monthly in the Temperance 
Hall, so called, on Main street. The inter- 



est in this fox'm of worship is increasing, and 
there is now a likelihood of a permanent 
organization. 

Universalists are numerous in this city, and 
occasional services have been held by them in 
past years, but no society or church of this 
denomination has yet been organized. 

In 1869, the Campbellites or Christians 
were quite numerous, aad held regular serv- 
ices. During the past ten years, these serv- 
ices have been discontinued, no permanent 
organization having been effected. 

Manufacturers. — Anna is not, strictly 
speaking, a manufacturing city, not possess- 
ing any special great advantages for this pur- 
pose Milling was the earliest manufactur- 
ing done on any considerable scale. As late 
as the year 1860, horse mills were in use by 
some distant neighborhoods, and hand mills 
were not entirely discarded.. In 3856, the 
Flora Temple brick mills were built and put 
in operation by Daniel Davie and Daniel 
Goodman. They were then the largest and 
most extensive mills in this part of the State, 
and were located a little south of the depot 
in Anna. D Goodman sold out his intei'est 
to W. Davie, who, with D. Davie, put the 
mill in fine order and made their flour cele- 
brated for its excellence. W. Davie then be- 
came sole proprietor, and transferred his title 
to D. W. Brown. The mill now had six run 
of stone, was four stories high, with elevators 
and the best machinery of the times, and a 
capacity for turning out 100 barrels of flour 
per day, besides grinding 200 bushels of 
corn. In 1869, while owned by D.W.Brown, 
the mill was consumed by fire, but was re- 
built in 1871 by Daniel Davie and Caleb 
Miller. Mr. Miller then became sole owner, 
and transferred his title to A. J. Davis and 
W. S. Meisenneimer. On the death of Mr. 
Davis, Mr. Meisenheimer continued operating 
and improving the mill until April 1, 1883, 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



SSI 



when, after a thorough refitting with the 
most modern machinery, it was again de- 
stroyed by fire, the loss amounting to about 
$17,000 with $9;000 insured. 

In the spring of 1867, Joseph Treese built 
the frame uiills on the west side of the rail- 
road, on Lot 122. The mill was afterward 
sold to E. H. Finch, and subsequently re- 
turned to the ownership of the original pro- 
prietor, who made extensive improvements. 
On January 1, 1883, the mill was purchased 
by D. R. Lewis and Henry Lence, and under 
the name of the People's Mill is doiog a 
prosperous business. It employs five men, 
and with four runs of stone makes thirty-five 
barrels of superior flour daily. 

In 1874, Jesse Lentz and James De Witt 
built their extensive wagon, plow* and repair 
shop on Lot 123, which is now doing a 
thriving business, emj)loying eight men. The 
firm name is now De Witt & Stokes, W. W. 
Stokes having succeeded Mr. Lentz in the 
business. The firm manufacture very supe- 
rior styles of spring wagons especially 
adapted to the wants of the fruit-growers. 
From 1865 to 1870, H. J. Brockman was also 
a large wagon-builder, his shops being con- 
verted into an opera house at a later date. 
Dr. Hugh McVean was the first citizen of 
Anna to indulge in the luxuiy of a buggy, 
which he did in 1859. The first family car- 
riage in the county is said to have been 
owned by Willis Willard, of Jonesboro. 

From 1862 to 1870, the manufacture of 
tobacco was carried on by A. W. Robinson 
and J. T. Bohannon. In 1879, J. W. Dan- 
dridge started a saddle and harness factory 
here, which has steadily grown in importance, 
the sales of 1882 showing ninety sets of har- 
ness and seventy-two saddles as the business 
of that year. A large stock is carried, and 
a specialty made of the manufacture of fine 
harness. From 1860 to 1880, D. Cover & 



Son manufactured large quantities of lumber 
at their saw mill near the present Southern 
Illinois Fair Ground. Poplar, oak and wal- 
nut logs furnished the supply. B. F. Man- 
gold is now the proprietor. 

The fruit and vegetable shipments require 
a vast amount of cooperage to be done. R. 
B. Stinson & Co. for several years carried on 
an extensive barrel factory near the railroad, 
employing thirty or more men and manufact- 
uring 50,000 ban-els annually, in the busy 
season turning out about 500 barrels in a 
day. This establishment burned down, and 
when rebuilt was controlled by Finch & 
Shick, lime manufacturers, and has been iiin 
since in connection with their business. 

Thp firm of E. H. Finch, C. Shick and T. 
M. Shick, known as Finch & Shick, is largely 
engaged in the manufactm'e of lime for com- 
mercial purposes. In the busiest part of the 
year it employs about forty men at Anna and 
makes 300 barrels of lime per day. About 
1,500 cords of wood are annually consumed 
in the business, and about 25,000 barrels are 
required for shipping their barreled lime. In 
1873, the immense amount of 121, 75Q bushels 
of lime were manufactiired, of which 71,150 
bushels were shipped in barrels, requiring 
28,460 barrels; the remaining 50,600 bushels 
were shipped in bulk. About 1,800 cords of 
wood were used that year in making the 
above quantity of lime, and $88,893.50 were 
paid out for labor. The Messrs. Finch & 
Shick have been long in the business and 
their trade extends throughout this section of 
the State. The manufacture of brick has 
been an important business, in some years 
amounting in number to over a million not 
counting those made at the asylum. In 1879, 
Hunsaki^r & Richardson, and Edwards & 
Carmack had 700,000 in the kiln at one time, 
and J. E. Lufkin 200,000 in another kiln. 
The public schoolhouse, the insane asylum 



388 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



and some other buildings were built of bricks 
manufactured on the site of the buildings. 

In 1859, the Kirkpatrick Bros. ( C. & W.) 
commenced the manufacture of all kinds of 
stone-\vare, tiles, vases and pottery, bringing 
their clay by railroad from Cairo, to which point 
it came by the Ohio River from Grand Chain. 
In 1860, some inexhaustible beds of the finest 
kinds of clay were found in this vicinity and 
purchased by them. In 1868, a bed of very 
superior white clay was discovered, more than 
twenty feet in thickness, which has been 
quarried and shipped in car lots to Cincin- 
nati, St. Louis and Chicago. The pottery 
now manufactures about 2,500 or 3,000 gal- 
lons of ware per week. Uaique and fanciful 
specimens of handiwork, such as castles, 
parks, statuettes, animals, groups and orna- 
mented ware are largely manufactured. Pipe 
bowls, by the million, are made for the South- 
ern trade, one firm in St. Louis having taken 
2,000,000 yearly for the last three years. 
The Messrs. Kirkpatrick also own beds of ex- 
cellent fire-clay, from which they manufact- 
ure fire-brick of the best quality. Drain 
tile is also made in large quantity. 

M. M. Henderson & Son, in 3866, had a 
cotton-gin in operation, which in 1868 was 
laid aside, and a planing and dressing ma- 
chine started, which was kept busy till 1877, 
when the firm began the manufacture of fruit 
box material and boxes. In 1880, the ma- 
chinery was increased by the addition of a 
saw mill, which saws 7,000 feet of lumber per 
day. The planing machine will dress 12,000 
feet daily, or di-ess and match 8,000 feet of 
lumber per day. A large dry-house, capable 
of drying 8,000 feet at a time, the process 
requiring about a week, has been added to 
the establishment. In 1881, the firm changed 
their engine for the present thirty- horse-power 
engine, which is abundantly capable of doing 
all their work. For the past ten years a wool 



carding machine has been a part of the equip- 
ment of the establishment. This will be re- 
movnd this year, as there is but little employ- 
ment for it. 

In 1865 to 1875, F. A. Childs & Bro. had 
a drain tile factory in operation, with a large 
kiln and drying sheds. The local demand 
was insuflScient to continue the business, and 
it was consequently abandoned. Good build- 
ing stone is found in the vicinity, but has- 
not been quarried except in answer to local 
demand. The progress of any town is much 
accelerated by increasing its means of com- 
munication with the rest of the world. In 
1880, Anna was united with Jonesboro and 
the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad by means of 
a dime hack line, started by Joseph Treese. 
This cheap hack line virtually gave Anna the- 
benefit of another railroad north and south, 
and formed an additional bond of Union be- 
tween the new town and the older county seat. 
In 1883, there were three lines of hacks run- 
ning, and all doing a good business, carrying 
passengers between the two depots every hour,, 
and to the asylum as required. 

One of the most important industries in 
any community is the provisioning the inhab- 
itants. The meat supplies of Anna are 
drawn from the surrounding country, and are 
of no inconsiderable magnitude. During the 
year ending July, 1882, the last year of 
which it is possible to gather statistics, M. 
V. Ussery supplied the asylum with meats, 
and also, as usual, kept up an extensive 
market and provision store, manufacturing 
sausage and curing pork in large quantities. 
Within that year, he slaughtered for his own; 
use and that of the asylum, 512 beeves, 156 
sheep and 90 hogs, and purchased 150 hogs 
dressed. To the above live stock, while on 
hand, he fed 3,500 bushels of corn and 80,- 
000 pounds of hay. From them, he obtained 
32,000 pounds of hides, and manufactured 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



3ii9 



and sold 14,500 pounds of sausage. For 
the cattle, he paid an average price of $39 
per head, and for the sheep an average of 
$2.35 per head. The cost of the hay was 
$14 per ton, and of the corn 60 cents per 
bushel (owing to the drought of 1881). The 
average cost of dressed pork during that 
year was 8 cents per pound; of live cattle, 3 
to 4 cents per pound, and of green beef 
hides 6 cents, on yearly contract. These 
prices may provo more interesting in future 
years, when our supplies are procured from 
the far Western plains. 

Southern Hospital for the Insane. — It 
having been determined by the State Legis- 
lature of 1869 to build a hospital for the in- 
sane in the southern part of the State, a 
Board of Commissioners consisting of Lieut. 
Gov. John Dougherty, of donesboro, Union 
County; Col. Benjamin L. Wiley, of Jackson 
County; Dr. G. L. Owens, of Marion, Will- 
iamson County; Col. H. W. Hall, of Mc- 
Leansboro, Hamilton County, and D. R. 
Kingsbury, of Centralia, Marion County, 
were appointed to receive propositions from 
towns desiring the institution, select a loca- 
tion for its erection, and construct the build- 
ing. The Commissioners finally decided 
upon the present site of the building as the 
most suitable, and altogether the best lo- 
cation that had been offered for their inspec- 
tion. The Legislature had appropriated the 
sum of $125,000 toward the purchase of the 
necessary land, and the erection of the build- 
ing, and the city of Anna had voted the ex- 
penditure of $6,885 toward securing the 
land selected by the Commissioners for the 
site of the building. The plans and specifi- 
cations necessary were adopted, and in 1870 
work began upon the north wing, R. Shin- 
nick being the contractor. In 1871, the 
Legislature appropriated $65,000 to complete 



the north wing, and $143,000 for the erec- 
tion of the central building. 

The first board of trustees, consisting of 
Amos Clark, of Centralia, C. Kirkpatrick, of 
Anna, W. N. Mitchell, of Marion, J. C. 
Boyle, of Sparta, and W. R. Brown, of 
Metropolis, on August 22, 1873, elected Dr. 
R. S. Dewey, of the Elgin Asylum, Super- 
intendent. At the September meeting of the 
trustees. Dr. Dewey having resigned, Dr. A. T. 
Barnes was elected Superintendent and Dr. F. 
W. Mercer, assistant. On December 15, 
1873, the north wing was formally opened 
for patients, by proclamation of Gov. John 
L. Beveridge, the halls being soon afterward 
filled with about 150 patients. The follow- 
ing year work was begun upon the central 
building, the Legislature having appropri- 
ated $99,000 for that portion of the asylum, 
Richard Shin nick being the contractor. The 
first Board of Commissioners was meantime 
succeeded by a new board composed of R. 
H. Sturgess, H. Walker and F. M. Malone. 
On July 1, 1875, the board elected R. H. 
Sturgess Superintendent of Construction of 
the south wing, for the erection of which 
the Legislatui^e had, April 10, appropriated 
the sum of $140,000. On October 23, 1875, 
the central building was completed and 
turned over to the trustees. On August 18, 
1875, the contract for the erection of the 
south wing was awarded to T. L. Kempster, 
to be completed according to the plans and 
specifications of E. Jungenfeld, the Architect. 
In September. 1877, this wing was completed 
and occupied. The necessary barns, stables, 
shops and other outbuildings were added to 
the institution as occasion required, from 
special appropriations. 

In May, 1876, a gale from the southwest 
did considerable damage to ttie roof and 
threw down eight of the cliimneys, one of 
which crushed throusrh the roof of the center 



390 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



building and the ceiling of the upper story, 
doing, together with the rain, no little injury. 
On the morning of April 19, 1881, the attic 
of the north wing was discovered to be on 
fire. The Mansard roof rendered it impos- 
sible to control the fire until it reached the 
center building. The whole north wing and 
eastern extension were consumed with the 
loss of but one life. The Legislature ap- 
propriated $12,000 for the erection and fur- 
nishing of temporary barracks for the 250 
patients which the fire had discommoded, and 
$93,000 for the re-building and furnishing 
of the north wing. The barracks were quickly 
erected, and the north wing was restored in 
a much improved condition by the fall of 
1882, and at once re-occupied. By an ap- 
propriation of $6,000 made by the Legisla- 
ture of 1883, these barracks will be changed 
into a permanent cottage and furnished for 
the accommodation of additional patients. 

The principal objection made against lo- 
cating the institution here, a possible lack of 
water, has been entirely siu'mounted,and the 
needed supply, 40,000 gallons daily, is 
amply provided for. The appropriation of 
$10,000 just made for the construction of a 
settling basin and filter will insure the com- 
pleteness of the supply and its purity. The 
water of the large artificial pond, holding 12,- 
000,000 gallons, will thus be rendered fit for 
any desired purpose. The drinking water is 
obtained from ten cisterns, and by the means 
of a steam force pump, from the big spring 
one-foiu'th mile from the institution. This 
spring, of itself, can furnish all the water 
needed for all purposes, the supply being 
only limited by the capacity of the pump. 

The grounds and farm belonging to the 
hospital comprise about 300 acres, which will 
be increased this year by a purchase of 160 
acres additional, making the whole amount 
460 acres. The farm has been well managed 



by D. R. Lewis, who has had charge of it 
thus far. 

The total munber of patients received into 
the institution since its opening up to Oc- 
tober 1, 1882, is 1,140, and the number 
meantime discharged as recovered is 375, or 
twenty-six per cent of the whole. The num- 
ber of inmates remaining in the hospital Oc- 
tober 1, 1882, was 500. When the barracks 
are fitted for the reception of patients, they 
will accommodate 100 more, increasing the 
capacity of the institution to 600 patients, 
and placing it next to that at Jacksonville in 
rank as to accommodations. 

Dr. Dewey, the first Superintendent, was 
succeeded, as previously noted, by Dr. Barnes, 
who resigned his position in 1878, and was 
succeeded on August 6, of that year, by Dr. 
Horace Wardner, of Cairo, the present in- 
cumbent. Dr. Wardner has proved a most 
capable officer, and his administration of af- 
fairs has been and is most satisfactory to all 
parties concerned. Dr. Mercer, the first as- 
sistant, and a most accomplished physician 
and gentleman, resigned his position in 
August, 1879, and was succeeded by Dr. W. 
W. Hester, who still fills the post most ac- 
ceptably. Dr. E. D. Converse was the second 
assistant physician during 1877-78, until 
November 1, when he resigned his place 
Dr. L. E. Stocking was selected as his suc- 
cessor, and continues to honor the position. 

The first Clerk, Charles M. Olmstead. 
served in that capacity till the close of 1878, 
when he resigned. E. A. Finch was appoint- 
ed his successor, and continues to faithfully 
discharge the duties belonging to that office, 
being most ably assisted by Harry M. Det- 
rich. Capt. James B. Fulton was the hos- 
pital engineer until he accidentally met his 
death on January 21, 1882. He was the first 
person appointed to duty in the institution, 
and was greatly esteemed by all who knew 



HISTORY OF UNIO:^f COUNTY, 



391 



him. James Norris, who now so efficiently 
fills the post, was an assistant with Capt. 
Fulton when engineer. Mrs. S. Douglas, 
Mi-s. L. R. Wardner and Mrs. Phoebe Hills 
have acted as Matrons, the latter still holding 
the position. T. A. Whitten, H. F. Warren, 
A.. G. Miller and W. H. Smart have dis- 
charged the duties of Supervisoi', W. B. 
Mead now filling that office. Mrs. F. V. Cole 
served most acceptably as Supervisor from 
1875 to October, 1882, when she resigned and 
Miss E. M. Holmes was appointed to the 
position. 

Among the great improvements proposed 
for immediate accomplishment, besides the 
changing of the barracks into a permanent 
cottage for patients, and the construction of 
a settling basin and filter, is the erection of 
an addition to the north wing for the accomo- 
dation of the more violent and noisy patients. 
The present rebuilt north wing is calculated 
for 265 patients, males, and the south wing 
for 235 female pal.ients. Both wings are 
four stories high. The proposed north addi- 
tion will be of the same height and with all 
the improvements which experience can sug- 
gest. About $30,000 will be expended in its 
erection, the plans and specifications for 
which are already approved. L. D. Cleave- 
land, of Chicago, is the architect. 

The following calendar of operations and 
officers covers the whole period of time com- 
prised in the foregoing account: 

1870. — Erection of north wing. Building 
Commissioners, John Dougherty, G. L. Owen, 
B. L. Wiley, H. W. Hall, D. R. Kingsbury. 
Contractor, R, Shinnick. 

3871. — Commissioners, R. H. Sturgess, 
John Wood, E. J. Palmer. Architects, Walsh 
& Jiingenfeld, of St. Louis. 

1872. — Erection of rear buildings. Com- 
missioners, R. H. Sturgess, John Wood, E, 
J. Palmer. Contractor, N. L. Wickwire. 



1873 and 1874.— Commissioners, R. H. 
Sturgess, H. Walker, J. K. Bishop. Con- 
tractors for steam heating, Mandsley & 
Mepham. Erection of center building. Con- 
tractor, Richard Shinnick. Trustees, A. 
Clark, C. Kirkpatrick, W. N. Mitchell, J. C. 
Boyle, W. R. Brown. Treasurer, W. N. 
Mitchell. Architect, E. Jungenfeld. 

1875 and 1876. — Erection of south wing. 
Commissioners, R. H. Sturgess, H. Walker, 
F. M. Malone. Contractor, T. L. Kempster. 
Trustees, Amos Clark, C. Kirkpatrick, J. C. 
Boyle. 

1877, 1878, 1879 and 1880.— Trustees, 
John E. Detrich, E. H. Finch, W. P. Bruner. 
Treasurer, R. B. Stinson. Superintendent, 
H. Wardner. 

.1881 and 1882.— Rebuilding of north 
wing. Trustees, E. H. Finch, J. A. Viall, 
J. Bottom. Architect, L. D. Cleaveland. 

1883 and 1884. — Addition to north wing. 
Trustees, E. H. Finch, James Bottom, John 
C. Baker. 

The principal features in the history of the 
rise and progress of this city have been thus 
briefly sketched. It remains to speak of its 
present condition and prospects. The peo- 
ple, from the first, have been averse to load- 
ing themselves with any considerable debt, 
or entailing a debt of magnitude upon com- 
ing generations. As a consequence, the 
city's outstanding obligations are small in 
amount, and yearly growing smaller. The 
debt assumed in locating the State hospital 
here was met by issuing bonds to the amount 
of $6,885, drawing 10 per cent interest. 
This indebtedness is now reduced to $1,- 
300 in amount, drawing 7 per cent. The 
expense incurred in erecting and fur- 
nishing the schoolhouse has been reduced 
fi-om over $20,000, at ten per cent, to $10,- 
000, at 6 per cent interest. In 1882, the 
city voted to appropriate $3,000 toward en- 



393 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



larging the cemetery. Bonds were issued 
for this araount, bearing 6 per cent interest. 
Thus the total indebtedness of the city now 
stands at only $14,300, an insignificant sum 
for a town of its known enterprise and wealth. 
The population of the city has increased 
from 231 in 1855, to over 1,500, and is 
steadily growing. The valuation of city lots is 
advancing with the growth of the city. The 
vahiation of personal property in the city, 
as returned by the Assessor on June 30, 
1883, is $112,726. The present city officers 
are: Mayor, C. Kirkpatrick; Aldermen of 
First Ward, J. W. Williford, Sr., and D. W. 



Brown; Aldermen of Second Ward, Jamos 
DeWitt and R. B. Stinson; Aldermen of 
Third Ward, James I. Hale and John Hess; 
Police Magistrate, P. H. Kroh; City Clerk, 
W. C. Ussery; Attorney, T. H. Phillips; 
Treasurer, H. P, Tuthill; Marshal, H. W. 
Henley. With a continuation of the pru- 
dence and careful management which have 
heretofore marked the administration of the 
city's affairs, there is abundant reason to be- 
lieve that Anna will, at uo very distant day, 
be among the most prominent cities of 
Southern Illinois in population, wealth and 
enterprise. 



CHAPTER XV. 



SDUTH PASS, OR COBDEN PRECINCT— ITS TOPOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES —EABLV 

SETTLEMENT OF WHITE PEOPLE— WHERE THEV CAME PROM AND A RECORD OF THEIR 

WORK— GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRECINCT — RICHARD COBDEN— 

THE VILLAGE : WHAT IT WAS, WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT WILL BE 

—SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC., ETC., ETC. 



"Historians, only things of weight, 
Results of persons, or afEairs of State, 
Briefly, with truth and clearness should relate." 

— Heath. 

SOUTH PASS or Cobden Precinct lies in the 
northern part of the county, and is mostly 
of a broken and hilly surface. There is but lit- 
tle level land in the precinct, and there is some 
too rough for cultivation, unless it be for 
grapes. It is chiefly devoted to fruit culture, 
and when the fruit craze first struck this 
county, the land readily commanded $100 per 
acre. But as the novelty wore off prices de- 
clined, and land may now be bought reason- 
ably low. Drewery Creek is the principal 
water -course. It flows through the northwest 
part of the precinct and passes out through , 

* Bv W. H. Perrin. 



Section 4. Numerous small tributaries empty 
into it,' but amount to little except as drain- 
age. Oak, hickory, poplar, dogwood, a little 
sugar tree and walnut, together with a few 
other common species, comprise the timber 
growth. The precinct is bounded north by 
Jackson County, east by Rich and Saratoga 
Precincts, south by Saratoga and Anna and 
west by Alto Pass Precinct. Including the 
village of Cobden, it had. by the last census, 
3,070 inhabitants. The Illinois Central Rail- 
road passes in an almost south direction 
through the west part of the precinct, and has 
been of great advantage to the people, and 
the community generally. 

The original name of the precinct was 
South Pass, and in 1857 a village was laid out, 
to which the same name was given, and which. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



393 



upon the completion of the railroad, was 
made a station. As noted in another chap- 
ter, moft of the stock of the road was owned 
in England. In the summer of 1860, the 
Hon. Richard Cobden, an eminent English 
statesman, a member of Parliament and Di- 
rector of the road, came over to investigate 
the condition of the enterprise, and on his 
"way down the road stopped off at South Pass 
to enjoy its invigorating air and beautiful 
scenery. Several days were spent in hunting 
and picnicking in the vicinity before he re- 
sumed his journey. Eventually, the railroad 
company changed the name of the struggling 
village to Cobden in his honor. The name 
is now generally given to the precinct, though 
it still stands upon the records as South Pass. 
A sketch of Mr. Cobden is not inappropriate in 
this connection, and we subjoin the following: 
Richard Cobden was born in 1804, and died 
April 2, 1865. He visited Egypt, Turkey 
and Greece in 1834, and the United States 
in 1835, and afterward became a partner in a 
cotton printing establishment near Manches- 
ter, England. In 1835, he published two 
pamphlets — " England, Ireland and America, 
by a Manufacturer," and " Russia." In 1837, 
Mr. Cobden visited France, Belgium and 
Switzerland, and in 1838 traveled through 
Germany. . He declared in favor of free trade, 
and in 1839 aided in establishing the anti- 
corn-law league. From 1841 until his death, 
with slight intervals, he was a member of 
Parliament. There and throughout the coun- 
try, he kept a constant agitation for the re- 
peal of the corn laws, which was finally effect- 
ed in 1846. He opposed the war with Russia, 
and in 1857 was one of the majority which 
passed a vote of censure on Lord Palmerston 
for entering into the war with China. In 
1860, he negotiated a treaty of commerce 
with France, for which he was offered a Bar- 
onetcy and a seat in the Privy Council, both 



of which he declined. Mr. Cobden was inti- 
mately associated with John Bright as a lead- 
er of the Manchester school or party, and be- 
sides the measures alluded to, favored elector- 
al reform and the vote by ballot. His polit- 
ical writings and speeches have been collected 
in two volumes and his views largely adopted 
by many of our own statesmen. His life has 
been written by J. McGilchrist (1865), and in 
German by Yon Holzendorff (1866), and De 
Roth (1867). He was, as we have said, con- 
nected with the Illinois Central Railroad, and 
a Director in the company. 

A sketch written by Lord Hobart, entitled 
th^ "Mission of Richard Cobden," has the 
following: It is long since there left the 
world any one who deserved so well of it as 
Richard Cobden. To say this is, indeed, in 
one sense, to say but little. For the acts of 
those who have had it within power to in- 
fluence the destinies of mankind, mankind 
has, in general small reason, to be grateful. 
In account with hujiianity,the public charac- 
iers have been few indeed, who could point 
with satisfaction to the credit side. But of 
Cobden's career, there are results which none 
can gainsay Vast, signal and comprehen- 
sive, they disarm alike both competition and 
criticism. The two great triumphs of his 
life were the repeal of the Corn Laws and 
the Commercial Treaty with France. Of 
these, the first gave food to starving millions, 
redressed a gigantic and intolerable abuse of 
political power, saved an empire from revo- 
lutionary convulsion, and imparted new and 
irresistible impulse to material progress 
throughout the world; the second carried still 
further the work which the first had begun, 
insured, sooner or later, its full consumma- 
tion, and fixed, amidst the waves of conflict- 
ing passions and jarring interests, deep in the 
tenacious ground of commercial sympathy, a 
rock for the foot of peace. 



394 



HISTOKY OF UNION COUNTY. 



Many of the early settlers of this precinct 
were from the Southern States, although at 
the present time there are probably more 
Eastern peo})le here than in the entire county 
besides. One of the prominent pioneers was 
Andrew Guthrie, from Tennessee. He was 
a man of the old fossil type, a bitter enemy 
to all species of internal improvement, and 
fought the project of the Illinois Central 
Railroad to the best of his ability. He be- 
lieved it would ruin the country, and to that 
end opposed the right of way through his 
land like grim death. When he came, he had 
considerable money, a fact which, as is often 
the case, rendered him arrogant and over- 
bearing. He entered the improvements of 
many people over their heads, thus incurring 
their displeasure and making scores of 
enemies. At one time he owned a great deal 
of land, but he sold off most of it before his 
death. James R. Guthrie, a son, still lives 
on the homestead. 

Thomas Ferrill was also from Tennessee, 
and settled early in the precinct. He was a 
man of consequence and took quite an active 
part in the affairs of the county, and their 
management. He served several times as 
County Commissioner, held other prominent 
positions, and was well thought of in the 
community. He is dead, but his name is 
perpetuated by several sons still living in the 
county. 

From North Carolina came the following 
settlers of this precinct: Jacob and Philip 
Clutts, Joseph Miller and several other fam- 
ilies. The Cluttses are what is termed North 
Carolina Dutch, and the old pioneers — Jacob 
and Philip — were good, honest citizens. They 
are both dead, but numerous descendants stiJl 
are residing in the county. John Clutts is 
a son of Jacob, and George and Peter are 
sons of old Philip, and are worthy citizens. 
Joseph Miller, and his son Samuel Miller, 



came here in 1825. The elder Miller entered 
land just north of the present village of 
Cobden, but left it soon after, and returned 
to North Carolina. Samuel was a soldier of 
the war of 1812. He went to Tennessee in 
1839, and died in Stewart County in i845. 
A son, John B. Miller, is now Postmaster of 
Anna, and among the most worthy citizens of 
that city. 

The Vancils are still a numerous family, 
of which Benjamin, Jonas and young John 
were the leading representatives. Jonas 
settled in Alto Pass Precinct, and there re- 
ceives further notice. Benjamin was long a 
prominent citizen, and -has died since this 
work has been in course of preparation. The 
Farmer and Fruit Grower thus alludes to 
him: "Benjamin Vancil, aged seventy- 
eight years, departed this life Monday morn- 
ing March 11, 1883, and was laid away to 
rest in the family cemetery, near which has 
been his home for thirty years, Father John 
D. Lamer, a life long friend of the deceased, 
oificiating. Uncle Benny Vancil moved to 
this county, from Grayson County, Va. , about 
the year 1822, being at that time only eight- 
een years old. He was born near Dayton, 
Ohio, January 25, 1804. The country not 
exactly suiting them, they traveled West, 
through Missouri and Arkansas, but finally 
came back here, where his father settled 
upon and opened up a farm in the northern 
part of Union County, in the Landrith settle- 
ment, where he lived until 1853, when he 
opened ^^p what has long been known as the 
Vancil homestead. Mr. Vancil was quite a 
horticulturist in the early days of Cobden, 
and formerly Uncle Benny's fine fruit was 
always in demand, and quite a display to be 
seen at the Union County Fair, as well as 
the State fairs. He had at least $100 worth 
of silverware, received as prizes for exhibits. 
He shipped fruit trees from his nurserj- all 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



895 



over the Western States a score of years ago, 
and it is a fact worthy of meution that his 
father brought the Buckingham apple here 
from the county of that name in the Old 
Dominion. He was also quite a florist, and 
enjoyed his fruits and flowers, but has been 
on the decline for the past ten years. He 
was a perfectly upright man, and a gentle- 
man of the old school, a class that is fast 
fading out. He was honest to a fault, and 
charitable to all. He has raised a large fam- 
ily, and has outlived all his sons except one. 
Peace to his ashes. Young John Vancil is 
a native of this county, and was born in 
1817, and, with one or two exceptions, is the 
oldest native-born citizen of the county. He 
is one of the best farmers in the precinct, 
both in grain and fruits, and an enterprising 
citizen. 

Additional to the early settlers already 
mentioned, are Davis M. Biggs, John 
O'Daniel, William C. Kich, Henry Casper, 
John D. Fly, John J. Demming, John 
Lockard, Larkin Brooks, Harmon F. Whit- 
taker, the Lingles, John P. Holland, John 
M. Rich, Peter Siflford. etc., etc. Biggs 
settled in the northwest part of the precinct. 
O'Daniel is still living, and is a plain old 
farmer, nearly ninety years old. William 
C. Rich was formerly Sheriff of the county, 
served in the Legislature one term, and is 
still an honored citizen of the county. Cas- 
per, Fly, Demming and Lockard are all living. 
Larkin Brooks is dead, but has several sons 
still living. Whittaker lives now in Marion 
County. The Lingles came originally from 
Ohio, and have a number of descendants, 
in the county. Wilson Lingle served in the 
Black Hawk war. Of the record of other 
pioneers of this community, we have failed 
to learn particulars. Doubtless many names 
have been inadvertently omitted that should 
have been mentioned. 



Although Cobden Precinct was settled 
originally mostly from Tennessee and North 
Carolina, yet, as we have stated, there are 
now a geat many Eastern people in the pre- 
cinct and the village. These, however, are 
later importations, and have come in, in a 
great measure, since the first settlement of the 
country has shown to the hunters of homes, 
its fine climate and wonderful resources. 
They escaped many of the toils, dangers and 
hardships of their predecessors — the old 
North Carolinians and Tennesseans — who 
had to cope with wild beasts, savages, earth- 
quakes, and many other dangers unknown to 
us at the present day. 

Cobden is the great fruit center of Union 
County, and many fine fruit farms are lo- 
cated in this precinct, which are more particu- 
larly mentioned in the chapter on horticult- 
ure. The strawberiy farm of Mr. Earle is 
the largest in the county, and is well worth 
visiting. But one of the most beautiful 
places is that of Mr. James Bell, east of the 
village. It was first owned by Michael Dil- 
low, and afterward pm'chased by Col. Allen 
Bainbridge, who sold it to Thomas and Finns 
Evans. From these Mr. Bell purchased it, 
and has so tastefully improved it that it is 
now one of the most beautiful homesteads in 
Southern Illinois. He has a large fruit 
orchard, mostly of cherries, and a green- 
house surpassing anything of the kind in 
this section of the country. His handsome 
grounds and greenhouse are in charge of Mr. 
John Ehle, a son of the "Faderland," who 
is the very embodiment of civility and genuine 
old fashioned courtesy, a practical gardener 
and florist, and who literally lives among his 
flowers and trees. The view from the top of 
Mr. Bell's mansion is fine, and overlooks the 
entire surrounding country. The lofty peaks 
of the Kentucky and Missouri hills are plain- 
ly discernible, and the curling smoke of pass- 



396 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



dng steamers on ^he Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers can be distinctly seen. 

There are more fruit and vegetables shipped 
from Cobden than from any other point 
on the Illinois Central Railroad. As an il- 
lustration of this fact, we are informed that 
there were twenty-two car-loads of tomatoes 
alone shipped from this place in one day 
during the fall of 1882. This was, perhaps, 
the largest shipment of tomatoes ever made 
in one day, but it merely shows the quanti- 
ties of fruits and vegetables grown contiguous 
to this station. 

George E. Walker, now deceased, did as 
much, perhaps, to develop the fruit intei-ests 
of this region as any one man. His father 
was ^the first permanent settler of Ottawa, 
111., and George was the first Sheriff of La 
Salie County. After accumulating a large 
fortune in the mercantile business, he retired, 
on account of poor health, and came to this 
county. Here he opened up a number of the 
best fruit farms in the vicinity of Cobden, 
and assisted others in the same business. 
After the Chicago tire, in which he lost 
heavily, he went to that city and erected the 
Oriental building, on La Salle street, and 
died there soon after. His son, A. E. Walk- 
er, who lives in Chicago, owns considerable 
land in this precinct. 

Cobden Precinct is well supplied with 
school facilities, having some four or five 
comfortable school buildings outside of the 
village. Good schools — which, however, are 
scarcely up to the standard of the schools 
in the central and northern part of the State 
— are taught for the usual terms each year 
by competent teachers. 

There are several churches in the precinct, 
outside of the village. The Christian Church, 
on Section 13, is a frame building, and has 
a good congregation. A cemetery is attached, 
in which repose the mortal remains of many 



of the deceased citizens of the neighborhood. 

The Christian Church on Section 18, is 
also a frame building. It was erected some 
twelve or fifteen years ago, but is now almost 
extinct as a society. 

The Limestone Baptist Church is on Sec- 
tion 6; there is quite an extensive cemetery 
adjacent to it, in which are many stones and 
marble slabs, marking the resting places of 
deceased members and citizens. 

Cobden Village. — This village was laid out 
originally by Benjamin I.. Wiley, on Sec- 
tion 30, of Township 11, Range 1 west, on 
the west side of the railroad, and the plat 
recorded May 28, 1857. Mr. Wiley afterward 
made an addition on the east side of the 
railroad. Several other additions have been 
made, viz., Buck's Addition, west of original 
plat; Hartline's Addition, south of the latter; 
Frick's Addition, east of Hartline's and on 
the east side of the railroad, and Clemens' 
Addition, east of the Wi leys', etc., etc., and 
perhaps some others. 

The object which brought the village of 
Cobden into existence was the building of 
the Illinois Central Railroad. Isaac N. 
Philips located here February 1, 1858, as 
agent of L. W. Ashley, Benjamin L. Wiley 
and J. L. Philips, who had a kind of land 
and real estate ofiiee at Anna, and were the 
owners of the land around Cobden. He first 
occupied a log cabin, which is still standing, 
just back of the Philips House. He was 
soon joined by Am03 Bulin and Moses Land, 
who removed to the place about three months 
later. In the latter part of the summer. Col. 
Bainbridge came, and bought the present 
Bell farm, as already stated. Jared Baker 
built a house on the site of the school build- 
ing. Dr. Ross says when he came to Cobden 
Henry Ede lived in a house which stood 
where Adam Buck now lives; that Jerry In- 
graham, foreman of the repair shops of the 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



397 



railroad, lived in a little house which has 
bf^en moved, and now stands next to his office, 
and a house was standing which belonged to 
the Bell heirs, and which was occupied by 
Col. Bainbridge. The front part of what is 
now the Roth Hotel was the first building 
erected after he came to the place; it was 
built by Thomas Baker, and occupied by 
Isaac Philips. 

The first store was kept by William Henry 
Harrison Brown, and was opened in the 
early part of 1859. He sold out to Adam 
Buck, as he had been indicted by the grand 
jury for selling a pack of playing-cards. 
The nexL store was opened by John Davis, 
and the next by Frick & Lamer. Mathias 
Clemens came here while the railroad was 
building, and opened a kind of boarding- 
house, which was the first place of public 
entertainment in the town. Few small vil- 
lages are better supplied with hotels than 
Cobden is at present, in the Philips House 
and the Roth Hotel. 

LaBar & Davie built a mill here about 
1860-61, which was burned some two years 
ago. The next mill was built in 1878, by 
Virgil Beale & Bro. , and is still in opera- 
tion; it is owned by Virgil Beale, and is a 
three-story frame building. Duncan & Halli- 
day built a mill in 1882. It is a substantial 
frame, and they still own and operate it. 
The town has some nine or ten stores, in- 
cluding dry goods, gi'oceries, hardware, etc., 
with the usual number of shops of all kinds. 
The first schoolhouse built within the corpo- 
rate limits of Cobden was in 1867, and is 
still in use. It is a brick edifice, and cost 
about ^$10,000; is spacious and comfortable, 
and will accommodate at least 200 pupils. 
The general attendance is from 150 to 200. 
The school is graded, and five teachers are 
generally employed — a Principal, Assistant 
Principal and three teachers. Previously to 



the building of this house, schools were out- 
side of the village. This town district was 
formed in 1865, and a building rented until 
the school building was completed. 

A schoolhouse for the colored people was 
built in 1875, at a cost of about $550; one 
teacher is employed, and the general attend- 
ance is some forty children. Most of the 
colored people in the county live in and 
around the village of Cobden. 

The Cobden Library is quite an institu- 
tion, and is a credit to the intelligence, and 
refinement of the people of the village. It 
grew out of a temperance organization which 
had existed here for some time. About the 
28th of April, 1877, the temperance society 
established a public reading room and library 
on a small scale. To this has been added, 
from time to time, as means would justify, 
books, papers and periodicals until, mainly 
through the influence and energy of Col. 
Peebles, it has become one of the largest 
libraries in the State, to be found in a town 
of this size. Some 1,400 volumes, many of 
them valuable works, fill its shelves. The 
present officers are L. T. Linnell, President; 
Mrs. James Bell, Vice President; F. E. 
Peebles, Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian, 
Miss Gertrude S. Peebles, Assistant Librarian 
and Mrs. M. J. Linn, Miss Carrie Goodrich 
and L. H. Ting, Directors. 

Cobden was incorporated as a village April 
i 5, 1869. The first Board of Trustees were 
I. N. Philips, John Buck, Henry Frick, 
David Green, M. Clemens, B. F. Ross and 
John Pierce. It was reorganized under the 
general law in ]875. The present Board of 
Trustees are L T. Linnell, Adam Buck, Sam- 
uel Spring, Silas R. Green, W. P. Mesler 
and A. J, Miller, L. T. Linnell is Pres- 
ident and Eli Mull, Clerk. 

Rev. Samuel C. Baldi-idge, pastor of the 
Presbyterian Church of Cobden, furnishes us 



398 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY, 



the following history of his church, and t,he 
facts which led to its organization: 

" In May, 1858, a New Englander, who 
had followed the Yankee drift of emigration 
to the north part of the State, came south to 
find a healthy location for his family. On 
landing in the embryo village, he started out 
on a wagon track up the hills to the east. 
As he was trudging along through the woods, 
he heard a cock crow, oif to his right, and, 
supposing that there was a habitation in 
that direction, he turned off, and soon came 
to a cabin occupied by George Vancil. Here 
he received boarding until he could see the 
country. Being a religious man, he began 
to inquire about the religious privileges. He 
found there was no place of worship within 
less than four miles. He proposed to open 
a Sabbath school in the district schoolhouse. 

They objected, on the grounds that there 
had been one started at a church four miles 
south of them, but that it soon failed. But 
he persuaded them to try one within their 
own neighborhood. The appointment was 
made for the next Sabbath. When the morn- 
ing came, however, his landlord was so shy 
of the enterprise that he loaded his family 
into a wagon, and, after the manner of the 
country, went off visiting, leaving the guest 
alone. In the afternoon, some little boys 
came up the road and inquired about the 
Sabbath school. This decided the matter, 
and the lone man went down the hill to the 
schoolhouse and began his work in this wide 
and needy field. 

" Ebenezer Warner Towne was the name 
of this servant of God; the first Sabbath of 
July, 1858, was the time; ' Lentz School- 
house ' was the place where a work for God 
and truth was started, that by His grace will 
never cease to bless this community. The 
schoolhouse was a hewed -log building, twenty 
feet square. That day there were seven 



pupils; but in a few weeks the house tilled 
up with parents and children, and money 
was raised for a $10 library of the "American 
Sanday School Union." The school went on 
during the year. When Mr. Towne' s family 
came on, he had faithful help in them. But 
in 1859, the house being entirely too small 
for the growing numbers, the school was re- 
moved to the village, and housed in a build- 
ing that was only inclosed and had the iioor 
laid. There were now eighty pupils and a 
slender corps of teachers. The school was 
shifted several times, until the " Horticult- 
ural Hall " was put up by the ' Fruit 
Growers' Association' in 1863, when it was 
removed to it as a permanent home. Im- 
mediately around the village a class of in- 
teresting and enterprising families had 
settled. They were chiefly from New Eng- 
land, and represented almost every conceiv- 
able opinion respecting religious truth. From 
the time that Father Towne removed the 
Sabbath school to ' the station,' there was 
grafted onto it some form of public worship. 
After the exercises closed, if a minister of 
any order were present he was invited to 
preach. If not, some gentleman was invited 
to read a sermon or- lecture, on any subject 
and by any author whom he might select. It 
was a heterogenous service. One Sabbath it 
would be a cordial discussion and applica- 
tion of some Gospel truth; the next, per- 
haps, 

" ' When Paul has served us for a text, 
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully preached,' 

" There was an incongruous element mixed 
with the efforts of these serious people. 
Sometimes the service would close with the 
announcement of a 'ball,' in the house on 
some evening during the week. So the parties 
tried to walk together for years. Meantime, 
a group of most excellent families had 
gathered in Mr. Towne's neighborhood, two 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



399 



milps or so northeast of Cobden. It com- 
prised Kev. William Arms, M. D. , a Congre- 
gational minister, and Eev. William Holmes, 
a Presbyterian, and their families (these gen- 
tlemen were each aged), the Fitches, Clays, 
Miss Rogers, etc. Several of these were 
working in the school at the 'station.' but 
th«re was such need of Christian work in 
their own neighborhood, so many families 
unreached, that they organized a Sabbath 
school. This was about 1864. That sum- 
mer it was held in a waste house on Silas 
Sifford's farm, at the ' Union Spring. ' But 
it was no rival to Father Towne's. In the 
morning, many of these workers went over to 
assist him, and theirs was held in the after- 
noon. So the} wrought, with a holy, loving 
zeal and persistency, winter and summer. 
" By this time (1866), there were quite a 
number of religious families, but there was 
no man yet with the faculty to organize 
among so many who had the faculty for lov- 
ing persistent work. The man who seems to 
have been honored of God to begin this or- 
ganizing tendency was Mr. Isaac G. Good- 
rich. He had been a church member for 
thirty-five years. He had been schooled 
in eighteen years of business, and Christian 
service in Milwaukee, and two in Chicago, 
and so was rich in experience, courage and 
deep convictions. He found here many to 
sympathize with him. Father Towne had re- 
moved North in 1865, and TJlevs. Mr. Arms 
and Mr. Holmes were preparing to go. But 
Col. Forbes and Capt. William A. Kirby and 
Dr. — Foster were here, and Mrs. Fitch, C. 
C. Wright, T. E. A. Holcomb, John Brig- 
ham, Virgil Beal, Edward Beal, Homer L. 
Finley, Theodore Goodrich and others, who 
had been more or less identified with Chris- 
tian work in other places. No sooner was he 
settled than he began to agitate the duty of 
a week- evening prayer meeting. It was not 



long before one was organized at his house, 
which went on all the winter of 1866-67. In 
the spring of 1867, the organization of a 
Congregational Church was canvassed. At 
last, all persons favorable to it were invited 
to meet at Mr. Goodrich's. As the result of 
this, another meeting was appointed to be 
held at the ' Horticultui-al Hall.' At this 
meeting, the matter was rather taken out of 
Mr. Goodrich's hands, and an ejffort made to 
combine all elements in the proposed 
church. The Committee appointed to draft 
' articles of faith,' on which they could 
unite, brought in the Song of the Angels at 
the birth of ' Christ the Lord.' A minority 
of the Committee, including Mr. Goodrich, 
who could only be satisfied with a distinct 
statement, in such a paper, of the truths that 
they considered essential to saving faith in 
Christ, declined to accept this as a basis. 
They deemed it wholly inadequate to the 
purpose, in the face of the conflicting and 
subversive opinions that prevailed. An or- 
ganization, however, was effected, of those 
who thought this sufficiently definite and of 
those who hoped that things would shape 
themselves into some useful church life any 
way, and so the services, such as above-men- 
tioned, went on. It was the wish that every 
shade of belief and unbelief in religious 
thoughts should find expression in these 
services. By the fall of 1867, Mr. Goodrich 
was ready to organize his prayer meeting 
again, at his residence. In the spring of 
1868, the Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D., Superin- 
tendent of Missions for the Congregational 
Church in Illinois, visited the field, and 
found things ripe for a distinctively Evan- 
gelical Church. In IMr. Goodrich's ' sitting- 
I'oom,' on. Saturday evening, the 'Articles of 
Faith ' were proposed and considered, and 
informally adopted. The next day, the 
' Plymouth Congregational Church of South 



400 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



Pass,' was formally constituted, with fifteen 
members, and they sat down and sealed 
their vows at the communion of the Lord's 
Supper. Rev. Charles Wheeler soon visited 
them, and was employed as their first minis- 
ter. He remained in charge until July, 
1871. 

" In September, the Rev. Evan L. Davies, 
supplying the Presbyterian Church of Anna, 
was invited to visit them, and was employed 
to supply them for one year. This relation 
was continued the next year. Mr. Davies 
became very acceptable as a preacher and 
pastor. He was a fine scholar, a close stu- 
dent, and well versed in natural science. He 
was quite familiar with the theories of 
' modern science.' He delighted in the dis- 
cussion of the evidences of Christianity, and 
by his logical tastes, and wide information 
and established convictions, he was abund- 
antly qualified. But he was a fervent lover 
of Christ, and rejoiced in the Gospel of His 
grace, and gave ' no uncertain sound ' in his 
preaching. He was a ' manly man, ' but a 
man of peace, save only when the sacred 
Scriptures were openly assailed, and then he 
was ' a man of war.' He was the very man 
for the field, and in 1872 he removed his 
family to Cobden. This still farther in- 
creased his influence and usefulness in this 
part of his field. Mrs. Davies was ' a help 
meet for him.' Her sprightliness, tact and 
good judgment supplemented her husband's 
gravity of temperament and manner. She 
was refined and agreeable, ' socially, but in 
times of sickness or bereavement she was ' an 
angel of sweet ministries.' She was a great 
worker in the church, the Sabbath school, 
the prayer meeting, and seemed to have the 
health and tireless lovo that was needed. 
But as the congregation went on trying to 
do the Lord's work, more and more two diffi- 
culties pressed them. First, as a Congrega- 



tional Church, they were so isolated; there 
were none of the same order with whom thej' 
could counsel, or unite in the support of a 
minister to supply their pulpit. Second, 
they needed aid, to make up their share of 
the support of a minister in the field ' The 
American Home Missionary Society ' hesi- 
tated to aid them in sustaining a Presbyter- 
ian minister as their 'supply,' and whi'e 
grouped with a Presbyterian Church. Thus 
the work seemed stopped with them as Con- 
gregationalists. They were discouraged by 
the course of the ' society,' and by and by 
chafed, and then began to consider favorably 
the advantages of a change of their church 
relations under their circumstances, and 
then a large proportion of the religious com- 
munity, who were identified with them in 
church membership or in Chi'istian work 
were Presbyterians; so at last, July 12, 
1874, in a Congregational meeting, called to 
consider their duty, they adopted the Presby- 
terian form of church govermnent by an 
almost unanimous vote, and fixed on the 
name, ' The First Presbyterian Church of 
Cobden, Illinois.' They adopted, also, the 
' Articles of Faith ' of the 'Plymouth Con- 
gregational Church,' so that nothing was 
changed but the polity and the ecclesiastical 
relations of the church. That day the con- 
gregation elected E. W. Towne, the veteran 
Sunday school worker; William F. Longley, 
Lewis T» Linn'el and J. E. Blinn, Ruling 
Elders in the chiu'ch, and John Clay and 
Townsend Foster, Deacons. On the 19th, 
the Revs. A. T. Norton, D. D., synodical 
missionary, and E. W. Fish, of Duquoin, 
being present, the above-mentioned officers- 
elect were ordained and installed, and the 
organization was completed. September 12, 
the church was received under the care of 
the Presbytery of Cairo, and its name en- 
rolled. So, the Sabbath school of Father 



HISTORY OF UNION dOUNTY. 



401 



Towne and the cottage prayei* meeting of 
Brother Goodrich had borne good fruit. 
The church consisted of thirty-seven mem- 
bers. The work of the church went on har- 
moniously, with growing evidences of the 
Divine favor. But during the 'Week of 
Prayer,' January, 1876, 'showers of bless- 
ings' began to fall. The meetings were con- 
tinued seven weeks. Rev. B. Y. George, of 
Cairo, and Rev. W. B. Minton, of Anna, as 
sisted Mr. Davies, each preaching abou.t three 
weeks. The Holy Spirit was poured upon 
the congregations that gathered daily, in 
great power. Forty-seven were added to the 
church by profession of their faith in Christ. 
The next year was, likewise, one of marked 
blessing; twenty-seven were added by pro- 
fession. So that in April, 1878, ten years 
after the church was organized, the session 
reported to the General Assembly 101 resi- 
dent members. 

" Rev. E. L. Davies removed fromtJie field 
in 1877, after a remarkably successful min- 
istry. November, 1878, the Rev. Charles 
Pelton, of Columbus Presbytery, Synod of 
Ohio, took charge of the church, and con- 
tinued to supply it until April 1, 1881. 
During his useful incumbency, fifteen were 
added to the membership. The ' Horticult- 
ural Hall ' was purchased and repaired. The 
beautiful grounds, building and all, cost 
about $1,000. The church erection fur- 
nished $400 of this amount. Another notable 
achievement, during the years covered by 
his charge, was the closing of the liquor 
saloons. In this imperative and humane re- 
form Mr. Pelton, with his characteristic en- 
thusiasm, was in the thick of the strife, and 
came through with a fair share of the honor, 
the ill-will and the personal danger of such 
a conflict. 

" November 6, 1881, the tlev. James Lafifer- 
ty took charge, but removed from the congre- 



gation after an earnest and useful ministry 
of but six months. 

" By invitation of the session, the Rev. 
Samuel C. Baldridge, pastor of the Friends- 
ville Presbyterian Church, visited the con- 
gregation, and preached one Sabbath, May 
28, 1882. At a congregational meeting held 
June 5, a ' call to the pastoral charge of the 
church' was made out for him by a unani- 
mous vote of the congregation, which was 
accepted. July 30, he began his work in 
this field, and was duly installed pastor of 
the church by a committee of the Presbytery^ 
of Cairo, December 17, 1882. 

" The number of communicants in the 
church, as reported to the General Assembly 
by the Session, April 1, 1883, is 98; mem- 
bership of the Sabbath school, 110; contri- 
butions to church work and beuevolence for 
the year, $853. Session — -Pastor, Rev. S. C. 
Baldridge, A. M. Ruling Elders, E. W. 
Towne, William F. Longley, Joseph E. 
Blinn, Lewis T. Linnell, Fred Angell, A. 
McCowbrey. Superintendent of Sabbath 
School, Lewis T. Linnell, Esq. Deacons, 
Peter Herrin, Fred Angell and Hosea Cran- 
dall, elect. 

" The property of the congregation con- 
sists of the church building, parsonage and 
■grounds, valued at $2,000. 

" 'The Ladies' Aid Society,' an organiza- 
tion of the ladies of the congregation, should 
be honorably mentioned. By their cheerful, 
persistent work, they have first, contributed 
largely to the improvements on the church 
building; second, promoted social acquaint- 
ance and good will." 

The Methodist Episcopal Church was 
erected about 1865-66, and is a frame edifice. 
Numerically, it is not very strong; it is at- 
tended by the Methodist minister from Ma- 
kanda. A good Sunday school is maintained. 
We have been unable to obtain any further 



402 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



facts of this church, although earnest efforts 
were made to that end. 

A Catholic Church was built a few years 
ago, and is a small but tasty frame building. 
The membership is small, and the church is 
without a resident pastor. 

Cobden Lodge, No. 466, A., F. & A. M., was 
chartered October 3, 1866, with the following 
members: Adam Buck, William Ames, Thomas 
A. E. Holcomb, .John Limbert, Henry Ede, 
James W. Fenton, Philip Mead, John L. 
Lower, John P. Keese, Claude Y. Pierce, T. 
W. Stuttard, Thomas H. Philips, J. C. 
Jacques, E. Leming, H. Frick, A. B. Mat- 
thews, John Buck, Peter Herrin, H. Bluw- 
enthal, Isaac N. Philips, B. F. Boss, William 
F. Lamer, Edward Sill and John Pierce. 
The first officers were T. A. E, Holcomb, 
Master; Henry Ede, Senior Warden, and H. 



Blumenthal, Junior Warden. The lodge has 
forty-eight members, is out of debt, and has 
about $300 on hand. The present officers 
are as follows: E. D. Lawrence, Master; J. 
F. F. Wallace, Senior Warden; C. C. Reeves, 
Junior Warden and G. H. Clark, Secretary. 
Relief Lodge, No. 452, I. O. O. F., was 
instituted October 10, 1871, with the follow- 
ing charter members: P. Nutto, J. J. Dan- 
away, B. F. Mangold, A. N. Brockman and 
John Frey, of whom the officers were: J. J. 
Danaway, N. G.; P. Nutto, V. G. ; B F. 
Mangold, Secretary, and John Frey, Treas 
urer. There are seventeen members on the 
roll, and the following are the present 
officers: Fred Fried, N. G. ; C A. Bell, V. 
G. ; C. Jeude, Secretary; and Jacob Snyder, 
Treasurer. • 



CHAPTER XVL* 



DONGOLA. PRECINCT — SURFACE, TIMBER, WATER-COURSES, PRODUCTS, ETC.— SETTLEMENT— PIO- 
NEER TRIALS AND INDUSTRIES — SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES — MILLS — DONGOLA VILLAGE : 
ITSGROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT— LEAVENWORTH— WHAT HE DID FOR THE TOWN, ETC. 



" The farmer sees 
His pastures and his fields of grain, 
As they bend their tops." — Longfellow. 

THE subject of this chapter, Dongola 
Precinct, forms the southeast portion of 
Union County, and is bounded on the north 
by Anna and Stokes Precincts, on the east 
by Johnson County, on the south by Pulaski 
County, on the west by Mill Creek and 
Jonesboro Precincts, and by the last census 
is credited with a population of 2,556 souls, 
including Dongola Village. Like the county 
at large, it is of an uneven surface, and in 
places rough and hilly; some portions too 

* By W. H. Perrin. 



broken for cultivation, though most of its 
area may be utilized either in grain or fruit. 
It is watered and drained by Cypress, Rig 
and Crooked Creeks, with their small tribu- 
taries. It is the largest precinct in the coun- 
ty, comprising all of Township 13, Range 1 
east, and half or more of Township 13, 
Range 1 west. The timber growth is oak, 
walnut, hickory, sugar tree, sycamore, gum, 
etc., with considerable undergrowth in places. 
Corn and wheat are the principal produc- 
tions; some attention is also paid to stock- 
raising. The Illinois Central Railroad passes 
through the western pare of the precinct, tap- 
ping the village of Dongola, and foiming a 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



405 



valuable source of transportation for its sur- 
pUis products. 

The settlement of Dongola Precinct dates 
back to an early period of the county's his- 
tory. The privations of its early pioneers 
were such as none but stout hearts would 
dare to encounter. Nothing but the hopeful 
inspiration of ^manifest destiny urged them 
to persevere in bringing under the dominion 
of civilized man what was before them — a 
howling wilderness. These sturdy sons of 
toil were mostly from North Carolina. One 
of the early families was that of Meisenhei- 
mer. The old pioneer of the family was 
Moses Meisenheimer, who came from North 
Carolina in 1816, and settled four miles 
northeast of the village of Dongola, on the 
place where John Smoot now lives. Upon 
this place he died in 1857. He was a prom- 
inent man in his day, long a Justice of the 
Peace. County Commissioner for several 
terms, and an active man generally. He has 
five children still living; Abraham resides 
in Dongola Village, and Henry five miles east 
of it ; the other three children are daughters. 
A brother of Mr. Meisenheimer came here 
some twenty years later. John Fisher came 
about the same time that Meisenheimer did. 
He has been dead several years. Moses and 
Caleb were sons, and are also dead. 

A very early settler was Edmund Davis. 
He was also from North Carolina, and died 
a good many years ago. Cyrus and Edmund 
were his sons, and the latter was long a 
prominent business man in Dongola Village. 
Daniel Karraker and Daniel Lingle were 
also from North Carolina, and came very 
soon after Meisenheimer. Karraker settled 
on the place where Wilford KaiTaker now 
lives. He has three sono still living Id the 
precinct, all of whom are honest and upright 
citizens. Lingle settled on an adjoining 
farm to Meisenheimer, where, after a long 



life, he died. He has two sons, and one or 
two daughters, still living. Caleb Lingle 
owns the old homestead. 

Joseph Eddleman, Adam Eddleman, 
George and Samuel Hunsaker and Peter 
Hilemaii came from North Carolina. The 
Eddlemans settled near the old village of 
Peru. Joseph died in the precinct in 1856. 
Eli Eddleman is a son, and is a prospei'ous 
farmer and a large land-owner. He was long 
engaged in milling and merchandising. 
Adam was his brother, and is also dead. 
The Huusakers settled in that part of the 
precinct recently cut off and added to Jones- 
boro. George was the first President of the 
Agricultural Board of the county. Peter 
Hileman settled early. He is dead, but has 
a son (John) now living in Meisenheimer 
Precinct. 

Martin Hoffner, the Beggs family, the 
Kellers, Youst Coke and Levi Patterson were 
also North Carolinians, and settled early. 
Hoffner came in about the time of Moses 
Meisenheimer, and settled some three and a 
half miles north ot the village of Dongola. 
He has a sod — John Hoffner— living near 
where his father settled. The old man is 
dead, and Boston Hoffner owns the home- 
stead. Of the Beggs family, the old mem- 
bers are all dead, and no immediate descend- 
ants are now living here. There were two 
brothers among the first settlers of Beggses, 
but their first names are not remembered. 
Joseph, Abraham and Absalom Keller came 
in early, and are all dead. Abraham has a 
son living in the precinct; Absalom has two 
sons living, but Joseph's children are all 
dead or moved away. They settled east of 
the village, and were plain old farmers. 
Coke settled on the place now owned by Na 
than Karraker. He and his sons are dead 
and gone. Patterson is gone, and has no 
descendants living in the precinct now. 

23 



406 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



Many other families might rank as early 
settlers, but their names have been forgotten 
or overlooked. To attempt to v^rite, in this 
chapter, the history of every family, in the 
order in which they came into the precinct, 
would be a task beyond the reach of human 
power. The hard life of these early settlers 
is a theme often discussed. It was a hard 
life, but in many cases it was as the people 
themselves made it. There was then, as now, 
great difiference in the forethought and thrift 
of the inhabitants. Some families always 
had plenty, such as it was, while others were 
ever hard run to make both ends meet, and 
not unfrequently, try as they might, the ends 
did not get quite together. So it was, just 
as it is to-day, by good managemei^t some 
glided along smoothly, while others eked out 
a bare subsistence. 

The first mill in the precinct was a horse 
mill built by Youst Coke. A water mill was 
built early by David Pem-od, on Cypress 
Creek, but it has long ago passed away. The 
first steam mill was built in the village about 
1852-54, by Col. Bainbr.idge, and now owned 
by Edmund Cuhl. It was erected while the 
railroad was in the course of construction, 
and has since changed hands frequently. 
Cuhl operated it awhile, and afterward built 
a mill on Big Creek. He took oat some of 
the machinery from the Dongola Mill, and 
put it in the new one. The old mill in the 
village he has recently sold to Samuel B. 
Poor. 

The first schools taught in the precinct 
were " common schools," in the full sense 
of the term. They were on the subscription 
plan, and were taught in any vacant cabin 
convenient to the greatest niimber of pupils. 
The early teachers were as ignorant as the 
cabins were rude. Mr. Meisenheimer says 
the first school he attended was taught by 
one Joseph McComnon, in a small log cabin 



that stood upon the present site of the Kar- 
raker Schoolbouse. It was a rude cabin, and 
had been built expressly for school purposes. 
It had the large fire-place, small windows, 
slab seats and cracks daubed with mud. The 
precinct has a number of comfortable school - 
houses at present, and supports schools dur- 
ing the usual terms. 

Religious services were first held in peo- 
ple's houses, or in summer in some fine 
grove beneath the trees. When school- 
houses made their appearance, these were 
used Oil Sunday for religious worship. They 
served both school and church purposes for 
a good many years. 

A Methodist Church, the first, pi'obably, in 
the precinct, was built on the Hoffner place 
some time before the war. It was a common 
log building, and served its day and genera- 
tion, and has disappeared with other relica 
of the early times. 

Friendship Baptist Church was built dur- 
ing the war. It stands northeast of Dongola 
Village and is a good frame building. A 
large and flourishing congregation attend it,^ 
and is ministered to by Elder Ridge at pres- 
ent. 

There are several other churches in the 
precinct, but we have but little information 
concerning them. A Lutheran and Reform 
Church is located on Section 17, of Town- 
ship 13, Range 1 west, and a Christian 
Church on Section 17, , of Township 13, 
Range 1 east; a German Methodist Church 
on Section 7, Township 13, Range 1 west, 
and a Baptist Church on Section 25, Town- 
ship 13, Range 1 east. These, with the churches 
in the village, afford the people ample means 
of grace, and if they do not make good use 
of them, there will be no one to blame for it 
but themselves. 

The first voting place in the precinct was 
at Philip Hinkle's, northeast of Dongola 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



407 



Village — a place now owned by one of the 
Karrakers. It was also the meeting place of 
the old time militia, where they drilled at 
I'egular intervals. The old Patterson place 
was used for the same purpose sometimes. 
The voting: now is at Donsrola, and Demo- 
cratic majorities are piled up moiintain-high 
for favorite candidates. It has become a 
saying that " as goes Dongola Precinct, so 
goes the county," and hence rival candidates 
strive hard for its vote. 

Dongola. — The village of Dongola was 
laid out by Ebeni Leavenworth, and the plat 
recorded May 23, 1857. It occupies the 
north part of Section 25, and the south part 
of Section 24, of Township 13, Range 1 
west, and is situated about nine miles south 
of Anna, on the Illinois Central Railroad. 
It has a population of some 600 inhabitants, 
and covers ground enough for as many thou- 
sand, if it were closely built up. 

Mr. Leavenworth, the original proprietor 
of the town, was an enterprising and stirring 
business man. He was an engineer, engaged 
on the Illinois Central Railroad during its 
construction, and owned the land on the 
east side of the road's right of way. Busi- 
ness prospered in his hands, and he soon ac- 
cumulated a fortune, some of which was 
afterward lost by broken trusts and ill-judged 
investments. Though a good business man, 
he was very far from allowing himself to be 
engrossed by mere money-making. Indeed, 
he seems to have cared but little for money, 
except as a means of doing good, and his 
strict habits of business appear to have been 
more the result of a fixed rule of life than a 
desire for pecuniary profit. As a proof of 
this, both his heart and his hand were always 
opened freely to whoever appeared to him to 
need and to deserve assistance, and neither 
any individual nor any enterprise worthy of 
help ever appealed to his generosity in vain. 



More than one business man can trace to 
him the starting point on his road to success 
and the foundation of his own fortune. 
The influence of such a man cannot be es- 
timated. Death came upon him suddenly 
and unexpectedly, when scarcely beyond the 
prime and vigor of life, but his influence, 
so far from being desti'oyed by his death, was 
then more fully felt and x'ecognized. 

The first residence erected upon the site of 
Dongola was by Mr. Leavenworth. Several 
shanties had been put up previou>*ly, and oc- 
cupied by workmen on the road. He put up 
a number of buildings, among them a store- 
house, which is still in use as a place of busi- 
ness. The first store in the town wa.s kept 
by Edmund Davis, and occupied the site of 
the present Lone Star Drug 'Store. A man 
had kept a few notions — principally whisky 
— for the benefit of the work hands, before 
Davis opened his store, but it scarcely de- 
served the name of store. Davis built the 
storehouse be occupied, and remained in it 
until it was destroyed by fire. He was a 
man at one time very wealthy, but has met 
numerous reverses, and at present lives in 
the county in rather straitened circum- 
stances. 

Abraham Meisenheimer opened the next 
store after Davis, and aboiit the same time 
Leavenworth built a storehouse, in which he 
did an extensive mercantile business. Mei- 
senheimer long carried on a store, and is yet 
living and a respected citizen of the town. 
Other stores and shops were opened, and 
Dongola became quite a business place. It 
was some time before the railroad could be 
induced to give the people even a switch, 
and the station was made here only through 
the persistent efforts of Mr. Leavenworth, 
who (continued his persevei'ance until the rail- 
road officials granted his request, to get rid, 
perhaps, of his importunities. But they 



408 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



have discovered long ere this, doubtless, that 
in making Dongola Station they committed 
a wise act, as it has become a considerable 
shipping point. 

The Novelty Works was the most extensive 
business establishment, in its day, the town 
has ever known. It was originated by Leaven- 
worth, like many other enterprises of Lis, 
in a great measure to give employment to 
needy people. It grew out of a saw mill 
which stood on the spot, and, by a number 
of additions made to its machinery, became, 
as we have said, an extensive establishment. 
Almost anything and everything to be made 
out of wood was turned out of this factory, 
which, as its name designated, was " Novelty 
Works." It had about thirty different kinds 
of machinery, mostly for woodwork. Wagon 
hubs and spokes were made; also furniture, 
feed boxes, wooden bowls, plows, wagons, 
and many other articles which we are unable 
to enumerate. The works employed, some 
times, forty and fifty hands. But when Mr. 
Leavenworth died, the works, like " Grand- 
father's Clock, " 

"Stopped short, never to go again.'" 

Most of the machinery has been removed, and 
the establishment is standing idle. At the 
time of his death, Mr. Leavenworth was in- 
terested in a number of mills in different 
sections. He was fond of machinery, and 
devoted most of his time, for many years, to 
milling and other manufacturing interests. 
The first mill built in the town was the old 
Cuhl mill, standing idle by the railroad, 
which has already been noticed in this chap- 
ter. The Neibauer mill was built in 1875. 
The first mill built upon that site was by 
Louis Meisenheimer. It was sold at his sale, 
and bought by Neibauer & Nagle. It was 
afterward burned, when the present one was 
biiilt by Neibauer. It is a substantial frame 



edifice, and doing a large and profitable busi" 
ness. The Red Mill, as it is called, was 
built by Davis & Poor, originally about a 
quarter of a mile from town. Five or six 
years later it was removed to town, and is also 
doing a good business. 

F. M. McCallin operated the Novelty 
Works, or rather the saw mill part of them, 
during the past season, in sawing walnut 
lumber; but after using up the walnut tim- 
ber convenient to town, he closed the busi- 
ness. These mills, with a few small shops, 
comprise the Dongola manufactories. 

Thoi village was incorporated under a 
special act of the Legislature, in 1871. The 
first Boai'd of Trustees were as follows: L. 
T. Bonacina, J. R. Peeler, Henry Hai'mes, 
W. R. Milam and John Holshouser. Of 
this Boai'd J. R. Peeler was President, Solo- 
mon Lombard, Clerk, and John Holshouser, 
Treasurer. The village was re-organized 
under the general State law a few years later. 
The present board are Frank Neibauer, A. 
G. Williams, Hemy Eddleman, J. D. Benton 
and George Cokenower; of which Frank 
Neibauer is President, A. G. Williams, Clerk, 
and Henry Eddleman, Treasurer. 

The present schoolhouse was built in 1873. 
It is a substantial frame building, and will 
accommodate from 150 to 200 pupils. The 
school is graded, and usually employs three 
teachers. The first schoolhouse in the vil- 
lage stood near the Novelty Works, and 
Leavenworth donated the land and built the 
present house for the old one, in order to get 
the children further from his machinery, lest 
they might some time meet with an accident, 
as they would play about the mill and lum- 
ber piles. 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church was or- 
ganized in Dongola in 1865, by Rev. H. M. 
Brewer. In the fall of 1866, Rev. D. S. 
Sprecher took charge of it. A church edifice 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



409 



was built by the Methodists, Cumberland 
Presbyterians and Lutherans combined, and 
all these denominations still occupy it. At 
the time of building ^the church, Rev. Mr. 
Kimber was pastor of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and Rev. J. B. McCallin of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In the 
fall of 1869, Rev. D. Schwartz was called to 
the pastorate of the Lutheran Church; Rev. 
Turner Earnhart was the foui'th pastor; Rev. 
C. S. Sprecher was the fifth; Rev. William 
Prewett was the sixth, and Rev. Mr. Dififen- 
baugh was the seventh, and now fills that 
podition. A Union Sunday school is carried 
on, attended by about sixty of the Method- 
ist, Cumberland Presbyterian and Lutheran 
children, under the superintendence of 
Charles Leavenworth. 

The Baptists also have a church building, 
and an organized church society. The build- 
ing is a handsome frame, and the congrega- 
tion is flourishing. 

Dongola Lodge, No. 581, A., F. & A. M., 
was chartered October 6, 1868, and the fol- 
lowing were its first officers, viz. : J. H. 
Dodson, Master; W. J. Williams, Senior 
Warden; James Murray, Junior Warden; J. 
R. Peeler, Treasurer; George Little, Secre- 
tary; A. Clutts, Senior Deacon; A. C. Bow- 
ser, Junior Deacon; Thomas N. Henley, 
Tiler. The lodge has at present twenty-five 
members, and the following officers: H. W. 
Dyer, Master; J. A. Dillow, Senior Warden; 



Joseph Gattinger, Junior Warden; F. Nei- 
bauer. Treasurer; D. J. Dillow, Secretary; 
J. F. Richardson, Senior Deacon ; Jones Sivia, 
Junior Deacon; and Thomas N. Henley, 
Tiler. 

Dongola Lodge, No. 343, L O. O. F., in- 
stituted at Dongola January 31, 1867. The 
following were the first officers: E. Leaven- 
worth, N. G. ; Geoi-ge Little, V. G. ; Henry 
Harmes, Treasurer, and John M. Davis, 
Secretary. The present officers are Joseph 
Kingler, N. G. ; Joseph S. Rhymer, V; G. ; 
Frank Neibauer, Treasurer, and John W. 
Eddleman, Secretary. 

Peru ^was once laid out as a town by Au- 
gustus Post, but no lots, we believe, were 
ever sold, and no great .efforts made to build 
it up. It was located about two miles south- 
west of Dongola Village, where the Vienna 
& Cape Girardeau road crossed the Jonesboro 
& Caledonia road, and was generally called 
the "Cross Roads." We don't know whether 
it compared with Nasby's " Confedrit X 
Roads, wich is in the State of Kentucky," 
or not; but it never amounted to much as a 
town. Moses Goodman opened a store there 
in 1852, and continued Id business until 
about 1868, when he closed out and retired. 
This, with a shop or two, comprised all the 
town tliere was at the place. 

Moscow Post Office, in the northeast part 
of the precinct, consists of a post office and a 
store. No town has ever been laid out there. 




410 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XVII.* 



KIDGE OR ALTO PASS PRECINCT— SURFACE FEATURES, BOUNDARIES, AND TIMBER GROWN- 

OCCUPATION OF THE WHITES— PIONEER TRIALS— INDUSTRIES, IMPROVEMENTS, ETC. 

—THE KNOB— CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS— VILLAGES, ETC., ETC. 



^r^HIS division of the county, known as 
-*- Alto Pass or Ridge Precinct, is in the 
north tier of townships, and lies south of 
Jackson County, with South Pass or Cobden 
Precincts on the east, Jonesboro and Union 
Precincts on the south and Preston Precinct 
on the west. The surface is hilly and un- 
even, with considerable bluffs along the water- 
courses, but in the north pax't there is a very 
line table land, upon which are some excellent 
farms. Probably one-fourth of the precinct 
is too rocky and broken to admit of cultiva- 
tion. The principal products are corn, 
wheat and fruit; the southeastern part of 
the precinct might be termed the very heart 
of the fruit section of the county. The 
land is watered and drained by Hutchins, 
Cedar and Clear Creeks and their numerous 
small tributaries. Hutchins Creek flows south 
through the western part, and empties into 
Clear in the northwest part of Jonesboro 
Precinct; Clear Creek runs southwest and 
passes out through Section 31, and Cedar 
Creek flows through the northeast corner. 
The timber growth is that common in the 
county. The Cairo & St. Louis NaiTow 
Gauge Railroad runs through the eastern 
part of the precinct, with Alto Pass and 
Kaolin as shipping stations. The census of 
1880 gave Ridge a population of 2,287 souls. 
The settlement of this precinct dates back 
half a century or more. Among the pioneers 
were the following from North Carolina: The 

*By W. H. Pen-in. 



Smiths. Christopher Houser, John Gregory, 
Jonathan Landrith, Henry Rendleman, Elias 
Quilman, and many others perhaps. The 
Smiths settled in the southwest part of the 
precinct. One of the pioneers of this nu- 
merous family was John, a very uncommon 
name, particularly in the Smith family. As an 
illustration: A man once entered a crowded 
church, and called out: "Mr. Smith, your 
house is on fire!" when one hundred and 
twenty-live Smith's jumped up. The man 
continued: "It is Mr. John Smith's house," 
and thirteen of them sat down. John is 
still living (not one of those John's that was 
in the church) and has two sons, Wiley and 
John, also living, and who are good citizens. 
George first settled below Jonesboro, but re- 
moved to this precinct about the year 1835, 
and settled on Hutchins Creek, where Charles 
Smith now lives. He has been dead some 
years, but his widow is living, and about 
eighty years of age. He has several sons 
still in precinct, in good circumstances, but 
a little behind in the energy and enterprise 
of the day. Davault Smith was another 
brother. He is dead, but has a son living in 
Jackson County. Most of the old members 
of the family were uneducated and illiterate, 
but possessed much practical common sense, 
and accumulated considerable property. 

Christopher Houser settled on Clear Creek. 
He was quite an old man when he came here, 
and has long been dead, but has a son Chris- 
topher — now an old man himself — still living 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



411 



in the couuty. The elder Houser was veiy 
poorly educated, but quite prominent in the 
community and served long as a Justice of 
the Peace. John Gregory also settled on 
Clear Creek. He was a plain old farmer who 
attended to his own business. His name is 
perpetuated by two sons — John C. and Alfred 
Gregory. Jonathan Landrith and I>is son, 
McKinley Landrith, both came early and are 
botli dead. Jonathan, a son of McKinley, 
lives in the precinct. The Rendlemans are 
quite a numerous family in the county, and 
of this precinct. Henry Rondleman, the 
pioneer of the family in Alto Pass, came in 
early. John S., Cah^b and Martin were 
brothers, and came soon after. Henry and 
Caleb are dead; the latter has three sons 
living. John and Martin are living; John 
raised a large family of children, who de- 
veloped into intelligent and worthy citizens. 
The Kendleman family is among the most 
respectable in the county, and command the 
esteem of all whoknow them. 

To the settlement of the precinct, Ken- 
tucky contributed the following pioneers: 
Henry Lamer, Samuel and William Butcher. 
Joseph Waller, John Hudgins, Thomas Craft, 
Montgomery Hunsaker, the Keiths, and 
probably others. Henry Lamer came to the 
county in 1815. He was a native of York 
County, Penn. , and removed to Kentucky, 
where he remained but a short time, when 
he decided to " go West, and grow up with 
the country." He died a few years after his 
settlement here, leaving a numerous family, 
among whom is Rev. J. D. Lamer, who was 
born in 1815, a few months after his father 
came to the precinct, and is probably the first 
white child born in it, and the oldest native- 
boi'n citizen in the county. Soon after the 
death of Mr. Lamer, his widow moved to 
Southern Indiana, but a few years later re- 
turned to this section, Avhere she afterward 



died. The farm where Lamer originally set- 
tled is now owned by John J. Keith. Rev. 
Mr. Lamer settled on his present place in 
1839, and at the time his nearest neighbor 
was nearly a mile distant, and the present 
site of Cobden was a dense thicket. He is a 
minister of the Baptist Church, but of late 
years has quit preaching from physical dis- 
ability. The Butchers were early settlers, 
but are dead. The Hunsakers are supposed 
to have been the first white people in the 
county, and settled in the vicinity of Jones- 
boro. Montgomery Hunsaker settled in this 
precinct very early on Hutchins Creek. Will- 
iam Finch was an early settler in the same 
neighborhood. The pioneer of the Keith 
family was named Samson. He is dead, but 
his name is perpetuated by John, a son, and 
quite a prominent man, and a member of the 
present County Board. 

Tennessee (jontributed the following set- 
tlers to the precinct: Cornelius Anderson, 
Franklin Ferrill, Giles Parmley, N. B. Col- 
lins, Lewis Collins, Andrew Irvin, Henry 
Rowe, the Lales, John Crips, Abraham 
Cokenower, etc., etc. Anderson is still liv- 
ing, and two or three sons,also living in the 
precinct, Ferrill is living. Parmley was a 
Revolutionary soldier, and has long been 
dead; Squire N. B. Collins married his 
daughter. Lewis Collins, the father of 
Squire Collins, was a very early settler. 

Among other early settlers, whose native 
place we do not know, may be mentioned 
George W. Harris, the Tweedys, David 
Sumner, William Simpson, John Daly, and 
several other families. Harris first settled 
in Jonesboro, but afterward moved into this 
precinct. James and Singleton Tweedy, 
brothers, are both living. Sumner settled 
early, and is now dead. Patrick Corgan 
came from L'eland. He was the pioneer 
school-teacher of. the precinct. 



413 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



The Vancils were early settlers, and a 
numerous family in Union County in early 
days. Jonas Vancil, one of the old members 
of the family, settled in this precinct. He 
had a son named Isaac, who, from his able 
faculty of warping and twisting the truth on 
convenient occasions, eventually won for him 
the sobriquet of " Lying Ike" Vancil. He 
talked recklessly and extravagantly, and was 
considered, as we are told, the biggest liar in 
the county. His father was a Dunkard, 
wore long hair aad whiskers, and had a 
thick growth of hair over his entire face. Ike 
and his father made a trip to North Caro- 
lina — their native State -and during the 
journey, which in those primitive days was 
necessarily slow, they run out of money, and 
in order to "raise the wind," Ike exhibited 
his father, whom he represeoted as a wild 
man from the Rocky Mountains, a fact which 
his long hair and whiskers seemed to war- 
rant. The " show" was quite successful, 
and with the funds thus raised they com- 
pleted their journey. 

Ike was full of fun, mischievous as the 
day was long, and, as an old gentleman said, 
had the " devil in him as big as a ground- 
hog " He took it into his head once to scat- 
ter a camp-meeting (being held in a grove 
near by) for some fancied wrong. Having 
caught a full-grown turkey-buzzard, he made 
a " turpentine ball, " and one night when the 
meeting had reached its most exciting and 
interesting point, Ike fastened the ball to 
the buzzard's leg, set it on fire, and turned 
the frightened bird loose in the midst of the 
congregation. A few tallow candles very 
insufficiently lighted the scene, and when 
the buzzard commenced Hopping around 
among the people, with the blazing turpen- 
tine ball, they thought the devil had burst 
upon them, and were worse frightened than 
the poor bird itself was. >5uch screaming, 



praying and miscellaneous hollering never 
before, perhaps, had awakened the echoes of 
the hills around that camp-meeting ground. 

There was a cave in the north part of the 
precinct, near the county line, and Ike finally 
succeeded in convincing the people that it 
was haunted by evil spirits, or occupied by 
thieves and robbers. He rigged a kind of an 
arrangement in the cave, by which, by some 
hocus pocus, he could at will produce a most 
unearthly and hoi'rible sound. The people 
one day gathered, en masse, armed to the 
teeth, for the pui'pose of recklessly invading 
the cavern and captaring a legion of devils,' 
thieves, robbers, bandits, or, Booth Bell-like, 
taking in a gang of "mooners. " But it is 
needless to say they were themselves " taken 
in," when they found how beautifully they 
had been sold. It is not known whether this 
man of practical jokes is still alive or not. 
The last heard of him he was in the vicinity 
of Carbondale. He was naturally intelligent, 
witty, a good talker, but almost wholly un- 
educated. Had his intellect been . turned to 
matters of moment instead of things frivol- 
ous, he might have made for himself a name 
long to be remembered among his fellowmen. 

The name bestowed upon this division by 
the County Board was Ridge, from the high 
ridge extending diagonally through it. But 
when the railroad was built, and the station 
of Alto Pass was made, the latter name was 
given to the precinct, and it is now termed 
Alto Pass or Ridge Precinct. The produc- 
tions of the precinct are mostly corn and 
wheat in the level portions and bottoms, 
while in the bluff region, the attention of the 
farmers is devoted almost entirely to fruit 
and berries. The original voting places were 
at the houses of Samson Keith and Chris- 
topher Houser. The precinct is strongly 
Democratic, and has always been of that 
color of political faith. 



HISTOEY OF UNI0:N COUNTY, 



413 



This section has never had many mills — 
the pioneer's first public industry. A horse 
mill was built by John Vancil pretty early. 
He also built a water mill on Clear Creek, 
near where Kaolin Station now is. He sold 
out here, and went up on the bluff and built 
another mill, which was run by horse-power. 
These, with a number of saw mills, are all 
of this industry the precinct has known. 
There are several box factories, which are 
kept busy during the fruit and berry season. 

The first schoolhouse was built on Clear 
Creek in the southern part of the precinct 
Squire Collins says the first school he remem. 
bers was taught by Patrick Corgan, a native 
of Ireland, and it was something like the 
one described by the poet in the following 
lines : 

"Old Teddy O'Rourke kept a bit of a school, 
At a place called Clanira, and made it a rule, 
If learning wouldn't mark the mind, faith, he'd 

soon mark the back, 
As coming down on the boys with a devilish 

whack." 

The precinct now has several schoolhouses 
of the ordinary kind to be found all over the 
county, together with an excellent brick in 
the village of Alto Pass. 

There are several church buildings and 
organized congregations in this section. 
Beech Grove Christian Church, located on 
Section 31, was organized in IVFarch, 1876, 
by Elder J. H. Ferrell, who was its pastor 
until 1882, when he was succeeded in that 
capacity by Elder J. H. Harris. The church 
has about forty- four members, and a frame 
church building erected in 1878, which is 
24x36 feet in dimensions. Most of its mate- 
rial and work was contributed by the mem- 
bei-8. A Sunday school was organized the 
third Sunday in April, with about thirty -five 
members, under the superintendence of J. C. 
Gregory. 



Union Point Christian Church was organ- 
ized in i881, with quite a large membership. 
The Toledo Christian Church stood in Cob- 
den Precinct. Many of the members moved 
away, some died, others lived far from the 
church; and thus it was finally abandoned, 
and from its congregation were organized 
Beech Gi'ove, Cobden and Union Point 
Churches. The latter has at present some 
sixty members. Elder J. H. Harris is pastor 
in charge. They have no church building, 
but use the schoolhouses. A Sunday school 
in connection with the church has about sixty 
children in regular attendance ; D. L. An- 
derson is Superintendent. 

Additional to the churches mentioned 
above, there is a Baptist Church on Section 
26, about half a* mile from where Mountain 
Glen Village was laid out, but never built ; 
another Baptist Church in the northeast part 
of Section 9, and a Methodist Church on 
Section 21, in the central part of the precinct. 
Of these churches, however, we have been 
unable to obtain history. 

Village. — Alto Pass Village was laid out 
January 20, 1875, by James C. Brickender- 
fer, and is situated in the southwest part of 
Section 10. on the St. Louis & Cairo,' Narrow 
Guage Railroad, about ten miles north of 
Jonesboro. The place was originally called 
Quetil after an old Frenchman of that name, 
who lived on the hill near where the Alto 
House stands. The railroad called the station 
Alto on account of the lofty altitude of the 
spot on which it stands, but when the post 
office was established so much of the mail for 
this place went to Alton that the word Pass 
was finally added. A man named John Cor- 
gan sold goods here thirty -five or fotty years 
ago. His storehouse and residence stood 
about 100 yards west of Herrell's brick 
store, on what was then known as the Jones- 
boro and Brownsville road — the latter place 



414 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



being at that time the county seat of Jackson 
County. A portion of the Alto House was a 
farmhouse. These three houses stood upon 
the site of Alto Pass when it was laid out as 
a village. 

The first business house built after the 
the town was laid out was put up by A. K. 
Ives, a son of Dr. Ives, of Anna, and is the 
house in which the post office is now kept. 
Ives kept a small, general store. Spann & 
Rendleman kept the first store of " huge pro- 
portions." The post office was established 
about 1877-78, and H. C. Freeman was ap- 
pointed Postmaster. He was succeeded by 
George H. Staton, and he by E. Lameson, 
the present incumbent. 

The pi-esent brick schoolhouse was built in 
1880, at a cost of about |2,^0. The usual 
attendance is some seventy pupils; two teach- 
ers are employed. The Baptist Church was 
commenced in 1879, and is a frame building. 
Elder Alonzo Durham is the pastor. A Sun- 
day school is maintained under the superin- 
tendence of J. J. Anderson. 



Alto Lodge, No. 676, I. O. O. F., was in- 
stituted in 1880, with the following charter 
membeis: Rev. A. Durham, J. J. Keith, W. 
S. Hanners, F. C. Gay and A. J. Rendleman. 
The first officers were F. C. Gay, N. G. ; A. 
J. Rendleman, V. G. ; T. W. Hawkins, Sec- 
retary; and J. J. Keith, Treasurer. The 
membership is twenty-five, officered as fol- 
lows: C. C. Rendleman, N. G. ; G. W. 
James, V. G. ; W. S. Watson, R. S. ; and A. 
J. Rendleman, Treasurer. 

Alto Pass was incorporated under the gen- 
eral law of the State in 1881. The follow- 
ing is the present Board of Trustees: F. C. 
Gay, President; Willis Rendleman, Clerk;' 
S. H. Spann, Police Magistrate; and Dr. P. 
Mcllvain, C. C. Rendleman, C. Jesseu, Hiram 
Norton and C. B. Holcomb. The business 
outlook is five general stores, one drug store, 
one millinery store, one blacksmith shop, two 
cooper shops, one lumber yard, two hotels, 
etc., with a population of about 400 inhabit- 
ants. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



RICH PRECINCT— DESCRIPTION, BOUNDARIES AND SURFACE FEATURES— SETTLEMENT OF THE 

WHITES— WHERE THEY CAME FROM AND WHERE THEY LOCATED — LICK CREEK POST 

OFFICE— SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES— CAVES, SULPHUR SPRINGS, ETC., ET( \ 



" The rocks and hills and brooks and vales, 
With milk and honey flow." 

—Old Hymn. 

RICH PRECINCT lies in the northeast 
part of Union County, and is a f raclional 
part of Township 11 south, Range 1 east, in 
the Government survey — some seven sections 
having been, in 1881, stricken off in the for- 
mation of Saratoga Precinct. Some of the 
finest farming and fruit-growing lands in the 

*By W. H. Perriu. 



county are found in this precinct. There is 
a range of bluffs bordering Lick Creek, but 
beyond these hills to the north and northeast 
is a fine table-land, unsurpassed in Southern 
Illinois for its agricultural excellence, and is 
occupied by a sfit of thrifty and enterprising 
farmers. Corn and wheat are chiefly pro- 
duced, but considerable attention is also paid 
to fruit culture — particularly to apples and 
peaches. Many farmers, too, devote some 
attention to stock-raising, a business that is 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



415 



becoming of more interest every year. Horses 
and mules are bred now quite extensively, 
and large numbers find their way to the 
Southern markets annually. The principal 
water-course is Lick Creek, which flows from 
northwest to southeast, nearly through the 
center of the precinct, affording excellent 
drainage to the section through which it 
passes. It has but few tributaries, and they 
are small and nameless on the maps. There 
are a nvimber of springs which furnish an 
abundance of water both for family use and 
for stock. The original timber was chiefly 
black and white oak, hickory, poplar, gum, 
dogwood, sassafras, etc., etc. The precinct 
is without railroads; the Illinois Central, 
however, passing within a few miles of its 
borders. It is bounded on the north and 
east by Williamson and Johnson Counties; 
on the south by Stokes and Saratoga Pre- 
cincts; on the west by Saratoga and South 
Pass Precincts, and had a population in 1880 
of 1,387 souls. When the county was formed 
into precincts, the name " Rich " was be- 
stowed on this in honor of George Rich, one 
of the early settlers, whose house used to be 
the polling place, where the people exercised 
their rights of franchise and cast their " un- 
territied " votes for the men of their choice. 
The settlement of Rich Precinct dates back 
many years. The first entry of land made in 
what is now Union County was in Section 
33 of this precinct, and was made by one 
Thomas D. Patterson in 1814. We cannot 
say what became of Patterson, indeed, we 
know but little of him anyway, but can say 
that the land was eventually sold for taxes. 
Among the first settlers of whom we have any 
definite information were Zebadee Anderson, , 
James Lilly and a man named Owen. An- 
derson was from North Carolina, and was a 
genuine pioneer— as good a citizen as a man 
ignorant and illiterate could be. When the 



railroad was built, believing that his occupa- 
tion (of hunting) like Othello's, was gone, 
he sold out and moved to Texas, because, as 
he said, the road would ruin the country — 
would drive all the game away if nothing 
more disastrous followed. He went to Texas 
where there was then but little probability of 
a railroad for the next 100 years, but if liv- 
ing still, doubtless the iron-horse has again 
disturbed his tranquillity and driven him fur- 
ther on toward the setting sun. It is not 
known what year Anderson settled here, but 
probably it was as early as 1830, or there- 
abouts. Owen was a man similar in many 
respects to Anderson. He was related to 
him, and settled in that portion of the pre- 
cinct now included in Saratoga. He died 
before the railroad had a chance to give him 
a scare, but his sons sold out their possessions 
here and followed Anderson to Texas in pur- 
suit of game and wilderness life. Lilly set 
tied on Section 21, and was from either Ten- 
nessee or North Carolina, from whence came 
most of the early settlers of the county. He 
is still living, a prosperous and enterprising 
farmer. 

George Rich, for whom the precinct was 
named, settled here in 1 835. He was a rather 
prominent man in the early history of this 
portion of the county. His house was an 
early voting place, and the scene of many a 
"rough and tumble scrimmage," political 
and otherwise. Edward Wiggs was also an 
early settler on Section 34, and is still living, 
a well-to-do farmer and worthy citizen. 

The next settlements were made from 1846 
on down to the period when the last of the 
Government land was entered. Of settlei's 
who came in about this time, we may mention 
the Brookses, Elmores, A. W. Coleman, John 
Cochran, William Roberts, Thomas Gallegly, 
theHineses, Hopkinses, Thomas Gourley, etc., 
etc. Tilford Brooks settled on Section 15, 



416 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



and is still living there. Elijah Brooks was 
his brother and settled on the same section. 
He is dead, bnt has two sons still living in 
the vicinity, William Elmore settled pre- 
viously to 1850 on Section 17; he died 
recently, but a son, William B. Elmore, lives 
upon the same section. The place on which 
the elder Elmore settled is now owned by 
Mr. J. W. Damron. Mr. Roberts came about 
the same time that the Brookses did. H« 
settled on Section 27, and is still living, a 
prosperous, but somewhat eccentric man. He 
is said to be morally opposed to voting — be- 
lieving it to be radically wrong. Indeed, he 
is a very paragon of sincerity and punctil- 
ioasness, and entertains conscientious scruples 
against serving as a witness in court, or 
taking an oath for any purpose. John Coch- 
ran came before the railroad whistle dis- 
turbed the cattle grazing upon the surround- 
ing hills. He settled on Section 28, but at 
present lives in the vicinity of Carbondale. 
He was a man of more than ordinary intelli- 
gence, but was wholly uneducated — a dia- 
mond in the rough. He represeiited Union 
County in the Legislature, in the session of 
1852-54, and took an active interest in the 
politics of the day. He was the tirst station 
agent of the Illinois Central Railroad at 
Anna, but his services were finally dispensed 
with, owing to his incapacity for the busi- 
ness. He was a popular man, and could have 
been elected President of the United States 
if such an honor could have been conferred 
by Union County. Gallegly settled about 
the time Brooks died, and entered a part of 
Section 34. He is still living, and is a man 
highly respected, a thrifty farmer, and a good 
citizen, and Township Treasurer for several 
years. The Hineses and the Hopkinses are a 
numerous family, and settled here about the 
time the Brookses came, (jourley bought out 
Anderson, and is one of the wealthiest men 



in the precinct. He came in aboutthe time 
of building the railroad, and is^still living, a 
respected and thoroughly enterprising man. 
The foregoing comprises a brief sketch of 
the settlement of Rich Precinct, but doubt- 
less many names have been overlooked which 
are entitled to honorable mention. This, 
however, is not the fault of the historian, as 
the most diligent inquiries have been made 
to collect the names of all of the early set- 
tlers, together with pioneer incidents and 
facts of interest pertaining to the early set- 
tlement of this immediate locality. The 
carving of a home in the forests of Rich 
Precinct was a herculean task, and one from 
which most of us would shrink at the pres- 
ent day. Wolves and panthers were plenty 
here when the whites first came, and roamed 
in undisputed mastery. Provisions, except 
game, were scarce, and were procured with 
difficulty. None of the luxuries, and few of 
the comforts of life conld be obtained during 
the first years, and miserable cabins were the 
only shelter of the people who settled the 
precinct. Truly, their lives in those days 
were not pleasant, or in the least enviable. 

The nearest approach to a village in Rich 
Precinct is Lick Creek Post Office. It com- 
prises a store, post office, a mill, and, per- 
haps, half a dozen dwellings. The first 
store here was kept by Mangum & Gourley. 
They have been succeeded by Gourley & Son, 
who have a large store, and do quite an ex- 
tensive business. A post office was estab- 
lished here many years ago, and Gourley 
was the first Postmaster. Charles Gourley 
is the present incumbent. This, with the 
mill and a shop or two, comprises the busi- 
ness. 

Union Lodge, No. 627, A., F. & A. M., was 
organized in 1866, with the following char- 
ter members: John Gardner, Master; Edwin 
W^iggins, Senior W^arden; Jesse Roberts, 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



417 



Junior Warden; and James Brooks. A. L 
Penninger, William A. Roberts, Henry C 
Anderson and Thomas Hines. In 1872, in 
connection with the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church, on Section 34, a large two-story 
frame building was erected, the lower por- 
tion for church pu.rposes, and the upper 
stoi^y for a hall. The cost to the lodge was 
$700 in building, and $100 in furnishing it. 
They have about thirty members, and Edwin 
Wiggins is the present Master. 

Evergreen Lodge, No. 581, I. O. O. F., was 
instituted in 1876, with the following charter 
members: A. L. Penninger, Isaac M. New- 
ton, J. C. Cook, Evans Stokes, John T. New- 
ton and F. E. Scarsdale. The first officers 
were: A. L. Penninger, N. G. ; Isaac M. 
Newton, V. Gr. ; J. C. Cook, Secretary, and 
F. E. Scarsdale, Treasurer. The lodge met 
at Masonic Hall, four miles northeast or 
Saratoga, until 1882, when it took possession 
of a new hall at Lick Creek Post Office, where 
it still flourishes, with a membership of 
about thirty. The present officers are as fol- 
lows: Matthew Brooks, N. G; W. M. Murphy, 
Y. G.; W. Gibson, Secretary, and Joseph 
Kirby, Treasurer. 

The subject of education received the early 
attention of the settlers of the precinct, but 
it is not certain now who taught the first 
school, nor the date. It is believed that the 
first sehoolhouse built was the one near A, J. 
Mangum's, on Section 34, but which has now 
disappeared. There are some four or five 
schoolhouses in the precinct, and while they 
are more comfortable, perhaps, than those in 
which the pioneers went to school, yet they 
are scarcely up to the standard of school - 
liouses of the present day, nor does it seem 
that education receives that meed of atten- 
tion which its importance demands. Schools 
are taught in each district yearly, but the 



terms are usually shorter than in most other 
sections of the State. 

Rich Precinct is well supplied with church 
facilities. Fellowship Christian Church is 
one of the oldest in the precinct, and was 
organized before the war, by Elders Treese 
and Elmore. It became almost extinct at 
one time, and about 1869-70 it was revived 
under the preaching of Elders Fly and Reed. 
The regular preachers have been Elders 
Treese, Elmore, Fly, Reed and Walker. 
Elder Reed is the present pastor. They first 
worshiped in the sehoolhouse, but about 
eight years ago they built a log church where 
they now hold services. A Sunday school is 
usually kept up during the summer months. 

Liberty Christian Church, on Section 6, 
was organized in 1861-62, with about a 
dozen members, who lived in this settlement, 
but belonged to the old Union Christian 
Church, and on account partly of their re- 
moteness from it, and partly on account of 
political differences, this church was organ- 
ized, and has since continued to gain steadily 
in strength until now it has seventy-five 
members. Most of the original ones are 
dead. The Church was first organized in the 
Culp Sehoolhouse, and among the early pas- 
tors were old Father Hiller, the first expo- 
nent of the Christian Church's doctrine in 
this part of the State. When the school 
district was divided, the church was re-organ- 
ized at the present place by Father Hiller 
and Elder Reed, the former being the first 
pastor of the new oi'ganization. The church 
and school together erected thw house, which 
is used by both. Elders Winchester, Phelps, 
Walker and Smalley have all preached to 
the congregation. Elder Reed is the present 
pastor; a Sunday school is maintained dur- 
ing the summer. 

Mount Hebron Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church on Section 13, was organized in 1870 



418 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



At that time there was but a few members of 
that faith in the community. Rev. Jordan, 
then of Anna, came out> and the people erected 
a brush arbor, and he preached to them, and 
organized a church with some eighteen mem- 
bers. He preached until 1880, and since 
then Rev. John H. Morphus, now of Anna, 
has administered to them. The present 
membership is 24. In 1879, the members 
built a neat hewed -log house 24x36 feet. A 
Sunday school was organized in 1880, with 
about sixty members, and with Joseph H. 
Montgomery as Superintendent. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
which now worships in the neat temple on 
Section 34, was originally organized in the 
Barringer Schoolhouse, about eighteen years 
ago, by Rev. Mr. Davis. There was but a 
small membership, among which were Larkin 
Brooks and wife, Benjamin Keller and wife, 
Thomas Gallegly, Elizabeth Roberts, D. 
Lattimer and wife, L. Lattimer and wife, 
James Proctor, Marshall Coleman, etc. They 
held services in the schoolhouse for some 
years, when it was burned, then during the 
following summer they worshiped in a 
grove where the schoolhouse had stood. A log 
church was built soon after, just across the 
road, where the Union Hall now stands, which 
served them until, in connection with the 
Masonic fraternity, they built the Union 
Hall, some ten or twelve years ago. The 
church meets in the lower room of this build- 
ing, and the Masons in the upper story, and 
thus, they "dwell together in unity." 

Liberty United Brethren Church was or- 
ganized in 1873, with about thirty members, 
by Rev. W. Quickley, who was its pastor for 
about two years. Rev. S. G. Brock was the 
next pastor, and was succeeded by Rev. 
Joseph Simpson, and he by Rev. T>. Gray. 
Rev. R. Powell came next and was succeeded 
by Rev. J. L. Miller, the present pastor, who 



has been with the church for three years. 
The present membership is 50; a good sub- 
stantial frame church, 30x40 feet, was erected 
about seven years ago. A Sunday school 
was organized soon after the church, and has 
now about eighty in attendance. It is usually 
discontinued during the winter. 

Union German Baptist Church was organ- 
ized in the spring of 1882, by Elders John 
Wise and John Metzger. They have no 
church building, but hold their meetings 
mostly in private residences, and in the El- 
more Schoolhouse. Elder George Landis is 
the present minister in charge. The original 
members were about a dozen, and the church 
is flourishing for a new organization. 

Among the natural curiosities of this 
neighborhood, is a cave on the old Lilly farm, 
now owned by George Hines. It is in the 
sandstone rock, the entrance to which is at 
the base of a high bluff, rising from Lick 
Creek, and is covered by bushes so dense that 
the chance passer-by would not be likely to 
discover it. The oj^ening to the cave is so 
small it can only be entered with difficulty. 
When once inside, the explorer finds himself 
in a cavern some 30x50 feet, with ceiling 
six or seven feet high, and a floor of very 
hard clay. Leading from this cavern is a 
small" passage-way, which, like a certain one 
in the great Mammoth Cave, might be termed 
the "fat man's misery," for it can only be 
traversed by "snaking" it, that is, laying 
down and crawling some twenty feet, when 
another cavern is reached, about half as large 
as the first. From this, many others branch 
off in different directions, and these again 
divide into many others, fairly honey-comb- 
ing the earth for u large space. Many of 
these rooms or apartments are rather beau<^i- 
ful, and innumerable stalactites are pendant 
from the ceiling, clear and transparent as 
icicles. Through the second cavern flows a 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



410 



stream of piu'e, clear water, and beside it the 
temperature remains the same the year 
around. Bear tracks in the hard clay of the 
Hoor are plenty, and as plain as if freshly 
made, instead of being made years ago. 

There are many springs in this portion of 
the county, which are believed to possess 
medicinal properties. Besides the one at 
Saratoga village, described in another chap- 
ter, there is another in this precinct, about 
half a mile from Lick Creek Post Office, in a 
low, flat j^iece of ground near a branch of 
Lick Creek, and the water is very similar to 
the Saratoga spring. Dr. Penoyer bought 
the land on which it is, about the time his 
hopes were highest in regard to making a 
fortune at Saratoga. He never did anything 
toward improving this spring; the land was 
mortgaged and afterward sold. It now be- 
longs to the H. Miller heirs, and the spring 
remains as nature left it. 

But few mills have ever been built in this 
precinct. In the early days of improving 
this section, the people had mostly to go to 
other neighborhoods for their breadstuffs. 
A horse mill was erected a good many years 



ago on the Cochran place, which is said to 
be the only mill ever in the precinct, until 
the erection of the steam mill at Lick Creek 
Post Office. The latter is both a grist and 
saw mill, and does a large business. 

The precinct is as well supplied with roads 
as any portion of the county, but this is not 
saying much, when we come to compare the 
roads and highways with more level sections 
of the State. With as much stone as there 
is in Union County, there might be, with 
comparatively trifling expense, excellent 
turnpike roads, at least, between all im- 
portant points. Nothing adds so much to 
the prosperity and importance of a country 
as good I'oads and highways of travel, with 
substantial bridges spanning the streams. 
As Rich Precinct has no railroad, it should 
devote all the more time, attention and 
money to its wagon roads. A good turnpike 
road to some eligible point on the Illinois 
Central Railroad would soon pay the people 
for building it, in saving the wear and tear 
of wagons and teams, as well as in many 
other ways. 



CHAPTER XIX 



STOKES PRECINCT— TOl'OGKAi'HV AND BOUNDARIES — COMING OF THE PIONEERS — THEIR 
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS— MILLS AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS- MoUNT PLEAS- 
ANT LAID OUT AS A VILLAGE— CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, ETC., ETC. 



" God made the country and man made the town." 

— COWPER. 

STOKES PRECINCT is a fractional part 
of Township 12 south, Range 1 east. Sec- 
tions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 17 and 18 having 
been stricken off in the formation of Sara- 
toga Precinct a few years ago. It is bounded 

*By W. H. Perrin. 



north by Saratoga and Rich Precincts, east 
by Johnson County, south by Dongola Pre- 
cinct, west by Anna Precinct, and by the 
census of 1880 it reported a population of 
1,220 inhabitants. The surface is rolling 
and tmeven, and along the water- coiu'ses 
quite broken and hilly. The principal 
streams are Cache, Cypress and Bradshaw 



420 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



Creeks, and a few other small brooks of no 
significance, except as a means of drainage. 
Cache Creek, the most important stream, 
flows nearly east and west through the cen- 
ter of the precinct, receiving as a tributary 
Bradshaw Creek, which empties into it in 
Section 16. Cypress Creek passes through 
the southwest corner into Dongola Precinct. 
The timber growth was originally poplar, 
oak. walnut, hickory, gum. dogwood, etc. 
Stokes is entirely without railroad communi- 
cation, and must haul its produce to the 
Illinois Central. It is a good farming 
region, and can boast of some of the best 
farms and most enterprising farmers in the 
county. Corn and wheat are the principal 
crops; considei-able stock is also raised, 
mostly horses and mules. Sheep would do 
well here, but so far, little attention has 
been paid to raising them as a source of 
profit. 

The Stokes family is supposed to have 
been the first white people in what is now 
Stokes Precinct, and for them the precinct 
was named. The progenitor of this numer- 
ous family was John Stokes, who came from 
Kentucky, and who was not only an early 
settler here, but one of the early settlers of 
the county. He is believed to have come to 
this region about 1810-11, settling in Sec- 
tion 24, a neighborhood which has always 
been known as the Stokes' settlement. The 
name is not yet extinct in the community, 
by any means. Matthew Stokes, a son of 
John Stokes, represented the county in the 
Lower House of the Legislature io the ses- 
sions of 1846-48. He was a man of more 
than ordinary intelligence, a good farmer, 
and an honorable citizen. He died about 
two years ago, sincerely regretted by a large 
circle of friends. Other members of the 
Stokes family were Jones, Evan, John Allen 
and Thomas Stokes. The Standards and 



Thomas Gore came about the same time the 
Stokeses did, and were from North Carolina. 
The Craigs, the Bridges, Swinton Gurley 
and D. W. Gore came a few years later. 

John McGinnis, an Irishman, born in Ten- 
nessee, came to the county soon after Stokes, 
and settled near him on Section 27, where 
he opened up a farm. He died several years 
ago, but has numerous descendants still liv- 
ing in the county. He was the first black- 
smith in the precinct. John Bradshaw came 
very early, and was from Tennessee or North 
Carolina. He took up a tract of land in Sec- 
tion 9, which is included in the present pre- 
cinct of Saratoga. He was a prominent 
farmer, and his house was the voting place 
for that section of the country ; also the 
" muster place " for the annual drilling of 
the "Cornstalk" militia, and the scene of 
many of the primitive sports, including fist- 
fights, knock downs, whisky-drinking, etc. 
His children are mostly dead, or have moved 
away, but Bradshaw Creek perpetuates the 
name of the family. John Pickrill came 
here about 1835, and was from Tennessee. A 
man named Sivia, from Tennessee or Ken- 
tucky, was among the early settlers. A son, 
John F., now lives in the neighborhood and 
is a thrifty farmer. Philip Corbett settled 
on Cache Creek in an early day, and has two 
sons still living there who are prosperous and 
growing wealthy. 

Among the very early settlers was Caleb 
Musgrave, who came from North Carolina, 
probably as early as 1820. He kept an inn 
near Mount Pleasant, which was the general 
stopping place between Jonesboro and 
Vienna. For many years, he was Postmaster 
and a ' ' star route " contractor. He is dead, 
and most of his descendants are dead or 
moved away. Thomas Boswell settled in the 
eastern part of the precinct between 1835 
and 1840 and is still living. Dr. F. E. 




C/^'^^^y^^a^ ' -^A^^^^^, 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



428 



Scarsdale, from Ohio, came rather early, and 
is still an enterprising citizen of the county. 
G. W. Penninger settled in Section 30. He 
was in the Mexican war, and in the late 
* • discussion " between the States ; has been 
a County Commissioner and a prominent man 
generally. A brother, William Penninger, 
is also an influential citizen. J. M. Toler, 
and several others of the Tolers — all from 
North Carolina — settled in Section 29. The 
family has not decreased in numbers, and now 
comprises one of the most numerous in the 
county. Peter Verble was an early settler in 
the southwest part of the precinct. The 
Verbles are also a numerous family in this 
section. 

The only regular negro settlement in the 
county is in this precinct. Arthur Allen, a 
wandering son of " Afric's golden strand," 
was among the early settlers here. He has 
gathered around him a number of his people, 
thxis forming quite a colony of the ' 'bone 
of contention " between the North and the 
SoiTth. 

But the settlement of the precinct grew 
and increased, until all the unoccupied lands 
were taken up. Families came in so fast 
that further record of their settlement can- 
not be made with certainty. It was hard 
living for years after the white people took 
possession of the country. Wild game fur- 
nished them meat, but other " eatables " 
were not so easily obtained. Mills were of 
the rudest kind, and to go ten and twenty 
miles to a horse-mill was not uncommon. 

The first road through the precinct was 
from Jonesboro to Vienna and was probably 
laid out about 1815. The old Elvira road 
touches this precinct. The Mount Pleasant 
and Golconda road was laid out before the 
Illinois Central Railroad was built, and was 
once quite an important thoroughfare. 

A number of saw and grist mi lis have been 



erected in the precinct since its first settle- 
ment. John Stokes built a saw and grist 
mill on Cache Creek more than fifty years 
ago, and has long since passed away. Calvin 
Beard and J. Throckmorton put up a saw 
mill very early, on land now owned by the 
Yost heirs. A grist mill run by horse-power 
was built by Durley on the land owned now 
by John McLane, a mill much patronized by 
the early settlers. Peter and Tobias Verble 
each put up horse mills, and afterv^ard added 
machinery for making flour. Peter Verble. 
Sr., put up a water mill on Big Creek, which 
ground both wheat and corn. 

Mount Pleasant Village was laid out in the 
year 1858 by Caleb Musgrave and Abner Cox, 
but never amounted to much as a town, and 
but few lots were sold. It is located on the 
southwest quarter of Section 23 and the north- 
west quarter of Section 26, and the plat was 
filed for record April 9, 1858. It consists of 
a store, post ofiice, saw njill, a church and a 
few residences. The land upon which the 
town was laid out was entered originally by 
the father of Abner Cox, who came from 
North Carolina with Caleb Musgrave. The 
first store was kept by Thomas Boswell on his 
farm before the town was laid out. A man 
named Black opened a store in Mount Pleas- 
ant, probably the first, and was subsequently 
succeeded by Leavenworth & Little. Mr. 
Stokes took charge of it in 1869, and oper- 
ated it for eight years, and then sold it to 
John Brown, and some time after it was 
burned. Mr. Stokes then erected a two-story 
brick storehouse, and together with J. W. 
Ramsey carries on a large, general store; the 
upper story is used as a public hall. 

Calvin M. Beach was a pioneer school 
teacher of the precinct. J. H. SamsoQ was 
also an early teacher. The precinct is sup- 
plied with comfortable schoolhouses in each 
neighborhood, where competent teachers are 



424 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



employed to instruct the rising generation. 

The precinct is well supplied with 
churches, and if the people are not religious 
it i« their own fault. In the early days, the 
pioneers erected a number of board tents on 
Section 19, and there held camp meetings 
until about the year 1850, when the Presby- 
terians put up a log cabin on the same site, 
and which is still known as the "camp- 
gi-ound." The first members of this organi- 
zation were George Hileman and wife, John 
Hileman and wife, James Lingle and wife, 
William Standard and wife, Daniel Standard 
and wife. Woods Hamilton and wife, James 
Alexander and a Mr. McAllen and wife. In 
1878, a frame church was erected, 33x46 feet, 
at a cost of $1,500. A hall was added as a 
second story, in which public meetings are 
sometimes held. It was at one time occupied 
by a Grand Lodge. The church organization 
now numbers about 100 members, under the 
pastoral care of R^v. John Morphes. An 
active Sunday school is kept up, of which 
Mr. L. T. Lingle is Superintendent. 

A cemetery was laid off adjacent in 1854, 
on the land of George Hileman. The first 
persons buried there were a son and daugh- 
ter of his in 1836, nearly twenty years before 
it was laid out as a cemetery. 

The Musgraves. Coxes, Boswells and 
Beards organized a Universalist Church, prob- 
ably the first church formed in the precinct. 
The log cabin used as their place of worship 



now stands on Morgan Stokes' farm. Revs. 
Calvin Beard and Harris, a native of Mis- 
souri, used to preach he-e. 

A Baptist Church was organized south of 
Mount Pleasant veiy early, and was desig- 
nated Cypress Church. Among the early mem - 
bers were Swinton Gurley, Jesse Toler, John 
Kotrux, John McGinnis and Rev. John 
Walker. 

Rev. William Standard organized a Presby- 
terian Church on what is now the farm of 
F. M. Henard. In this building, a famous 
pioneer temperance lecturer named John Lit- 
tle John organized quite a flourishing society. 
Thomas Boswell was then operating a distil- 
lery in the vicinity, and although, in that 
day, whisky-making was not looked upon as 
such a disreputable business as it is at 
the present day, yet Mr. Boswell was con- 
vinced of the " error of his ways," shut 
down his distillery, and became an enthusi- 
astic temperance worker. Many of the in- 
habitants were exceedingly hostile to the 
society, and being incensed at Boswell for 
closing his gin-factory, it was feared that 
Mr. Littlejohn would be foully dealt with in 
going to Jonesboro after giving his first lect- 
ure here, and to pi'event violence many of 
the new temperance converts accompanied 
him on his way as a body-guard. No indig- 
nity, however, to the honor of the people be 
it said, was offered him, and he reached his 
destination in safety. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



42.') 



CHAPTER XX. 



SAKATOGA rilEClNCT— ITS FOKMATION AND DESCRIPTION— TOPOGRAIMIY, PHYSICAL FRATUi; KS, 

ETC.— EARLY SETTLE^[ENT— THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS— MILLS— SARATOGA 

VILLAGE — SULPHUR SPRINGS — AN INCIDENT — ROADS AND 

BRIDGES— SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC., ETC. 



TO define the shape of Saratoga Precinct, 
and give to it a technical name, would 
puzzle an expert. Its boundaries might very 
aptly be described as "lying around loose." It 
was formed in September, 1881, as a matter 
of convenience to the "sturdy yeomanry" who 
preferred casting their votes elsewhere than 
going to the distant polling places as had 
been their wont. It contains twenty seven 
Sections or square miles, and was taken, 
respectively, from the precincts of Rich, 
Stokes, Anna and Cobden, and is bounded, 
geographically, by these divisions of the 
county. The surface is generally hilly and 
uneven, but well adapted, notwithstanding, 
to agricultural purposes. The land is drained 
by Cache and Bradshaw Creeks, and their 
small tributaries. The former flows in a 
southeast direction, a little to the south of 
Saratoga Village, while the latter passes 
northeast of the same place, and after pass- 
ing thi'ongh Section 82 turns to the south- 
ward, and empties into Cache Creek in Sec- 
tion 16 of Stokes Px'ecinct. The timber con- 
sists, principally, of black, white and scrub 
oak, gum, hickory, sassafras, dog-wood and 
a few other common growths. It is a part 
of Township 11 south. Ranges 1 east and 1 
west, and Township 12 south, and Ranges 1 
east and 1 west, being, as already stated, a 
part of four different townships. 

Mr. D. Dillow, if not the first, is certainly 

* By W. H. Perrin. 



the oldest settler now living in vSaratoga 
Precinct. He is eighty-six years of age, and 
came to the county with his father when but 
sixteen. Not only has he passed his foui-- 
scox'e years, but he has lived in the county 
threescore and ten, the Scriptural span of 
human life. His grandfather came from 
Germany, and his father, Peter Dillow, came 
to this county about the year 1813, and set- 
tled near where the insane asylum now stands. 
He and his sons assisted in clearing the site of 
Jonesboro and in laying out the town. "When 
Mr. Dillow grew to manhood, he married and 
located near the present village of Cobden, 
and helped to cut the first timber for the first 
house erected there. Shortly afterward, he 
removed to where he now lives. He opened 
a farm, but was also a great hunter, and is 
said to have killed more than five hundred 
deer, besides numerous other and smaller 
game "too tedious to mention." When he 
settled in this neighborhood there were but 
few families living here, among them the 
Vances, and George and Jake Wolf. These 
families founded the first church, it is said, 
in the county. It was of the Dunkard faith, 
and the old church house stood on the road 
between Anna and Saratoga. 

An incident is related of Mr. Dillow which 
is somewhat as follows : It is told of him, 
that years ago he was looked upon with awe 
and superstitious wonder by many of the old 
settlers of the county. Some believed him 



420 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



allied with witches and in communication with 
the I towers of darkness. He was an expert 
marksman, and could knock out the center 
at as great a distance as any man in the com- 
munity, but he was never allowed to " shoot 
for the beef " or the " turkeys," or to handle 
the 5UI1 of any of the participants, lest he 
might bewitch them. He wore his hair long 
and it hung upon his shoulders, straight, 
and black as an Indian's. He went upon 
hunting excursions barefooted and bare- 
headed — his only companion his trusty rifle. 
It was upon one of his hunts some thirty or 
forty years ago that he played the part of 
the '■ Wild man of the Woods." to the excited 
imagination of a young man — a recently im- 
ported physician named Hacker, who had lo- 
cated at Saratoga. He (Hacker) was j ust out 
of college, and came to the West with head 
tilled with romances of the wilderness. In 
company with a young friend, he set out from 
his father's home in Jonesboro to visit an ac- 
qiiaiiitance at Saratoga, a short time previous 
to locating at that place. As they pursued 
their way, he entertained his companion with 
stories of wild men and wild women, who 
were supposed to live in the forests of the 
great West. Suddenly looking toward a 
high bluff, he espied the old man Dillow 
standing upon its summit leaning upon his 
long rifle, and in his picturesque hunting 
garb, the breeze flowing his long black hair 
around his shoulders. Believing him to be 
one ol his wild men of the woods, bedashed 
off in a galop, and rode up to him and began 
to ]>our forth his wonder in strains more vol- 
uble than intelligent. The old man gazed at 
him with a "bland and childlike simplicity " 
and amazement, and then suddenly exclaimed; 
" AVliat yer take me fer,a damn foolf " turned 
and stalked away, leaving the young man 
feeliuj; considerably like a fool himself. It 
was s )ine time before he could be made to re- 



alize that Dillow was not a veritable wild man 
of the woods, but an honest old pioneer of 
the county. 

Mr. Dillow, though past his fourseore 
years, is in indigent circumstances and com- 
pelled to labor toward his own support. He 
owns a small farm just north of the village 
of Saratoga, and upon this he lives and man- 
ages to work out a support He sent three 
sons into the late civil war, but neither of 
them came back to cheer the father's heart. 
He is old and worn out, and the sands of life 
are almost exhausted. But a little longer 
and he must immigrate to a new country — a 
country froha which none ever come back to 
tell what it is like. 

John and William Murphy were very early 
settlers in the present precinct of Saratoga. 
They came from Tennessee, and John settled 
on Section 8, taking up 100 acres of land, 
and afterward purchasing some 200 acres 
more. He died about four year ago, and 
the place is now owned by Isaac Sitter. He 
was a plain farmer, uneducated, could not 
write his own name, but was public spirited 
and an ardent friend of public schools. His 
brother, William Murphy, came about the 
same time and settled on Section 9, locating 
a tract of land on Bradshaw Creek. He is 
still living upon the place of his settlement 
and is a prosperous farmer. He possesses 
many of the characteristics of his brother, 
and like him is uneducated, but is energetic 
and enterprising, and gave his children good 
educations. Henry Gulp, from Logan County, 
Ohio, was an early settler near the village. 
He was of the Dunkard faith, like many of 
the early settlers. He has a son still living 
in the county. 

From North Carolina came Moses Miller 
and Solomon H. Sitter, and settled here 
early. Miller accumulated considerable 
lauded property, which has been divided 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



-137 



among his children, most of whom are mar- 
ried and living around the home place. He 
is still living and is well-to-do. Mr. Sitter 
settled on Section 6, and is also living. He 
was in that part of the precinct taken from 
Stokes, and is a large land owner, one of the 
wealthiest men in this portion of the county. 
His father lived near Anna at the time the 
first settlements were made in that sec- 
tion. A man named Owen was an early settler 
here, but is more particularly mentioned in 
the history of Rich Precinct. 

Ireland, the " Gem o' the Say," contributed 
to the settlement Mr. James L. Wallace; he 
located just north of Cobden, but about the 
year 1848-50, settled on the place where he 
now lives. At one time, he owned a large 
farm, but has sold off the most of it. Mr. 
Cover is one of the prominent and leading 
business men in the precinct. He is Post- 
master of Western Saratoga, keeps a store, 
farms, and — well, we don't know how many 
more irons he has in the lire. We shall again 
speak of him in this chapter. 

This precinct was not settled as early as 
some other portions of the county. At the 
time of building the Illinois Centi-al Rail- 
road, there were but few people living in this 
immediate vicinity. It was the building of 
that great thoroughfare that contributed 
largely to the settlement of the scope of coun- 
try now embraced in Saratoga Precinct. For 
a qu.arter of a century, perhaps, after the first 
settlements were made in the county, the 
forest remained unbroken, except by wild 
game and hunters. 

The first mill in the present precinct was a 
horse -power mill, built about 1845, on the 
farm now owned by Mr. C. Carraker, about a 
mile and a half northwest of W^est Saratoga. 
Men would flock to this place and stay* all 
day to get a bushel of corn ground. It was 
owned and operated by old man, Carrak<i3r 



the father of the present owner of the phiee, 
and a very old settler of this section. Tiie 
next mill was a water-power mill, buil; ou 
Cache Greek, by Samuel H. and T. W. Ste- 
venson, some time between 1845 and 1850. 
It was both saw and gristmill, and after some 
fifteen years' operation the dam was cariied 
away in a freshet, since when the mill luis 
gone to decay and has rotted down. A h<.>rse 
mill was built in West Saratoga in 1860, and 
was operated by Mr. Barringer. It was a 
grist mill, and was superseded by a sti-am 
mill, which was built by A. Cover & Co., and 
was a saw and grist mill combined. About 
the year 1875, it was moved to Johnson 
County. About the same year, a saw and 
grist mill was built on the farm of William 
Murphy, but has since been moved to Uie 
south part of the county. The first steam 
mill probably in the county was built on the 
farm of Mr. J. Roberts, in Section 33, aboat 
1850, and some two years later it was burned, 
but was at once rebuilt. It did good service 
for many years, but has now passed away. 

Saratoga Village.— The village of Saratoga, 
which never amounted to much except oii 
paper, was laid out by Dr. Penoyer Novem- 
ber 6, 1841, and is located on tbo northeast 
quarter of Section 1, of Township 12 south. 
Range 1 west. 1 mineral spring was the 
prime cause ol the location of a town at this 
place. I>i'. Penoyer believed the place co'.iid 
be made a fashionable resort, and hence giive 
it a n.ame known as such all over the world. He 
laid out a town, but like mankind generally 
v/hen they think they have a good thing, with 
" millions in it," want to pocket all, and he 
put the lots at such fabulous prices that none 
but a Vanderbilt could purchase. This was 
a drawback to the place; indeed, has always 
kept it from prospering or even improving. 
A boarding house was built near the springs, 
and for several years during the summer sea- 



428 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



son it was kept crowded to its utmost capacity. 
Dr. Penoyer built a bath-house, which also 
was well patronized for a time, and, had a 
more liberal policy been pursued, there is 
little doubt but a flourishing town would to- 
day surround the springs. As it is, it shows 
to better advantage on paper than otherwise. 
It is not inaptly described by the poet: 

■ ' A place for idle eyes and ears, 
A cobwebbed nook of dreams: 
Left by the stream whose waves are j'ears 
The stranded village seems." 

A portion of the original plat is now a fruit 
orchard, and the spring is unkept, though 
still somewhat resorted to in sximmer by the 
neighboring people, but there are no accomo- 
dations for strangers. 

The place made some pretensions to busi- 
ness in its earlier days. Elijah Beardsley 
purchased a number of lots, and built a saw 
and grist mill just below the town limits. 
Caleb Cooper erected a hotel or boarding- 
house, and the first store was established by 
A. AV. Simons. William Reed, whose father 
was an early settler of Jonesboro, also opened 
a store at Saratoga in its days of glory. But 
the illiberal policy pursued by Dr. JPenoyer 
eventualls- discouraged the business men and 
they turned their attention to other points. 
The principal business is now done by Mr. A. 
Cover, who has a stpre about a mile west of 
the spring, and also keeps the post office of 
AVest Saratoga. He is an old citizen of the 
county, and a stirring and enterprising busi- 
ness man. 

The following incident is related, which 
may be given in connection with the springs: 
These springs were a great resort of deer, 
which came to slake their thirst and imbibe 
the health giving waters. A man who, like 
Esau, was a great hunter, built a scaffold, 
which afforded him a secure place to watch 
for and fire upon the unsuspecting animals 



when they came to drink. One day (or 
night) a man named Russell took possession 
of the scaffold, and when the true owner put 
in an appearance and invited him down, de- 
clined the invitation, whereupon the owner 
leveled his gun and shot the intruder dead- 
This occurred years ago, when men's right of 
claims was generally respected by the mass 
of the people, and nothing was done in this 
case with the homicide. 

A schoolhouse and church combined was 
built soon 'after the town was laid out, and 
was used as a Methodist Church as well as a 
schoolhouse until about the year 1870, when 
a schoolhouse was built just outside of the 
town limits to the westward. Good schools 
are maintained in it for the usual term each 
year. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of West 
Saratoga was originally organized in 1848- 
49, and services were held for awhile in 
people's houses. Among the early members 
were Samuel Stevenson, Lavina Stevenson. 
J. W. Stevenson and Catherine his wife, 
Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Rich, James Reed, etc. 
The first house of worship was of logs, and 
was erected in the southern part of the vil- 
lage. It was built by the people generally, 
and used for both church and school pur- 
poses. This building was replaced in 1881 
by the present church, which cost about 
$1,000. Among the ministers who have 
officiated as pastors may be mentioned Revs. 
Watson, Baxter, Mcintosh and Linkenfelter. 
Rev. Mr. Gifford has been its pastor since 
February last. The church has passed 
through many vicissitudes; old members have 
died, and others moved away, often deplet- 
ing its rank§, until at present there are but 
some thirty names upon its records. A 
flourishing Sunday school is maintained, 
which meets every Sunday with T. J. Rich 
as Superintendent. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



429 



Roads and Bridges. — The first road laid 
■out through the present precinct was from 
Jonesboro to Elvira, and thence to Golconda, 
and was known as the "Elvira road," after 
the town of that name, then the county seat 
of Johnson Cmmty, which embraced Union, 
Massac, Pulaski and Alexander Counties, 
under the old Territorial government. The 
old town of Elvira is now in the edge of 
Johnson County, but is not the county seat. 
A road leading from Jonesboro to the village of 
Saratoga was probably the next one laid out. 
A few other roads center in the village, made 
in consequence of the probability of the town 
becoming a watering place. Bridges span 
the streams where the most important roads 
cross them. The first, perhaps, was built 
over Bradshaw Creek, near William Mur- 
phy's and was an enterprise of the people 
for their own accommodation and conven- 
ience. Another bridge was built at the 
crossing of the Union road, and another over 
Cache Creek about 1850. Some years later, 
one was built over the same stream near 
Saratoga, where the road to Anna cro'^sns it. 

The precinct is about as well supplied with 
schools as any portion of the couhty. It is 
not knowu, however, where and when the 
first one was taught, or the name of the 
teacher. The first schoolhouse on Section 8 
(now No. 2) was of logs, and was built on 
the farm of Mr. Miller, who donated the land 
for the purpose. Some ten years later, it was 
moved to where it now stands, as being a 
more eligible location. Five or six years 
ago, the atiendance had so increased that the 
house was " weather -boarded," a story added 
onto it, the school was graded and two teach- 
ers employed, with an attendance of about 
100 pupils. The district, however, has been 
divided up and cut down, until the attend- 
ance has been reduced within the capacity of 
one teacher. The Pleasant Kidge School - 



house was one of the early temples of learn- 
ing. It stands near the church of the same 
name. The present frame schoolhouse was 
built in 1870, and cost about $800. The 
first school in the present District No. 7 was 
taught, as we have said, in the old log church 
of Saratoga Village. The present school - 
house was built on Section 2, on land donat- 
ed by G. W. Williams, and cost about 1400. 
Albert Cover was the first tea^^her to occupy 
this building. There are some foiu' or five 
schoolhouses in the precinct, and room for 
two or three more, with plenty of children to 
stock them, if compelled to attend school. 

Churches. — The first preaching, probably, 
in this part of the county, certainly the first 
Methodist preaching, was by two itinerants 
— Chatman and Reed. These pioneer preach- 
ers traveled over this and adjoining counties, 
preaching at the people's houses and in the 
groves when they could get a few persons 
together. They have long since passed to 
their rewards. 

Pleasant Ridge Missionary Baptist Church 
was among the early churches established in 
this precinct. It was organized in the Pleas- 
ant Ridge Schoolhouse in 1856. They con- 
tinued to worship in the schoolhouse until 
1876, when a church edifice was erected at a 
cost of about $800. It is located in the 
southwest part of Section 29. Among the 
pastors were Elders F. W. Carothers, D. R. 
Saunders, David Culp, David Matlack, etc. 
Rev. Culp officiated as pastor most of the 
time. The society numbers about eighty-five 
members, and at present is without a pastor. 

Union Chapel is located in Section 8, and 
was built about seven or eight yeai's ago. 
Mr. J. Penninger was chiefly instrumental in 
building it. He donated the land upon 
which it stands, and also contributed a good 
deal of material toward its construction. 
Although known as a Union Church, it was 



430 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



used wholly by the Adventists, whose chief 
preacher was a man named McCay. But 
after a few years, some of the principal mem- 
bers having died, the preacher went away 
and the church was closed. Since then, the 
windows and doors have been carried away, 
and the house generally dismantled. 

In 1873, I. T. Sitter opened a store in the 
old Miller building, about one and a half miles 
from Saratoga Village. He continued there 
until 1881, when he moved his store to the 
Murphy building at the Cross Roads, about 
two miles rrom Saratoga, arid where the store 
still remains in succ(*ssful operation. 

The Bradshaw Post Oflfice was established 
in 1875, about three and a half miles from 
Saratoga, and Dr. ¥. E. Scarsdale was com- 
missioned Postmaster. The office was car- 
ried on until in 1881, when it was discon- 
tinued, and the mail is now sent to Lick 
Creek Post Office, in the southeast part of 
Rich Precinct. 

Saratoga Precinct abounds more or less in 
mineral productions. Coal and lead have 
both been found, though in rather limited 
quantities. On the farm of Taylor Dodd, 
coal crops out in a vein perhaps a foot and 
a half thick. An attempt was made years 
ago, by a blacksmith named Jarley, of Sara- 
toga, to utilize it, but the effort was aban- 
doned after a short time. Coal was also dis- 
covered on the farm now occupied by Charles 
Keller, but not in quantities to pay for min- 
ing, while it is so much more plentiful in 
regions near by. The time may come when 
it will prove more valuable, when richer de- 
posits are exhausted. 

Specimens of lead ore have been found in 
different, places, and many believe that lead 
exists in large quantities in the hills of 



Cache and Bradshaw Creeks. The distance 
from railroad communication has always pre- 
vented a thorough investigation of these 
underground riches. 

Indian Legend. — A Joe Mulhattan story is 
current here, which is somethilig as follows: 
When the Indians had retired before the ad- 
vancing tide of pale faces, roving bands 
occasionally wandered back to weep over the 
graves of their fathers, plant cedar trees and 
rose bushes around their silent resting places, 
and drink sulphur water for the ague, bilious 
fever, etc. Traditions were numerous among 
the white settlers that more precious metals 
than lead existed in plentiful profusion 
among the hills and rocks. Upon one of 
the periodical visits of a squad of Indians, 
a white man, with courage only exceeded by 
his avarice, prevailed upon the savages to 
take him (blindfolded) to the El Dorado, be- 
lieved to be in the vicinity. They took him, 
as he afterward told it, about a mile from 
the Saratoga sulphur springs, then crossed a 
creek and walked up a high steep hill, when 
they entered a cavern. Then the bandage 
was removed from his eyes, and he beheld 
nuggets of lead and silver ore lying around 
on the floor of the cavern in quantities equal 
in quantity to the jewels in Sinbad's valley 
of diamonds. The Indians " gathered their 
pockets full " and then returned, blindfold- 
ing the white man as before. He was never 
able to find the place afterward, as near by 
as he believed it to be, and so the treasme 
still lies hidden in the cavern, awaiting to be 
unearthed by some adventurous individual. 
Our readers can swallow as much of this 
story as they like; we merely give it as we 
heard it, and without comment. 



HISTORY or UNION COUNTY. 



431 



CHAPTER XXI. 



MILL CREEK PRECLXCT — ITS NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS AND RESOURCES — ONE OF THE 
EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS IN THE COUNTY— PIONEER IMPROVEMENTS- 
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES— VILLAGES, ETC. 



"On shadowy forests filled with game, 
And the blue river winding slow 
Through meadows, where the hedges grow 
That gives this little place a name." 

MILL CREEK PRECINCT, though the 
smallest division of Union County, is 
rich in historical lore. It dates back more than 
three-quarters of a century, and much per- 
taining to its early history will be found in 
chapters on the county at large. It embraces 
but about eleven sections of land, and is of 
comparatively recent formation. It is bounded 
on the north by the ragged edge of Jones- 
boro Precinct, on the east by Dongola Pre- 
cinct, on the south by Alexander County, 
and on the west by Meisenheimer Precinct. 
The last cengus gave it but 400 inhabitants. 
The surface is hilly and broken, and origi- 
nally was encumbered with heavy timber 
tilled with wild game. It is drained by Mill 
Creek, a considerable stream, and from which 
the precinct derives its name, and Cooper 
Creek, together with a number of other small 
streams. The narrow-gauge railroad passes 
through, and has two stations in the precinct. 
The productions ai'e chiefly corn, wheat and 
potatoes, with some fruit. More or less at- 
tention is paid to stock-raising, though it is 
carried to do great extent. 

The settlement of this little spot, known 
as Mill Creek Precinct runs back to 1808. 
In that year, Joseph and Benjamin Lawrence 
and Benjamin Eccles came here on a hunt- 

* By W. H. Perrin. 



ing excursion, and being pleased with the 
country, determined to make it their future 
home. They were originally from North 
Carolina, but had lived for some time in 
Tennessee. The Lawrences were brothers, 
and one of them remained here, preparing a 
place to live, while the other and Eccles 
went back to Tennessee for their families, re- 
turning in the spring of 1809, and bringing 
with them Adam Clapp and his family. The 
Lawrences settled a little southeast of the 
present village of Mill Creek; Eccles settled 
near where St. John's Church now stands, 
while Clapp settled on Sandy Creek in what 
is now Alexander County. These old pio- 
neers are long since dead. Their settlement 
here" is considered one of the very first made 
in the county. Some believe it to have been 
the first actual settlement within the present 
limits of the county, while others contend 
that there was a settlement in the vicinity of 
Jonesboro two or three years earlier. 

From North Carolina came these additional 
settlers: Jacob Rinehart, Adam Hilemau, 
Moses A. Goodman, Jacob Miller, Solomon 
Miller, Moses and Hemy Kruse, the Mowry 
family, John Kelly, John Fink and George 
Brown. Rinehart has a son, William Rine- 
hart, living on the old place. The old man 
is long since dead. Hileman is also dead. 
He was a stirring man and a good citizen. 
Peter, a brother, lives in Meisenheimer Pre- 
cinct. Goodman is likewise dead, but his 
widow and son, John L. Goodman, still live 



432 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



in the precinct. Jacob Miller died a few 
years ago; has two sons still living. Solo- 
mon, a brother to Jacob, is still living. Of 
the Mowry family, most of the old ones are 
dead, but there are a large number of de- 
scendants. Henry and Moses Kruse were 
brothers, and are both dead. Peter and John 
are sons of Henry, and ai^e still living here; 
and Peter and George are sons of Moses. 
Kelltiy died several years ago. He has two 
sons living, one on the old place, and the 
other in Dongola. Fink was a prominent 
man, a tanner by trade, and accumulated 
considerable property during his life. He 
died some years ago, and three sons, George 
W., Levi and Jacob still perpetuate the 
name here. Brown was for a number of 
years County School Commissioner, but has 
been dead some time. 

This is a brief synopsis of the early set- 
tlement of the precinct, a settlement that, 
according to tradition, commenced seventy - 
live years ago, by a few hunters who came 
here in pursuit of the game that then in- 
fested the great forests of this section of 
the State. Amid toil and hardships, and 
dangers, they squatted upon the public lands 
and began the work of carving out a home. 
Their efforts were successful, and a large 
population may now be found where then a 
wilderness was unbroken by human habita- 
tion. 

There is not much in Mill Creek Precinct 
to write, except its settlement and the two 
villages which have been laid out since the 
building of the railroad. It is one of the 
earliest settled portions of the county. 
Schools were established early, but of the 
first we were unable to learn anything beyond 
the fact that they were of the usual pioneer 
kind, taught by the usual pioneer teacher. 
There are two or three good comfortable 
schoolhouses now in the precinct. 



There are no church buildings in the pre- 
cinct, but the schoolhouses are used for 
church puq^oses. 

The village of Mill Ci'eek was laid out April 
5, 1876, by the Cover heirs, and is a place of 
some 200 or more inhabitants. It consists 
of a general store, drug store, mill, a few 
shops, etc. The first store was kept by John 
Brown. The store is kept now by John A. 
Morris; the drag store by — Brown; black- 
smith shop by Tom Douglass. The grist 
mil] was built by Ed Mowry about 1876. 
It is a substantial frame building, and does 
quite a flourishing business. John Brown 
is station agent, and also deals in timber. 
He buys and ships timber to wagon factories 
in different portions of the country. 

The village is not incorporated, as it does 
not contain the i-equisite number of inhabit- 
ants. An effort to that end was made re- 
cently, when it was found that they were a 
little short in noses, which was well, as the 
object of the incorporation was to establish 
saloons in the town, which could not be done 
until incorporated, except by a majority vote 
of the people of the precinct. 

Springville was laid out by Michael N. 
Heilig May 22, 1875, and is located on Sec- 
tion 19 of the precinct. It is a place of 
probably 100 inhabitants. It contains a 
store kept by Mr. Jones; a saw mill kept by 
Heileg, a post office and a few shops. The 
schoolhouse of the district is a mile or so 
from the village, and there is no chui'ch 
building. 

The St. Louis & Cairo Narrow Gauge 
Railroad was built through Mill Creek Pre- 
cinct in 1875, and has been the means of 
vast improvement and development of the 
coantry through which it passes. It has 
brought the best markets to the doors of the 
farmers, and in many ways has proved of 
great advantage to them. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



433 



CHAPTER XXIL 



MHliENIIEIMER PHECINCT-iTS SURFACE FEATURES, TIMBER, STREAMS AND BOUNDARIES- 
SETTLEMENT OF THE WHITES— EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE PIONEERS— SCHOOLS 
AND SCHOOLHOUSES—RELIOIOUS— MILLS, ROADS, ETC., ETC. 



MEISENHEIMEE PRECINCT is com- 
posed of a part of Township 
13 south, Range 2 west, and is bounded 
north by Jonesboro Precinct, east by Jones- 
boro and Mill Creek, south by Alexander 
County, west by Clear Creek, and has a pop- 
ulation by the last census of 774 souls. The 
surface is rough and broken in places, and in 
the western part, next to Clear Creek, is in- 
clined to be somewhat wet and swampy. The 
timber is mostly oak, hickory, elm, gum, syca- 
more, and other species common in this section. 
The productions are wheat, corn, and some 
fruit. Clear Creek and Cooper's Creek, with 
a few other small streams, constitute its drain- 
age system. The St. Louis & Cairo Rail- 
road just touches the northeast corner of the 
precinct, and has a station, Kornthal, on Sec- 
tion 2, which affords railroad facilities to this 
immediate section. The name " Meisen- 
heimer" is derived from one of the old fam- 
ilies of pioneers, who still have many repre- 
sentatives in the county, and was bestowed 
on the precinct in honor of them. 

One of the early settlers of this part of the 
<!ounty was Jacob Meisenheimer. He came 
from North Carolina, and settled on the place 
where his son, John N. Meisenheimer, now 
lives. He was a plain and honest farmer, 
and also a stone mason. He built many of 
the old-fashioned stonft chimneys to the old- 
fashioned log houses in this section. He is 
dead, but his two sons, John N. and Paul, 

* By W. H. Perrin. 



perpetuate his name; the latter lives in Jones- 
boro. David, a brother to Jacob, was also an 
early settler. He, too, is dead, but has a son, 
named Alfred, living in the precinct, and who 
is quite a prominent man, and for many years 
a Justice of the Peace. 

Peter Lence and Peter Dillow, from North 
Carolina, settled here about 1818. Lence 
had several sons, viz., Jacob, Henry, John 
and George. They are all dead, as well as 
their father. Dillow is also dead, but his 
widow is still living. She was a daughter of 
Peter Lence. Their sons were Jacob, Wiley, 
Henry, Peter and Paul, and all are still liv- 
ing in this precinct except Jacob. 

North Carolina furnished the following 
additional early settlers to this precinct: 
John Weaver, John Knup, JoHn Poole, John 
Hilemau, the Brown family, and perhaps 
others, Weaver came about the same time 
that the Meisenheimers did, and settled in 
the same neighborhood. He is dead, but is 
still represented in the place by a son named 
George. Knup came about the same time, 
from the same place, and also settled in the 
same neighborhood. He has been dead some 
time, but has two or three sons still living. 
Poole came in early, but has been dead many 
years. A number of descendants still per- 
petuate the name. Hileman settled early. 
His father, Peter Hileman settled in Dongola 
Precinct, and is long since dead. Of the 
Brown family, several sons are yet living in 
the precinct, but the old man — the patriarch 



434 



HISTOEY OF UNION COUNTY. 



of the tribe — whose name we failed to learn, 
is long since dead. 

A large German settlement was made early 
in the northeast part of the precinct, among 
whom we may mention M. Hehenbarger, 
Joseph Kollehner, Peter and Jacob Barnhai't, 
Mathias Duschel, Jacob Fitzer, Paul Peisl, 
the Weber famil , the Fulenwiders, Shaffers, 
etc., etc. These came from the old country, 
and formed a kind of colony — a settlement 
among themselves. They are a thi'ifty set of 
enterprising farmers. 

"^he pursuits of the early settlers, aside 
from hunting, were chiefly agricultural. They 
were quick and ingenious to suj^ply by inven- 
tion, and with their ov^n hands, the lack of 
mechanics and artificers. Each settler, as a 
rule, built his own house, made his own 
plows and other implements of husbandry. 
The cultivation of the soil was conducted 
after the most primitive fashion. The plows, 
with wooden mold-board, turned the sod; the 
harrows, with wooden teeth, prepared it for 
planting. The harness was often made of 
ropes, sometimes of the bark of trees. Corn 
and a few vegetables were the only crops 
grown for a number of years. Wheat was 
not at first attempted, for there were no 
mills to grind it. Thus the early years were 
passed in penury b} the pioneers, not unac- 
companied by danger and privation. But 
they were a hardy set, and not afraid of 
work, and by dint of perseverance accom- 
plished their aim — a home for themselves 
and families. 

Meisenheimer Precinct is strongly Demo- 
cratic, and has always adhered to that polit- 
ical faith. Indeed, there is not, it is said, a 



half dozen Republican voters in the entire 
precinct. The people used to vote at John 
N. Meisenheimer's, but of late years have 
cast their votes at the Meisenheimer School- 
house. 

Of the early schools of the precinct, we 
know but little beyond the fact that they 
Were of the usual pic>neer character, with the 
log cabin schoolhouse, and the old-fashioned 
and illiterate teacheif There are now some 
four or five good, comfortable schoolhouses, 
among which are the Fulenwider Schoolhouse, 
the Meisenheimer, the Hileman and the 
Holmes Schoolhouses. There is but one 
chui'ch building in the precinct — the German 
Lutheran Church, at the railroad station of 
Kornthal; but of it we were unable to learn 
any particulars concerning its history. In 
addition to this church, religious services are 
held in the schoolhouses, as well as Sunday 
school. 

The roads of this section are on a par with 
other portions of the county, nothing to brag 
of, and with so much material "lying around 
loose," might be made much better at a light 
expense. The only mills in the precinct are 
a couple of saw mills. They are operated 
by steam, and one is owned by John M. Hile- 
man, and the other by Bell & Messier. The 
latter cuts mostly box material. 

Kornthal is the nearest approach to a vil- 
lage, and consists of a station on the narrow- 
gauge railroad, in the exti^eme northeastern 
part of the precinct. It has never been laid 
out as a town, and has a store, a church, a 
shop or two, and a few residences — "only 
this, and nothing more." 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY 



435 



CHAPTER XXIIL* 



PRESTON AND UNION PRECINCTS— THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAl'HICAL FEATURES- 
EARLY PIONEERS— WHERE THEY CAME FROM AND HOW THEY LIVED — THE 
ALDRTDGES AND OTHER " FIRST FAMILIES "—SWAMPS, BULLFROGS 
AND MOSQUITOES — SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC. 



THE divisions of Union and Preston Pre- 
cincts, to which this chapter is devoted, 
lie along the Mississippi River, which forms 
their western boundary, while Big Muddy 
River and Johnson County form the north 
boundary; Alto Pass, Jonesboro and Meisen- 
heimer Precincts lie on the east, and Alexan- 
der County on the south. The land is gen- 
erally level, and much of it swampy and sub- 
ject to overflow during high water. The 
swamps are prolific of bull- frogs, mosquitoes 
and other pleasant (!) attractions to the human 
race. The bottoms are very rich, and pro- 
duce abundant crops of corn and wheat, when 
high water does not interfere. Most of the 
land is owned by a few individuals, who, 
with one or two exceptions, live back in the 
hills, or in Jonesboro and Anna; hence, the 
inhabitants are nearly all renters, and of a 
kind of migratory character, flowing back 
and forthwith the tide, as it were; retreating 
back into the hills during the overflow of the 
bottoms, and returning when the waters 
abate. Could the river and other streams be 
so leveed as to prevent overflow, and the 
swamps subjected to a perfect system of 
drainage, these bottoms would soon become 
the most valuable lands in Union County. 
The timber comprises oak, hickory, sweet 
gum, sycamore, elm, cottonwood, maple, 
honey, locust, etc., etc. The population of 
Preston in 1880 was 283, and Union 827, 

*Hv W. H. Perriu. 



and a large proportion of these are tran- 
sient. The precincts are without railroad 
communication, and are dependent on water 
transportation to get rid of their surplus 
products. 

Among the early settlers of Preston Pre- 
cinct were Davis Holder, Thomas Harris, 
James Abernathie, the Bruce family, Henry 
Rowe, Parish Green, Manuel and Andrew 
Penrod, from Kentucky. Manuel Penrod set- 
tled on Running Lake, in the southern part 
of the precinct, and Andrew settled in the 
vicinity of the old village of Preston. Green 
afterward settled down at the Willard Land- 
ing, and long kept a ferry there. The others 
settled mostly in tbe river bottoms, and are 
now gone. From Tennessee came the Rush- 
ing family, the Erwins and Hamptons; and 
from North Carolina, the Aldridges, Joseph 
Fink, James Betts and Nathaniel Smith. 
Most of these are dead or have moved away, 
ex'^ept the Aldridges, who are represented. 
by Mrs. William Aldridge and James 
Aldridge. John Hurst, an Englishman 
John Freeman, from Massachusetts, and 
George and Adam James, from Virginia, 
were all early settlers. 

Ih Union Precinct, the following were 
some of the early settlers: Parish Green 
settled at what is now called Willard's Land- 
ing, and is svipposed to have been the first 
settlement. It was long known as Green's 
Ferry, and is still often so called at the pres- 



436 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



ent day. Other early settlers in Union were 
Jacob Elotcher, David Treese, Jacob Reed, 
R. B. Goodman, John Talley, Allen Kimball, 
David and William Green, and perhaps some 
others. Blotcher is still living, and came 
here from Indiana. He settled about two 
miles above Willard's Landing, and was 
among the first settlers in the precinct. 
Treese settled two and a half miles from the 
landing, out on the road to Jonesboro, and 
has been dead several years. Reed lived 
about a mile from the Anderson Schoolhouse, 
and has been dead six years. Goodman is 
still living; Talley lives on the Willard farm, 
half a mile north of the big barn; Kimball 
has been dead eight or ten years. The 
Greens are both dead. Silas Green, of Cob- 
den, is a son of David Green, and T. W. 
Green, living on the road to Jonesboro, is a 
son of William Green. 

John Grammar and David Penrod opened 
a farm near where the gravel road crosses 
Running Lake. This farm was subsequently 
purchased by a man named Fenton, who put 
up a cotton-gin. He afterward changed it in- 
to a mill for grinding corn. It was finally 
burned, as was supposed, by incendiarism. 
Hutchinson Bennett, Jo Palmer, John Baker 
and John Price were also early settlers, and 
are all dead. Thomas Cox settled early, and 
James Morgan was perhaps the first b^ack- 
smith in the precinct. 

In the year 1844, there was a great over- 
flow, and the bottoms were entirely flooded, 
the water being eight feet deep in places not 
usually submei'ged at all. Again in 1851, 
the bottoms were covered for miles, and still 
again in 1858. This so discouraged the peo- 
ple that many of them left in disgust and 
have never returned. Taking all the disad- 
vantages into consideration to which these 
divisions of the county are subjected, there 
is verv little of interest to write about in 



either of the precincts. Some points of their 
history, svich as the great overflows of the 
Mississippi, geological formations, etc., etc., 
are treated in other chapters of this volume, 

There are no mills — except saw mills — in 
these precincts, or other manufacturing in- 
dustries, but it is a region devoted wholly to 
farming and — hunting and fishing. Neither 
are there any church baildings in these pre- 
cincts. It does not follow, however, that the 
people are heathens or disciples of Bob In 
gersoll. Regular Church services are held in 
the schoolhouses every month. Rev. Mr. 
Sutters often officiating at these meetings. 
Before the flood of 1844, there was a Baptist 
Church, of which Revs. William Gentry and 
Jeremiah Brown were bright and shining- 
lights, but after the flood it was abandoned. 

There are nine schoolhouses in the two pre- 
cincts, most of them good frame buildings, 
a fact which speaks well for the intelligence 
of the people and the improvement of the 
rising generation. These schoolhouses are 
known as the Parmley, Frogge, Hamburg, 
Reynolds, Brumitts, Abevnathie, Sublet, 
Gradingr and the Big Barn Schoolhouses. 

The old village of Preston was once quite a 
thriving place on the river. It was laid out 
as a town, October 27, 1842, by John Gai'ner, 
and for a time was a great shipping point. 
But the Mississippi kept encroaching upon 
its limits, until at the present time, the ex- 
act spot on which it stood, is swept by the 
main current, and nothing of the town re - 
mains. Union Point Post Ofiice is kept by 
George Barringer on the river, but there is no 
town. It is merely a steamboat landing, a 
post office and a small store. 

The Government Light is on the bank of 
the Mississippi River, and is maintained at the 
expense of the Government for the benefit of 
passing boats. It is kept by Matt Hughes, 
and is of infinite value to river men. 



HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY. 



437 



Wi Hard's Landing, in Union Precinct, is 
merely a store, post office and steamboat land- 
ing. Before the era of railroads, it was the 
most important landing in Union County. 
Most of the surplus products were hauled 
here for shipment, while the goods for Jones- 
boro merchants were landed here and hauled 
out in wagons. This caused the building of 
what is known as the gravel road, running 
from Jonesboro to the landing, and is the 
best road in the county. There is a toll-gate 
on it a few miles east of the landing, and the 
road is now kept iip by the tax thus imposed 
upon those who use it. During the late war, 
and for a few years after its close, there was 
considerable cotton raised here. This was 
all hauled to the landing and shipped by way 
of the river. 

The store at the landing is kept by Mr. 



A. Lence. who opened out here about fifteen 
years ago. One of the Vancils had kept a 
few goods here on a boat, but did not remain 
long The original name of the post office 
was Big Barn, and it was established at that 
place, but moved to the landing after Lence 
opened a store here. The name was then 
changed to Willard's Landing Post Office. Mr. 
Lence is Postmaster, and the mail comes on 
horseback from Jonesboro. 

To conclude that part of our volume de- 
voted to Union County, we may safely pre- 
dict that if the day ever comes when these 
lands, now denominated river bottoms and 
swamps, can be secured against inundation, 
they will prove by far the most valuable por- 
tion of the county. ' All that is needed to 
make them such are good levees and an ample- 
system of drainage. 




PART III. 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



PART III. 



History of Alexander County, 



BY H. C. BRADSBY. 



CHAPTER I 



FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY— THE WAY THE PEOPLE LIVED— GROWTH AND 
PROGRESS— GEOLOGY AND SOILS— THE MOUND BUILDERS— TRINITY— AMERICA- 
COL. RECTOR, WEBB AND OTHERS — WILKINSONVILLE — CALEDONIA — 
UNITY— MANY INTERESTING EVENTS— ETC., ETC., ETC. 



"Those matted woods, where birds forget to sing; 
Those poisonous swamps with rank luxuriance 
crowned." 

IN our history of Union County, in this 
work, will be found an account of the 
history of the territory that is now Alexander 
County, to the time of its separation from 
the parent county, March 4, 1819. We have 
noted the fact that the first comers date back 
to 1795, but they mei-ely camped a time and 
hunted the game in the grand old giant for- 
ests that covered in unbroken grandeur the 
entire territory of Alexander County, and 
perhaps after a season of hunters' sport 
moved on to other places or returned to the 
old homes in the States. In 1805, were the 
first attempts at permanent settlement by 
families composed of men and their wives and 
children, who built their log cabins and 
cleared a little spot of ground adjacent, and 
deadened the large trees, and cut away the 
undergrowth and commenced to raise corn for 
bread. Thrifty families would probably by 
the second year realize the necessity of 



something for clothing the family, and they 
commenced the experiment of raising cotton 
and flax. At first, these branches of agricult- 
ure were the suggestion of the thrifty women, 
and as these articles grew well, in the course 
of the settlement at Southern Illinois, cotton 
eventually became i£e leading product, and 
this continued to be the case, at least there 
were large quantities of cotton produced in 
all this portion of the State, until some time 
after 1850, when the people found they could 
produce other things to a better profit. 

When Alexander County was formed, it 
was a great waste, with only here and there 
meager settlements of hardy pioneers, but 
few of whom are now living to tell over the 
strange story of their early lives in the wil- 
derness. They have passed away in their day 
and generation, and the very few who have 
come down to us from a former generation 
have forgotten and forgiven the early hard- 
ships that encompassed them, and remember 
only the wild freedom and joys of their eager 
childhood. They came here they know not 



444 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



why, and at once they seemed to realize that 
to look backward with regret was useless, and 
hence they contemplate it with gratitudo, and 
that they were then filled with a holy pur- 
pose to do for us — those who were to come 
after them — a sacred duty. That impulse, 
be it instinctive or acquired, which forces 
each generation to do something, however 
small, to make the world wiser, better and 
happier than they found it, which is after 
all, the vital principle of human develop- 
ment; and the struggles and sorrows through 
which each generation passes in the accom 
plishment of the self-imposed yet imperative 
task, are the sublimest tragedies of history. 
Carlyle has discoursed on this theme with 
characteristic power and grace: 

Generation after generation takes to itself the 
form of a body, and issuing forth from Cimmerian 
night, appears on heaven's mission. What force 
and fire is in each he expends. One grinding in the 
mill of industry; one, hunter-like, climbing the Al- 
pine heights of science; one madly dashed to 
pieces on the rocks of strife, warring with his fel- 
low — and then the heaven-sent is recalled; his 
earthly vesture falls away, and soon, even to sense, 
becomes a shadow. Thus, like a God-created, fire- 
breathing Spirit, we emerge from the Inane; we 
haste stormfully across the astonished earth; then 
we plunge again into the Inane. Earth's mountains 
are leveled, her seas are filled up in our passage. 
Can the earth, which is but dead, and a vision, 
resist spirits, which are reality, and are alive? On 
the hardest adamant some footprint of us is stamped 
in. The last rear of the host will read traces of the 
earliest van. But whence? O heaven, whither? 
Sense knows not; faith knows not; only that it is 
through mystery into mystery, from God to God. 

When we remember how uncertain is life 
at best, and that its average duration is not 
more than forty years, nearly half of which 
is spent in preparing to live, the wonder is 
that man is not content to stay where he 
finds himself, "to let well enough alone," 
and do as little for posterity as possible. 
But spurred up and on by the divine impulse 
he can neither explain nor resist, he labors as 



if life were to last a thousand years; as if his 
eyes were to see the harvest from the seed he 
plants, his soul rejoice at the onward and 
upward march he aids. 

The rifle, the fish-hook, the "gig," used in 
spearing fish, antedated the grater and stump 
mills among 1he very earliest settlers in sup; 
plying food. The first famines that occurred 
among the people were caused by the absence 
of salt, as they could make bread and meat of 
their meat by using the lean for bread and 
the fat for meat, when driven to it. The 
question of bread, after the first coming of 
a family, until they could clear a little truck 
patch to raise their family supply, was often 
a serious one indeed. Then, too, even after 
the first corn was raised, there were no mills 
accessible to grind it. Corn was the staple 
production. Wheat was not raised at all for 
some time after the first settlers were here. 
The ground was light and fresh, and when 
the dense undergrowth of the forests was 
removed and the large trees deadened, to raise 
corn required but little labor. The hoe often 
was the only farming implement a family 
possessed. It was a clumsy instrument, and 
such rows as are now made by the check- 
rower were not then dreamed of nor were 
they needed. The earliest and best farms 
in the State extended along the line of the 
river, from Alton to Cairo. When the people 
of Union County first came here, there were 
no water mills in the State, except a few in 
St. Clair and Randolph Counties, and when 
the floods came, even these would have to 
suspend operations, and often vexatious and 
protracted delays were occasioned by neces- 
sary repairs after the waters had abated. 

Horse mills soon came after wheat was 
raised; these were most generally turned by 
hand or rope of raw-hide, and a " scaark " 
was used to separate the bran from the flour, 
worked by hand. This machine was made of 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDEK COUNTY. 



445 



a deerskin, with the hair shaved off, drawn 
over a rim or hoop, and holes burnt through 
it with a wire. Illinois farmers at one time 
thus manufactured flour in this way for the 
city of St. Louis. Then came the mill with 
a large wheel with cogs, drawn by horses, 
running in a trundle head, that carried the 
stones, all in a horizontal position. Next 
came the ox mill, or the inclined plane, which 
only came long after the admission of the 
State into the Union; then the improved 
water mill; then finally the steam mill. 
What a gradual but wonderful development 
is there in the slow growth to the present 
splendid perfected roller patent-process mills, 
from the first hand mill and mortar that 
originally cracked the corn for the "hoe-cakes" 
and " dodgers. " 

An equally wonderful development do we 
see in the harvesting of the wheat, from the 
old way that so long prevailed of doing the 
work with a hand sickle. In the coui'se of 
time, men began to come here who had seen 
the use of cradles, and some of them made 
such machines — very rude and clumsy gener- 
ally — for their own use, and thus the sickle 
gradually passed away and improvements, 
once started, have never stopped, not even 
with the splendid self-binders we now behold 
singing their glad songs in the golden fields. 
For many years, the wheat was sown in the 
corn in September or October, and plowed in 
lightly, and good authority asserts the fact 
that sometimes, owing to careless tending 
the corn, that the weeds would be so rank 
that some were compelled to ride on horse- 
back to sow their wheat. In the early spring, 
the stalks would be cut with a hoe, and yet 
with such farming, ten and fifteen bushels of 
wheat were expected and generally raised. 

In 1821, 1822, 1823, the wheat crop in 
this part of Illinois was very short. It was 
blasted and injured with smut, and had to be 



washed before it was fit for grinding. Many 
people were discouraged by these failures, and 
they supposed that it was the fault of the soil 
and climate that were not adapted to wheat. 
It was, however, soon proven that it was the 
indfferent cultivation alone that caused all 
the trouble. In the years 1827, 1828 and 
1829, the black weevil injured and destroyed 
the wheat in the stalk and in the granary, but 
the two successive severe winters of 1830, 
1831, destroyed this insect, as it wholly dis- 
appeared. 

The " diamond plow," an Illinois inven- 
tion, was introduced to the Illinois farmers 
in 1841 or 1842, and there is no doubt that 
this then was the most valuable and impor- 
tant invention yet given [to the farmers of 
the State. In all Southern Illinois it created 
a revolution in farming, and was largely the 
basis on which rested the wonderful and 
rapid development and enriching of the 
State that marks its coming as a great era. It 
was the first plow ever known to our people 
that completely turned the ground, cutting a 
deep and wide furrow, and leaving it smooth 
and level, and it would plow clean in the 
thickest and tallest weeds or rank stubble 
without clogging, and worked with less mo- 
tive power than any plow ever before known. 

Alexander County forms the southern ex- ' 
tremity of the State, and is bounded by the 
Mississippi on the west and south, by the 
Ohio and Cache ^Rivers on the east, and by 
Union County on the north. It includes an 
area of about 220 "square miles, more than 
one-half of which is alluvial bottom land, 
occupying the borders of 'the streams above- 
named, and in the southern portion of the 
county these bottoms extend entirely across 
it, from the Cache Eiver to the Mississippi. 
The bottom lands are "generally flat, and are 
interspersed with cypress ponds and marshes, 
and a portion of them are too wet for culti- 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



vation. They are heavily timbered with 
white oak, swamp white oak, live oak, 
Spanish oak, yellow poplar, shellbark and 
pignut hickory, ash, beech and ^5^hite and 
sugar maples, all of which are found on the 
highest bottoms, and indicate a soil sufficient- 
ly dry for cultivation. The swampy lands 
are indicated by the growth of the cypress, 
sweet gum, pecan, tupelo gum, cottonwood, 
willow, etc. In the northern part of the 
county the surface is roughly broken, and the 
arable lands are mostly confined to the creek 
bottoms, and the more gentle slopes adjacent 
to the streams. The river bluffs above Santa 
F6 are generally steep and rocky, often pre- 
senting towering cliffs or rugged chert hills, 
destitute of timber, and but partially covered 
with scrubby trees and shrubs that find a 
scanty foothold in the rocky surface. The 
southern boundary of these old formations of 
the Silurian and Devonian ages is also de- 
fined by a line of bluffs, similar in their ap- 
pearance to those on the Mississippi. These 
extend about half way across the county, in 
the lower part of Township 15 south, and 
then trend off northeastwardly, leaving a 
bottom from three to five miles in width be 
tween them and the Cache River. These 
bluffs appear to have been washed by a 
powerful stream at some former period, and 
no doubt owe their origin to the same cause 
that excavated the valley of the Ohio. 

The alluvial deposits of this county cover 
the lower portion of the county, j^from the 
south line of Township 15 south to the Ohio 
Kiver; they also strike the western bank of 
Cache River, nearly to the north line of the 
county, and occupy a portion of Township 14 
south, Range 3 west, in the northwest corner 
of the county, forming a wide bottom be- 
■ tween the limestone bluffs and the Missis- 
sippi. They consist of irregularly stratified 
beds of sand and loamy clay, alternating with 



vegetable humus, similar to those seen almost 
anywhere along the banks of oar large 
rivers. 

Geology gives the following as the sections 
underlying Alexander County: Alluvium, 
20 to 30 feet; Tertiary, 50 to 60 feet; sili- 
cious shales of Lower Carboniferous lime- 
stone, 7 feet; shales, flint rock, 40 to 50 
feet; Clear Creek limestone, 300 feet (the 
last two Devonian). Then, passing a band 
of brown, silicious shales, the Upper Silurian 
is entered, with 250 feet of Helderberg 
limestone, and then the Lower Silurian 
limestone, 225 feet. Just above Santa F6 
is an outcrop of the Tertiary formation, form-* 
ing a narrow belt extending across to the bot- 
toms. Specimens of silicious wood ai'e com- 
mon in this vicinity, and may be picked up 
in the ravines, but no other fossils are found 
in this group. The deposits known as 
" Chalk Banks " are formed of chert rock, and 
cherty silicious shales, by decomposition from 
a plastic clay. Its greatest thickness, in this 
portion of the State, is 250 feet. .^The region 
usually underlaid by this formation is gener- 
ally^broken and hilly. Of this county, the State 
Geologist says: " From the topographical 
features, it will be seen that the amount of 
arable land in the county is limited, and re- 
stricted td the higher portions of the river 
bottoms and the narrow valleys of the small 
streams. But wherever these bottom lands 
are dry enough to admit of cultivation, they 
are very productive, having a light, warm, 
sandy soil, that yields large crops of corn, 
cotton, tobacco, Irish and sweet potatoes, and 
most other products suited to the climate. 
Small fruits and peaches will also do well in 
the driest bottom lands, and grapes, apples 
and pears, etc., maybe successfully cultivated 
on such of the highlands as are not too steep 
for cultivation. The advantages of climate 
in this extreme southern portion of the 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



447 



State, which enables the fruit-grower to put 
his fruit in market in advance of that raised 
in any other section north of the Ohio, will 
-always make this a desirable region for the 
cultivation of such fi'uits as are most desir- 
able for the early markets. 

" These rich bottom lands are equally de- 
sirable for the market gardener, and Cairo, 
Chicago and St. Louis could be supplied 
with early vegetables from this portion of 
the State several weeks earlier than from 
Central Illinois." 

What this intelligent geologist foresaw has 
been, to some extent, realized by the farmers 
and gardeners of the county in the past few 
years, and this industry, with its enormoua 
profits, is rapidly developing to-day. }. 

Mound-Builders. — As noticed elsewhere, 
there are, throughout a large portion of the 
Mississippi Valley, the remains of a former 
race of inhabitants found, of whose origin 
and history we have no record, and who are 
only known to us by the relics that are found 
in the tumuli which they have left. The 
Mound -Builders were a numerous people, en- 
tirely distinct from tne North American In- 
dians, and they lived so long before the latter 
that they are not known to them, even by 
tradition. They were industrious and do- 
mestic in their habits, and the finding of 
large sea shells, which must have been 
brought from the Gulf of Mexico, if not 
from more distant shores, proves _that they 
had communication and trade with other 
tribes. Perhaps the most interesting fact 
connected with this ancient people is that 
they had a wi'itten language. This is proved 
by some inscribed tablets that have been dis- 
covered in the mounds, the most important 
of which belong to the Davenport Academy 
of Sciences. These tablets have attracted 
great attention from archseologists, and it is 
thought they will some time prove of great 



value as records of the people who wrote 
them. It is still uncertain whether the lan- 
guage was generally understood by the 
Mound-Builders, or whether it was confined 
to a few persons of high rank. In the mound 
where two of these tablets were discovered, 
the bones of a child were found, partially 
preserved by contact with a large number of 
copper beads, and as copper was a rare and 
precious metal with them, it would seem that 
the mound in question was used for burial 
of persons of high rank, The inscriptions 
have not been deciphered, for no key to them 
has yet been found; we are totally ignorant 
of the derivation of the language, of its 
affinities with other written languages. The 
Mound-Builders lived while the mammoth 
and mastodon were upon the earth, as is clear- 
ly proved by the carvings upon some of their 
elaborate stone pipes. From the size and 
other peculiarities of the pipes, it is inferred 
that smoking was not habitual with them, but 
that it was reserved as a sort of ceremonial 
observance. Our knowledge of the habits 
and customs of the Mound- Builders is very 
incomplete, but it is sufficient to show that at 
least a part of this country was once in- 
habited by a people who have passed away 
without leaving so much as a tradition of 
their existence, and who are only known to 
us through the silent relics which have been 
interred for centuries. A people utterly for- 
gotten, a civilization totally lost — was it 
through a great catastrophe in the history of 
the world, or was the ceaseless struggle for 
existence so severe that they finally suc- 
cumbed and pased away? 

The territory covered by the original Alex- 
ander County possessed attractions to these 
unknown races of people ages and ages ago. 
We class them under the general name of 
Mound-Builders. Of these people, Rev. E. 
B. Olmstead, of Pulaski Count/, says: 



448 



HISTORY or ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



" They are supposed to have been a branch of 
the Aztecs, whose wealth tempted the cupid- 
ity of the Spaniards. Perhaps annoyed by 
the fiercer incursions of the red man, they 
returned to New Mexico, and are now known 
as the Pueblos, a people who live in stone 
houses, are agriculturists, shepherds, and 
know a few rude manufactures. 

Only the earthen mounds and the exten- 
sive circumvalation at Old Caledonia re- 
main to give evidence of the existence of a 
once pc>werful race of people, as little known 
to us as the Druids of England, or the in- 
habitants of the land of Nod. At Lake 
Milliken, near the Mississippi River, are two 
mounds, one covering about an acre of 
ground, the other about half as large, which, 
when built, must have been seventy or eighty 
feet high. The lake itself is supposed to 
have been formed by excavations made to ob- 
tain the earth for the mounds. There are 
also a number of mounds at and near 
Mound City and Caledonia. At the latter 
place is a fortification, circular in form and 
270 feet in diameter, with gateways at the 
north and south. In 1820. these works were 
sixteen feet^high, according to the testimony 
of Col. H. L. Webb, and were covered with 
immense trees. It has been supposed by some 
that the French or Spanish erected the foi't, 
but the facts do not favor the idea. It would 
be strange, indeed, that while the circum- 
stances which required the erection of all 
other similar works by Europeans in this 
country, were all well known as matters of 
history, the silence of the grave should rest 
on this one spot. If the workmen were not 
Mound-Builders, then they belonged to a 
race 'still more remote; fur we know that if 
the noble red man never plants a tree, so he 
never cuts one down. 

But few people had come here in 1819, at 
A the time of the formation of the county. 



In 1820, considerably more than one year 
after its organization, there were, according 
to the United States census, but 625 souls, 
and it must be borne in mind [that in that 
enumeration was included nearly all of what 
is now Pulaski County, and in the last-named 
territory were the only towns of any impor- 
tance in the county — America and Caledonia. 

Then there was the town of Trinity, at 
the mouth of the Cache River, where there is 
not left one stone upon another to indicate 
the spot. Outside the towns named, and the 
settlements in what is now Pulaski County, 
there were, probably, not one hunderd peo- 
ple in the territory now composing Alexander 
County. In fact, but very few, except those 
we have named in a previous chapter, in 
which we refer to the early settlers who came 
here when this was Johnson County and 
afterward Union County, and then Alexander 
County. 

Trinity. — In 1816, James Riddle, Nicholas 
Berthend, Elias Rector and Henry Bechtle 
entered lands, extending from below the 
mouth of the Cache to the Third Principal 
Meridian, and by a general subdivision estab- 
lished Trinity. No town lots were sold, but 
James Berry, and afterward Col. H. L. 
Webb, about 1817, carried on a hotel and 
trading business. Goods were re-shipped 
here for St. Louis, and rafts of lumber drawn. 
For some time this was the most pretentious 
and important town near the mouth of the 
Ohio River. In the days of flat and keel 
boats, this point rapidly grew in importance. 
The few steamboats then upon the river were 
wont to make Trinity an important landing 
point, both in their down and up trips. But 
at an early day, the sand bar in front of the 
place had soon grown until it kept steam- 
boats from landing at the wharf, and soon 
evenflatboats and the keel boats, except in good 
stages of water, could not reach the landing. 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY, 



449 



The rapid formation of the bar set the siguet 
of destiny upon Trinity. Apparently the 
chief notoriety now 'attaching to the spot 
whei-e Trinity oncft stood is, from the number 
of times it was pointed out to us, that it 
is the spot where Wat Webb was born. 
But it is more apt to go into history as the 
" deserted village" of which Elias Rector was 
once one of the proprietors. Rector was one of 
the soldiers of the war of 1812. He was one 
of the two Illinois Colonels in that war. In 
his little regiment, less than two hundred 
volunteers, Willis Hargrave commanded a 
company of men made up, it is supposed, 
from what was then known as the Ohio 
Salina. Col. Rector and Capt. Hargrave were 
in the celebrated expedition up the Illinois 
River against the fierce and murderous Kick- 
apoi>s and Pottawatomies on the Illinois 
River. They were acting in concert, or, 
rather, that was the plan of the expedition, 
for the Kentucky forces, 2,000 strong, under 
Gen. Hopkins, had crossed the Wabash and 
were on their way to the country of the 
hostiles. But Hopkins' forces mutinied and 
returned, and he could not control them. 
The brave Illinoisians, however, pushed 
ahead, and burned villages, captured many 
Indians and killed a number more. In 1814, 
Illinois and Missouri sent two expeditions 
into the Illinois River country, and Capt. 
Craig burned the large Indian village of 
Peoria. In this expedition, our forces en- 
gaged in repeated skirmishes and some severe 
battles, and Col. Rector was in all this war a 
most conspicuous and meritorious officer. 

America — This town, laid out with much 
pomp and parade as the future great metrop- 
olis in 1818, by James Riddle, Henry 
Bechtle and Thomas Sloo, of Cincinnati, and 
Stephen and Henry Rector, of St. Louis. 
The agent of the proprietors was W^illiam M. 
Alexander, who resided at America. The 



agent of Mr. Riddle was John Dougherty, 
father of William Dougherty, of Mound 
City, who resided in Trinity, and when that 
place started down the hill he removed to 
America. Alexander was a physician of 
great eminence. He was the representative 
of the district in the Legislature, in 1820, 
from Pope County. 

From a diary of Gen. H, L. Webb, we ex- 
tract the following very interesting account 
of the early settlement and the people of the 
town of America, and what is now Alexander 
and Union Counties: 

" A -land company had purchased all the 
lands that did not overflow near the junction 
of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and all 
above Cache River, up to the old blockhouse 
known as Caledonia. Indeed, the company 
owned all or nearly all the lands from four 
miles above the junction of the rivers to 
fifteen miles above, along on the river. In 
the year 1817, Dr. W. M. Alexander pui-- 
chased from James Riddle the one-half of his 
interest in Sections 9 and 10, two miles be- 
low Caledonia, and six miles above the mouth 
of Cache River; it being the nearest lands to 
the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers that was not subject to annual inun- 
dation from the rise of the rivers. This land 
company, together with Dr. Alexander, in 
1818, laid off the town on a magnificent 
scale, on Sections 9 and 10, and called it 
America. It was then in Union County. 
Illinois had just been received into the Un- 
ion, and the Legislature set off Alexander 
County, and made America, conditionally, 
the county seat. The town at once came into 
notice, from its locality, being the first high 
ground above the junction of the two rivers. 
People in our own country, and, indeed, all 
over the civilized world, looking at a map of 
the United States, were at once impressed 
with the almost certainty that a large com 



450 



HISTOEY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



mercial city must grow up here, at the junc- 
tion of the rivers and the three States of 
Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri. At the 
time America was laid out, freighting busi- 
ness was yet mostly done in flat and keel 
boats and barges. All, or nearl} all, the 
produce from the States adjoining was floated 
down in flat boats. The groceries, sugar, 
cofi"ee, molasses and other merchandise was 
brought up in barges and keel boats. Only 
a few steamboats had been built, and com- 
menced to navigate. Indeed, it was yet an 
unsettled question with the mass of our 
citizens, whether the Mississippi could be 
successfully navigated by steam; so skeptical 
were the people that when Capt. Shreve, in 
his boat, the Washington, made the trip from 
New Orleans in twenty- four days, the city of 
Louisville gave him a public dinner. [See 
history of Cairo for full account — Ed.] Peo- 
ple believed steamboats could only run when 
the river was full, and therefore could only 
make one or two trips a season. Therefore, 
when the town of America was laid out, no 
one, for a moment, thought of the necessity 
of a good, deep landing-place for steamboats, 
as a necessity for a town, the proprietors 
only being acquainted and accustomed to flat 
and keel boats and barges. 

" The town of America was laid off and 
settled by a number of people — several hun- 
dred — during high water. In front of the 
town, for two miles, was a sand bar, making- 
it impossible for steamboats to land. 

" The settlers came in rapidly in 1819, 
1820 and 1821. A brick jail and court house 
were built, and many frame houses and 
twenty-four double cabins, to accommodate 
the settlers, were built by the proprietors of 
the town. The new comers being generally 
poor people from the States of Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Virginia, and some fi'om North 
Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The 



country back of the town had been settled up 
in 1817, by a company or family from Ken- 
tucky. Of these were A.aron Atherton, an 
old man of eighty years, and his sons Aaron, 
John C, Samuel, and their sons Aaron, 
Nathaniel, Talbot, and their sors-in-law 
Thomas Haward, "William and Aaron Biger- 
staff, Langhame, Conyers, Warfords, Martin 
Atherton, Henry Johnson, D. Hollinghead, 
Giles Whitaker and 'many others, young 
men, in all probability one hundred. Eleven 
miles back of the settlement was a small 
settlement on Cache River, known as Russell's 
settlement, as he was the leader of it. This 
Russell settlement had been in the country 
some years. These were all good, honest 
people, and first-rate citizens. About six 
miles from the Russell settlement lived Levi 
Hughes, Esq., a wealthy man and a good farm- 
er, who had settled in the county in 1812. 
When a young man, he had carried the mail 
from Cape to the county seat of Johnson 
County — Elvira — twice a month, on horse- 
back; no roads but Indian traces. He reared 
a large family, and was much respected. I 
name these people whom I found settled when 
I first came to it. 

" The persons who first settled in America 
were Dr. W. M. Alexander, Algernon Sidney 
Grant (a lawyer), R. S. Jones, Horace Jones, 
Phillip Wakefield, Alonson Powell, David 
H. Moore, John Bowman, James Berry, John 
Cowley, Samuel H. Alward, Nesbit Allen, 
Edmund Sutton, William King, William 
Price, George Cloud, Capt. L. Adams, David 
Hailman, John Bowman, Mr. Kenedy, Will- 
iam Hoi ley, Mr. Abbey, John Barnet, Mr. 
Edwards, Mr. Marmon, H. Hoopaw, Riley 
Hoopaw, Mr. Heady, Nance and Tunstall. 
I name those as among the first settlers. 
Hundreds of others I cannot recollect. In 
1819-20, the town was progressing well, un- 
der the circumstances. There was a large 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY 



451 



immigration; the country back of the town 
unsettled; the few there were poor, and the 
best and most industrious among them mak- 
ing barely enough to support their families. 
The Ohio River, on which we depended to get 
our supply of breadstuff, got extremely low, 
60 that loaded produce flatboats could not 
descend. Our bread gave out; we had plenty 
of wild game meat, bear, deer and turkey. 
Our people nearly all got sick with bilious 
fever, fever and ague, and many died. In 
the fall of 1819, I rode on horseback from the 
town nearly to Philadelphia, when I took 
stage for New York, to meet my family and 
take them out to my new home in Illinois. 
My family consisted of wife, two little 
daughters — one three years old, the other 
one year old — and one servant, a black 
woman, to be set free in Illinois, after five 
years' service. New York was then a slave 
State. I hired a coach from New York to 
Philadelphia. We crossed the mountains to 
Pittsburgh in a stage, and it took us four 
days and nights from Philadelphia to Pitts- 
burgh. A young man, a passenger in the 
stage, rode my horse, a favorite one that I 
took to Illinois. At Pittsburgh I piu'chased 
a flatboat, made it comfortable, loaded it with 
iron, nails, merchandise, and hired two men 
to work it. It was the 1st of November, and 
the Ohio very low. We were thirty days 
getting to Cincinnati, and the day after we 
got there the river closed with ice. I had 
expended, in getting from New York to Cin- 
cinnati, $500. My family remained all win- 
ter at Cincinnati. In the spring, I pur- 
chased and loaded a large flatboat, hired 
hands and ran it down myself, and sent my 
family on a new steamer just built and on 
her first trip to New Orleans — the Comet, 
Capt. Charles Byrnes. My family were to 
stop at Shawneetown, and remain with my 
friend Thomas Sloo, until I got there. (Mr. 



Sloo was Register of United States Land 
Office.) I took my family, on a small boat 
attached to my barge, to America, where we 
landed February 29, 1820. In the autumn 
of that year the town became very sickly, but 
few people in the town or country escaping, 
and during the time of this universal sick- 
ness a steamboat? from New Orleans came up 
as far as Cache Island, and was moored in 
side the Cache Island bai", at the mouth of 
Hess' bayou, about three miles below the 
town of America. On the trip up the boat 
lost many passengers and some of her crew 
by yellow fever. The fever was raging vio- 
lently at New Orleans when the boat started 
on her voyage. Her engineer, a man named 
Lough, and some of the crew wei'e still 
suffering with the disease on board the boat. 
The sick engineer was brought to the town 
to be cared for; he died in a few days, and 
the fever was commimicated to many of our 
sick people, and in most cases proved fatal; 
indeed, so general was the sickness, that on 
the day Lough died and was to be buried, 
there were two other persons dead, and in 
our whole population there were but three 
men, besides myself, well enough to dig the 
graves and bury them. 

" On my arrival at A.merica, I was induced 
to form a partnership with Dr. Alexander, 
and with the money furnished by the pro- 
prietors and our own we purchased a general 
assortment of merchandise and provisions to 
supply our people; as nearly the entire male 
population were in our employ in cleaning 
and clearing up the principal streets and lots, 
and to build houses to let to people immigrat- 
ing to our town. The County Commission- 
ers had contracted with Alexander to build a 
brick court house and jail, the jail to be built 
first. We bui'ned the brick, put up the jail 
and finished it. A number of houses had 
been built, and the town was flourishing and 



452 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



settling lip rapidly, until the sickness came, 
and the low water and this stopped its prog- 
ress. The sickness drove many from the 
town to hunt healthier places, and the low 
water prevented fiatboats and other vessels 
from descending the river, and cut off our 
only source for getting breadstuff; and this 
low water, for the first time, showed us we 
had built our town where there was no place 
for steamboats to land; the sand bars in the 
entire front of the town presenting insuper- 
able barriers, and the citizens at once became 
discouraged, and by 1821 our town came to 
a standstill. We could not hold out induce- 
ments of its becoming a great commercial 
city, as we were led to believe was the case 
when it was laid out. 

" It remained the county seat until the 
year , when it (the county seat) was re- 
moved to near the center of the county, to a 
place called Unity, where it remained until 
the county was divided, and Pulaski County 
formed, and Caledonia made the new county's 
seat of justice. The new county seat of 
Alexander county was Thebes. 

" In the year 1821, Mr. Nicholas Berth- 
end, of Shippingsport, Ky., and the house of 
Gordon, Tunstall & Co., of New Orleans, and 
an Englishman named Charles Briggs, j)ur- 
chased a one-fourth interest in the lanils ly- 
ing about the mouth [of Cache River, from 
Riddle, Bechtle, Sloo & Co., with an agree- 
ment that they should put up stores and 
warehouses at the mouth of (Jache River, for 
the accommodation of steamboats, and for 
the purpose of shipping from there the mer- 
chandise brought up by the steamboats to all 
towns and places of business above the mouth 
of the Ohio. When this company purchased 
the property, they had an agreement with the 
firm of Riddle, Briggs, Sloo & Co. , that they 
would not sell or lease any of their lands or 
property to any other person, but in consider 



ation of their erecting the necessary stores, 
warehouses, taverns and dwelling houses and 
make all necessary improvements to accom- 
modate the commerce and freightino: business 
above and below, they guaranteed to them a 
complete monopoly, and put all their lands 
under the care and control of the new com- 
pany. The company at once built a large 
and elegant warehouse and tavern, a large 
and elegant storehouse and dwelling house, 
and all other necessary buildings for their 
laborers and employees. This was in the 
year 1822. This extensive business was con- 
ducted by Charles Briggs, an English gentle- 
man of fine business capacity. The place 
and business were a great success, under Mr. 
Briggs' management, but it did not, by any 
means, meet the expectations of the company. 
In 182-4, Mr, Briggs withdrew and went to 
New Orleans, and put the control of the town 
in the hands of a clerk, named John M. Lear, a 
good man, but unfitted for the management. 
The business at once declined. In 182G, Lear 
died at Trinity. I was then a member of the 
State Legislature, and had just returned 
from the capital, when I found a letter from 
Nicholas Bethend, offering me the sole con- 
trol of affairs at Trinity; he to furnish as 
much additional capital as I might think 
was needed. I was to have, for my services, 
one- third the profits. I took charge of the 
place and its business, but the town then 
had a bad name. It was the stopping place 
of persons of all descriptions, good and bad, 
and previous to my taking charge it had be- 
come known as a resort for gamblers, thieves 
and all kinds of rascals. It often occurred 
that large numbers of flat and keel boat men 
congregated there — they really did as they 
pleased, and honest citizens, in visiting the 
place, feared for their lives and proj)erty. 
In low water and winter time, the steamboats 
that could not continue their trips landed at 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



458 



Trinity, and put off their freight and pas- 
sengers, and from thence they were re-shipped 
in keel boats and barges, and the passen- 
gers were compelled to travel by land to their 
destination. 

" In the year 1829, I purchased, in com- 
pam- with James Berry, the entire interest 
of Gordon, Tunstall & Co. and Nicholas 
Berthend, including all the real estate on 
which the town was built. The business was 
flourishing, and we made money. Mr. Berry 
kept the principal hotel. A man named 
Carlisle also kept a public hovise. Many 
steamboats laid up with us during the winter 
and during seasons of low water. Our busi- 
ness continued large and profitable until 
1831, which year I purchased Berry's inter- 
est, when he removed to the town of America 
(still the county seat). In the month of 
December, 1831, I went to Louisville, to pur- 
chase goods and to get a tavern-keeper to 
supply Berry's place, and while in Louisville 
the river closed with ice, and I was com- 
pelled to return by land — by stage to Smith- 
land, Ky. , and horseback from there. When 
I was within twenty miles of home, I met a 
number of gentlemen on horseback, who had 
landed at where Trinity had been. The en- 
tire town, stores, warehouses, taverns, and, 
indeed, all the buildings, had been des- 
troyed by fire. The tire occurred on the 
night of the 31st December, 1831. It had 
been set on fire by a trading flatboat man, 
who had the day before landed at Trinity 
and sold liquor to my servants and negroes, 
and my agent had had him arrested and 
fined. He threatened vengeance, and that 
night crossed his boat over to Kentucky, and 
it was supposed he came over in the night 
and fired the buildings. There were a few 
inches of snow on the ground, and the 
weather was cold. Nothing was saved. 
Books, papers, money, goods, and all the 



household furniture were burned. Fortun- 
ately, the wind blew a gale from the south. 
I had built a large billiard room, to accom- 
modate passengers, and this was to the south 
of my other property, and in it were stored 
many buffalo robes that had been sent me by 
Choteau, to sell on commission. My family 
had saved some bedding, and they quartered 
in the billiard room. I estimated my loss at 
$50,000. A boat lying at the landing had 
furnished my family provisions to live upon. 
The nearest place to take them was America, 
six miles above. I removed to my farm, and 
attended my store in Caledonia. In the 
spring, the Black Hawk war broke out, and 
as I was in command of the militia, and as I 
was ordered, I raised a company of rifle 
rangers and marched to the frontier, on the 
Illinois River." 

For the valuable memoranda of Col. Webb, 
we are indebted to Mrs. M. M. Goodman, of 
Jonesboro, a grand- daughter of Col. Webb. 

Wilkinsonville, or Fort Wilkinson, as the 
present traditions concerning the place des- 
ignate its name, was brought into existence 
about the time of the close of the war of 
1812. Gen. Wilkinson ascended the river 
with a large body of troops, and landed at 
the head of Grand Chain. He erected ex- 
tensive barracks, with large brick chimneys, 
the remains of which can yet be found. 
Quite a settlement gathered about the place, 
and a number of improvements were put up 
by citizens within the camp grounds, and i t took 
the name, finally, of Wilkinsonville. When 
the army was moved away, it fell into decay, 
and now there is nothing to indicate the spot, 
save the three or four hundred graves of 
soidiei's and citizens who were buried there, 
and the other little mounds spoken of above 
as the remains of chimneys or buildings. 
The last solitary inhabitant of the place was 
Mr. Cooper, who named his son Bonaparte. 



454 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



Caledonia. — When the town of America, 
was abandoned, one of its proprietors, Capt. 
Riddle, and a man named John Skiles, laid 
out the town of Caledonia in 1826. This was 
another mushroom town, of great expecta- 
tions, and the lots were at first rapidly sold, 
and at good prices. The proprietors, how- 
ever, both died, and soon the prosperity of 
tho place was arrested, and on the 13th of 
February, 1861, by an act of the Legislatm-e, 
Caledonia and America were vacated. 

Unity, the second county seat of Alexander 
County, was laid out in 1833. A court 
house was erected and a jail and a few log 
houses for oiScers of the county and residents 
were put up. It had a slow-going kind of 
existence, which moved along until 1842, 
when the court house and many of the county 
records were burned. Its location was near 
the geographical center of the county, and 
about equi-distant from the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi Rivers. When the county seat was 



moved from Unity to Thebes, its growth and 
prosperity were stunted, but, unlike its pre- 
decessors, it was not wholly given up to the 
cutting plowshare of the husbandman, the 
wheeling bats and the hooting owls. 

The reader must not imagine that we have 
exhausted the list of towns once in Alexan- 
der County, that sprang into active life and 
as rapidly had their decline and fall, but in 
the order of events, that is, towns antedating 
the creation of Alexander County, are the 
principal ones and in the order we have' given 
above. The early town builders on the 
Lower Ohio and Mississippi were unfortun- 
ate indeed, as a rule, in selecting town sites 
as ambitious commercial cities. It was at 
the time of the transition era, from flat and 
keel boats to steamboats, and it was but nat- 
ural they should make such mistakes in the 
matter of boat harbors and landings as Col. 
Webb tells above was made at America. 



CHAPTER 11. 



THE ACT CREATING THE COUNTY — HOW IT WAS NAMED — SOME INTEUESTING EXTRACTS FROM 
DR. ALEXANDER'S LETTERS — THE PROMINENT PEOPLE — COL. JOHN S. HACKKR— OFFI- 
CIAL DOINGS OF THE COURTS — COUNTY OFFK'ERS IN SUCCESSION — DIFFERENT 
REMOVALS OF THE COUNTY SEAT— PREACHER WOFFORD — ETC., EIC. 



THE legislative act under which Alexan- 
der County was created was entitled "An 
act forming the detached part of Union Coun- 
ty into a separate county, " and was approved 
March 4, 1819. The material part of the 
act was as follows: 

§ 1. All that tract of country within the fol- 
lowing boundaries, to wit: West of the line 
between Ranges 1 and 2 east of the Third 
Principal Meridian, and south of the line be- 
tween Townships 13 and 14, south of the 



base line to the boundaries of this State on 
the Ohio and Mississippi (rivers) shall con- 
stitute a county to be called Alexander. 

§2. Names of the Commissioners to fix 
the permanent seat of justice, viz. : Levi 
Hughs, Aaron Atherton, Samuel Phillips, 
Allen McKinsay and Nesbit Allen. In 
making the select' on they were directed 
" faithfully to take into consideration the 
settlements with an eye to the future popula- 
tion, the convenience of the people and the 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



455 



eligibility of the place," and to meet at the 
house of Aaron Atherton the first Monday 
in April, 1819, "and to proceed to determine 
on the permanent seat of justice for said 
county and designate the same." But the 
proprietors of the land were required to do- 
nate to the . county not less than 20 acres, 
" to be laid out in lots and sold to defray the 
expense of public buildings," or they should 
pay cash, " in four equal semi-annual " pay- 
ments, first payable 1st of Jul}-, 1819, 
$4,000, for the same purpose and " public 
square of suitable dimensions whereon to 
erect the same. " If neither of these schemes 
were accepted by land proprietors, then the 
Commissioners should " fix on some other 
place," " as convenient as may be to the in- 
habitants of said county." The place being 
fixed, the Commissioners should certify the 
same under their hands and seals, and return 
same to next Commissioners' Court in afore- 
said county, to be recorded on the court's 
book of records. 

§3. Until the erection of the public 
buildings, the elections, courts, etc., should 
be held in the house of William M. Alexan- 
der in that county. 

§4. But the citizens of the new county 
were to vote for Senator and Representatives, 
" with the county of Union," as though the 
act had not been passed. 

§ 5. The new county was made a part of 
the Third Judicial District, the Circuit 
Court to be held as directed by the act 
regulating and defining duties of Justices of 
the Supreme Court. 

There exists the record of an act that pur- 
ports to bear date January 18, 1833, repeal- 
ing all acts locating the county seat at 
America. But there was, in fact, no such 
legislative acts. This was doubtless an act 
intended to annul the previous action of the 
Commissioners appointed under the act of 



1819, and was intended as an enabling act, 
for the purpose of removing the county seat 
from America to Unity. The act does ex- 
pressly provide that the courts shall sit at 
America till the new location should be 
made. 

Alexander County, as originally formed, 
embraced a greater portion of what is now 
Pulaski County. 

It was called Alexander County in honor 
of Dr. William M. Alexander, one of the 
early settlers and a man who figured in all 
important concerns of this section of coun- 
try. He was in Kaskaskia, it seems, when 
the formation of the county was before 
the Assembly, and had much to do in 
directing matters concerning it, and from 
other things, we infer that he was given the 
authority to name the new county and called 
it after himself. We are indebted to the 
Rev. E. B. Olmstead, of Pulaski C-mnty, for 
some facts in his history that throw the best 
light on his character that we can get. In 
a sketch of Pulaski County published by Mr. 
Olmstead, in the Mound City Journal, of 
July 5, 1876, we extract the following: "Mr. 
Alexander was a physician of great eminence; 
was the first Representative of the district in 
the Legislatm'e, and when the State was or- 
ganized in 1818, and the county of Alexan- 
der formed, he was elected Speaker of the 
House,* and his name was given to the coun- 
ty. In a letter dated " Town of America, 
April 4, 1818," he tells his principal all about 
the prospects of the ambitious young town, 
and his vast and long-headed schemes to 
make it one of the greatest towns in the 
world. These extracts are given in full in a 

* This is an error. He was not in the Legislature when 
either the State was admitted in ISlS, or when Alexander County 
was formed in 1819. The records show he was first iu the House 
in the Second General Assembly of 1820-1822, which convened 
at Vandalia, December 4, 1820, and then he is on the roll as 
" William M. Alexander, of Tope County." In the Third Gen- 
eral Assembly of 1822-1824, he was the member from Alexander 
County, and was elected Speaker. This, it seems, constituted 
his entire service in the Legislature. 



456 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



chapter of Union County, and the reader is 
'referred to them as throwing much light 
upon the character of the early leaders in 
this part of the State. He tells his inten- 
tions to be a candidate for certain offices, and 
then what he will do in " bending the whole 
county to his town projects." In following 
up the county records, we find the Doctor was 
true to his promise and was elected one of 
the County Commissioners at the first elec- 
tion, and especially true to " bending the 
whole county " to the interests of America 
and Alexander, Riddle & Co. 

We do not republish these extracts from 
the Doctor's private correspondence with a 
view of casting a shadow upon the memories 
of the founders of the town of America, but 
we regard it as a most valuable behind-the- 
curtain view of the public life and times of 
those men who laid the foundations for the 
communities and municipalities that we now 
have. 

Here was then organized the young coun- 
ty of Alexander, with its large and broad 
territory, which included what is now Pulaski 
County, with a population of not exceeding 
500 people, and these were scattered along 
the shore of the Ohio River from Grand 
Chain to Cairo, with a very small settlement 
back of the town of America, a few miles, 
and then passing around the Mississippi to 
Dogtooth, where were the Hacker and Able 
and Hodge settlements, and in the interior of 
what is now Alexander County, the A.therton 
settlement. 

Of the first colonists to locate in what is 
now Alexander, the largest was known as 
" Atherton's." And it was an api^ropriate 
act in the law forming the county, directing 
the Commissioners to meet at the Louse of 
Aaron Atherton.* 

* In the records at Springfield, the name of Atherton is 
spelled with two ns, to wit, "Athernton," in every instance, and 
so particular was the Clerk in transcribing the records that in 



Col. John S. Hacker was born in 1797, 
in Davis County, Ky. , and with his father's 
family came to what is now Alexander 
County in 1812. As a tall, gangling, awk- 
ward backwoods lad, he attended the first 
school in this county, of which we gave an 
account in a preceding chapter. A few 
months was enough for him to master the 
alphabet, and, in fact, he could soon read 
and write a little. In his after life, he be- 
came a fair scholar in the branches of read- 
ing, writing and ciphering. He grew to be 
a tall, finely -projDortioned and dignified man 
of rather a commanding presence, superior 
talent soon made him a prominent figure, 
and as Jonesboro was then the promising 
metropolis of Southern Illinois, he removed 
to that place and soon developed into an am- 
bitious political rival of John Grammer, and 
for many years they would set their lances in 
the political lists and their friendly rencon- 
tres furnished the great excitement of the 
times. They traveled through all the coun 
try, made flaming stump speeches at all the 
cross-roads and plied the voters with tobacco 
"andsich, " and, great heavens ! how they did 
fondle and kiss the frowzled-headed, dirty 
babies! But the older Grammer had ac- 
quired his firm foothold before Hacker came 
and, as a rule, he carried off the prize in all 
their contests, until 1836 and 1837, when 
Grammer as usual voted " No " on the ques- 
tion of State Internal Improvements. His 
rule of political life was to vote " no " on all 
doubtful questions, and a most excellent rule 
it was, too. But in 1836 the people had be- 
come crazed on the subject of State improve- 
ment, and Grammer had committed himself 
against it, before he had caught the drift of 



every instance where, in the hurry of writing, the n was omitted 
in the middle of the name, it would be carefully marked in by 
the proof-reader. Upon inquiry among those now living in the 
county, and the family is one of the largest and most intlueutial 
in the county, we are informed they spell the name with only 
one n. 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY, 



459 



public sentiment, and Hacker seized the op- 
portunity and his triumph was complete. 

Col. Hacker had commenced as the first 
tavern and boarding-house keeper in Jones- 
boro, and after filling several minor county 
offices, was , elected Representative to the 
General Assembly of 1824 to 1826. He then 
made several attempts to supplant Grammer 
in the State Senate, but failed, until the 
session of 1834 to 1836, when he succeeded 
Grammer in the State Senate, in which po- 
sition he stayed until 1842, when he retired, 
and John Dougherty was his successor. 
Hacker was a soldier in the Mexican war and 
commanded a company from Union County, 
and was an officer noted for conspicuous 
gallantry, and he and his company were es- 
pecially complimented by the commanding 
General, especially in his farewell to them 
when they were mustered out of the service 
and were preparing to return to their homes. 
The details of this company, however, are 
given in a previous chapter concerning Un- 
ion County, and her part in the jVIexican 
war. 

Col. Hacker, long before Abe Lincoln 
thought df such a thing, was a flat-boatman 
on the Mississippi River. He possessed the 
elements that made a strong character, and 
he may properly go into history as one of the 
valuable pioneers of Illinois. 

In November, 1817, he was married to 
Elizabeth Milliken, daughter of Alexander 
Milliken. Col. Hacker had his first expe- 
rience in war in 1812, serving when only six- 
teen years old in the Missouri Militia as a 
private in that war. He i-eceived his title 
of Colonel by virtue of an appointment to 
that position from Gov. Duncan in the State 
Militia. 

In 1849, he went overland to Califor- 
nia, and spent over two years in digging for 
gold, but his health becoming impaired he 



returned in 1852, by way of Central America, 
the Caribbean Sea, etc. He located in Cairo, 
and was appointed Surveyor of the port by 
President Pierce. He held the office until 
retired by Buchanan, because he had voted for 
Douglas in the convention that nominated 
Buchanan for President. Ho had filled the 
office of Postmaster at Jonesboro under 
President Van Buren in 1836. He was 
Clerk for several years in Douglas, Commit- 
tee on Territories in Washington, and was 
afterward Assistant Doorkeeper of the United 
States House of Representatives. Afterward, 
under Polk's administration, he filled the po- 
sition of Examiner of Cadets at West Point. 

Col. Hacker's wife died in 1853, and he 
remained a widower during the remainder of 
his life. His children were Henry C. and 
William A., and the daughters were Mary 
A., Jane and Minerva. Henry C. was in life 
a prominent physician of Jonesboro, and 
William A. became a leading attorney and 
politician in Alexander County. Mary A. is 
the wife of A. W. Simonds, of Charleston, 
Mo., and Jane became the wife of H. Wat- 
son Webb, and is living in Cairo. Minerva 
died when a young lady. 

Col. Hacker practically retired from active 
life in 1857, and lived in Cairo and Jones- 
boro. He died in the latter place in 1877. 

The following official acts and doings of 
the new court of Alexander will give the 
reader the names of nearly every voter in 
the county at the time of its organization, 
also of the prominent men, the list is quite 
complete. 

The first County Commissioners' Court for 
Alexander County met at the town of Amer- 
ica, on the 7th day of June, 1819. The 
court was composed of Nesbet Allen, Samuel 
M. Phillip and W^illiam M. Alexander. 

A. Sidney Grant was chosen Clerk of said 
court. Mr. Grant was afterward the attor- 



460 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



ney for the towu of America, and was prob- 
ably the first practicing attorney residing in 
what is now Alexander and Pulaski Coun- 
ties. 

The Coummissioners' Court received the 
report of the Commissioners appointed by the 
Legislature to fix the permanent seat of jus- 
tice, as follows: 

This is to certify tbat agreeable to the act passed 
in the Legislature of the State of Illinois, on the 
4th of March, 1819. declaring the attached part of 
Union County to be a separate county, called and 
known by the name of Alexander County, and we 
the Commissioners as being appointed by the Legis- 
lature, have this day met at the house of Aaron 
Atherton, first being duly sworn, hath proceeded to 
fix on the permanent seat of justice in and for said 
county, to be permanently fixed on the public square 
in the town of America, in Township 16, Section 9, 
Range 1 east of the principal meridian line. Given 
under our hands and seals this 5th April, 1819. 
(Signed), Levi Hughes, 

Aaron Atherton, 
Nesbit Allen. 

The Justices of the Peace of the county 
met at the house of William M. Alexander 
(in America) as follows: Aaron Atherton, 
John Hyler, Alexander Baggs, John F. 
Smyth, Nesbet Allen, James H. Martin and 
Merrit Harvill, for the purpose of laying 
off said county into election townships. Dr. 
Alexander was elected Clerk of this meeting, 
and townships and boundaries were laid off 
as follows: "First, the Ohio Township, 
bounded on the north by the boundary of 
the county, east and southeast by Johnson 
County and the Ohio River, west and south- 
west by Mill Creek and Cache River. Sec- 
ond. Mississippi Township is bounded on 
the west by the Mississippi River, east by 
Mill Creek and Cache River, south by the 
line between Townships 15 and 16, and on 
the north by Union County. Third. Cache 
Township, bounded on the north by the line 
between Townships 15 and 16 south of the 



base line; east by Cache River and the 
Ohio; west and southwest by the Mississippi. 
James H. Martin, Aaron Atherton and Will- 
iam M. Alexander were appointed Judges of 
Election in Ohio Township; Merritt Harvill, 
John H. Hyler and /Alexander Baggs, 
Judges in Mississippi Township; Alexander 
Millikin, George Hacker and Fitz E. Hutch - 
ins, in Cache Township." 

George Hacker, Absalom Hacker and 
James Johnson were appointed to view and 
lay out a road from the town of America to 
the house of George Hacker, upon the Miss- 
issippi. 

William Walker, Merritt Harvil and Ar- 
thur McConnell were to lay out a road from 
Wofiford's ferry, on Cache River, to intersect 
the road leading from Whitaker's Mills to 
Cape Girardeau. 

Wofibrd was a hard-shell Baptist preacher. 
He claimed that he held his commission 
from God, and that he needed no earthly 
license. He was innocent of much style in 
dress and was as illiterate as a horse, and in 
the language of the boys could tell the big- 
gest " whopper " of any man in the State. 
One day, at a meeting in the woods, he rose 
and astonished the audience by telling them 
he was going to preach. He said that he 
had been plowing in the fields, and all at 
once he heard a voice saying, "Wofiford! 
Wofford, where art thou?" And he plowed 
along, and again the voice of low thunder 
called, "Wofibrd! Wofibrd, where art thou?" 
And at last he answered, " Here's Old 
Worf. Now what d'ye want?" And then 
he ran to the woods and hid behind 
stumps and trees and in the brush, and 
the voice followed him, and then it said, 
" Wofi'ord, you must go and preach my gos- 
pel." He obeyed the command of heaven 
and preached, and told [the most astounding 
" yarns " ever heard in this part of the State. 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



461 



He lived to be a verj old man, and died only 
a few years a^o in Pulaski County. 

The Commissioners granted license to 
John F. Smith to establish a ferry on the 
Mississippi, and also the same to George 
Hacker at Township 17. Range 2 west; also 
to Mrs. Russell to keep a ferry on Cache 
River at a place known as Russell's Ferry. 
Dr. Alexander was allowed to open a ferry 
at America. 

Edmund Sutton was appointed Constable 
for Ohio Township; James Johnson for 
Cache; and Samuel Fowler for Mississippi 
Township. 

John C. Atherton and James McClure were 
recommended to the Governor as suitable 
persons for Justices of the Peace. 

David M. Sanford, Lina T. Helm and 
Philip AVakefield were appointed Trustees of 
the school lands in " Section 16, in Township 
south of Range 1 east. " And Aaron Atherton, 
Thomas Howard and John Conyers " in 
Township 1 west," and Levi Hughes, Eras- 
mus Nally and Benjamin Dexter " in Town 
11:, 1 west;" Samuel M. Philips, James 
Kyler and James Philips for Town 14 south, 
Range 3 east; and John F. Smyth, Allen 
McKenzie and Samuel Fowler for School 
Section in Town 15 south, Range 3 west. 

David Sanford & Co., W. M. Alexander & 
Co., Allen and Samuel H. Alward, Stephen 
Crocker and Richard L. Jones were sever- 
ally licensed to sell liquor. 

The court then regulated the price of eat- 
ing and drinking as follows: Whisky, one- 
half pint, 12| cents; rum, ditto, 25 cents; 
French brandy, one- ha If pint, 50 cents; ap- 
ple and peach brandy, one-half pint, 12|^ 
cents; gin, one-half pint, 25 cents; porter, 
per quart, 25 cents; cider, per quart, 25 
cents; ale, per quart, 25 cents; wine, per 
quart, $2.50; whisky toddy, per quart, 25 
cents; breakfast, 25 cents; dinnei', 37^ cents; 



supper, 25 cents; lodging, 12| cents; horse 
to hay all night, $1; corn per gallon, 12^ 
cents; oats per gallon, 50 cents. 

Bids for a brick jail, two stories high, 
36x24 feet, square, the base to be thirteen 
and one-half inches thick, first story nine 
feet high, second, ditto; to contain three 
rooms and a passage on the first floor and 
two rooms on the second. The Town Com- 
pany of America bid for the building and 
put it up. 

Charles G. Ellis was authorized to keep a 
ferry "across the Mississippi at his old fer- 
rying place." 

At a County Commissioners' Coui't held 
Jime 5, 1820, Henry L. Webb was appointed 
Clerk, pro tem. 

John F. Smith was appointed to take the 
census of the county. The number of inhab- 
itants, etc., is given in a preceding chapter. 

In 1820, the County Commissioners' Court 
was composed of Aaron Atherton, Nesbet Al- 
len and Samuel H. Alward. 

The first petit jury in the county was 
composed of James H. Rowland, Thomas 
Ryan, Joseph Hunsaker, James Tash, James 
Nfilson, Orrin Jones, John Russell, Edmund 
Russell, James Mui'phy, John Bickestaflf, 
James McLean, Silas Tidden, Leroy Smith, 
David W. Reeder, William Collins, William 
Price, James Berry, John Rammel, Philip 
Wakefield, Henry L. Webb, Thomas Fitz- 
hugh, Richard L. Jones, James W. W^illiams 
and Joseph E. Wilson. 

The first will presented for probate was 
that of Louis Tash; the second was that of 
Francis Hollingshead. 

In 1823, George' Hacker, Leroy Smith^and 
Philip Wakefield were the County Commis- 
sioners. 

Wilson Able and Charles Bradley were 
recommended'for Justices of the Peace. 

David II. Moore was then the Sherift" of 



462 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



the county, and he was credited with $157. 15, 
the amount of the county tax for the year 
1823. 

September, 1824, Jesse Echols, John Mas- 
sey and Thomas Howard were the County 
Commissioners' Court. In 1825, G. Cloud 
was Clerk of the Commissioners' Court. In 
the year 1827, Jesse Echols, Joseph Hun- 
saker and Thomas Howard were the County 
Commissioners. On the 20th of November, 
Merrit Harvil was elected a County Com- 
missioner. In 1830, George Cloud was ap- 
pointed County Treasurer. This year, James 
H. Rowland, Thomas Howard and Jesse 
Echols were the Commissioners. At the 
December term of the County Court, 1830, 
appears the following record entry: " John 
Haws and Stephen Crocker laid a petition 
before the court, signed by a number of in- 
habitants, to get a tine of $25 each remitted 
that had been imposed on them at the last 
court, for playing at cards for one water 
melon and 12^ cents." 

James S. Smith had been Sheriff in the 
year 1828. 

At a special meeting of the County Com- 
missioners' Court, held at the court house in 
the town of America, April 6, 1833, present, 
Benjamin McRaven, Nesbet Allen and James 
W. Townsend. Commissioners, the follow- 
ing is entered in the records: 

The trustees appointed by the last Legislature 
of said State to locate permanently the seat of Jus- 
tice for the county of Alexandei-, made their report 
in the following words, and figures, to wit: We the 
Commissioners appointed by act of the Legislature, 
entitled an act to permanentlj'^ locate the seat of 
justice for the county of Alexander, do report that 
after having met according to the]provisions of said 
act and duly taken into consideration the best in- 
terests of said county, the convenience of present 
and future settlements, having a proper regard to 
.its central position and prospect of improvement, 
do now by virtue of said act declare the permanent 
seat of justice for the county of Alexander to be, 
and the same is hereby located on the southeast half 



of the southeast cjuarter and the north end of Sec- 
tion 36, Town 15 (south?) Range 2 west, and on the 
southwest half the southwest quarter and the south 
end of Section 31, Town 1-5, Range 1 west, and do 
by virtue of said act, name and call the said seat of 
justice, Unity. 

Sixth day, March, 1833. 

(Signed), James W Townsend, 

Joseph Thompson, 
Walter Nally. 

In 1833, Franklin G. Hughes was Sheriff. 
Wilson Able was Commissioner of the 
school lands of the county. He reported 
sales of the lands at from $1.50 per acre to 
$4 per acre. 

This year, Richard Summers having been 
elected County Commissioner, qualified and 
took his seat. The court appointed Frank- 
lin G. Hughes County Treasurer. David 
Hailman was authorized to establish a fei'ry 
at Trinity. 

George Cloud continued to be County 
Clerk. In 1834, he again entered into this 
office and gave as sureties Wilson Able , 
James W. Townsend and Solomon Parker. 

In 1835, Martin Atherton, Robert Winham 
and James W. Townsend were the County 
Commissioners. 

At the December term, 1835, the court 
adopted the plans and specifications for the 
new court house in Unity. 

" The corners to be sawed down, the house 
to be well strapped on the west side with 
straps of sufficient thickness and width and 
well nailed onto each log, with at least ten 
penny nails, then to be weather boarded 
with good yellow poplar plank, to show six 
inches to the weather, well dressed and two 
inches lap; four windows at the direction of 
the Commissioners of the following size, fif- 
teen lights, 10x12 glass, to be well checked 
and fastened with pins to each log, to be well 
cased and finished with sash; one flight of 
stairs to form an elbow in ascending; four 
' raisers ' of sufficient width and two inches 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



463 



thick; the steps to be of good yellow poplar, 
one and one-half inches thick; one set of 
joists, thirty inches from center to. center, 
dressed and headed, with a floor of yellow 
poplar, one inch in thickness, dressed on the 
under side and matched together; two par- 
titions of yellow poplar plank, one and one- 
half inches thick and matched and dressed 
on both sides; two batten doors, to be well 
cased and hung with three four- inch butts 
to each door, the whole to be done in a work- 
manlike manner by the 1st day of Novem- 
ber, 1837, the pay to be in good notes aris- 
ing from the sale of town lots and orders 
from the treasury and in cash in three equal 
payments. " 

This court did not pay $3,000 to their ar- 
chitect for the plans and specifications as 
have some counties since done in this State. 

Can modern workmen tell exactly what is 
meant by the term " raisers," as they use it 
in speaking of the stairway ? 

David Bailman was a member of the 
court in 1836, and Solomon Parker Sheriff. 
He paid over the tax money and orders for 
the year's taxes, $63. 

In 1837, William Hamby, Lemuel JB. Lis- 
enbee and John Hodges contracted to build 
the court house for the sum of $270. 

Thomas Howard, on December 5, 1836, 
makes a report as County Treasurer as fol- 
lows: The Treasurer of Alexander County 
has the honor of submitting to the honora- 
ble Commissioners' Court the inclosed state- 
ment, containing a concise account of re- 
ceipts and expenditures of the treasury during 
the preceding year, pending the last of No- 
vember, 1836. Received on bonds and from 
Atherton, $10.62|; for sundry license, $32; 
from fines, etc., $24.50; total, $67.62i. 

The county, in 1836, received $500 as its 
part of Gallatin saline lands. 

In 1837, Peter Casper was a member of 



the County Court, and Levi Lighter was 
elected and qualified this year. Joshua 
McRaven was elected Sheriif ; George Cloud 
again elected Clerk. Thomas Howard was 
County Treasurer and L. B. Lisenbee and 
John Hodge were his sureties. The officer 
then gave bond for $1,000. This year D. 
Arter's peculiar signature appears as one of 
the County Commissioners. Wilson Able 
was again elected a School Commissioner, 
and gave bond with D. Hailman, John 
Hodges, Daniel Brown and L. B. Lisenbee, 
sureties. 

In 1838, the Commissioners' Court was 
D. Arter, Martin A. Morton and James Mas- 
sey. 

In 1839, Henry L. W^ebb was elected 
County Clerk and George Cloud finally retired. 
John Hodges was in 1840 School Commis- 
sioner, and George Cloud, the old-time 
County Clerk, was elected Treasurer, and 
Samuel Nally was County Collector. 

Henry L. Webb, County Clerk, rendered 
his bill in 1841 something as follows: Two 
years' service to June 4, 1841, $40; eighteen 
months' service Clerk of Circuit Court, $35; 
making tax lists, $6. 

In 1842, the Commissioners' Court was 
John C. Atherton, William Dickey and 
Franklin G. Hughes. 

In August, 1843, Jonathan Freeman was 
elected Clerk of the county. The County 
Court met at Unity December 3, 1844, and 
among other things it was 

Ordered, That the donations granted by George 
W. Sparhawk et al., and the deed of conveyance by 
them made to the County Commissioners of Alex- 
ander County is hereby accepted by this court [this 
was in Thebes. — Ed.] as a site for the permanent seat 
of justice of the county of Alexander, and further, 
that Jonathan Freeman, the County Commissioner 
under the law, entitled an act to permanently locate 
the county seat of Alexander County, is appointed 
general agent to carry out the provisions of said 
act, and to execute deeds of conveyance to purchas- 



464 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNT T. 



ers of lots at the said county seat, upon his receiv 
mg satisfactory evidence of the terms of sale hav- 
ing been complied with; and that the said general 
agent shall have power to contract for the removal 
of the public property of the officers of the county 
from the town of Unity to the new county seat 
aforesaid, at any time after having given ten days 
notice of the intended removal. 

I do solemnly protest against the above order. 
(Signed), Martin Atherton. 

At a special meeting of the County Court, 
April, 1845, Henry W. Billings was ap- 
pointed a referee on the part of Alexander 
County t,o meet Thomas Forker, a referee for 
Pulaski County, " to settle and adjust the 
claims Alexander County holds against Pu- 
laski County," and ordering the referee to 
report to the Commissioners of Alexander 
County on the 28th of April, 1845. Billings 
was also retained by the county as attorney 
to conduct the suit of Alexander County 
against Pulaski County. 

In 1845, Alexander W. Anderson was 
Sheriff, and L. L. Lightner, Martin Atherton 
and Moses Miller were the County Commis- 
sioners. In 1846, L. L. Lightner appointed 
to contract for the new court house at Thebes, 
contracted with Earnst Barkhausen to erect 
the same. 

In 1839, the Constables in the county were 
William Hunsaker, David Kendall, George 
Peeler, Thomas B. White, Isaac Little, John 
Hagden, Charles M. Lee. The Justices were 
Edmund Hodges, W. H. Smith, George 
Cloud, Thomas Howard, Ki chard Burton. 
Daniel L. Smith, John O. Marsh, John Pi- 
zor, Jonathan Lyerle, Stephen Jones, Will- 
iam C. McMullan, Thomas W. Portertield, 
Thomas Forker, William Wilson, Joseph B. 
Saunders, William Wofford and Thomas 
L. Mackay. 

J. J. McLenden was Sheriff in 1839. In 
1829, David H. Moore; in 1829, James S. 
Smith; 1830, Wilson Able; 1832, Franklin 
Hughes; 1834, Solomon Parker, 1836, 



Joshua McRaven; 1837, Jesse J. McLendea. 

September, 1846, the Commissioners' 
Court was composed of L. L. Lightner, 
Moses Miller and Silas Dexter; Lemuel B. 
Lisenbee was County Clerk: Alexander W. 
Anderson, Sheriff; L. L. Lightner, School 
Commissioner. In 1848, Green Massey was 
Sheriff. In 1850, the Commissioners' Court 
was composed of L. L. Lightner, Patrick 
Corcoran and Silas Dexter. 

In 1851, the court was re-organized and a 
Judge and two Associates were elected. Levi 
L. Lightner was Judge, and Silas Dexter 
and P. Corcoran were Associates. This year 
Coventry Cully was Sheriff; A. W. Ander- 
son, Treasurer. In 1852, Robert E. Yost 
was County Clerk and William C Massey 
Sheriff. In 1853, James L. Brown was 
Treasurer. This year, L. L. Lightner was 
re-elected Judge and Alexander C. Hodges 
and James E. McCrite Associates. In 1854, 
William C. Miller was Treasurer; James L. 
Brown, Sheriff. In 1857, William C. Yost 
was County Clerk. 1857, C. C. Cole, Sher- 
iff. In 1858, N. Hunsaker was Sheriff. 

In 1860, the County Court consisted of A. 
C. Hodges, Judge, and B. Shannessy and 
James E. McCrite, Associates; John Hodges, 
Sheriff. 

In 1863, N. Hunsaker was Treasurer; 
1862, O. Greenlee, Sheriff. 

1864, J. E. McCrite, School Commissioner; 
J. F. Hayward, County Surveyor; John Q. 
Harman, Circuit Clerk; and Charles D. 
Arter, Sheriff. 

1865, Alexander C. Hodges, Judge; John 
Howley aad J. E. McCrite, Associates; 
Jacob G- Lynch, County Clerk; N. Hun- 
saker, County Treasurer; S. Delaney, Sur- 
veyor; Superintendent of Schools, Joel G. 
Morgan. 

1867, John H. Mulkey, Judge of the Court 
of Common Pleas; F. E. Albright, Prosecut- 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



465 



ing Attorney ; W. A. Kedmond, County Treas- 
urer. 

1869, Fredoline Bross, Judge; J. E. 
McCrite and Severe Marchildon, Associates; 
Jacob Y. Lynch, County Clerk; William 
Martin, County Treasurer; Lewis P. Butler, 
Superintendent of Schools; John P. Haley, 
County Surveyor, 

1871, William Martin, County Treasurer; 
John P. Haley, Surveyor. 

1872, Reuben S. Yockum, Circuit Clerk; 
A. H. Irvin, Sheriff; John H. Gozman, Cor- 
oner. 

1878, F. Bross, Judge; J. G. Lynch, 
County Clerk; William Martin, Treasurer; 
George Fisher, J. L. Saunders and Thomas 
Wilson, County Commissioners; Phebe Tay- 
lor. School Superintendent. 

1874, A. H. Irvin, Sheriff; J. H. Gozman, 
Coroner; Thomas Wilson, County Commis- 
sioner. 

1876, John Able, Coroner; Martin Brown, 
County Commissioner; John A. Reeves, Cir- 
cuit Clerk; Peter Saup, Sheriff; W. C. Mul- 
key. States Attorney. 

1877, Reuben S. Yocum, County Judge; 
Samuel J. Humm, County Clerk; A. J. Al- 
den. County Treasurer; Mrs. P. A. Taylor, 
School Superintendent; Thomas W. Halli- 
day, County Commissioner. 

1878, Sheriff, John Hodges; Richard 
Fitzgerald, Coroner; Samuel Briley, County 
Commissioner. 

1879, Miles W. Parker, County Treasurer; 
J. A. N. Gibbs, County Commissioner; Sur- 
veyor, Charles Thrupp. 

1880, John Hodges, Sheriff; A.. H. Irvin, 
Circuit Clerk; James M. Damron, County 
A ttorney. He tied the county in the early 
part of 1883. Richard Fitzgerald, Thomas 
W. Halliday, County Commissioners. 

1881, Peter Saup, County Commissioner. 

1882, John H. Robinson, County Judge; 



John Hodges, Sheriff; M. W. Parker, Coun- 
ty Treasurer; Samuel J. Humm, County 
Clerk; Lou C. Gibbs, Superintendent of 
Schools; Richard Fitzgerald, Coroner; James 
H. Mulcahey, County Commissioner. 

The county seat, although in every act 
pertaining thereto, it has been called an act 
to locate the permanent seat of justice," has 
been anything else but "permanent," it 
would seem from its travels, until it was 
finally fixed in Cairo in 1860. It commenced 
life at that great future city, America, and in 
1843 it folded its tent and moved to Unity, 
where the Commissioners " went one eye," 
as they were directed to do by the Legisla- 
ture, toward the public good and fixed its 
"permanent" abode once more. In 1843, it 
once more wended its way from Unity to 
Thebes, and here it made "permanent" prep- 
arations to stay. It took off its " things " 
and had its "knitting" along, and the be- 
wildered people settled down in the easy be 
lief that this town of such an old name 
would pei-petualiy be the place where they 
could always in the future go to do their 
courting. But Cairo came to covet the hon- 
ors that Thebes had worn since 1845, and in 
1860, the county seat was again removed, 
and is now, it is supposed, once more per- 
manently located in Cairo. 

An act of the Legislature of 1863 author- , 
ized the county of Alexander to issue coun- 
ty bonds to be used for the purpose of con- 
structing the present large and commodious 
but horridly kept court house and jail in the 
city of Cairo. This building was completed 
and the courts and county ofificers were put 
in possession of the completed building in 
1865. It would not be a discredit to the 
county to fill up the lot, build a new iron 
fence and repair and paint and fix up gener- 
ally its public buildings. 

The traveling "permanent seat of justice" 



466 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



of Alexander County marked all its joiirney- 
ings by the rapid decay of the ambitious lit- 
tle cities that had been thus cruelly deserted. 
The "capital mover" had in each case per- 
formed his work well. If he left the old 
town desolate and deserted, he proclaimed 
great promises to the new, and in each case, 
as the new would start into such vigorous 
life, the old would be seized by a corre- 
sponding rapid decay, and generally before 
the new town could get its public buildings 
ready for occupancy, the old town would be 
"the deserted village," whose casements were 
beaten only by the wheeling bats and hoot 
ing owls. It has been remarked by an in- 
telligent observer that the territory of the 
two most southern counties in Illinois — 
Pulaski and Alexander — possess more de- 
serted and decayed and now nearly forgotten 
towns, cities and villages, and particularly 
county seats, than any other territory of equal 
extent in the United States. And, after go- 
ing over a somewhat patient examination of 



these places, we are not at all prepared to 
deny the claim. 

Caledonia, America and Trinity — the first 
two at one time in their brief lives county 
seats — are places where the signet of eter- 
nal silence has taken the place of once busy, 
thriving towns, and are all within a distance 
of a few miles along the bank of the Ohio 
River. These places were all more or less 
of a mushroom character, and partook much 
of that visionary greatness that shot up like 
a rocket and came down like a stick. They 
wore in sight, nearly, of Mound City and 
Cairo, two places that at different times cut 
most fantastic tricks — but of this the reader 
is referred to the respective histories of those 
places, especially the most admirable and 
interesting chapters of Dr. N. R. Casey's on 
"Mound City" — a remarkable instance of 
truth surpassing fiction, and presenting a 
story that, under the able and facile pen of the 
Doctor, may be read, admired and marveled 
at by the present and the generations to come. 



CHAPTER III, 



CENSUS OF ALEXANDER COUNTY CONSIDERED— THE KIND OF PEOPLE THEY WERE- 
THEY IMPROVED THE COUNTRY— WHO BUILT THE MILLS— DOGS VERSUS SHEEP- 
PERIODS OF COMPARATIVE IMMIGRATION— ACTS OF THE LEGIS- 
LATURE EFFECTING THE COUNTY, ETC., ETC. 



-HOW 



"He bent his way where twilight reigns sublime, 
O'er forests silent since the birth of time." 

THE accessions to the [population of the 
county, from the time of its formation 
to the year 1840, were gradual. The census 
of 1820 shows a population of 626; in 1830, 
it was 1,390, an addition in ten years of 764 
people; in 1840, the population was 3,313; 
in 1850, it was reduced, by striking off Pu- 
laski County, to 2,484; in 1860, it was 4, 707; 



in 1870, 10,564; 1880, 14,809. Since 1850, 
there has been an increase of 12,325. Two- 
thirds of this was the growth of the city of 
Cairo, and was mostly the result of the build- 
ing of the Illinois Central Railroad. 

The earliest comers were principally 
Southern men, and of these people there 
were a large number who were of the middle 
classes of society, so to speak. Some of them 
brought their .slaves, with the intention. 



HISTOKY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



467 



usually, of liberating them after a short term 
of service here, and these men were often 
large minded, and, for that day, possessed of 
liberal editcation, and furnished, even in 
that early time, material for the study of orig- 
inal and marked character sketches. It was 
this class of men who impressed themselves 
upon the early history ^'of Southern Illinois, 
and for many years their works were every- 
where visible. It was of this class that came 
the grand and wonderful schemes in regard 
to building the great cities and railroads and 
canals in the wilderness. Their wild dreams 
were generally abortive, but to them, when 
they were working them out, they were 
most real; and the writer has often talked 
with men, now old, who were young men 
then, and who haa been swept into the circle 
of the influence of some of those day-dreamers 
and air-castle builders, and in describing the 
wonderful talking and persuasive influence 
of them, they will grow eloquent, and tell 
yoa they remember these men as the most 
seductive talkers they ever met. Of fine 
personal appearance, of high-born and gentle 
blood, polished as courtiers, chivalric and 
lofty in bearing, they talked up their favor- 
ite hobbies with the inspiration of genius, 
and they blew their bubbles of wondrous 
beauty. Their temperaments were generally 
poetic — nervous, sanguine; and a study of 
the wrecks that are left us of their castles in 
the air, furnish conclusive evidence that they 
always argued themselves into an implicit 
belief in even their wildest dreams, as in 
every instance they went down with their 
schemes, standing bravely at the wheel, al- 
though all they possessed in the world were 
stowed away in the wrecked ship. They 
never, " like rats, deserted the sinking ship." 
They never imagined it was sinking, until 
the dark waters had whelmed it, and in it 
everything they possessed. They were men 



of broad and generous ideas, as a rule, and 
their enthusiasm led them into many mis- 
takes; but they were mistakes of the head, 
and not of the heart. 

For thousands of miles there came men to 
settle in Illinois, and when St. Louis and 
Kaskaskia were rival towns, they would, 
after a careful examination of the two places, 
select Kaskaskia, in the implicit faith that it 
was to be the great city of the West. The 
same mistake was many times made in refer- 
ence to Chicago, and people would pass it by 
and locate in some noisy little place where 
now not one stone rests upon another. 

With this class of rather better men, of 
course, came the coon-skin tribe, with their 
pack of cur dogs and troops of frowsy chil- 
dren. This latter class greatly outnumbered 
the former, as has their posterity outnum- 
bered that of the former, and to some extent 
given its tone and coloring to the people of 
the present time. The broad-minded and 
enterprising men generally died poor, and 
the other kind but seldom grew to any great 
wealth. In the year 1850, as stated above, 
there were but 2,484 people in Alexander 
County. Prior to this time, the immigrants 
were nearly all from the South. In this 
year, Wilson Able was the Sheriff of the 
county, and lived at Abie's Landing, eight 
or nine miles above Cairo, on the Mississippi 
River. His coming had called about him a 
good-sized settlement. He was a man of com- 
manding influence, and was a member of the 
Legislattu'e when the first legislation was had 
in reference to the Central Railroad. He kept 
a store and owned a large tract of land, and at 
one time did the largest general business of any 
man in the county. His two boys, Bart and 
Dan, were born and reared here. They are 
now prominent and influential citizens of St. 
Louis. John McCrite, John P. Walker, 
James Massey, Samuel M. Phillips, Charles 



^68 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



Hunsaker, Joseph Harvil, Henry Sowers and 
Nesbit Allen were living above Abie's, but they 
did their trading and shipping mostly at his 
landing. Judge L. L. Lightner, who served 
the county so long as County Judge, came 
from Missoiu'i in the early thirties. He for 
years filled many different offices, and his 
counsels and official acts rendered his life 
here one of the most conspicuous in the 
county. Edward Hodges, grandfather of the 
present Sheriff, John Hodges, came about 
the year 1838. He married a Hunsaker, and 
opened a farm near the old town of Unity. 
Until 1840, there were very few attempts to 
open and cultivate farms in the Mississippi 
bottoms. The Hodges and Hunsakers were 
among the oldest and most prominent of the 
•early settlers. They were an active and vig- 
orous people, characterized by good intellects, 
great energy, and they to this day hold their 
position as among the first people of the 
county. The Hunsakers are a numerous 
family, and are to be found in Union, Alex- 
ander and Pulaski Counties, and the old pa- 
triarch, Abram Hunsaker, came to Illinois as 
early as 1803. Among the first merchants at 
Unity was John S. Hacker, of whom an ex- 
tended account may be found in the preced- 
ing chapter. Samuel B. Lisenbee came in 
an early day from Jonesboro. William Wil- 
son came into this county in an early day. 
He had chanced his fortunes as early 1817, 
in the town of America, and upon its decline 
and fall he came here. Hodges & Overbay 
had a store in Thebes, when the place was 
first laid out, and the next store was opened 
by Alexander Anderson. As late as 1830, 
there was not a chm-ch edifice in the county, 
yet the people would assemble at some neigh- 
bor's house, and listen to preaching at fre- 
quent intervals, especially when such favor- 
able opportunities presented themselves as 
the passing through the country of preachers 



of different denominations. When the hard- 
shell preacher chanced by, Methodists, 
Presbyterians and all other denominations 
would go, and respectfully listen to the Word 
of God, and, vice versa, when other preachers 
would come pretty much all would turn out to 
hear them. A Baptist Church was eventually 
built on the bottom, not far from Cape Girar- 
deau. Another was about a mile and a half 
north of Thebes, and was a noted resort for 
the people for miles around. As late as 1846, 
there was a church built at Goose Island 
Landing, and one on the road leading from 
Thebes to Cairo. The first school was on 
Sexton's Creek, and among the first school 
teachers David McMichael, Topley White 
and Moses Phillips. The second school was 
near the north county line, in the Cauble 
settlement, near David McAlister's house. 
Topley White also taught school here for 
some time. Then John McCrite taught a 
school about one and one-half miles east of 
Thebes. John Lawrence built a horse mill 
on Sandy Creek, about nine miles northeast 
of Unity. Levi Graham had started another 
horse mill near the Union County line. Then 
Peter Miller put up another, two miles east 
of Thebes, and then Jack Allen had one 
about nine miles north of Cairo. The first 
saw mill in the county was built by Woolf ork 
& Newman, at Santa F6. It was afterward 
owned and run by James C. & William Mc- 
Pheters. Lightner & Bemis built one at the 
mouth of Clear Creek. John Shaver, 
moved down from Uniou County into the 
upper part of Alexander about 1830. The 
most of the families had hand mills, in 
which they cracked the corn for their bread. 
They were cheap, rude mills indeed, and it 
was very laborious to grind on them, but lor 
many years they were the universal resort 
for bread. A man named John Lewis event- 
ually got to making these mills for the peo- 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



469 



pie out of the rocks he found in the hills and 
cliflfs, and at one time his factory was quite 
an institution. These " grind-stones " were 
mostly procured near Elco, and they meas- 
ured from fourteen to sixteen inches across 
the face. David Hailman made an ambitious 
attempt to build a water mill at Unity about 
1832. He had the frame up and much of 
the work completed, when he failed and the 
work was never completed. The first regular 
public cemetery was upon what is now the 
Widow Clutt'a farm, about two and a half 
miles north of Thebes. 

Prior to 1835, the people were not farmers, 
but hunters. They would "squat" on a piece 
of land, put up a rough cabin and some of 
them had cleared a few acres for a truck 
patch. About the time named above, the 
real farmers first began to come, and then 
hunters began to get ready to move on — go 
West, where the crowding civilization and 
settlements would not trouble them, or dis- 
turb the game they were wont to chase. Of 
this class were those new comers whose 
necessity, in the chase and in protecting 
their pigs and chickens from the hungry 
wolves and other wild beasts, required the 
services of the dog, and hence always a good- 
ly portion of many families were made up of 
" mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound, and 
cur of low degree. " But, most unfortunate- 
ly, with the disappearance of the simple 
trappers and hunters, the dogs did not go, 
but remained in unlimited numbers for these 
many years, after their day of usefulness 
had passed. And now we have no hesitation 
in saying that one of the gi-eatest misfortunes 
to Southern Illinois has been its large num- 
bers of worthless, sheep-killing cui's. These 
perpetual pests have cost the three counties 
of Union, Alexander and Pulaski many, many 
thousands, if not millions of dollars. If 
there never had been a dog here, there would 



have been raised annually thousands of sheep 
where none are raised now, and we make no 
question but the life of one sheep is at any 
time worth more than every dog in the dis- 
trict. It is not a good sign to see a people 
run too much to dog. As a rule, these brutes 
are not good to eat, nor do they " toil and 
spin," but they do occasionally make them- 
selves manifest by going mad, and thus men- 
acing with a most horrible death every man, 
woman and child in the community. The 
dog propensity in man is simply the remnant 
of transmitted savagery. A savage loves his 
dog better than his wife and children. A 
silly city girl's pet poodle, and a backwoods- 
man's love of his mangy cur, are one and the 
same hideous disease that has been trans- 
mitted from savage ancestors. We can well 
understand that a good dog — a dog of sense 
and breeding — is not going to prowl all over 
the neighborhood and kill people's stock; nor 
will he bite and tear your child in pieces, as 
it passes along the road or as it approaches 
your house; but if we can only have good 
dogs at the expense of these vicious and 
worthless ones, then, in heaven's name, we 
say, Let them all go. Start the busy dog-killer, 
and let him not eat or sleep while a four 
footed dog lives. We are told of a distin- 
guished citizen who pays taxes on nine dogs 
— 19, and all his other tax is $1.25. This 
enterprising man will tell you the country is 
of little or no account; that farmers cannot 
make a living, and that it is foolish to try to 
raise stock here; that, in short, everything is 
going to the "demnition bow-wows. " In the 
language of the woman who was driving the 
ox team hauling rails, while her " old man " 
was at the village, industriously getting 
dnink, " It seems like a good country, 
though, for men and dogs, but powerful 
tryin' on women and oxen." Has the reader 
any idea how many men have attempted to 



470 



HISTOKY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



raise blooded sheep in these three counties, 
and quit the business when the dogs had 
destroyed their flocks? Can any estimate 
ever be made that would tell this peopJe of 
how many men had come here with a view of 
going into the stock business, and when they 
were confronted with the great dog problem 
have turned away, and found other places to 
^o into business? Does any man live who is 
so stupid as not to know that if you could 
only get rid of the dogs there would be an- 
nually raised, in each of these three counties, 
50,000 sheep? Sheep are not raised here 
solely because dogs are. This is a self-evi- 
dent proposition. To produce 200,000 sheep 
annually would be worth, each year, more 
than half a million dollars, and yet the dog 
raisers will tell you they are poor — that they 
cannot pay their debts, and they often are 
not able to clothe their children, much less 
educate them. Such .ignorance and trifling- 
ness is an unmixed evil to the country. Such 
people will half feed and clothe their chil- 
dren, and in their turn they will grow up 
dog-breeders, and, so to speak, a kind of 
doggy people. Such men will sneer at peo- 
ple who care for their children, feed them 
on rich and generous food, clothe them in 
the best, educate them, send them to travel 
and learn the world, and mix, in social in- 
tercourse, with people of that type who im- 
part gentility and information, as "stuck-ups." 
From the defects of their own training, they 
want none of this "hifalutin" style, but 
turn, content, to their association and com- 
panionship with their dogs. And now that we 
have had our say about dogs, in plain, Anglo- 
Saxon terms, we are content to dismiss the 
subject with an apology to the dog-raiser, 
or to the dog himself, and for our life we 
cannot decide to which of these two we 
should make our apology, and so we will 



leave it for the reader to put it where he 
pleases. 

As already intimated, there were only slow 
accessions to the population from the time of 
the first settlement of the county until 1840. 
There was no marked rush at that time, but 
a visible increase in numbers, if not in 
quality, of the settlers who then began to 
come. It was composed of real farmers, 
speculators, preachers, millers, school teach- 
ers, doctors, lawyers, merchants and busi- 
ness men. They were a people desiring to 
own the land they lived upon, and the most 
of them, in the rural districts, were intent 
upon making the little truck patclies that 
were so sparsely dotted about the country, 
into real farms, where would be raised the 
farm products to ship to the world's markets. 
We confess we have been at some loss to tell 
why this marked increase between 1835 and 
1840 occurred; and why it should be propor- 
tionately greater at that period than between 
1850 and 1860 — in which census decade the 
great Illinios Central Railroad was built. It 
is true the building of this railroad did ma- 
terially affect the growth of the towns and 
cities of much of Southern Illinois, but it 
seems to have made little or no impression in 
the agricultural districts. The railroad 
affected the price of land, and caused about 
all of it to be at once taken up, and created 
a market price for farms as well as unim- 
proved lands, but there was no correspond- 
ing increase in the rural population until 
after the war, when the general accession 
was again commenced, which has continued 
to ^is day. For an account of the railroads 
entering the county, the reader is referred 
to the history of Cairo in this volume. 

As early as 1819, Dr. Alexander procured 
an act of the Legislature, to dam the Cache 
River. As Lincoln said about our gunboats 
navigating streams " where it was a little 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY, 



471 



damp." the early law-makers had an idea of 
damming every little gully in the State, 
and making it a great national highway for 
navigation, and Dr. Alexander, instead of 
dredging, commenced damming, and to this 
day, when it gets either too dry or too full, 
this profane work is still carried on by some 
people, and some good men, in their hearts, 
have even extended this to the cypress 
swamps which cover much good land, and 
occasionally overflow to the low lands adjoin- 
ing them. A.t one tixjoe, a ditch was dug, to 
drain a large swamp, but when the Cache 
River was very full, the ditch, instead of 
leading the water from the swamp to the 
river, led the water from the river to the 
swamp, and these short-sighted engineers 
turned about to dam the ditch. 

The Unity Maufacturing Company was 
chartered in 1837. The company laid the 
foundations, but it never grew much above 
its foundations, for an extensive manufactory, 
including nearly everything made of hard 
wood. It was discovered that the shipping 
facilities were inadequate, and the great pro- 
ject was abandoned. 

The court house and other public property 
in America were, by act of the Legislature, 
sold in 1835. When the seat of justice was 
removed from Unity to Thebes, there was 
very little, if anything, left at the abandoned 
town from the flames, except the jail, and 
this, except for its timbers, was of little or 
no value. 

By special act of 1845, John Hodges and 
William Clapp were authorized to collect the 
taxes for 1839. And the taxes of the county, 



1844, were, on account of the high water of 
that year, remitted. 

Alexander County is credited with more 
criminals and penitentiary convicts than any 
other county in the State, in proportion to 
the number of inhabitants. This is not from 
the inhabitants proper, but is the river 
roughs, the negro roustabouts and the colored 
population that has rushed into Cairo, and 
that depend upon theft, robbery and begging 
for a living. To this extent had the county 
been taxed by these criminals, that in the 
year 1869 the Legislature felt jusified in 
remitting the State tax of the county, and 
giving this as their reason for so doing. 

A complete list of the many once-flourish- 
ing but now deserted towns in the territory 
of the counties of Alexander and Pulaski, 
from their great number and high sounding 
names, would furnish some curious reading 
for our people. We have already told of 
America, Trinity, Upper and Lower Cale- 
donia, Unity, etc., and now we may add to 
the lists New Philadelphia, Hazlewood, 
Sowersville, Poletown, Peru, Saratoga, Old 
Grand Chain, Grand Chain and still others 
we cannot now recall, whose memory is not ma- 
terial to this account of the people. Almost 
every cross-roads, that had a cabin and a man 
who could read and write enough to become 
Postmaster for the monthly pony mail, was 
at once a New London, Pekin, Liverpool or 
Shakerag. as the exuberant fancy of the sol- 
itary inhabitant chanced to suggest. The 
most of them evidently believed there was 
something in a name, and the boundless uni- 
verse was before them to select from. 



473 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



CHAPTER IV. 



WAR REOORD— 1812-15— BLACK HAWK WAR— SOME ACCOUNT OF IT AND CAPT. WEBB'S COM- 
PANY—ROSTER OF THE COMPANY— WAR WITH MEXICO— OUR LATE CIVIL WAR— 
POLITICS— REPRESENTATIVES AND OTHER OFFICIALS— JOHM Q. HARMON 
—STATE SENATORS, ETC.— SOME SLANDERS UPON THE 
PEOPLE REPELLED, ETC., ETC. 



" The best men come not of war or politics." — 
Anonymous. 

ALEXANDER COUNTY was sufficient- 
ly warliJve for all practicable purposes, 
for a peaceful, free country. A number of 
the old pioneers were Revolutionary soldiers, 
and a large proportion of the others were the 
sons and daughters of those conspicuous in 
the great war for independence. 

War of 1812. — There were very few people 
in what are now Alexander and Pulaski 
Counties at the time of this war. In 1811, 
was the massacre of Cache, and here seven 
of the settlers were murdered by the Indians, 
and Phillip Shaver, who died in Alexander 
County a few years ago, was the only sui'vivor 
of the bloody episode, which was one of the 
first movements that finally resulted in war. 
Some of the few people then in the counly, 
in consequence of this cruel act, fled in ter- 
ror to the settlements north of this, and the 
wilderness was left almost wholly to the In- 
dians and wild beasts. It is said David Sowers, 
Robert Hight and Nathan M. Thompson 
were in the war of 1812-15. ffhere may 
have been others, but if so they were prob- 
ably men who had gone into the army from 
other places, and after coming out of the 
service came to the county. 

Black Haivk War. —Alexander County 
furnished Capt. Henry L. Webb's company 
of Mounted Volunteers, which was called 
into the service of the United States by 



order of the Governor of the State May 15, 
1832, to serve until August 3, 1832, when 
they were mustered out by order of Maj. 
Gen. Scott, commanding Northwestern army. 
This company numbered, officers and privates, 
fifty-two men. The following is a complete 
roster of the company: 

Captain, Henry L. Webb; First Lieuten- 
ant, Richard H. Price (lost his rifle swim- 
ming Rock River after Indians ") ; Second 
Lieutenants, David H. Moore (promoted to 
Quartei'master of the Spy Brigade, June 16), 
and James D. Morris (was promoted from 
Corporal June 16, where he commanded a 
corps from 19th of May until promoted). 
Sergeants — Owen Willis, First; Quinton 
Ellis, Second; Aaron Atherton, Jr., Third; 
Samuel Atherton Neal, Fourth. Corporals — 
Merrit Howell, Aaron Anglin, William 
Dickey, Giles Whitaker. Privates — William 
Anglin, James Anglin, Cader Bunch, Harden 
Burks, Berry Brown, Benjamin Brooks, John 
Caines, Tillman Camron, Jeremiah Dexter, 
Solomon Daniels, Benjamin Eckols, Henry 
H. Harrison, Loudy Harvill, Resin Hargis, 
Franklin Hughs, Turner Hurgis, John E. 
Jeffers, Henry K. Johnson, Thomas Keneda, 
Alexander Keneda, Alfred Lackey, Cyrus L. 
Lynch (lost his rifle in swimming Rock 
River after Indians), George McCool, Benja- 
min McCool, William Meshaw, Roderick Mc- 
Cloud, John Murphy, George C. Neale, Mar- 
cus Post, James Phillips, Samuel F. Rice, 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



473: 



William E. Powell, Alanson Powell (pro- 
moted Quartermaster Sergeant Spy Battal- 
ion, Third Brigade, June 16), Robert Rus- 
sell, Enoch Smith, James M. Taylor, Nathan 
M. Thompson, James W. Townsend, John 
Townsend and Samuel White. 

In Capt. Webb's diary we find the follow- 
ing reference to his company : " The Black 
Hawk war broke out on Rock River. I 
being in command of the militia, was ordered 
and did raise a company of Mounted Rifle 
Rangers, and marched them to the frontier 
where we joined the army under Gen. Atkin- 
son, on the Illinois River. From there, my 
company escorted the General from this place 
to Bock River. Gen. Atkinson selected my 
company from the whole volunteer force, as 
being the best mounted, armed, equipped and 
disciplined." 

We cannot find any records of where this 
company was ever attached, or made a part 
of the four Illinois regiments in that war. 
It most probably served out its time, as one 
of the independent or spy companies. 

An account, in brief, of the Black Hawk 
war will be found in the war chapter or 
Union County, in this volume. 

A curious scrap of history, concerning 
this war, is furnished by a memorandum 
kept by Maj. William Carpenter, Paymaster 
of the Fourth Regiment, on this expedition. 
It is an account of the distances and camps 
in the march of hi« command, as follows: 

To Beardstown, fifty miles; first camp, over 
Illinois River, nine miles; second camp, 
Rushville, three miles; third camp, Crooked 
Creek, twenty-five miles; fourth camp, 
Crooked Creek, twenty miles; fifth camp, 
Yellow Banks, eighteen; sixth camp, Camp 
Creek, thirty; seventh camp, Rock River, 
twenty; eighth camp, cut bee tree, twenty- 
six; ninth camp, timber scarce, man shot 
himself, thirty; tenth camp, Dixon, twenty- 



five; eleventh camp, battle gi'ound (Still- 
man's defeat), twenty -five; twelfth camp, re- 
turn to Dixon's, twenty-five; thirteenth camp, 
express came to us about the murder, twelve;, 
fourteenth camp. Rock River, Capt. Gooden 
arrested, four; fifteenth camp, one mile to 
good spring traveled, sixteen; sixteenth 
camp, Tishwakee, ten; seventeenth camp, 
Sycamore, here the scalps were trimmed, 
twelve; eighteenth camp, Fox River timber, 
twenty; nineteenth camp, six, miles from 
Paw-paw, twenty; twentieth camp, two miles 
from the mouth of the river, twenty. 

There is quite a fascination in this extra- 
ordinary record, and the brief, descriptive 
remarks on events as they happened are bare 
facts, in the fewest words, that were written 
down by the camp fire, with no thought of 
their ever being again read; and the entry 
" timber scarce, here a man shot himself," 
or at another camp, where he says, " battle 
ground (Stillman's defeat)," or another, "ex- 
press came to us about the murder, " is every 
word he says about the battle of Stillman's 
Run; or "one mile to a good spring 
traveled;" or this, " Sycamore, here the 
scalps were trimmed." These were the 
Major's daily memoranda of the successive 
camps, in which he carefully noted each day's 
travel in miles; and where he makes the entry 
" express came to us about the murder, " no 
doubt tells his entire comment on the stirring 
news of the battle of Stillman's run. But 
when he says "' Sycamore, here the scalps 
were trimmed," we are left at a loss what tp 
think. 

As some of the men concerned in the first 
victory of the Black Hawk war were well 
known in Alexander and Pulaski Counties, 
we give an account of this interesting event. 
On the 17th day of June, Col. Dement, with 
his spy battalion of 150 men, was ordered to 
report himself to Col. Taylor (President 



474 



HISTORY or ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



Taylor), at Dixon, while the main army was 
to follow. On his arrival at Dixon, he was 
ordered to take position in Kellogg's Grove, 
were, on the 25th day of June, he was visited 
by Mr. Funk, of McLean County, who, while 
on his way from the lead mines the night be- 
fore, reported that a trail of about three 
hundred Indians, leading northward, had 
been seen that day. A council of war, held 
that night, determined that Col. Dement and 
fifty picked men should reconnoiter the sur- 
rounding country the next day. At daylight 
the party sallied forth, and when within 800 
yards of the fort, discovered several Indian 
spies. Regardless of the cries of Col. De- 
ment and Lieut. Gov. Casey, who accom- 
panied him, and without waiting for direc- 
tions, these undrilled and undisciplined men 
immediately charged on the foes, and reckless- 
ly followed them despite all efforts of Col. De- 
ment to check them. They were led into am- 
bush, and suddenly were confronted by 300 
howling, naked savages, under the command 
of Black Hawk in person. The sudden appear- 
ance of the savages created a panic among 
the whites, and each man struck out for him- 
self in the direction of the fort, with a speed 
which equaled, if it did not excel, the alac- 
rity with which they left it in the morning. 
In the confused retreat which followed, 
five of the whites, who were without horses, 
were killed, while the remainder reached the 
fort, and, dismounting, entered it, closely 
pursued by the enemy. The fort was vigor- 
ously assailed for over an hour by the 
savages, who were repulsed and forced to re- 
tire, leaving nine of their number behind 
them dead on the field, besides several others 
carried away wounded. No one in the fort 
was killed, but several wounded. Col. 
Dement received three shots through his 
clothing, but fortunately escaped unhurt. 
At 8 o'clock in the morning, messengers were 



sent fifty miles, to Gen. Posey, for assist- 
ance, and toward sundown, that General and 
his brigade made their appearance, and no 
further^ attack was made on the fort by the 
savages. Gen. Posey started out in search 
of the enemy the next day, but the trail 
showed they had pursued their favorite 
tactics of scattering their forces, and the 
pursuit was abandoned. The army continued 
its march up Rock River, near the source of 
which they expected to find the enemy. As 
provisions were scarce, and difiicult to convey 
for any distance, the command of Gen. Alex- 
ander, with a detachment under Gen. Henry 
and Maj. Dodge, was sent to Fort Winnebago, 
between Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, to ob- 
tain supplies. Learning that Black Hawk 
was encamped on the Whitewater, Gen. 
Henry and Maj. Dodge started in pursuit, 
leaving Gen. Alexander with his command 
in charge of the provisions to return to Gen. 
Atkinson. After several days' hard marches, 
and much suffering from exposure and lack 
of food, on the 21st day of July the enemy 
were overtaken on the bluffs of the Wiscon- 
sin, and a decisive battle fought, in which 
Gen. Henry commanded the American forces, 
which consisted of Maj. Dodge's battalion on 
the right, Col. Jones' regiment in the center 
and Col. Collins' on the left, with Maj. Ew- 
ings' battalion in the front and Col. Fry's 
regiment in the rear, as a reserve force. In 
this order, they charged the 'enemy, and drove 
him from position after position, with great 
loss, till the sun went down, leaving them 
victors in the first important advantage 
gained over Black Hawk during the war. 

During the night, the >Indians fled in the 
direction of the Mississippi River, leaving 
16S dead on the field, and of their wounded, 
taken with them, twenty-five were found dead 
the next day on their trail; while Gen. Henry 
lost only one man killed and eight wounded. 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



477 



The few survivors of the Black Hawk war 
will recognize this battle, and read the details 
of it, as we have given them above, with 
much interest. 

The Mexican War. — So far as the military 
records at Springfield show, there was no 
complete and organized company from either 
Alexander or Pulaski Counties in this war. 
There were, doubtless, men from each of these 
counties in that service, but they must have 
entered the service as individuals, or in 
small squads, and volunteering at some 
point outside their county, were credited to 
the place of enlistment. 

The Civil TFa?'. — About all that we care to 
say of Alexander County in this war, is given 
in the history of the city of Cairo, in this 
volume, to which the reader is referred. 

January 16. 1865, Gen. Isham N. Haynie 
was made Adjutant General of the State. He 
died during his term of office. 

Politics. — Among the early settlers, a large 
proportion were at first Jeffersonian Demo- 
crats, and when Jackson took his prominent 
position in the political history of the coun- 
try, they were Jackson Democrats, and the 
descendants of these people mostly have been 
true to the political faith of their fathers. 
The county was constantly Democratic at all 
national elections, until the large negro ele- 
ment, which had lodged in Cairo, was per- 
mitted to vote, when the Republicans succeeded 
in, we believe, electing a majority of the county 
officers on their ticket, but the Democrats 
soon regained the local offices again, al- 
though, on the national or Congi*essional 
tickets, the county has steadily voted the Re- 
publican ticket.. In 1880, the vote cast was 
for Garfield 1,597; Hancock, 1,353; Weaver, 
46. In 1876, the vote was Hayes (Repub- 
lican), 1,219; Tilden (Democrat), 1,280. In 
1882, the vote cast for State Treasurer, 
Smith (Republican), 1,182; Orendorf (Demo- 



crat), 1,149. The Greenbackers, Grangers, 
Prohibitionists and other side issues in the 
politics of the country have not received 
much consideration in Alexander County. 

In the Constitutional Convention which 
convened at Springfield, June 7, 1847. Alex- 
ander and Pulaski formed a district, and 
Martin Atherton as the delegate in the con- 
vention. 

In the Constitutional Convention which 
assembled at Springfield January 7, 1862, 
Alexander, Pulaski and Union formed one 
district, and W. A. Hacker was elected dele- 
gate. He was President of the convention. 
The constitution framed and submitted to the 
people by this convention was rejected by 
the voters at the election on June 17, 1862. 

The last State Convention, which framed 
the present constitution, convened at Spring- 
field December 13, 1869, and adjoui'ned May 
13, 1870. It was composed of eighty-five 
delegates, and Alexander. Pulaski and Union 
again composed the district. William J. 
Allen was elected delegate. The constitu- 
tion was ratified by the people July 2, 1870, 
and was in force August 8, 1870. 

John Q. Harmon, of Alexander, was the 
Secretary of this body. He had long been a 
county officer — Master in Chancery, Circuit 
and County Clerk, and Clerk of the Court of 
Common Pleas in Cairo. He was elected Clerk 
of the Appelate Court, and during his term of 
office, in the year 1882, died of Bright's disease, 
at Eureka Springs, where he had gone in 
the vain hope of regaining his health. 

He was one of the best known and most 
popular men that ever lived in the county. 
Of an impulsive, warm and generous heart, 
his whole nature was as genial as sunshine. 
Of blood pure and gentle, his companionship 
was an unmixed pleasure to all his large ac- 
quaintance, which extended throughout the en- 
tire State. His warm heart went out in 



478 



HISTORY or ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



sympathy to the afflicted, and his purse - 
string was never tied when the appeal of 
charity came. His integrity stood every test 
of life, and was never questioned. Brave, 
chivalric and impulsive, he would resent in- 
stantaneously any real or fancied reflection 
upon his own or his friends' integrity, but 
his pure soul never harbored malice, hate or 
revenge a moment, and he was as ready to 
forgive and forget as he had been to feel and 
resent the wrong. His ideal of moral integ- 
rity was placed in the highest niche, and yet 
his whole life was marked by no deviation 
from the high standard he had placed before 
him when a boy. His life was pure and 
cleanly— both morally and socially. He was 
a loving and affectionate husband and father, 
and when the cruel and irreparable loss came 
to his loved household, with its gi*eat and incur- 
able affliction, the sympathy and condolence — 
sincere and heartfelt — of all his wide circle 
of friends went out to them in their hour of 
severe trial. At the head of his grave, the 
sons and daughters of posterity may stand 
and truly say the world is brighter and better 
that he lived. His memory will be cherished, 
and his good deeds not forgotten. 

By the constitution of 1848, this Senatorial 
District consisted of the counties of Alex- 
ander, Union, Pulaski, Johnson, Massac, 
Pope and Hardin; and the Representative 
District of Alexander, Pulaski and Union. 
By the apportionment of 1854, the Senatorial 
District was Alexander, Union, Johnson, 
Pulaski, Massac, Pope, Hardin and Gallatin; 
the Representative District was not changed. 
By the apportionment act of 1861, the Sena- 
torial District was constituted of Alexander, 
Pulaski, Massac, Union, Johnson, Pope, 
Hardin, Gallatin and Saline; and again the 



Representative District was not changed. 
Under the apportionment act of 1870, the 
Senatorial District; remained the same, and 
Alexander was made a Representative Dis- 
trict, entitled to one member. 

By the act of March 1, 1872, the State was 
divided into Senatorial Districts, as pro- 
vided by the constitution, each district being 
entitled to one Senator and three Represen- 
tatives, and Alexander, Jackson and Union 
were made the Fiftieth Senatorial and Re- 
presentative District. 

The first member of the Legislature ever 
sent from Alexander County was William M. 
Alexander, to the General Assembly of 1822- 
1824. He was elected Speaker of the house. 
Henry L. Webb represented the county in 
the next session of 1824-26. Wilson Able 
was a member of the session of 1832-34, and 
he was re-elected in 1834-36, and again 
1836-38, and again in 1838-40, and again 
1 840-42. In the Assembly of 1842-44, John 
Cochran was in the House. In the Assembly 
of 1846-48, John Hodges, Sr., was a member 
from Alexander m the House. In 1854-56, 
F. M. Rawlings was a member of the House 
from Alexander. In the General Assembly 
of 1860-62, David T. Linegar, of Cairo, 
Third Assistant Clerk. In the Assembly 
1864-66, William H. Green, of Cairo, was a 
Senator, and H, W. Webb was a member of 
the House. Webb was again elected in 1870. 
John H. Oberly was his successor in 1872. 
In 1874, Claiborne Winston was elected. 
In 1876, A. H. Irvin. He resigned Febru- 
ary 12, 1878. Thomas W. Halliday was a 
member of the House in the Assembly of 
1878-80. The present member of the House 
from Alexander County is D. T. Linegar. 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



479 



CHAPTER V. 



BENCH AND BAR OF ALEXANUEil COUNTY— STATE JUDICIARY AND EARLY LAWS CONCERNING IT 

—JUDICIAL C0URT8, HOW FORMED— FIRST JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT— WHO 

CAME AND PRACTICED LAW— JUDGES MULKEY, BAKER, I. N. HAYNIE, ALLEN, 

GREEN, WALL, YOCUM, LINEGAR, AND LANSDEN— LOCAL LAWYERS, ETC. 



" The ethics of the Bar comprehends the duties of each of 
its members to himself." 

THE first constitution of the State de- 
clared that the judicial power of the 
State of Illinois should be vested in one 
Supreme Court and such inferior courts as 
the General Assembly should, from time to 
time, ordain and establish. 

The Supreme Court was vested with ap- 
pellate jurisdiction, and, except in cases re- 
lating to the revenue, in cases of manda- 
mus, and such cases of impeachment as 
might be required to be tried before it. It 
consisted of a Chief Justice and three Asso- 
ciates, though the number of Justices might 
be increased by the General Assembly after 
the year 1824. 

The Justices of the Supreme Court and 
the Judges of the inferior courts were ap- 
pointed by joint ballot of both branches of 
the General Assembly, and commissioned by 
the Governor and held their offices during 
good behavior until the end of the first ses- 
sion of the General Assembly, which was 
begun and held after the 1st day of January 
in the year 1824, at which time their com- 
missions expired, and until that time the Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court were required to 
hold the Circuit Courts in the several coun- 
ties in such manner and at such times, and 
were to have and exercise such jurisdiction 
a^he General Assembly should by law pi-e- 
scribe. 



But after the period mentioned, the Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court and the Judges 
of the inferior courts held their offices dur- 
ing good behavior; and the Justices of the 
Supreme Court were no longer compelled to 
hold the Circuit Courts unless required by 
law. The State was accordingly divided 
into four judicial circuits, within which the 
Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the 
Supreme Court were assigned to perform 
circuit diities, which they continued to do 
until the year 1824. 

On the 29th of December, 1 824, an act was 
passed declaring that, in addition to the 
Justices of the Supreme Court, there should 
be appointed by the General Assembly five 
Circuit Judges, who should continue in 
office during good behavior, and by the same 
act the State was divided into five judicial 
circuits. Thus, for the first time, the Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court were relieved 
from the performance of circuit duties, which 
now devolved upon the five Circuit Judges. 

The Circuit Judges, however, were per- 
mitted to remain in office only about two 
years as, by the act of the 12th of January, 
1827, those sections of the act of 1824 which 
provided for the" appointment of five Cir- 
cuit Judges, and dividing the State into five 
judicial circuits, were repealed, and the State 
was again divided into four judicial circuits, 
in which the Chief Justice and three A.sso- 



480 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



ciate Justices were again required to per- 
form circuit duties. 

The Justices of the Supreme Court then 
continued to hold all the Cricuit Courts until 
a Circuit Judge was elected by the General 
Assembly, in pursuance of the act of Janu- 
ary, 1829, which declared that there should 
be elected by joint ballot of both branches 
of the General Assembly at that session, one 
Circuit Judge who should preside at the 
circuit to which he might be appointed, north 
of the Illinois River. A Circuit Judge was 
elected in pursuance of that act, and at the 
same time the Fifth Judicial Circuit was 
created in which the Circuit Judge was re- 
quired to preside, the Justices of the Su- 
preme Court continuing to perform their du- 
ties in the other four circuits. This remained 
the law until January 7, 1835, when the act 
was repealed, and it was provided that there 
should be elected by the General Assembly 
five Judges in addition to the one provided 
for by law. The Justices of the Supreme 
Coiirt were thus again relieved from the per- 
formance of circuit duties. 

The judiciary remained unchanged until 
1841, when the number of judicial circuits 
and of Circuit Judges were increased from 
time to time, as the business of the courts 
required. 

The judiciary of the State was re-organized 
by the act of February, 1841, which repealed 
all former laws authorizing the election of 
Circuit Judges or establishing the Circuit 
Courts, thus again^ legislating out of office 
all the Circuit Judges in the State. The act 
then provided there should be elected by 
joint ballot of both branches of the General 
Assembly, five Associate Judges of the Su- 
preme Court, who, in connection with the 
Chief Justice and the three Associates, then 
in office, should constitute the Supreme 
Court of the State. At the same time the 



State was divided into nine judicial circuits 
and the Chief Justice and eight Associates 
were required to perform circuit duties in 
those circuits. As thus organized, the judi- 
ciary remained until it was re-organized by 
the constitution of 1848. 

Under the constitution of 1818, the Su- 
preme Coui't was the only one created by 
that instrument, and the Circuit Court had 
no existence except by legislative enact- 
ment. But upon organizing the judiciary as 
it existed under the constitution of 1848, the 
Circuit Courts constituted a part of the ju- 
dicial system as created by the new constitu- 
tion — it being declared in that instrument 
that the judicial power of the State shall be 
vested in one Supreme Court, in Circuit 
Courts, in County Courts and in Justices of 
the Peace, and the General Assembly is au- 
thorized to establish local inferior courts of 
civil and criminal jurisdiction in the cities 
of the State. 

The Supreme Court consisted of three 
Judges. The State was divided into three 
grand divisions, the people in each division 
electing one Judge. The State was divided 
into nine judicial circuits, which were in- 
creased as necessity required from time to 
time. In each of these circuits the people 
elected one Judge. All vacancies were to be 
filled by re-election. It required that there 
should be two or more terms of the Circuit 
Court held annually in each county. The 
Circuit Courts to have jurisdiction in all 
cases at law and equity, and in all cases of 
appeal from inferior courts. 

The constitution of 1870 vested the judi- 
cial powers in one Supreme Court, Circuit 
Coui'ts, County Courts, Justices of the Peace, 
Police Magistrates, and such courts as may 
be created by law in and for cities and in- 
corporated towns. 

The Supreme Court consists of seven Judges, 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



481 



and has original jiirisdiction, similar to that 

given by the constitution of 1848. There is 
one Chief Justice selected by the court: four 
Judges constitute a quorum, and the concur- 
rence of four Judges is necessary to a decis- 
ion. The State is divided inti"» seven dis- 
tricts, oue Judge being elected in each. 
The election occurs on the first Monday in 
June. The term of office is nine years. 

The Legislature of 1877 created four Ap- 
pellate Courts and provided the following 
districts: The first to consist of the county 
of Cook, the second to include all of the 
Northern Grand Division of the Siipreme 
Court except the county of Cook; the third 
to consist of the Central Grand Division, and 
the fourth the Southern Grand Division of 
the Supreme Court. Each court to be held 
by three of the Judges of the Circuit Court 
to be assigned by the Supreme Court, three 
to each district, for the term of three years 
at each assignment. The Appellate Court 
holds two terms annually in each district. 

The Legislature in 1873 divided the 
State, exclusive of Cook County, into twen- 
ty-six judicial circuits. In 1877, an act was 
passed, in order to provide for the organiza 
tioQ of the Appellate Court, to increase the 
number of Circuit Judges, and it divided 
the State into tbirreen districts and provided 
for the election of one additional Judge in 
each district, in August, 1877, for two years, 
making three Judges in each district, and 
thirty-nine in the State. 

In June, 1879, three Judges were elected in 
each of the thirteen judicial circuits, as pro- 
vided by the act of 1877. 

The first Justices of the Supreme Court at 
the organization of the State were Joseph 
Philips, C. J., Thomas C. Browne, William 
P. Foster and John Reynolds, all ap- 
pointed October 9, 1818. Foster resigned 
July, 1819, and Philips July, 1822. John 



Reynolds, C. J., in 1822, and William 
Wilson added to the court in July, 1819. 
In 1825, Wilson, Chief Justice, and Asso- 
ciates, same date, Samuel D. Lockwood, 
Theophilus W. Smith and Thomas C. Browne. 
Theophilus W. Smith resigned December 26, 
1842. He had been impeached, and his trial 
and acquittal were among the exciting events 
of the early days in the State. 

In February, 1841, the Supreme Court was 
composed of Thomas Ford, Sidney Breese, 
Walter B. Scates, Samuel H. Treat, and 
Stephen A. Douglas. The last named re- 
signed in 1843. Ford and Breese resigned 
in 1842 and Scates in 1847. In 1842, John 
D. Caton was elected, vice Ford. In 1843, 
James Simple, vice Breese. Richard M. Young 
was elected in 1843, and resigned in 1847. 
John M. Robinson was elected March, 1843, 
died April 27, same year. John D. Caton was 
elected, vice Robinson; Jesse B. Thomas, vice 
Douglas; Sample resigned and James Shields 
appointed August, 1846. Shields resigned and 
Gustavus Keorner was elected. W. A. Denn- 
ing appointed, vice Scates; Jesse B. Thomas 
appointed, J 847. Samuel H. Treat, Chief 
Justice in 1848; John D. Caton, same year; 
Lyman Trumbull appointed December 4, 
1848, resigned July, 1853; W^alterB. Scates, 
Chief Justice, 1854, resigned May, 1857; 
O. C. Skinner, appointed June, 1855, re- 
signed April, 1858, whereupon Sidney 
Breese was made Chief Justice and held the 
office until June, 1878; Pinkney EL Walker 
appointed, vice Skinner, and was Chief Jus- 
tice until 1867; Breese was again elected, 
1861, and was re-elected 1870. 

Corydon Beokwith was elected, vice Caton, 
January, 1864, term expired June of same year; 
Charles B. Lawrence succeeded Beckwith, 
June, 1864, and held office to June, 1873; 
Pinkney Walker, elected Jane, 1867, re- 
elected in 1876; Sidney Breese, again elect- 



482 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY 



ed, 1870, died June 28, 1878; Anthony 
Thornton, elected 1870, resigned 1873. 
John M. Scott, Benjamin R. Sheldon, W. K. 
McAllister were elected June, 1870. The 
latter resigned November, 1875; John Scho- 
field elected, vice Thornton, June, 1873, 
and re-elected June, 1879; Alfred M.Craig, 
elected 1873, to succeed Lawrence ; T. Lyle 
Dickey, 1875, to succeed McAllister; Pink- 
ney H. Walker, re-elected June, 1876; David 
J. Baker, appointed, vice Breese, July, 1878, 
retired June, 1879; John M. Scott, Benja- 
min R. Sheldon, JohnScholfield and T. Lyle 
Dickey, re-elected June, 1879; John H. 
Mulkey, elected to succeed Baker June, 1879. 

Under the act of 1826, making five judi- 
cial circuits, the Judges appointed were John 
Y. Sawyer, First District; Samuel Mc- 
Roberts, Second District; Richard M. Young, 
Third District; James Hall, Fourth Dis- 
trict; and James O. Wattles, Fifth District. 
In 1829, Richard M. Young was appointed 
Judge of the single district that then com- 
prised the entire State. 

Under the constitution of 1848, Alexander, 
Pulaski and Union Counties were a part of 
the Third Circuit. The first Judge was Will- 
iam A. Denning, commissioned December, 4, 
1848. He was succeeded by W. K. Perrish, 
who was commissioned January 4, 1854; re- 
commissioned June 25, 1855, resigned June 
15, 1859; Alexander M. Jenkins, commis- 
sioned August 27, 1859, vice Parrish, resigned; 
re-commissioned July 1, 1861, died February 
13, 1864. John H. Mulkey, commissioned 
April 2, 1864, vice A. M. Jenkins, de- 
ceased; resigned and was succeeded by W. 
H. Green December 28, 1865. Monroe C. 
Crawford, elected and commissioned June 
27, 1867. 

The act of March, 1873, dividing the 
State into twenty six circuits, one Judge to 
be elected to each circuit. David J. Baker 



was elected Circuit Judge for this Twenty- 
sixth Circuit. 

Under the act of 1877, making thirteen ju- 
dicial circuits, the following have been elect- 
ed in the First Circuit: Baker, Browning 
and Harker. D. J. Baker was assigned to 
the Appellate Com-t in June, 1879, and again 
in 1882. 

W' illiam Wilson at the time of his eleva- 
tion to the high and honorable position of 
Chief Justice of Illinois was but twenty- 
nine years old, and had been already five 
years on the Supreme Bench as Associate 
Justice. He was born in Loudoun County, 
Va. , in 1795. When quite young, his 
father died, leaving his widow with two sons 
and an embarrassed estate. At an early age, 
his mother obtained for him a situation in a 
store; but the young man displayed no apti- 
tude for the business of merchandising, and, 
young as he was, developed an unusual greed 
for books, reading every one attainable, to the 
almost total neglect of his duties in the store. 
At the age of eighteen, he was placed in a law 
office under the tuition of the Hon. John 
Cook, who ranked high as a lawyer at the 
bar of Virginia, and who also served his 
country with honor and distinction abroad as 
Minister to the Court of France. In 1817, 
young Wilson came to Illinois to look for a 
home, and such was his personal bearing and 
prepossessing appearance that one year later, 
at the inauguration of the State government, 
his name was brought before the Legislature 
for Associate Supreme Judge, and he came 
within six votes of an election. Within a 
year, as will be seen above, he was chosen 
in the place of Foster. For five years, he 
served the people so acceptably on the bench 
as to be at this time chosen to the first posi- 
tion by a large majority over the former 
Chief Justice, Reynolds, This was the more 
a mark of approbation because Judge Wil- 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



483 



son was totally devoid of, and never in his 
life could wield any of the arts of the politi- 
cian or party schemer. As regards political 
intrigue, he was as innocent as a'child. He 
was singulai'ly pure in all his conceptions 
of duty, and in his long public career of 
nearly thirty years, as a Supreme Judge of 
Illinois, he commanded the full respect, con- 
fidence and esteem of the people for the 
probity of his official acts and his upright 
conduct as a citizen and a man. His edu- 
cation was such as he had acquired by dili- 
gent reading and self-culture. As a writer, 
his diction was pure, clear and elegant, as 
may be seen by I'eference to his published 
opinions in the Supreme Court reports. With 
a mind of rare analytic power, his judg- 
ment as a lawyer was discriminating and 
sound, and upon the bench his learning and 
impartiality commanded respect, while his 
own dignified deportment inspired decorum 
in others. By the members of the bar he 
was greatly esteemed; no new beginner ^was 
ever without the protection of almost a fa- 
therly hand in his court against the arts and 
powers of an older opponent. In politics, 
upon the formation of the Whig and Democra- 
tic parties, he associated himself with the for 
mer. He was an amiable and accomplished 
gentleman in private life, with manners most 
engaging and friendship strong. His hos- 
pitality was of the Old Virginia style. Sel- 
dom did a summer season pass at his pleas- 
ant country seat about two miles from Carmi, 
on the banks of the Little Wabash, that 
troops of friends, relatives and distinguished 
official visitors did not sojourn with him. 
His official career was terminated with the 
going into effect of the new constitution, 
December 4, 1848, when he retired to private 
life. He died at his home in the ripeness of 
age and the consciousness of a life well 
spent, April 29, 1857, in his sixty-third year. 



The Common Pleas Court of Cairo was or- 
ganized by law in 1857, and Isham N. 
Haynie was appointed Judge and John Q. 
Harmon, Clerk. In 1860, J. H. Mulkey 
was Judge and A. H. Irvin Clerk. The office 
of Register of Deeds was created and the 
Clerk of the Common Pleas Court was ex 
officio Register. Judge Mulkey continued to 
preside, and Mr. Irvin was Clerk until the 
court was abolished in 1869. 

The destructive fire that consumed Spring- 
field block in 1858, where were the court 
rooms, destroyed the records, inflicting there- 
by a great loss and inconvenience to prop- 
erty owners. Record Books A and B and F 
and H were consumed, as were also tran- 
scribed Book I, which contained transcripts 
of all deeds pertaining to the city. The 
deeds in these records were recorded when 
they could be obtained, but many could not 
be found, and there is, therefore, a missing 
link in the chain of many of the record ti- 
tles. 

Judge Mulkey. — The bar of Cairo may be 
dated as really commencing an active and 
prominent existence in 1859-60. But few 
local lawyers of any especial prominence lo- 
cated in the county prior to that time. It 
will be remembered that in the history of 
the city of Cairo we had occasion to mention 
the first lawyer ever to swing out his shingle 
in the county was one "Gass, attorney at 
law." The local wits of that time said the 
name was very appropriate to his profession, 
and when they read " Ten Thousand a Year " 
and became acquainted with Lawyer " Gam- 
mon," they insisted that Gammon and Gass 
should form a partnership. This reminds 
the writer of the first time he was in Robin- 
son, Crawford County, as he drov^e down 
street, one of the most attractive signs he 
saw was "Robb & Steele, Attorneys at Law," 
These worthy gentlemen and able lawyers 



484 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



are still in Robinson, but some years ago 
dissolved partnership, and the sign was taken 
down. 

The conspicuous figure that has been 
evolved from that large bar of Alexander 
County is Judge John H. Mulkey, at pres- 
ent a member of the Supreme Court. We 
regret we cannot give a complete biography of 
the man, and have to be content to give rather 
a sketch of his mental and personal character- 
istics. This necessity comes from the Judge's 
excessive timidity about appearing in print 
at all, and hence, when our interviewer 
seized upon him he found him as mute about 
himself as the grave. We only know from 
others that he was born in Kentucky about 
1823, and with his father's family came to 
Illinois and settled in Franklin County. The 
family were farmers, and the Judge, being 
always inclined to physical delicacy, soon 
discovered that he was not specially adapted 
to farm life. His opportunities for educa- 
tion had been fair, and from, early childhood 
he was noted as a persistent reader of books — 
literally devouring the contents of nearly 
everything that came in his way. When about 
twenty-five years old, he essayed to become 
a merchant, and opened a little cross-roads 
store somewhere near the county line. He 
volunteered as a private in Company K, Sec- 
ond Regiment, in the Mexican war, and was 
promoted to a Sergeant and afterward was 
elected Second Lieutenant of his company. 
"When he returned from the war, he resumed 
the ferule in the country schoolhouse, and 
here, as David Linegar tells us, he " read law 
in the brush, " and^was his own preceptor. 
Afterward, he read law for some time in 
Benton, Franklin County. 

He tried farming for some time, but his 
success was indiflferent. After his return 
from the Mexican war, he kept a small store 
in Blairsville, Williamson County, and going 



unfortunately into a hoop pole speculation 
(loaded a flat-boat that sunk on the way), was 
bankrupted. He then attempted with his 
ax to clear a farm, and he worked and 
struggled hard, but with very poor success. 
He removed to Perry County, and was ad 
mitted to the bar in 1857. His father is a 
minister of the Christian Church, and is now 
a very old man, residing in Ashley, Wash- 
ington County. This gentleman, during the 
early years of his son, John H., determined 
to prepare him for a minister of that church. 
The son made, no doubt, a faithful effort to 
fulfill his father's wishes in this respect, but 
while he was noted for his piety, his perfect 
accomplishment of purposes here was not 
much better than his farming or merchan- 
dising. 

When admitted to the bar, he commenced 
the practice, and traveled over pretty much 
all the counties of Southern Illinois. He 
made friends wherever he went, and his love 
of frolic and innocent fun were strong char- 
acteristics. His early backwoods life, per- 
haps, made him seem at times somewhat 
awkward in his movements in the company 
of young people, but his old friends in Un- 
ion County insist that when visiting them 
he never missed an opportunity to attend a 
good, old-fashioned country dance. He was 
plain, unassuming and fun-loving in his 
young manhood, and yet he must have been 
a close, hard-working student in order t<> 
carve out the bright and honorable career 
that lay before him. 

In 1860, he located in Cairo and formed a 
partnership with Judge D. J. Baker, Jr., 
and from this time we may date his rapid 
rise to the head of the bar in Southern Illi- 
nois and thence to his present great emi- 
nence as the master spirit of the Supreme 
Coux't of Illinois. His intellectual gifts are 
of the highest order; his social qualities have 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



485 



called about him troops of sincere and ad- 
miring friends. In the practice of his pro- 
fession, he strove not to rely upon the arts 
of the orator, but rather to know the law, 
and his wonderful analytic powers of mind 
crowned him master, either as an attorney 
before the courts, or as a Judge upon the 
bench. Of the many lawyers that have 
adorned by their pure lives and great genius 
the bench and bar of Illinois, Judge Mulkey 
will go into history as the conspicuous, pre- 
eminent figure, leaving here an impress that 
will never fade. 

He owes nothing to fortuitous circum- 
stances, fortunate surroundings or the ad- 
vantages of powerful friends at court, to ad- 
vance him along the highway where youth, 
inexperience and poverty are so much in need 
of those adventitious aids. But alone, and 
by the inherent strength of mental power, 
he has achieved, apparently without efifort, 
the prize for which so many ambitious men 
have toiled and struggled so long and so 
hard, and then failed to reach. 

Judge D. J. Baker was born in Kaskas- 
kia on the 20th of November, 1834, the third 
son of the late Judge D. J. Baker, of Alton, 
111. He graduated at Shurtleff College in 
1854, carrying off the prize of the Latin 
oration. He read law in his father's office 
and was admitted to the bar in 1856. He 
opened an office in Cairo the same year, and 
commenced the practice of his profession. 
He voted for Fremont, his first vote, in 1856, 
and there has been no perceptible change 
in his politics since, although his real 
friends and supporters, from the first day 
especially of his public life, to the present, 
have been the strongest kind of Democrats. 

He was elected Mayor of Cairo in 1864 
and served one year. In March, 1869, was 
elected Judge of the Nineteenth Judicial 
Circuit. A full account of his official career 



to date is given in the preceding chapter. 

The writer first made Judge Baker's ac- 
quaintance in the early part of 1863. He 
was then in partnership with Judge Mulkey, 
and they were the leading firm in Cairo 
— Baker, the office lawyer, and Mulkey, the 
court lawyer, and this was a combination 
that best adjusted each to his place and thus 
formed a strong combination. Baker was at 
that time a very affable young man, dressed 
better then than he does now, and was noted 
for having by far the finest law office in the 
city. His whole nature was genial and 
pleasant, so much so, indeed, that the most 
rabid Democrat would always forget he was 
a Republican when he wanted an office. 
While the girls were free to confess he was 
a little odd as a beau, yet he married the 
belle of the town. Miss Sarah Elizabeth 
White, daughter of John C. White, July, 
1864. 

The turning point in Judge Baker's life 
was when he was elected Judge in 1869. 
His Democratic friends in Cairo who knew 
him the best brought this about in the faith 
that as Judge his success in life would be 
assured. They were not mistaken. His 
competitor in that election was Judge Wes- 
ley Sloan, one of the ablest Judges of his 
day in the State, who had long been upon 
the bench and whose chair it was no easy 
matter to fill successfully. Yet so well did 
Judge Baker fulfill the expectations of his 
Cairo friends in this respect that he has 
held the place for all these years, and por- 
tions of the time has been elected without 
opposition. 

We can pay no higher compliment to his 
kindness of heart, purity of purpose, exalted 
integrity, tenacity of friendship and pro- 
found abilities as a just and upright Judge 
than to tell the short story of his life as we 
have given it above. 



486 



HISTOEY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



His father the late D. J. Baker, of Alton, 
was one of the early eminent jurists of South- 
ern Illinois. He was among the first visit- 
ing lawyers to Alexander County, and in an 
early day was the Prosecuting Attorney of 
this district. He was for many years one of 
the most prominent lawyers of the State. 

Judge Isham N. Haynie was of the mod- 
ern bar of Cairo and of the earliest comers. 
He came to this county from Salem, Marion 
County. For some time he was Judge of 
the Common Pleas Court of Cairo, and re- 
signed that office to enter the army in 1861. 
Entering sa a Colonel, he was promoted to 
Brigadier General soon after the Fort Don- 
elson battle. He was Adjutant General of 
the State in 1865. and died in Springfield in 
1866. He was known as an able and careful 
lawyer, and noted for his suavity of man- 
ners. 

Judge W. H. Green whs born in Danville 
Boyle Co. , Ky., December 8, 1830, and jvas the 
son of Dr. Dufi" Green and ;;Lucy (Kenton) 
Green. His father was an eminent and sci- 
entific physician, and his grandfather, 
Willis Green, one of the earliest settlers of 
Kentucky and was the first delegate from the 
District of Kentucky to the Virginia Legis- 
lature, and was Register of the Kentucky 
land office while it was a Territory, and Clerk 
of the first District Coui't organized in the 
Territory. His ancestors were among the 
early settlers of Virginia, and were extensive 
land owners in the Shenandoah Valley. 
They came originally from the province of 
Leinster, in Ireland, about the year 1830. 
His mother was a niece of Simon Kenton, 
celebrated in the early days as an Indian 
lighter, and of Scotch parents. 

Judge Green was educated at Center Col- 
lege, Danville, Ky., and without graduating, 
became a fail classical scholar, and has all 
hJs life been an extensive reader of history, 



belle lettres, and kept pace with the modern 
investigations of scientific investigators. His 
range of thought and study has been exten- 
sive and profound, and, whether as a lawyer, 
judge, politician, writer for the press, either 
political or literary, or in social life, his ac- 
complisbments were varied and his abilities 
of a commanding order. He was twice in 
the House of the State General Assembly 
and one term as State Senator; a delegate to 
four National Democratic Conventions, 
namely, Charleston, Chicago, New York and 
Cincinnati. Has for years been a member of 
the State Central Committee, and for twelve 
years has been Chairman of the District Cen- 
tral Committee; for the past twenty- two 
years has been a member of the State Board 
of Education — the only Democrat in that 
body. 

In 1846, the family removed to Illinois 
and settled in Mount Vernon, Jeftorson Coun- 
ty, where his father practiced his profession 
till his death in 1857. 

Judge Green taught school in Benton and 
in St. Louis County Mo., and in Mount 
Vernon, 111., and was during the time read- 
ing law under the direction of Judge Walter 
B. Scates, and he was admitted to the bar in 
1852, and ©pened at once an office in Mount 
Vernon. He continued the practice here for 
one year, and removed to Metropolis, 111., 
where for ten years he was a successful prac- 
titioner of his profession. In 1863, he re- 
moved to Cairo, where he has continued to 
reside. He is the senior attorney in the law 
firm of Green & Gilbert (the brothers Will- 
iam and Frederick), and in all the courts of 
the State this firm does a leading business 
and commands a wide respect. In 1865, he 
was elected Judge of the Third Judicial 
Circuit and served as Circuit Judge for three 
years. In 1861, he was appointed attorney 
for the Illinois Central Railroad Company, 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



481 



which position he has lield ever since except 
during the interval of his Judgeship. When 
in the popular branch of the Legislature, he 
was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, 
and received that appointment from the 
Speaker, Hon. W. R. Morrison, because of 
his leadership in that body, a position he 
easily held, also, when he occupied a place 
in the State Senate. 

Judge Green is now in the prime of his in- 
tellectual life, and already has he filled the 
measure of a just ambition, not so much by 
the eminence of the political or judicial po- 
sitions he has filled, as by the unalloyed re- 
spect and confidence he has inspired in all 
men — political friend or foe — in the many 
public and private positions of trust and 
honor be has filled during the years since 
his majority. As a practicing attorney in 
the various coiu'ts, it is the very highest 
c<jmpliment to his ability and integrity in 
the statement above of his long connection 
with the legal affairs in Southern Illinois, of 
the Central Railroad, a vast corporation, 
whose interests are counted by the millions 
of dollars — and which cannot afford to jeop- 
ardize its welfare by the mistake of the em- 
ployment as its representative of any but the 
best talents. 

We have attempted to illustrate his varied 
talents more by a brief reference to what he 
has done than by mere descriptive words of 
assertion. And, as we intimated above, hia 
pen was wielded by the hand of a strong and 
able vn'iter in politics, history or literature. 
The writer hereof at one time (this was sub 
rosa then) was associated with Judge Green 
in the general editorial of a daily Democrat- 
ic paper, by which it was arranged he was to 
do the leading political articles, and the 
writer of these lines was to do the light 
skirmishing, the flying artillery, as it were, 
and it is not an overdi-awn assertion to say 



that here, in the midst of his other multi- 
plicity of labors, he did his work with facil- 
ity and great ability. 

It is given to but few men to possess such 
varied talents and to so excel in all. It is the 
interesting story of an intellectual life, of 
great mental activity, of the highest order of 
integrity and a clear, ripe judgment. 

Judge G W. Wall was born in Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio, April 22, 1839, the son of 
George T. and Maria H. (Adams) Wall, of 
Rhode Island. The family came to Illinois 
in 1839, and located in Peny County. 
George Willard Wall was a student in 
McKendree College, Illinois, bnt graduated 
at Michigan University in 1858. He then 
went to Cairo and read law in the office of C. 
I. Simons, and afterward attended the Cin- 
cinnati Law School, graduating in 1859, and 
was at once admitted to the bar, and located 
in Diiquoin. In 1856, he was in the firm of 
Mulkey, Wall & Wheeler— office Cairo— 
which continued for six years. For many 
yedrs, and imtil he was elected Circuit Judge, 
he was the attorney of the Illinois Central 
Railroad. He labored all his life under the 
disadvantage of being of slight stature, and 
had the smooth, beardless, boyish face that 
made him look too young and inexperienced 
to inspire confidence, yet his great talent 
forced the way to early recognition. In 
1861, he was elected a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention, and took an ac- 
tive and prominent part in its deliberations, 
although the youngest member of that body. 
In 1864, he was elected State's Attorney for 
the Third Judicial District, where he served 
four years. In 1868, he was a delegate to 
the National Democratic Convention. In 
1869, he was again elected to the State Con- 
stitutional Convention, and by the side of 
Judge Scholfield, was one of the best mem- 
bers of that strong body. He is now Judge 



488 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



of the Circuit Court and of the Appellate 
Court, and in this position is esteemed by 
the bar of the State as one of our ablest 
Judges. 

Reuben Sloan Yocum. the subject of this 
sketch, is descended on the mother's side 
from English-Irish stock, his grandfather, 
Col. John A. Sloan, Clarion County, Penn. , 
having been of Irish extraction, and his 
great-grandmother a Cromwell. On the 
father's side, the descent is Swedish- Eng- 
lish. The Swedish ancestors came to this 
country in the seventeenth century and 
united later with their English neighbors, 
one of the families being the Balls, of Vir- 
ginina. His grandparents were married by 
the accomplished scholar. Rev. N. Collin, 
D. D., of XJpsal, Sweden, who presided ever 
the Wicaco Church, called Gloria Dei (Phil- 
adelphia from 1786 till 1831), and was the 
last pastor appointed by the crown, the col- 
onists having then become too thoroughly 
Anglicized to appreciate the mother tongue. 

Shortly before the late civil war, and while 
Judge Yocum was a schoolboy, his parents 
moved from Kentucky to Cqiro, 111. There 
he entered the law office of Messrs. Mulkey 
& Baker, but no sooner had the lad been 
fairly introduced to the ponderous para- 
graphs of Blackstone than the tocsin of war 
sounded and he awoke one bright April 
morning to find the streets patroled and the 
commons alive with warriors of nondescript ap- 
pearance. The confusion in politics afifected 
both social and business relations, and the 
youthful disciple of law was compelled to 
lay aside his ambitious projects and enter 
into active life. Living almost in the the- 
ater of war, he very naturally became con- 
nected with military operations. At the 
close of the war he was engaged in the com- 
mission and forwarding business. Afterward 
he accepted a position in the City National 



Bank of Cairo, which he relinquished in 
1872 to enter the race for the office of Circuit 
Clerk of Alexander County. He was elected, 
and during the term resumed his study of 
the law under his old preceptor. Judge Mui- 
key. Admitted to the bar before the Su- 
preme Court at Mount Vernon, June, 1877, 
elected County Judge November, 1877. 
Since the term closed in 1882, he has ap- 
plied himself to the practice of his pro- 
fession. 

Judge Yocum is yet a young man, but lit- 
tle more than upon the threshold of life, and 
has builded wisely and well. Possessing 
abilities of a high order, a reputation for 
integrity unsurpassed, of the finest social 
qualities, his future is most bright and 
cheering, and will warrant his freinds in in- 
dulging in the highest anticipations of his 
future life, which all hope may be long and 
pleasant. 

Judge H. K. S. Omelveny, a native of 
Monroe County, 111., was born about 1821. 
His father was one of the early pioneers 
in Illinois, and was a prominent politician and 
a man noted for strong rugged sense and 
manly, sterling qualities. 

Judge Omelveny was commissioned Judge 
of the Second Judicial Circuit, vice Breese, 
resigned, March 1, 1858, and served out the 
term and retired from the bench, command- 
ing the entire respect of all and the confi- 
dence of the entire bar. He was a man of 
elegant manners, pleasing address and kind- 
ness of heart. A thorough lawyer and of 
high integrity, his loss was greatly felt in 
Marion County when he removed his resi- 
dence to Cairo, immediately after the expira- 
tion of his term of office, in the early part of 
1863. When he came to Cairo, he formed a 
partnership with Louis Honk, and the new 
firm at once entered upon a large and lucra- 
tive practice. In 1867, Judge Omelveny 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY 



489 



went to Los Angeles, Cal. , and there in- 
vested largely in real estate, and made for 
himself an elegant home, where he now re- 
sides. 

Louis Honck left Cairo about the same 
time and located in Cape Girardeau, where 
he is now the possessor of large wealth. 

Hun. D. T. Linegar was born in Milford, 
Clermont Co., Ohio, February 12, 1830. 
While an infant, his father's family removed 
to Hamilton County, and from thence, in 
1840, to Spencer, Ind. David T. here grew 
to be a young man, and profiting by the com- 
mon schools of the county was qualified at 
an early age and commenced life as a school 
teacher. He was too lazy to whip the children 
to death, and the consequence was he made 
a successful and popular teacher. While 
pursuing this occupation, he borrowed Black- 
stone and commenced reading law, and in 
1856 he was admitted to the bar in Rockport, 
Ind. He then engaged in publishing a 
paper for one year in Princeton — the Courier 
— when he sold his printing office and en- 
tered upon the practice of his profession in 
that town. In 1856, he came to Wayne 
County, 111., landing in the old town of 
Fairfield the day of the Presidential election. 
He probably now rejoices that he was de- 
prived of the folly of worse than throwing 
away his first vote for President on Fremont 
in that election. In 1861, he suffered the 
martyrdom of being imported into Cairo, as 
the Republican Postmaster, and after filling 
this position for a term, opened an office and 
resumed the practice of law. He was elected, 
as a Democrat, to the Legislature in 1880, 
and was re-elected in 1882, and is at present 
a member of the House, whei'e, from his 
first entry, he has been a leading member. 
Linegar is not up in the books. In fact, 
what is called book education has had no 
attraction for him. It is said that for everv 



page of manuscript he ever wrote there were 
nearly as many mistakes as words, and yet 
his abilities as a lawyer, politician and ora- 
tor are "of the highest type. He finds no 
equals in Southern Illinois as a speaker, 
either before a court, jury or upon the hust- 
ings, and his friends say of him that upon a 
moment's notice, and upon any subject, he 
can make a great speech and talk either an 
hour or a day just as his friends advise him 
they desire. Among the boys he is "Dave," 
genial, jolly, rotund and as plain and com- 
mon as an old shoe, and yet "scare him up," 
as Dr. Dunning says, when a speech is 
wanted at a town riot, a chiu:ch festival, a 
political meeting or in an important law 
case in court, and he has but to pull up his 
coat collar, run his fingers through his hair 
a time or two and rub his eyes and he is 
re^dy to fill the emergency, no matter what 
it may be. 

Among the ten thousand rare and inter- 
esting events in Linegar's life, was his race 
as a Republican for Congress against John 
A. Logan. Of course, Linegar had no hopes 
of an election, and yet it was a labor of love to 
follow Johnny all over the district and literally 
knife him upon every stump. Circumstances 
were all in favor of John, but he learned 
that with all these in his favor he was no 
match for Linegar, and he soon came to fear 
and shun him. Had the surroundings been 
changed, as is now the political faith of 
these two men, he would have run Logan 
into the river at the first encounter. 

A carefully collected biography of the 
many interesting and amusing incidents of 
his life would be as interesting as the best 
romance, and we much regret that our space 
is too limited to give them in full. 

Judge W. J. Allen was born in Wilson 
County, Tenn., June 9, 1828. His father, 
Willis Allen, also a native of Tennessee, 



490 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY 



removed to Williamson, 111., in 1829, where 
he farmed until 1834, when he was eloct- 
ed Sheriff of Franklin County. He was 
in the Legislature of 1838, and in 1841 was 
elected State's Attorney in the circait com- 
prising thirteen of the counties of Southern 
Illinois. This occurred before he had read 
law or been even admitted to the bar. He 
was soon after licensed as an attorney, and 
became a prominent and able lawyer. He 
was four years in Congress, and was Judge 
of the Circuit Court at the time of his death, 
which occurred on the 17th of April, 1859, 
in the fifty-third year of his age. 

William Joshua Allen was one of four 
brothers, two of whom were lawyers. John 
S. and Josiah J., and the other, Robert M., 
a merchant. The two former died; one, 
John S., in early life, and Josiah from in- 
juries received in the late war He was a 
Captain in an Illinois regiment. 

William J. passed successfully, fought out 
the difficulties of the log schoolhouse, and 
was then transferred to the celebrated board- 
ing school of B. G. Roots, at Tamaroa, 111., 
and afterward was deputy in the Circuit 
Clerk's office. In 1847 and 1848, he at- 
tended the law school at Louisville, Ky. , 
and was admitted to the bar in June of the 
latter year, after which he located in Metrop- 
olis, where he soon grew to be a prominent 
lawyer. In 1854, he was elected to the 
Legislature from thf counties of Johnson and 
Williamson, having removed to Williamson 
County and formed a partnership with his 
father. He served four years in the Legis- 
lature. He afterward formed a law partner- 
ship with John A. Logan. In 1859, he was 
elected Judge of the Twenty-sixth Judicial 
Circuit, succeeding his father to that office. 
In November, 1861, he was elected a mem- 
ber of the ■ Constitutional Convention. In 
1862, he was elected to Congress, vice John 



A. Logan, resigned to go into the army. 
Judge Allen was re-elected to Congress and 
served out his term. 

Judge Allen in all his positions in life — 
eminent as they wer'i — has shown com- 
manding abilities. He is a ripe scholar, a 
great orator and a just Judge. 

He now resides in Carbondale, having re- 
moved to that place from Cairo in 1874, ar- 
duously engaged in the practice of the law, 
and whether at home or before the highest 
courts of the nation, he finds but few equals 
and no superiors. 

John M. Lansden's complete biography will 
be found in another part of this volume. Of 
all the lawyers that have in the past or that 
now make Cairo their home we know of 
none so thoroughly a lawyer who has made 
the fullest use of his books. He is a schol- 
arly man in the highest meaning of the 
term; a man who thinks out the great prin" 
ciples of the law and applies them with 
great force and clearness to a court. An ar- 
gument on a point of law always comes from 
his hands as complete and perfect as the 
finest classic. He is an ornament to the 
profession, an honor to the legal profession 
of the State. 

Of the many lawyers who came to Cairo 
and engaged for a period in the practice of 
the law we can now recall Fountain E. Al- 
bright, now residing inMurphysboro; George 
S. Pidgeon, of Los Angeles, Cal. ; Lewis 
P Butler, Patrick H. Pope, John Linegar, 
J. P. Boyd, who came from Decatm', and 
after residing here a short time, went 
South and died; the Munns; M. J. Inscox'e, 
now of Anna; James H. Smith came from 
Anna and is now a resident of Chicago. 

The present bar of Cairo consists of the 
firm of Green & Gilbert (W. B. and M. F. 
Gilbert), John M. Lansden, S. P. Wheeler, 
George Fisher. Mulkey & Leak, George W. 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



491 



and William E. Hendricks, D. T. Linegar, 
Walter Warden, at present County Attorney, 
vice Damron, Judge Reuben S. Yocum and 
Albert Smith. 

In 1865, there was an effort to establish 



in Cairo a regular branch of the Supreme 
Court. The act passed the Legislature con- 
ditionally, and the conditions were never 
complied with, and the project fell through. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE PRECINCTS OF ALEXANDER COUNTY— TOPOGRAPHY AND BOUNDARIES — THEIR EARLY 
SETTLEMENT— DANGERS AND HARDSHIPS OF THE PIONEERS -VILLAGES- 
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES- MODERN IMPROVEMENTS, ETC. 



" For them light labor spread her wholesome store, 
Just gave what life required, but gave no more." 

— Goldsmith. 



I 



~^HE first years of settlement in Southern 
Illinois were years of extreme privation 
to the hardy pioneers, who had pitched their 
tents and built ^their squatters' cabins in 
this then great wilderness. The land was 
productive, but their modes of cultivating it 
are primitive, and their implements of hus- 
bandry rude in tlie extreme. So, manage as 
they might — toil and labor, day in and day 
out — Mother Earth only " gave what life re- 
quired, but gave on more." The life they 
lived was not enviable, but they bore it un- 
complainingly, and the indomitable energy 
of the large majority of them eventually 
won for them comfortable homes. 

After what has been written in the preced- 
ing chapters on Ale:iander County, there re- 
mains but little to be said of the different 
precincts, without needless repetition. The 
geology, the general topographical features, 
agriculture, Indian and prehistoric, together 
with other topics of interest pertaining to the 
county, have been already given. And now, 
a few words of each election precinct will 
conclude the history of Alexander County. 

Elco Precinct. — This division of the 



county was formerly called Hazlewood, in 
honor of a family of that name, who were 
among the most prominent of the early 
settlers. A considerable portion of the land 
is high and rolling. It is watered by Cana, 
Mill and Sandy Creeks, and which afford 
ample drainage. The timber is mostly oak. 
poplar, ash, hickory, etc., and originally was 
pretty heavy in certain sections. The precinct 
is bounded on the north by Union County, 
on the east by the Cache River, on the south 
by Unity Precinct and on the west by Clear 
Creek Precinct. The St. Louis & Cairo 
Narrow Gauge Railroad runs through the 
precinct, and has added materially to the 
prosperity of the people. 

Settlements were made early in what now 
forms Elco Precinct. Among its pioneers we 
may mention Squire Thomas Whittaker, 
Reason Heater, M. H^artlire, the Hazlewoods, 
William Thompson and others. This is but 
an imperfect list of the early settlers, but 
many of them are mentioned in the preced- 
ing chapters, and in the biographical depart- 
ment. Hence, a record here would be but 
a repetition of what has already been said 
of them. 

Elco is well supplied with schools and 
churches. Where and by whom the first 



492 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



school was taught we are unable to say. At 
prosent, we find some half-dozen school - 
houses in the precinct, most of them good, 
commodious houses. Cauble Schoolhouse is 
in the northwestern part; the Palmer School - 
house is five miles west of Elco Station, on 
Uicbard Palmer's farm, and was built in 
188 2; Hazlewood Schoolhouse is near J. F. 
Short's, and was built in 1881; the Huflfman 
Schoolhouse was built in 1880. There is a 
schoolhouse for colored people four miles 
south of Elco, and another of the same kind 
near White Pond farm. 

An organization of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church South is maintained in the Palm 
er Schoolhouse. On Sandy Creek, about 
seven miles from Elco Station, is both a 
Methodist and Baptist Church. Union Grove 
Church has a membership of about fifty fam- 
ilies. There is a Southern Methodist Church 
in Elco Village. Also, a Methodist Episcopal 
Church flourishes here. The church building 
was erected in 1879, and cost about $800 
Bev. John Harris is the present pastor. 

Elco Village was laid out on land owned 
by Felix Hazlewood, and originally was three 
blocks, each containing eight lots. It was 
called Hazlewood, after the post office which 
had previously been established, and named 
for the Hazlewood family. It was afterward 
changed to Toledo, and finally to Elco. It 
received the latter name from the following 
circumstance: E. Leavenworth and Duncan 
had a store here under the firm name of E. 
Leavenworth & Co. One day a number of 
men were sitting out in front of the store, 
on goods boxes, when the subject of chang- 
ing the name came up. Some one called at- 
tention to one of Leavenworth's empty dry 
goods boxes, which had been marked E. L. 
& Co., and suggested the name Elco. The 
suggestion was adopted, and the place has 
borne the name ever since. 



The first residence in Elco is said to have 
been erected by A. P. Grear. Samuel Brier- 
ly built the first storehouse. Leavenworth 
& Duncan built a saw mill in 1872, which is 
still standing. Duncan now lives at Pulaski, 
and Leavenworth died a few years ago at 
Dongola. The first schoolhouse used was a 
log cabin standing about a mile north of the 
village. Some five years ago, a new one was 
built in town. It is a frame, 24x36 feet, 
and one story high. The village is quite a 
flourishing place, and does considerable busi- 
ness. 

Clear Creek Precinct. — This precinct lies 
west of Elco, and originally embraced the 
county to the Mississippi River. But recent- 
ly the western portion has been cut off, and 
a new precinct created, called Cape Girar- 
deau. Clear Creek Precinct contains much 
good land, and its surface features are very 
similar to Elco Precinct. A part of it over- 
flows, but in the lower part the land rises to 
an elevation above high water mark, and so 
continues until below Santa F6, where bot- 
toms again appear. It is a fine agricultural 
region, outside of the bottoms subject to 
overflow, and many excellent farms are ob- 
servable. The precinct is without railroads, 
but has a steamboat landing at Clear Creek 
Post Office, in the northern part. 

The settlement of Clear Creek dates back 
to an early pei-iod. William W^alker, it is 
claimed, came to the county previous to that 
great chronological period, the earthquake of 
1811. He settled on the river, near the 
mouth of Clear Creek, but afterward moved 
up under the bluff, near Rifle Creek. He 
camped there for awhile, and then opened a 
farm some four miles east of the river, where 
he died. During the Black Hawk war, he 
belonged to a company of rangers that went 
from this county. Samuel Philips lived on 
Sexton Creek; Moses Philips lived in the 








^Uli^^^^'^.^, 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



495 



bottom; William Brocker was an early- 
settler, etc., etc. There were a number of 
other settlers who came *in early, but their 
names are forgotten. Moses Philips was an 
early Justice of the Peace. 

Among the chui'ches was a Baptist Church 
at the Minton farm. There was an early 
Methodist organization, which met, mostly, 
at the people's houses. There are several 
schoolhouses in the precinct. One of the 
pioneer schools was taught near where Jesse 
Minton now lives. There are no villages in 
Clear Creek, nor manufacturing establish- 
ments; it is wholly an agricultural region. 

Cape Girardeau Precinct. — This is a 
newly-created division of the county, and was 
cut off from Clear Creek Precinct about 
1880. It lies on the river, below the mouth 
of Clear Creek, and comprises some twelve or 
fifteen sections. It is diversified between 
bottom and high, rolling lands, and was 
originally a timbered region. It boasts of 
some good farms. 

Among the early settlers were Joseph 
Giles, Tapley White, Thomas J. McClure, 
Jesse W. Minton, Smith Minton, Stephen 
and Lewis James, John Kendall, Lewis Will- 
iams and others. Joseph Giles settled near 
the ferry at Cape Girardeau; Tapley White 
was a very early Justice of the Peace, and the 
Mintons settled early in the county. The 
Jameses lived on the road out toward Clear 
Creek; John Walker lived about half a mile 
from Clear Creek, and Thomas Peterson, one 
of the vei-y oldest settlers, lived at the mouth 
of Clear Creek. George U. Gordon kept the 
first store, at Clear Creek Landing. Kichard 
Edmonson had a store and saloon very early, 
and Lewis Williams had the first blacksmith 
shop, at the mouth of Clear Creek. 

There are no towns or villages in the pre- 
cinct to amount to anything. Cleai' Creek 
Landing has for years been quite a business 



point, but by no means a town. A store and 
a post office and a steamboat landing has 
been the height of its ambition. Jasper 
Cully & Co. have a store here at present. P. 
H. McRaven also has a store here. East 
Cape Girardeau is equally as small a place 
as Clear Creek Landing. A blacksmith shop 
and two saloons, with a few other houses, 
form the town. The precinct has no rail- 
roads, but has the advantage of the river. 
The name is received from Cape Girai'deau, 
Mo. , which is situated on the other side of 
the river. 

Thebes Precinct. — This precinct lies on 
the river south of Clear Creek and Cape 
Girardeau Precincts. It is small, having 
but fifteen sections in it. It is mostly high 
land, and in places hilly, with but little bot- 
tom subject to inundation from the river. 
For boundaries, it has Clear Creek Precinct 
on the north. Unity Precinct on the east, 
Santa F6 on the south and the Mississippi 
River on the west. A number of small 
streams flow thi^ough it into the Mississippi. 
Thebes Precinct has been the scene of much 
of the history of Alexander County, having 
for years contained the county seat. Some 
early settlements were also made in the pre- 
cinct. Among the early settlers, though, 
perhaps, they were not the first, were David 
Brown, Moses Miller, Ransom Thompson, 
John Clutts, William Bracken, Judge Light- 
ner and others. Some of these were early 
settlers in other portions of the county, and 
are so mentioned, but they afterward located 
here and were here prior to 1830. Judge 
Lightner was a very prominent man and 
came to this county very early. He was a 
native of Pennsylvania, and came here — or 
rather to Cape Girardeau, Mo.— on the first 
steamboat, it is said, that ever plowed the 
great Father of Watei's. tie resided at 
Cape Girardeau until 1835, when he came to 



496 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



this county, and first settled in Clear Creek 
Precinct, where, for some time, he carried 
on a saw mill, and when Thebes became the 
county seat he came here. He has been dead 
several years. He was County Judge, and 
held other .'offices, and was a man of more 
than ordinary intelligence and prominence. 

Thebes was laid out as a town in 1844, 
and occupies a fine site on the banks of the 
Mississippi. The .first court held here was 
in 1845, under the shade of a big elm tree. 
The court house was commenced the follow- 
ing year, and was built under the supervis- 
ion of H. A. Barhauser, architect. Court 
was held here until the county seat was 
moved to Cairo. The court house was then 
used as a public hall until 1879, when it was 
sold to Baptists, and has since been used as 
a temple of worship. Thus it passed from 
one extreme to the other — from the law to 
religion. 

The first store in Thebes was opened by 
J. H. Oberley, who had for a partner after- 
ward John Hodges, the father of the present 
Sheriff of the county. In 1854, Thomas J. 
McClure came to the village and engaged in 
business. A store was opened in 1859 by 
Mr. Marchildon. A son of his, C. A. March- 
ildon, has a store here at present. B. F. 
Brown started a store in ] 869, which is still 
in operation. J. G. Rolwing has carried on 
a store here since 1863. He came here as a 
clerk of McClure _& Overby, and afterward 
bought them out. He has a fine new build- 
ing. Thomas A. Brown has a drug store in 
the place. 

A steam flouring mill was erected about 
the year 1875, by Martin and William 
Brown. It has a capacity of about forty bar- 
rels per day. Martin Brown and his son, 
Alfred, have a large steam saw mill, some 
four miles from Thebes, on the Jonesboro 
road, which was built in 1880. A saw mill 



run by water power is located about a mil& 
from the village, and is operated by William, 
Slosson. The usual number of shops com- 
plete the business of the place. The Method- 
ist Church has an uncompleted church 
building, which was commenced in 1881. 
They also cany on a flourishing Sunday 
school. 

The first addition to the population of 
Thebes was a baby of Mr. and Mrs. Bar- 
hauser— Adaline Barhauser, now the wife of 
Henry A. Planer. "There shall be marrying 
and giving in marriage," and the first mar- 
riage celebrated in the village was Judge 
Lightner and Mrs. Susan E. Wilkerson. He 
was the first County Judge after the court 
house was removed to Thebes. In 1845, 
Thebes contained but few inhabitants: 
Judge Lightner; Henry Weiman, Jr., who 
was a workman on the court house; Alexan- 
der Anderson, who was the first Sheriff after 
the county was divided; James'j Brown, 
Thompson Brown, Mr. Clutts and perhaps a 
few others. Judge Lightner described Cairo, 
when he came by it on his way to Cape 
Girardeau, as a place of one log house filled 
with 500 negroes. 

Thus Thebes was once a town of consider- 
able pretensions, and a business place of 
great expectations. For some fifteen years 
or more it was the seat of justice, and its 
friends entertained the most extravagant 
predictions of its one day becoming a gi'eat 
city. Had it remained the county seat, there 
is no telling to what ^extent its glory might 
have expanded, but the removal of the court 
house was the " frost which nipped the 
shoot," and with it 

" Its hopes departed forever." 

Goldsmith's Deserted Village tells the tale 
of its fading glory, and time has written the 
name of Ichabod upon its decaying build- 



HISTORY or ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



497 



ings. It is no longer a flourishing young 
city, but a rather dead old town a third of a 
centuiy old. It was named, perhaps, in honor 
of Thebes, the ancient capital of Upper 
Egypt, but differs from its ancient namesake 
in that the latter stood upon both sides of 
the river Nile, while our Thebes sometimes 
has a river on both sides of it. Ancient 
Thebes began to decline 800 years B. C. ; 
our Thebes when the county's capital was 
removed to Cairo. The ruins of ancient 
Thebes are among the most magnificent in 
the world; these of our Thebes are only 
equaled by a half-score of other towns in 
Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties. 
Troja fuit ! 

The Poor Farm of Alexander County is 
located in this precinct, about a quarter of a 
mile from the village. Moses A. Brown is 
the Superintendent and Keeper. A small 
farm is attached, which contributes to the 
support of the institution. 

On the farm of William Bracken, Esq., in 
this precinct, is a partly -developed mine of 
iron ore. It is found in the center of bowl- 
ders, or pudding stones, bedded between 
clay and feldspar. Some ten years ago, a 
company came down from Chicago, sunk a 
shaft to a considerable depth, and found a 
good deal of ore. But the panic came on, 
and the men interested suffered in conse- 
quence, and the works were abandoned. It 
is the belief of those who have at all investi- 
gated the matter, that the mine is rich in 
ore, and only needs capital to develop it, and 
bring out its hidden treasui'es. 

Unity Precinct. — This division of the 
county lies east of Thebes Precinct, and, 
like the latter, it once carried Caesar and his 
fortunes — that is, it contained the capital of 
the county. Unity, as originally formed, has 
been cut up and divided until it bears little 
resemblance, geographically, to its former 



self. In 1870 it was divided, and Sandusky 
Precinct was created. It was divided again 
in 1878, and Beech Ridge was formed. The 
Beech Ridge part of the precinct is mainly 
settled by colored people. There is a station 
on the railroad, called Beech Ridge, but hafe 
only one store, a grocery or saloon, and a 
post oflSce. 

Unity Precinct proper, the central part of 
the 'original Unity, contains the flourishing 
little village of Hodges' Park, which is also 
on the narrow gauge railroad. It was laid 
out by Alexander Hodges, who, together with 
his brother, John Hodges, owned most of the 
land. The town now contains some half-a- 
dozen stores, saloons, a blacksmith shop and a 
sawmill. The latter is owned by A. C. Ather- 
ton. In the extreme corner of the precinct 
is a store owned by William Wilburn, and a 
post ofiSce near by called Olive Branch. 

Unity was laid out in 1833, and estab- 
lished as the county seat of Alexander County 
when Pulaski was a part of it. A court house 
and jail were built of logs, and most of the 
houses in town were also of logs. In 1842, 
the court house was burned, and with it 
many of the books and records of the coanty. 
The town was located on the Cache River, 
and a ferry was established here across the 
river by Green P. Garner. A bridge was 
built over Cache, where the Jonesboro road 
crossed, and $600 was appropriated by the 
Legislature to improve the road thi'ough the 
Cache bottom. These improvements brouo-ht 
quite a number of inhabitants to the place, 
and the population gradually increased, and 
the town flourished accordingly. The county 
seat was moved to Thebes in 1845, and Unity 
was soon almost deserted. 

On the farm of Mx. John Hodges, in 
Unity Precinct, there are two fine mineral 
springs, aboiat a mile north of Hodges' Park. 
The water is strongly impregnated with iron 



498 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



and other health-giving substances, and a 
chemical analysis reveals the fact that it 
contains tine medical properties. A little 
capital spent in improvements here would 
make these springs a fashionable resort. 

A large proportion of the population of 
Hodges' Park are negroes. They have one 
school building and two church organiza- 
tions — Methodist and Baptist. The latter 
holds its meetings in the schoolhouse, while 
the Methodist Church has a building of its 
own. The whites also have a schoolhouse, 
which is used both for school and church 
purposes. Elder Richardson is the preacher, 
and is said to have preached throughout the 
southern portion of Alexander and Pulaski 
Counties for the past forty years. 

Sandusky Precinct comprises the southern 
portion of what was originally Unity Pre- 
cinct. Along the narrow gauge railroad the 
lumber interests predominate. There are 
thi*ee saw mills; one owned by George 
Freeze, of Elco Precinct, one is operated by 
St. Louis parties, and the third by a gentle- 
man of Pulaski County. There is a large 
settlement of colored people in the precinct 
— the male portion are employed in the mills 
and in logging. Most of the land is still 
covered with tine timber. The portion of the 
land farmed is subject, more or less, to over- 
flow. At the village of Sandusky there is, at 
present, one store and one saloon. In the 
western part of the precinct there are some 
good farms among the line of hills that ex- 
tend from Elco Precinct into Thebes. 

When the precinct was first formed, the 
voting place was changed nearly every year 
until the railroad was built, and the lumber 
business centered about the village of San- 
dusky, when it became the voting place — per- 
manently, perhaps. Churches are needed in 
and around Sandusky, the colored people 
having the only church organization, and it 



meets in a schoolhouse. In the western part 
of the precinct there is one church buildiug, 
which is a kind of a union institution, and 
used by all denominations. In Township 
15, Range 2 west, which includes Sandusky 
and Hodges' Park, there are four school - 
houses — three good frame buildings, well 
finished and furnished with modern appli- 
ances, while the fourth is only a temporary 
structure, the schoolhouse proper having re- 
cently been destroyed by fire. 

The eastern part of the ^precinct has all 
been settled in the past ten years, but in the 
western parts settlements were made much 
earlier. Among the settlers of the latter were 
Henry Nelson, who came to the neighborhood 
in 1880 and lived here until his death in 
1850; William Powles, moved in from Mill 
Creek; Jeremiah Dunning, William Henlen, 
John H. Parker and others settled early in 
this section. Henlen kept a store and post 
office for a niunber of years. Dennis Hai'gis 
and his son came here in 1849, and cari'ied 
on a lai'ge farm for many years. William 
Clapp was also among the pioneers of this 
part of the county. 

Santa Fe Precinct. — This precinct is but 
a small division of the county. It lies on 
the river, south of Thebes, and west of San- 
duskj^ Precinct, with Goose Island south of 
it. It is mostly high land and above high 
water mark, and contains some good farms. 
A small part of the precinct, however, is what 
is tei'med "second bottom," and suffers more 
or less from overflow. One of the early set- 
tlers of this part of the county was William 
Ireland. I. C. McPheeters was another early 
settler; also Ransom Thompson, mentioned 
elsewere, settled here in an early day. 

The town of Santa F6 is one of the oldest 
in the county, and once was quite a flourish- 
ing place, but of late years it has retrograded 
very much. Now it has but one store, owned 



HISTORY OF ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



499 



by Alexander H. Ireland. A late improve- 
ment, which may revive the decaying pros- 
pects of the town, is the recent establishment 
of a steam ferry between here and Com- 
merce, Mo., and which brings in many of 
the farmers to these points who were in the 
habit, formerly, of going to Cape Girardeau 
and Cairo. 

There is one church in the precinct, called 
the Sexton Creek Baptist Church. There 
are also two schoolhouses, which are used 
both for school and church purposes. 

Goose Island. — This precinct is mostly low 
bottom lands, which suffer greatly from in- 
undation, and hence are of little value for 
farming purposes. Some excellent farms are 
found here, however, but they are few in 
number. The precinct occupies a large area, 
and, could it be protected from overflow, 
would soon become a fine farming region. 
Santa F6 and Sandusky Precincts lie north 
of Goose Island, Cache River forms the east 
and the Mississippi the west, boundaries, and 
Dog Tooth and the Mississippi River the 
80\ith boundary. 

Among the early settlers of this precinct 
were the Russells and Holmeses — John 
Holmes and his brother, Squire Holmes. 
The danger from high water has always kept 
this portion of the county fx'om settling like 
other portions, which are free from this 
drawback. 

Dog Tooth and North Cairo partake much 
of the same nature of Goose Island, and 
much of their area is overflowed in time of 
high water. Dog Tooth Bend, as it is called, 
is a place of historic interest. It is claimed 
as the scene of the first settlement made in 
Alexander County by Ohio people. " Four 



families," says Mr. Olmstead, " settled there 
in 1809, and were named Harris, Wade, 
Crane and Powers." This was an important 
place in those early days; but so much is 
said concerning it in preceding chapters that 
it is unnecessary to repeat it here. Milli- 
gan, from whom Milligan's Bend took its 
name, was also an early settler in this sec- 
tion of the county. Commercial Point is a 
place of some business importance. 

North Cairo is but little settled, the natui-e 
of the bottoms rendering them wholly unfit 
for farming purposes. Wilson Able, who is 
extensively mentioned in a preceding chapter, 
lived on the river, about twelve miles above 
Cairo, and carried on a large store and wood 
yard, from which he furnished wood to 
steamboats. He did a large business, and 
was a man of considerable prominence. 

This concludes the portion of our work 
devoted exclusively to the history of Alexan- 
der County. The sketches of the precincts are 
necessarily brief, owing to the fact, as we 
have already stated, that eveiy subject of 
especial interest has been exhaustively 
treated in the preceding chapters. The 
years, comprising the greater portion of a 
century, since the first white people came 
here, have produced wonderful changes and 
improvements in the face of the country; and 
judging of the future by the past, we indulge 
in no great latitude of expression when we 
predict that a few mere generations will find 
the rivers confined by levees, the bottoms 
drained and converted into the finest farm- 
ing region in Southern Illinois. Money, 
energy, , labor and enterprise will accomplish 
it — nothing else is required. 



PART lY. 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



PART IV. 



History of Pulaski County. 



BY H. C. BRADSBY. 



CHAPTER I 



GEOLOGY, METEOROLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, TIMBER, WATER, SOIL, ETC.— GREAT FERTILITY OF THE 

LAND — ITS AGRICULTURAL Ai\"D HORTICULTURAL ADVANTAGES — WHAT 

FARMERS ARE LEARNING— ADDRESS OF PARKER EARLE, ETC. 



IN this day and age, any reasonably well 
educated man can readily tell by a slight 
examination of the geology of a country, no 
matter how new and wild it may be, what 
kind of a people it will some day contain, and 
almost exactly what degree of enlightenment 
and civilization it will eventually possess. 
When he knows its geological formation, he 
can forecast the future of its people with nearly 
as much accuracy as can the patient and labori- 
ous historian who plods along in the tracks of 
the generations that have passed away. A 
warm climate and bread growing upon the 
trees, or abundant and nutritious food spring- 
ing spontaneously from the earth has always 
in the world's history held back civilization 
and produced a listless, prolific and inferior 
people. A continuously mild climate through- 
out the year and an abundance of food readily 
produced by nature has much the efi'ect upon a 
people as the barren arctic regions, where 
the scarcity of food and the severity of cli- 
mate stunts and dwarfs the people and holds 
them securely locked in primeval ignorance 



and barbarism. The ti-opics and the arctics 
— the one oppressed with the profusion of 
nature's bounties that appall mankind and 
produce enervation, is the antipodes and 
yoke- fellow of the bleak north and its long 
winter nights and storms and desolation. 
The richest country in the world in soil, 
perhaps, is Brazil, both in vegetable and 
animal life. So profusely are nature's 
bounties here spread, so immense the forests, 
so dense the undergrowth, all decked with 
the most exquisite flowers of rarest perfume, 
they so teem with animal life, from the 
swarming parasite up to the striped tiger, the 
yellow lion and snakes spotted with deadly 
beauty, and the woods vocal with the songs 
of countless species of birds, with the bird 
of paradise perched like a crowning jewel 
upon the very tops of the majestic trees, 
and yet this wonderful country, capable of 
supporting, if only it could be subjugated 
to the domination of man, ten times all 
people that now inhabit the globe, is an un- 
explored waste, defying the puny arm of man 



504 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



to subjugate or ever penetrate to the heart of 
its forbidden secrets. For hundreds of years 
civilized man has sailed in his ships along 
its shores, and in rapture beheld its natural 
wealth and pi-ofuse beauties, and colonies, 
■and nations and peoples have determined to 
reap its treasures and unlock its inexhausti- 
ble stores. How futile are these efforts of 
man, how feeble the few scattering habita- 
tions has he been enabled to hold upon the 
very outer confines of all this great country! 
Brazil will, in all probabiltiy, remain as it is 
forever, and it is well that it is so. For 
could you by some powerful wand conquer 
all that country and place there 50,000,000 
of the same kind of people that now consti- 
tute this nation, with all our present advan- 
tages of civilization, it is highly probable 
that in less than 200 years they would lapse 
into the meanest type of ignorant barbar- 
ians, and degenerate to that extent that in 
time they would become extinct. Thus an 
over- abundance of nature's bounties, both in 
food, dress and climate, brings its calamities 
upon man more swiftly than do the rigid 
severities of the arctics of northern Green- 
land or Siberia. 

It is evident, therefore, that the two sub- 
jects of supreme importance in all countries 
are those of soil and climate. Any ordinar- 
ily bright child between the years of twelve 
and twenty could be taught these invaluable 
lessons of practical wisdom in a few weeks 
rambling over the country and examining 
the banks of streams and the exposures of 
the earth's surface along the highways. How 
much more valuable a few weeks of such an 
education would be than is much of the 
years now worse than wasted in the getting 
an education from the wretched text books 
and the ding-dong repetitions of the school- 
room! How easy to show them what the 
soil is, its varieties, and why and from whence 



they come, namely, the rocks; and how 
eagerly the young mind seizes upon such 
real education! How easy it is to show them 
(and such education they will never forget) 
that where the soil and subjacent rocks are 
profuse in the bestowal of wealth, and the 
air is deprived of that invigorating tonic 
that comes of the winters of the temperate 
climate, that there man is indolent and effem- 
inate. Where effort is required to live, he 
becomes enlightened and virtuous; and 
where on the sands of the desert, or the jun- 
gles of Africa, or Brazil or Greenland's icy 
mountains, where he is unable to procure the 
necessities or comforts of life, he lives a sav- 
age. The civilization, then, of states or na- 
tions is but the reflection of physi<ial condi- 
tions, and hence the importance of an under- 
standing of these subjects by all people, but 
more especially the rising generation. 
Hence, too, the importance of underritanding 
the geological history of the county. 

Our concern in regard t(j this subject and 
our desire to impress its value upon the ris- 
ing generation at least, must be our excuse 
for these extensive references to it in differ- 
ent chapters of this work. A painful reali- 
zation of the defects in the education of our 
young farmers and of their great k)sses, 
disappointments and even disasters in the 
pui'suit of their occupation of tilling the 
earth, that come of this neglect in their 
early education and training prompts this 
seeming persistence that so many readers 
will at lirst flush consider a dry or uninterest- 
ing subject. The most important subject to 
all mankind at this time is how to get for 
the young people the best education; how 
to fit our youths for the life struggle that is 
before them. For 2,000 years, the schools 
have believed that Latin and Greek were the 
highest type of information and knowledge, 
and next to these dead languages, were met- 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



505 



aphysical mathematics and the theories of 
so-called philosophy. It is time these long- 
drawn-out mistakes were rectified, and the 
ti'uths that are revealed in the investigation 
— the experimental facts of the natural laws 
that govern us — be made known and taught 
to those who soon will bear along the world's 
highway its splendid civilization. Here and 
there are to be found an intelligent machin- 
ist, or a farmer, who understand the simple 
scientific principles that govern their work 
or occupation. Their knowledge is power. 
In every turn of life they stand upon the 
vantage-gi'ound, and their lives are success- 
ful in the broad sense of the term. They 
understand the soil they till, or the imple- 
ment or industry they are called upon to 
make or use. They know where ignorance 
guesses, doubts and fears, and by not know- 
ing so often fails and falls by the wayside. 
It is told that at one time Agassiz was ap- 
[)ealed to by some horse-breeders of New Eng- 
land in reference to developing a certain 
strain of horses. He told them it was not a 
question of equestrianism, but one of rocks. 
To the most of men this reply would have 
been almost meaningless, yet it was full of 
wisdom. It signified that certain rock for- 
mations that underlay the soil would insure a 
certain gi'owth of grasses and water, and the 
secret of the perfect horse lay here. 

In order that the youths who read this 
may gather here the first lessons in the 
knowledge of the rocks that are spread over 
the earth, we give, in their order, the differ- 
ent ones and in the simplest form we can 
present them as gathered from the geologists. 
These explanations will, too, the better enable 
the reader to comprehend what is said in 
other chapters upon this subject. We only 
deem it necessary to explain that all rocks 
are either igneous (melted by fire) or strati- 
fied (sediment deposited in water). Their 



order, commencing with the lowest stratified 
rocks, and ascending, are as follows: 

The Laurentian system is the lowest and 
oldest of the stratified rocks. From the 
great heat to which the lower portion of 
them were exposed, has resulted the beauti- 
ful crystals that are often found in the rock. 
The Laurentian system was formerly sup- 
posed to be destitute of organic remains, but 
recent investigations have led to the discov- 
ery of animals so low in the scale of organ- 
ization as to be regarded as the first appear- 
ance upon the earth of sentient existence. 
This important discovery extends the origin 
of life backward through 30,000 feet of 
strata. This is an American discovery in 
geology, and for the first time renders the 
descending scale of life complete, and verifies 
the conjectures of physicists that in its ear- 
liest dawn it should and did commence with 
the most simple organisms. 

The Huron i an is the next system above the 
Laurentian. Here, too, are found the beau- 
tiful natural crystals. Then the Silurian, or 
the age of fire and water, earthquakes and 
volcanoes came to the world. During this 
age, nearly all North America was subma- 
rine except, perhaps, the elevation of the 
Alleghanies, which were subject to frequent 
elevations and depressions. During this age 
was added to the first dry land on our conti- 
nent, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Wiscon- 
sin and Minnesota. The St. Peter's sand- 
stone, a rock found in Union, Alexander and 
Pulaski Counties, was formed. It is often 
almost a pure silica and nearly free from 
coloring matter, and is the vei'y best mate- 
rial for the manufacture of glass. 

The Devonian system next follows, and is 
distinguished for the introduction of verte- 
brates and the beginning of ten'estrial vegeta- 
tion. The vertebrates consisted of fishes, the 
forerunners of the reptiles so numerous and 



S06 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



some of them of such gigantic size that it has 
sometimes been styled the age of fishes. 

The Carboniferous age opens next with 
the deposition of widely extended marine 
formations. In this age, the whole earth was 
warm; the temperature near the poles was 
66°. The prominent feature of this age was 
the formation of coal. The process of form- 
ing coal is exactly the same as practiced in 
the formation of charcoal by burning wood 
under a covering of earth. In addition to 
this age forming coal, it also formed the 
Burlington, Keokuk and St. Louis limestones, 
which, to this part of the country, are most 
important formations. 

Then came the Reptilliau age, the Mam- 
malian age, and finally the age of man. 
These are the order of the earth's for- 
mation, in the fewest and simplest words, to 
the time of the coming of man. Though the 
absolute time of his coming cannot be deter- 
mined, he was doubtless an inhabitant of the 
earth many hundreds of thousands of years 
before he was sufficiently intelligent to pre- 
serve the records of his own history. 

The present age still retains, in a dimin- 
ished degree of activity, the geological action 
briefly sketched above. The oscillations of 
the earth's crust are still going on, perhaps 
as rapidly as they ever have. As an evidence 
of this it is a well-known fact that the coast 
of Greenland, on the western side for a dis- 
tance of 600 miles, has been slowly sinking 
during the past 400 years. Thus constantly 
have the bottoms of the oceans been lifted 
iabove the waters and the moutains sunk and 
became the beds of the sea. In the science 
of geology this " solid, too, too solid earth " 
and its fixed and eternal mountains are as 
unstable as the 'fleeting waves of the waters. 
They come and go like a breath, or 

' ' Like the snow falls in the river, 
A moment white, then melt forever." 



Pulaski County is bounded on the south 
by the Ohio River, on the west by Alexander 
County, on the north by Union and Johnson 
Counties and on the east by Massac County. 
It embraces an area of 192 square miles, of 
which nearly 115 are more or less elevated 
upland and the remainder low alluvial bot- 
tom and swamp land, mostly situated along 
Cache River. All the county is timbered, 
and the bottom lands very heavily. 

The surface configuration and growth of 
timber are by no means uniform over the 
whole county, but they vary considerably 
with the geological formations and with the 
proximity of the mam water courses, the 
Ohio and Cache Rivers. A feature in this 
county not found elsewhere is represented 
in the yellow loam region of the oak barrens 
in the central part of the county. These 
lands are underlaid with Tertiary strata. 
This peculiar soil is veiy deep, and is just 
now beginning to be known for its rich de- 
posits in plant food. It is a porous loam, 
and is but litl.le affected by drougth or exces- 
sive rains, and in many of the fruits and 
garden vegetables is not equaled in the 
State. But we have spoken at length of the 
surface geology of this county in Part II of 
this work, when all the region formed a 
part of Union County. 

The people of Southern Illinois, and par- 
ticularly those of Pulaski County, have not 
fully comprehended the natui-al advantages 
of their soil and its agricultural and horti- 
cultural advantages. Hence they have 
worked at cross purposes here for many 
years, and the development of the country 
has fallen behind what was its just due. 
Well may the farmers say " the fault, dear 
Brutus, is with ourselves and not our sires, 
that were underlings." The farmer will take 
his place among the earth's noblest and best 
only when he forces his way there by the sii - 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



507 



perior intelligence, culture aud elegance 
with which his mode of life is capable of sur- 
rounding itself. Understand your soil, your 
climate, and master the art of care and cul- 
tivation of those things for which it is best 
adapted, and at once your business will de- 
servedly take rank with the most exalted of 
the professions. The trades called the pro- 
fessions in some degree cultivate the mind 
and train it to think and grow, and as here- 
tofore the pui'suits'of agriculture were sup- 
posed to be the dull routine of physical ex- 
ertion — the mere hewer of wood and drawer 
of water — only for slaves and menials ; where- 
as the truth is that an intelligent farmer — 
one who investigates, studies and comes to 
know the beautiful laws of nature, that are 
for his advantage and glory when understood 
— has before him in his daily labors the 
great book of knowledge to contemplate and 
study, and which, when studied, will, be- 
yond any other profession or pursuit in life, 
ennoble, exalt and expand the mind and 
soul, and ultimately produce that fine type 
of culture and polite society that is the 
charm and glory of civilization. The plow 
handle and pruning hook, the golden fields 
of grain, the sweet apple blossoms and the 
beds of fragrant flowers, the trees, the rocks, 
the babbling brooks, singing the song of 
spring time, and the unchangeable laws of 
God that produce, govern and create all 
these things for the good and joy and great- 
ness of man, are God's school, college and 
university, that excel man's poor devices for 
the education of men as the sunlight does 
the starlight. 

Farmers and horticulturists who will com- 
prehend these vital truths will soon come to 
your county, and their coming will pi'oduce 
a revolution that will bo an incalculable 
blessing. As an evidence that such men are 
here now, and that these thincrs are besrin- 



ning to be talked about, we extract the fol- 
lowing from an address of Mr. Parker Earle, 
before the Mississippi Valley Horticultui*al 
Society, in New Orleans, February 21, 1883: 
" The system of trade in orchard and gar- 
den products, which is rapidly growing, 
with thti expansion of our railway interests, 
has already assumed great proportions. 
Every day in the year the tides of hortcult- 
ural commerce are ebbing or flowing over 
the great area of our country. Car loads and 
train loads of our various products begin to 
move northward every year with the opening 
spring, over our leading lines of railway, 
and this continues with the advancing sea- 
sons until the time arrives for the great cur- 
rent to set the other way. Hundreds of 
thousands of our people are directly en- 
gaged in producing or in the distribution of 
the great harvests of horticulture. And yet 
no man concerned in this vast production 
and traffic is guided in his operations by any 
such carefully compiled knowledge of the 
changing facts he is dealing with, as the 
merchant in cotton or the manufactui-er of 
iron would consider of prime importance to 
an enlightened management. We have no 
system of collecting the statistics of our bus- 
iness, such as other industries employ. 
Are they not equally important? We should 
know the amount of annual planting of ber- 
ries and vegetables, and the acreage of or- 
chard and vineyard, and the condition and 
promise of all these croj)s, throughout our 
entire valley not only, but throughout the 
whole countiy. Without this knowledge, we 
constantly work in the dark. Every pro- 
ducer who has sought to plant with some ref- 
erence to the probable demands of his avail- 
able markets, and every merchant who has 
tried to follow intelligently the natural laws 
of trade in this season's transactions, has 
certainly felt a great want of knowledge of 



508 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



a wide circuit of facts upon which his suc- 
cess or failure must depend. In what way 
shall we meet this matter? We must in 
some way have a bureau of horticultural sta- 
tistics. If we have no machinery ready made 
for accomplishing this result, then let us in- 
vent some. I venture the suggestion that if 
there is no more effective way, that this so- 
ciety can itself organize such a bureau with 
sufficient completeness to give us great relief 
from our ignorance. If our Secretary could 
have a salary sufficient to enable him to em- 
ploy one or more assistants, he could, I 
think, make a beginning at least of this work, 
which would demonstrate its great value. 

" The question of an annual exhibition of 
fruits, flowers and garden products by our so- 
ciety is one that some of you have given 
much thought to. You are aware that we held 
such an exhibition in St. Louis in Septem- 
ber, 1880, at the time of our organization, 
which was more attractive and complete, 
I can say with confidence, than any other 
similar exhibition ever made on this conti- 
nent. This magnificent collection was got- 
ten together and managed by a provisional 
committee to fitly inaugurate the birth of an 
organization destined to wield a powerful 
influence, as we then hoped and do now 
hope and feel assured, in molding the in- 
dustries and the finer culture of human so- 
ciety in the heart of this. 

" Allow me in conclusion to call your atten- 
tion to two or three considerations of a gen- 
eral nature. I desire to have it impressed 
upon every mind that horticulture is one of 
the most important agencies for the enhance- 
ment of human welfare. Each branch of 
this profession is useful, dignified and en- 
nobling. It is altogether worthy of the de- 
votion of the best men of the world. It offers 
a field for the finest powers of the best en- 
dowed of mankind. Its problems are suffi- 



cient for the best cultivated intellect; its. 
arts will occupy the most cunning mind. 
We should seek to engage the noblest men 
and women in its interests. A great need 
of the ^times is to make rural life so attrac- 
tive and to make pecuniary profit in it so 
possible, as to hold our boys and young men 
on the farm and the garden. Very mistaken 
ideas of gentility, of ease of life, of oppor- 
tunities for culture or for winning fame, 
draw a large percentage of our brightest 
boys into the so-called learned professions,. 
or into trade. With proper surroundings of 
the home, with a proper education at school, 
with a proper administration of the econo- 
mies of the farm, with a sufficient under- 
standing of the opportunities for a high or- 
der of intellectual and social accomplish- 
ment in the rural life of this country, this 
need not and would not be so. A bright, 
high-spirited boy is not afraid of labor, but 
he despises drudgery. He will work hard, 
to accomplish a fine end when the mind and 
heart both work together with the muscles* 
but he will escape from dull, plodding toil. 
Let our boys learn that rural life is drudgery 
only when the mind is dull; that the spade 
and plow and pruning knife are the ap- 
paratus with which he manipulates the won- 
derful forces ^of the earth and the sky, and 
the boy will begin to rank himself with the 
professor in the laboratory or the master at 
the easel. There is, indeed, occasions that 
we should, many of us, feel more deeply the 
glory of our art; that there is no occupation 
in life that leads the educated man to more 
fruitful fields of contemplation and inquiry. 
The scientific mind finds every day in our 
orchards and fields new material to work 
upon, and the cultivated taste endless oppor- 
tunities for its exercise. 

" While I desire to see a taste for horticult- 
ure become universal in town and. hamlet 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



509 



aud country, and believe that every cottage 
and every palace in the land should have its 
flower garden and fruit garden, in the v^in- 
dow or out of the window, and something of 
the shelter and ornamentation of trees, yet I 
would not encourage either amateur or com- 
mercial horticulturist to plant one vine, 
flower or tree more than he expects to take 
some intelligent care of. There has been too 
much planting in ignorance and reaping in 
disgust. Especially should the planter on 
a commercial ucale have a better knowledge 
of the environment of his business. We all 
need to know more clearly the conditions of 
great successes, and to understand what diffi- 
culties and hindrances are avoidable and 
what unavoidable. We want more business 
m3thod in this business. We want scientific 
knowledge and accuracy instead of empiri- 
cism. 

'• But this will come. American horticult- 
ure is only in its youthful years. Its splen- 
did maturity shall see every home in this 
maginficent country sweetened and beautified 
by its blossoming and fruitful presence. 
Let us labor cheerfully, my friends, until 
n ot only 

" ' The guests in prouder homes shall see 
Heaped with the orange and the grape. 
As fair as they in tint and shape. 
The fruit of the apple tree;' 

but the table in every cottage in the land 
shall be daily tilled with an abundance of 
refreshing fruits and enriching flowers. And 
let ITS not rest until we have checked the de- 
struction of the great forests which God has 
planted, and have restored to the hills and 
to the plains some portion of that natural 
shelter without which no land can long be 
fruitful and no civilization be permanent, 

" Nothing is more true than the old saying 
of the philosopher that our lives are what 
we make them. In the city, the village or 



the farm is this true, but it is pre-eminently 
true of the farm. If farming is only given 
over to ignorant and unkempt boors, it will to 
that extent be forbidding to the growing young 
men. If the riiral population inform them- 
selves and pursue their business in the most 
ennobling way, their every movement guided 
by a type of intelligence that brings the bes t 
results of the best adaptation to the natural 
means surrounding them, it will become the 
most inviting pursuit for the best of our men 
and women. 

"There is no foolish notion that more ur- 
gently needs to be exploded than the preva-^ 
lent one which makes a country life below 
the ambition of a young man of education 
and spirit, and which regards towns and 
cities as the only places in which men rise 
to distinction and usefulness. Farming is 
called a tame and monotonous vocation ; in- 
deed! but can anything better be claimed for 
the plodding, exacting and exhaustive pur- 
suits which nine-tenths of those who live in 
cities are compelled to follow? It is a great 
mistake to suppose that the population of a 
city is made up of great capitalists, proprie- 
tors, merchants, manufacturers, and eminent 
lawyers and surgeons, and that it is an easy 
thing for a young man endowed with the 
quailty of "smartness" to achieve wealth and 
distinction, or even independence, in the 
fierce, pitiless whirl of city life. The wrecks 
to be encountered in city streets every day 
disprove it. Comparatively few persona 
amass fortunes in cities, and fewer still re- 
tain them. Sc true is this that it is safe to 
predict, in five caries out of ten, of a wealthy 
business man in middle life, that he will die 
penniless. 

•'Farming is not subject to these rapid and 
ruinous chances. In this pursuit, industry, 
economy and good management, aided by 
the increase which time itself brings, will 



510 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



insure a competence in fifteen or twenty 
years; and it is a property of substance ac- 
cumulated in farming, that, unlike fortunes 
acquired in mercantile pursuits, it lasts 
through life. 

"Few thrifty, industrious farmers die poor; 
few prosperous merchants who continue in 
business die rich. The farmer's profits come 
in slow and small, it is true; and often he 
does not find himself in comfortable circum- 
stances till middle age. But it is in middle 
and old age he most needs the comforts of 
independence; and if he is wise enough to 
keep out of debt the moderate competency 
which he has managed to accumulate through 
his better years will come unscathed through 
the storms and convulsions that sweep away 



towering fortunes in the business world." 
We trust the reader will not understand 
us as saying, in the common cant of the flat- 
tering demagogue, when he prates about 
" the sturdy honest farmer," that it is of it- 
self, intrinsically and inherently, the only 
one great avenue nf goodness and true no- 
bility. On the contrary it is not. Indeed, 
where ignorance rules, it is dull, hopeless 
drudgery, and there is nothing more enno- 
bling about it than there is in the routine 
life of a galley slave. Stupidity and igno- 
rance are punished here as well as in any 
and every other place in life. In the strug- 
gle for existence it is overmatched, and its 
superiors trample it most mercilessly under 
foot. 



CHAPTER II. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY— THE FACTS THAT LED TO THE SAME — ACT OF THE LEGISLA- 
TURE—ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COURTS— THE FIRST OFFICERS — REMOVAL OF 
THE SEAT OF JUSTICE — THE CEK^SUS— PRECINCT ORGANIZATION — 
LAWYERS— SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETd, ETC., ETC. 



rp^HE early history of Pulaski County, as 
-L we have stated elsewhere in this vol- 
ume, has been written in connection with that 
of Union and Alexander up to the date of 
its organization as an independent county in 
1843. As a part of Alexander County, it 
was separated from Union in 1819, and so re- 
mained for nearly a quarter of a century. 
In the meantime, the population had in- 
creased to an extent that required, or at least 
admitted of, a division of the territory known 
as Alexander County. The following act, 
dated November 3, 1843, was passed by the 
Legislature: 

AN ACT FORMING PULASKI COUNTY. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the 



State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, 
That all that tract of country within the following 
boundaries shall constitute the county of Pulaski, 
viz. : Beginning at a point on the Ohio River in 
Range line between 3 and 3 east, of the Third Prin- 
cipal Meridian, and running north with and on said 
line to Cache River; thence down and with said 
river to the Alexander County line ; thence north 
on said last-mentioned line to the southeast corner 
of Union County; thence west along said line to 
Mill Creek; thence along and down said creek to 
Cache River; thence down and along the west bank 
of said river to the Ohio River, and thence up and 
along said river to the place of beginning. 

The remaining sections of the act, which 
is a rather long one, are omitted. These, 
when divested of the " said whereases, " with 
which they are encumbered, require the peo- 
ple to meet at the usual places of voting 



^'^ 





^^'^'^-^--^ (jt^-^^-^^y^ c^x 








HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



513 



within the specified territory, and vote upon 
the question as to whether " the said county 
shall be so constituted. " It further stipu- 
lated that the election i-eturns should be 
made to the County Commissioners' Court 
of Alexander, the Clerk of which should send 
a copy of the proceedings, in the event the 
vote was favorable to the formation of the 
county, to the Secretary of State, and to the 
proper officers of Massac County, It further 
stipiilated that the Clerk of Alexander 
County should furnish a copy of the proceed- 
ings to Henry Sowers, Thomas Lackey, Ji-., 
and Thomas Howard, who are named in 
the act as Commissioners to locate the seat 
of jiTstice of the said county. 

These Commissioners were required to 
meet at the house of Thomas Forker, and 
proceed to examine the different eligible 
sites, and to decide upon the one best 
adapted for the county seat. A donation of 
Dot less than ten acres of land was the con- 
dition upon which the site was to be ac- 
cepted as the seat of justice of the new coun- 
ty. The report of the Commissioners was to 
be made to Thomas Forker, and the general 
election was to be held at Caledonia. Will- 
iam A. Hughes was appointed for the occa- 
sion, and authorized to act as County Clerk, 
and, as such officer, the election returns were 
to be made to him. The county was assigned 
to the Third Judicial District. The public 
debt of Alexander County was to be divided 
between it and Pulaski, and the school Fund 
distributed according to population. The 
new county was to vote with Union and 
Alexander for State Senator, and with the 
latter for Representative in the Lower House 
of the Legislature. 

The county was named in honor of Count 
Pulaski, a Polish nobleman, born in 1747, 
and a soldier of renown. He took a conspicu- 
ous fpart in the war for the liberation of 



Poland, and when fui'ther resistance became 
hopeless he went to Turkey and thence to 
France, where he offered his services to Ben- 
jamin Franklin, our representative then at 
the court of Louis XVI. He arrived in 
Philadelphia in the summer of 1777, and 
entered the service of the United States as a 
volunteer, but was afterward made a Brig- 
adier General by Congress, and appointed to 
a command of cavaliy. He was one of the 
most brilliant cavalry officers in the war of 
the Revolution, and continued in that 
branch of the service until his death, which 
occurred October 11, 1779. No excuse is 
deemed necessary for this digression. It is 
always of more or less interest to the reader 
to learn the origin of the names of places he 
reads about, particularly those of historical 
significance. The name of Count Pulaski 
will ever be venerated by American citizens, 
for the assistance rendered us in the dark 
hours of our struggle for independence. 

According to the provisions of the act for 
the formation of the county, the Commis- 
sioners appointed to select the seat of justice 
met, and after "matui'e deliberation," decided 
upon the town of Caledonia. The required 
donation of land was made by Col. Justus 
Post, and the first deed recorded in Pulaski 
County is from " Justus Post and Eliza G. , 
his wife; " and the consideration is " the 
permanent establishment of the seat of jus- 
tice on the premises. " It " bargains and 
grants," in the town of Caledonia, Blocks 
No. 2, 3, 25, 26, 35, 36 and Water Blocks 
F and G, embracing one .79 acres of 
ground, which was accepted in lieu of the 
originally required ten acres. The deed for 
the same is acknowledged before Thomas 
Forker, Justice of the Peace. A court house 
was erected on the land donated by Col. Post 
Building court houses in those days seems to 
have been a great undertaking, as, in the 



514 



HIISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY, 



case of this one, the county was authorized 
by an act of the Legislature in 1847 to bor- 
row $600, " to finish the court house of Pu- 
laski County. It further authorized the 
county " to levy a tax lo build a jail." At 
first the county officers, we learn, did not 
keep their offices at the county seat; just 
where they did keep them we did not learn. 
Like the first Postmaster of Effingham, they 
kept them, perhaps, in their hats. At any 
rate, the Legislature, by an act passed Feb- 
ruary 21, 1845, legalized the official acts in 
the " portable " offices of Pulaski County. 
In the same year (1845), the records of John- 
son and Alexander Counties were ordered, 
so far as pertaining to this county, to be 
transcribed and certified. 

The records of Pulaski County are very 
imperfect. In November, 1879, a fire oc- 
curred in Mound City, the present county 
seat, in which a large portion of the records 
were destroyed; in fact, nearly all of them, 
up to 1860, were lost by this calamity. 

The first term of the Circuit Court con- 
vened in Caledonia in May, 1844. Hon. 
Walter B. Scates, Judge; J. M. Davidge, 
Clerk, and B. B. Kennedy, Sheriff. The 
following were the first grand jurors, as re- 
turned into court by the Sheriff: Isaac 
Dement, Samuel F. Price, Joseph Evans, 
John Steen, Charles Stephenson, William 
Echols, George W. Howell, N. M. Thomp- 
son, Leaman T. Philips, Thomas Tucker, 
John C. Etherton, Samuel Parker, Daniel 
Arter, D. Thornton, J. B. Sanders, George 
Augustine, A. F. Young, J. B. Malin, Elijah 
Axley, A. Youngblood, Hugh McGee and C. 
R. Vanderbett. On the traverse jury were H. 
R. Thomas, William Byrd, S. F. Rand, John 
C. Meyer, John Benton, J. M. Timmons, 
Henry Castol, A. B. Bankston, Aaron Ather- 
ton, George Tucker, M. K. Concine, A. Hun- 
saker, James Dillow, James Hughes, Will- 



iam Murphy, Eli Morris, Moses Kitchell, 
George Boyd, Reuben Cain, William Fork- 
ner and Hiram Boren. 

Willis Allen was Prosecuting Attorney. 
The first Common Law case tried was Wiley 
Davidson vs. Jones & Davis, in which John 
Dougherty appeared as attorney for the 
plaintiff. A judgment was taken by default. 
In the second case, W. A. Denning was an 
attorney. Gilbert Leroy was also an attor- 
ney at this term of the court. Davis 

and Timothy Barlow also appeared as attor- 
neys. The Judge appointed J. M. Davidge 
Master in Chancery. 

At the term of court held in September, 
1847, Hon. William A. Denning, Associate 
Judge of the Supreme Court, presided; S. S. 
Marshall was Prosecuting Attorney; James 
M. Davidge, Clerk, and Henry M. Smith, 
Sheriff. In 1849, Hugh Worthingfon was 
Sheriffi In 1852, W. K. Parish was Prose- 
cuting Attorney, and Henry M. Hughes, 
Sheriff. 

The first County Judge was Richard C. 
Hall, who served until 1847, when he was 
succeeded by James M. Davidge. In 1857, 
N. M. Thompson was elected County Judge, 
and M. R. Hooppaw and Isaac R. Baker, As- 
sociates. Ephraim B. Watkins succeeded 
Davidge as County Judge in 1861, with 
George Minnich and Caleb Hofiner as Asso- 
ciates, Washington Hughes was School 
Commissioner. In 1864, George Minnich 
was elected ^Sheriff, and Hugh McGee Dis- 
trict Justice. In 1865, A. W. Brown was 
County Judge, and W. L. Hambleton, Asso- 
ciate. George S. Pidgeon came in as County 
Judge in 1869, and Obadiah Edson and 
Caleb Hoflfner, Associates, and E. B. Wat- 
kins, County Clerk. In 1872, Henry M. 
Smith was State' s Attorney ; Benjamin Glen, 
CHreuit Clerk, and A. M. Brown was ap- 
pointed County Judge, to till vacancy caused 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



515 



by the resignation of Judge Pidgeon. In 
1873, G. L. Tombelle was County Judge; 
John Weaver, County Treasurer; Daniel 
Ilogan, County Clerk, William M. Hathaway, 
County Superintendent of Schools, and 
Romeo Friganza, William B. Edson and J. 
S." Morris, County Commissioners. In 1875, 

D. J. Britt was Assessor and Treasurer, and 

E. B. Stoddard, Surveyor. In 1875, Robert 
Wilson was Sheriff; James R. Drake, Coro- 
ner; B. L. Ulen, Cii'cuit Clerk; Louis C. 
Smith, State's Attorney, and Louis F. Crane 
Assessor and Treasurer. In 1877, A. M. 
Brown was County Judge; Daniel Hogan, 
County Clerk; A. S. Colwell, County Super- 
intendent of Schools; John Weaver, County 
Treasurer; Albert Wilson, Sheriff. In 1879, 
N. M. Smith, County Judge; John W^eaver, 
County Treasui'er, and Henry Lentz, Survey- 
or. In 1880, Louis F. Crane, Sheriff: Reu- 
ben Wilkins, Coroner; James Anderson, 
State's Attorney, and B. L. Ulen, Cii'cuit 
Clerk. In 1881, Joseph P. Roberts, States 
Attorney, and S. A. Hight, County Superin- 
tendent of Schools. In 1882, the following 
officers were elected, and arw, at the present 
writing (1883), still in office: Louis F. 
Grain, Sheriff; Henry M. Smith, County 
Judge; John A. Waugh, County Clerk; Mrs. 
Hettie M. Smith County Superintendent of 
Schools; John Weaver, County Treasurer, 
and Samuel H. Graves, Coroner. We could 
not suggest a most appropriate name for 
Coroner, for truly it is a grave office. 

The second instrument recorded in the 
Clerk's office is one signed by Jesse Rich- 
ardson. It is " the last will and testament " 
of Mr. Richai'dson, and is a solemn docu- 
ment, as all such papers should be. It is 
draped in a funeral pall, so to speak, and 
begins with the solemn invocation: 

" [n the name of God, Amen. 

" I, Jesse Richardson, of the county of 



McCracken, State of Kentucky, being at 
this time of perfect mind and memory, but 
in a low state of health, and calling to mind 
that, it is 'appointed unto all men once to 
die, and after death to come to judgment,^ 
and having, therefore, settled all my worldly 
affairs," etc. He then proceeds to liberate 
his slaves, and gives them liberally of his 
worldly goods, that they " may live free and 
independent, and become prosperous and 
happy;" all of which was quite right and 
proper. 

Deeds, wills and assignments are, at tir.st, 
miscellaneously recorded together. Owing 
to the imperfect state of the records, caused 
by the fire already alluded to, we can give but 
few extracts that would be of an}- interest to 
our readers. As a general thing, however, the 
coiirfc records are not thrillingly interestino- 
reading matter to any not immediately con- 
cerned with them, or to those " learned in the 
law." More copious extracts will be given 
in the chapter devoted to Mound City, from 
the time the seat of justice was moved to 
that city. 

Caledonia remained the county seat until 
1861. On the 13th of February of that year, 
the Legislature passed an act, authorizing 
the removal of the capital to Mound City, 
and Caledonia shared the fate of Unity, 
America and Thebes, and became another 
deserted meti-opolis. Few moldering relics 
now remain of its former grandeur to mark 
the spot where erst it stood. The eddying 
waters of the Ohio, as they roll by, sing its 
requiem, and the murmm'ing winds, sweep- 
ing over its deserted courts, howl the refrain 
of its departed glory. A sketch of all the 
dismantled and abandoned towns of Union, 
Alexander and Pulaski Counties, would 
form an interesting chapter in the history of 
Southern Illinois. 

Pulaski County__remains under the original 



516 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



precinct system of county gevernment, per- 
sistently eschewing the township system of 
organization. The wisdom of their choice is 
a debatable question, and one we shall not 
attempt to decide. There are strong argu- 
ments in favor of both systems. While the 
County Commissioners' Court is a smaller' 
and therefore, as a rule, a more controllable 
body, by outsidel influences, there is little 
doubt that a Board of Supervisors is not only 
more directly expensive, but also that a 
thousand and one petty claims, of every con- 
ceivable character, having no foundation in 
law or justice, aggregating no insignificant 
smn, are constantly presented, loosely inves- 
tigated and tacitly allowed. The strongest 
argument in its favor is, that no county, hav- 
ing once adopted township organization, has 
ever been known to go back to the precinct 
system. 

The county, as at present laid off, em- 
braces the following precincts: Mound City, 
Burkville, Yilla Ridge, Palaski, Ohio, Ullin, 
Wetaug and Grand Chain. 

At the time of the organization of the 
county, in 1843, its population was probably 
about 1,500 souls. The census of 1850, the 
first after it became a county, shows its pop- 
ulation to be 2,264. In 1860, it had 3,943; 
in 1870, it had increased to 8,752, and in 
18S0 to 9,507. Its largest increase was dur- 
ing the decade from 1860 to 1870, its popu- 
lation more than doubling in those ten years. 
Its increase from 1870 to 1880 is but 755, 
a great falling off, when compared to that of 
the preceding ten years. 

The Clerk of '^the Circuit Court was Alger- 
non Sidney Grant, who, it will be remem- 
bered, figured in the organization of the 
town of America. His rank of seniority 
among resident lawyers of what is now Pu- 
laski County seems quite well determined. 
He was here when the territory was taken 



from Union and became Alexander County, 
and by reference to the early history of that 
county it will be seen he was one of the first 
Clerks of the Circuit and County Court. 

Of the lawyers, the first were Alexander 
P. Field, Judge Richard M. Young, Jeptha 
Hardin, Henry Eddy, William J. Gatewood, 
John Dougherty and Mr. Grant and a man 
named Boswell. Of a later date were Willis 
Allen, W. J. Allen and Henry W. Billings. 

The Circuit Judges, from the creation of 
the county, were in the following order: 
Thomas C. Browne, Jeptha Hardin, Walter 
B. Scates, William A. Denning, Alexander 
M. Jenkins, Wesley Sloan, John Olney, J. 
H. Mulkey, William H. Green and David 
J. Baker. 

In the early Circuit Court records of every 
county in Central and Southern Illinois, oc- 
curs the name of Judge Thomas C. Browne. 
He was one of the Supreme Judges who 
were required to do Circuit Coiirt duties, and, 
judging from the records of these many coun- 
ties, Judge Browne must have led an active 
and laborious life, as small as his salary was 
for the immensity of the travel and labor he 
was required to perform. 

Jeptha Hardin held courts and practiced 
law in nearly all the counties of Southern 
Illinois. A. P. Field and Richard M. 
Yoting are noticed at some length in the 
chapter on the bench and bar of Union 
County. Judge Walter B. Scates was a 
resident, for many years, of this portion of 
Illinois. He became largely interested in 
coal mines, near Collinsville, and eventually 
was the principal owner of the Western Tele- 
graph Company. He resigned his position as 
one of the Supreme Judges of the State, and 
became a resident of E vanston, near Chicago, 
where he improved a magnificent estate, and 
attached to it was his noted deer and elk 
park, that for many years was a place for the 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY, 



517 



interested visitors to Evanston until finally, 
we understand, the Judge came near losing 
his life from a furious stag. 

Judge Jenkins is noticed in the history of 
Cairo, and an account of his death may be 
found in the Alexander chapter on the bench 
and bar. 

Judge Wesley Sloan was intimately known 
to the people of Pulaski as a great Judge and 
an upright citizen. When he left the bench 
he retired to private life, taking with him the 
esteem and confidence of all. 

The early judiciary of Illinois was marked 
as furnishing a higher order of talent — 
larger minded men — than are to be found in 
the early political history of the State. 
Many of these early jurists will take 'their 
proper place in history as among the coun- 
try's best men. From the now old and deso- 
late town of Kaskaskia, they radiated out 
over the sparse settlements of the county, 
like rays of light and sunshine. They min- 
gled with the rude people, assisting, advis- 
ing and counseling them for their own good 
and benefit. They forecast and laid well the 
foundations for the superstructure of the civil 
polity of the State; and in looking into the 
imperfect records of their lives that are now 
attainable, the student of history is im- 
pressed with the fact that here, indeed, was 
Illinois most favored and fortunate. 

Id the history of Cairo and the Illinois 
Central Railroad, in this volume, we had 
occasion to tell much of the life and acts of 
Justin Butterfield, of Chicago, who was 
Commissioner of the Government United 
States Land Office in Washington, at the 
time of the building of the Illinois Central 
Railroad. It was much upon an idea of his, 
uttered in a speech in Chicago at a railroad 
meeting in which lay the key to the construc- 
tion of thai most important enterprise. Some- 
thing of the man may ^be gleaned from the 



following anecdote, as related by Hon. I. N. 
Arnold at a meeting of the State Bar Asso- 
ciation of 1881. 

In December, 1842, Gov. Ford, on the 
application of the Executive of Missouri, 
issued a warrant for the arrest of Joseph 
Smith, the Apostle of Mormonism then re- 
siding at Nauvoo, as a fugitive from justice. 
Smith was charged with having instigated 
the attempt, by some Mormons, to assassinate 
Gov. Bogg, of Missouri. Mr. Butterfield had 
sued out a writ of habeus corpus from Judge 
Pope, and Smith was arraigned for a hear- 
ing. The Attorney General of Illinois, Mr. 
Sanborn, appeared, to sustain the warrant. 
Mr. Butterfield, aided by B. S. Edwards, ap- 
peared for Smith, and moved for his dis- 
charge. The Prophet (so-called) was at- 
tpnded by his twelve apostles and a large 
number of his followers, and the case at- 
tracted great interest. The court room was 
thronged with prominent members of the bar 
and public men. Judge Pope was a gallant 
gentleman of the old school, and loved 
nothing better than to be in the midst of 
youth and beauty. Seats were crowded on 
the Judge's platform, on both sides and be- 
hind the Judge, and an array of brilliant 
and beautiful ladies almost encircled the 
court. Mr. Butterfield, dressed a la Web- 
ster, in a blue dress-coat and metal buttons 
with buff vest, rose with dignity, and amidst 
the most profound silence. Pausing, and 
running his eyes admiringly from the central 
figure of Judge Pope along the rows of love- 
ly women on each side of him, he said: 

" May it please the court: 

" I appear before you to-day under circum- 
stances most novel and peculiar. I am to 
addi'ess the ' Pope ' [bowing to the Jiidge], 
surrounded by angels [bowing still lower to 
the ladies], in the presence of the holy 
apostles, in behalf of the Prophet of the Lord." 



§18 



HISTOIiY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



Another instance of Mr. Butterfield's in- 
finite and ready wit was an instance occur- 
ring in one of the Northern courts, held by 
Judge Jesse B. Thomas. Mr. B. became 
irritated by the delay of the Judge in decid- 
ing a case, which he had argued some time 
before. He came into court one morning, 
and said with great gravity: "I believe, if 
your honor please, this court is called the 
'Oyer and Terminer;' / think it ought to be 
called the ' Oyer sans Terminer;'" and sat 
down. The next morning, when counsel were 
called for motions, Mr. Buttertield called up 
a pending motion for a new trial in an im- 
portant case. "The motion is over-ruled," 
said Judge Thomas, abruptly; " yesterday 
you declared this court ought to be called 
'Oyer saws Terminer,' so," continued the 
Judge, " as I had made up my mind in this 
case, I thought I would decide it promptly.'''' 
Mr. Butterlield seemed, for a moment, dis- 
concerted, but directly added, " May it please 
your honor, yesterday this court was a Court 
of Oyer sans Terminer; to-day your honor 
has reversed the order, it is now Terminer 
SANS Oyer! But I believe I should prefer 
the injustice of interminable delay rather 
than the swift and inevitable blunders your 
honor is sure to make by guessing without 
hearing argument." 

This reminds us of an apt retort made by 
M. J. Inscore to Judge Dougherty. A case 
of considerable importance was pending be 
fore Judge Dougherty, and attorneys from 
abroad — among others. Judge Mulkey, Hon. 
D. T. Linegar and Judge W. J. Allen — were 
counsel. Several days had been consumed 
in hearing the testimony and arguments on 
points raised, and finally it came to the argu- 
ment of counsel. Judge Dougherty an- 
nounced they could have thirty minutes on a 
side and no more. Inscore remonstrated 
earnestly, insisting there were eminent coun- 



sel from abroad, and the case was long, te- 
dious and important, and it would be impos- 
sible for counsel to do justice to themselves 
or their case in that brief time. The Judge 
was firm and Inscore persistent, when finally 
the Judge remarked, with much emphasis, 
that the best speeches of the great English 
bar had been made in thirty minutes. 
"Yes," replied Inscore, "I know; but those 
men are all dead." 

The history of the bench and bar of Pu - 
laski County, from the removal of the county 
seat from Caledonia to Mound City to the 
present time, will be found in full in Dr. 
Casey's ver^^ interesting history of Mound 
City in this volume. 

Schools. — The educational history of the 
county should interest every reader of this 
work, more, pei'haps, than any other subject 
mentioned. Nothing adds so much to the 
prosperity of a community, or to its civiliza- 
tion and refinement, as a perfect system of 
common schools. The early schools of this 
county, like the whole of Southern Illinois, 
were of the commonest kind. After the re- 
peal of what is known as the " Duncan law," 
the cause of education, for over a generation, 
was in anything but a flourishing condition, 
not only in the county but in the State. 
For nearly a half-century, the schoolhouses, 
books, teachers and manner of instruction 
were of the most primitive character, and 
very different from what they are at the 
present day. Then, too, there was an un- 
civilized element on the frontier, who be- 
lieved education was a useless and unneces- 
sary accomplishment, and only needful to 
divines and lawyers; that bone and muscle, 
and the ability to labor, were the only re- 
quirements necessary to fit their daughters 
and sons for the practical duties of life. A 
proverb then current was " The more book- 
learning, the more rascals." To quote a 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



519 



localism of the day, " Gals didn't need to 
know nothin' about books and all that boys 
orter know was how to grub, maul rails and 
hunt." That senseless prejudice, born of the 
civilization of the time, has descended, in a 
slight degree, to the present, and yet tinges 
the complexion of society in some localities. 

The pioneer schoolhouses, as a general 
thing, were poor, and are described in other 
portions of this volume. A few of these 
humble temples of learning — time-worn 
relics of the early days — are yet to be found 
in many portions of Southern Illinois — elo- 
quent of an age forever past. The pioneer 
teacher was a marked and distinctive charac- 
ter in the early history of the county, and, by 
common consent, was a personage of great 
importance. He was considered the intellect- 
ual center of the neighborhood, around 
which revolved all the learning of Greece 
and Rome, and hence he was consulted upon 
every subject, public and private. But he, 
too, is a thing of the past, and we shall 
never see his like again. He is ever in the 
van of advancing civilization, and flees, like 
a frightened deer, before the whistle of the 
locomotive and the click of the telegraph 
wires. 

The county has, at the present time, thir- 
teen log schoolhouses, and twenty-seven 
frames, making a total of forty. There are 
two graded schools, the remainder being un- 
graded. There are employed, in graded 
schools, seven teachers — one male and six 
females; in ungi'aded schools, forty-eight 
teachers — seventeen males and thirty -one 
females ; whole number of teachers employed 
is fifty-five. The number of pupils enrolled 
in the county is 3,146; total population in 
the county, under twenty-one years of age, 
2,897 males and 2,868 females; and the 
number reported between the ages of twelve 
and twenty-one years, seventeen males and 



fourteen females unable to read. The value of 
school property in county, $14,797; levy for 
school taxes, $13,510.89; bonded school debt, 
$994.90; average wages paid male teachers 
per month, $36.90; highest wages paid male 
teachers per month, $80; highest wages paid 
female teachers, per month, $50; total amount 
paid teachers, $9,609. 

The county has made rapid advancement 
in the cause of education in the last decade 
of years. New and commodioas houses have 
been built, and older houses repaired and 
refurnished, and every effort made to raise 
the schools to that high standard of excel- 
lence which the progress of the age demands 
they should be. Better teachers are now 
employed; better salaries are paid them, and 
many other needed improvements have been 
added. 

Churches.— In the pioneer days of South- 
ern Illinois, it was not thought necessary 
that preachers should be educated men. It 
was suflScient for them to preach the Gospel 
from a knowledge of the Bible alone. They 
made their appeals warm fi'om the heart, 
painting the joys of heaven and the miseries 
of hell to the imagination of the sinner, and 
terrifying him with the one, and exhorting 
him, by a life of righteousness, to attain the 
other. The earnestness of their words and 
manner, the vividness of the pictures they 
drew of the ineffable bliss of the redeemed, 
and the awful and eternal torments of the 
unrepentant, clothed in their rude, wild elo- 
quence, were irresistible, and the rough sons 
of the frontier trembled before them, as the 
strong oaks of the forest are shaken by the 
sweep of the hurricane's blast. Above all, 
they inculcated the sublime principles of 
justice and sound morality, and were largely 
instrumental in promoting the growth of in- 
tellectual ideas, in bettering the condition 
and in elevating the morals of the people. 



530 



HISTOKY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



To these old-time evangelists are we in- 
debted for the first establishment of Chris- 
tian institutions throughout the country. 

They have passed away, with the civiliza- 
tion of the period in which they lived and 
labored, but they have left behind them the 
record of a mission well and faithfully per- 
formed. May their sacred ashes repose in 
peace in the quietude of their lonely graves, 
until awakened by the archangel's trump in 
the last day. 

The first preacher in this county, of whom 
we have any account, was a Methodist 
preacher named West. He was one of those 
self-appointed missionaries of the frontier, 
who went from place to place, intent only 
on showing men the way to better things by 
better living, that finally they might reach 
that best of all — a home in heaven. Elders 
James Edwards and Thomas Howard were 
also early preachers in the county. Elder 
Howard was a man of generous mind, and 
co-operated fi'eely with ministers of other de- 
nominations. He believed that in " things 
efesential there should be unity, in things not 
essential there should be liberty, and in all 
things charity." He was one of the founders 
of Shiloh Baptist Church, in the west part 
of the county, in what was known as the 
Atherton settlement, one of the oldest, if 
not the oldest, church organization in the 
county. Another Baptist Church was after 
ward formed in the Sowers settlement — now 
Pisgah — and one at Caledonia. About the 
same time, or shortly after, a church was or- 
ganized and a house built near Calvin's, 
called Mount Zion. Rev. William Echols, 
a zealous minister and worker in the cause 
of the Master, was the light and life of this 
church as long as he lived. Thus, as popu- 
lation increased, churches sprang up in all 
the different settlements of the county. 

The following extract is from an article 



written by Eev. E. B. Olmstead, and is 
pertinent to the subject: " Protracted and 
camp meetings were common; people came 
to them from far and near. The meetings 
gave occasion for social enjoyment not other- 
wise attainable. Little matters of business 
were adjusted on the week days; what little 
politics there were was freely discussed, and 
on Sunday, when most people were as- 
sembled, it was not uncommon for notices to 
be read of horses or cattle strayed from this 
or that settlement, belonging to this or that 
person, and thus the ox or ass was pulled out 
of the ditch on the Sabbath Day. The 
preaching was of the faithful, earnest sort. 
The hearers were men and women who, what- 
ever may have been their moral character, 
believed in the Bible as the Book of Grod, 
and never took refuge in atheism or infidel- 
ity. The spirit and animus of these meet- 
ings naturally encouraged the develoj^ment 
of the emotional nature of the hearers, and 
led to some extravagances; but the doctrinal 
pabulum was sufficiently strong, in the less 
exciting times, to counteract that kind of 
sentiment." This is but similar to all the 
early religious ^history of the country. 
Christianity has kept pace with all other im- 
provements of the nineteenth century. '' The 
good old paths the fathers trod " are not 
adapted to our present refined tastes, and we 
must needs broaden and smooth them for 
our especial benefit and use. 

The county is well supplied with church 
organizations and commodious temples of 
worship. Every village and hamlet, and 
nearly every neighborhood, has its church 
and Sunday school. There is no lack of 
religious facilities, and if the people do not 
walk in the "straight and narrow path," 
they have but themselves to blame for any 
short comings laid up against them. 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



521 



CHAPTER III 



ABOUT EARLY LEADING CITIZENS— GEORGE CLOUD. H. M. SMITH, CAPT. RIDDLE, JUSTUS POST 
—PULASKI IN WAR— BLACK HAWK, MEXICAN AND THE LATE CIVIL WAR- 
HISTORY OF THE MEN WHO TOOK PART— A. C. BARTLESON, PRICE, 
ATHERTON— MR. CLEMSONS FARM, ETC., ETC. 



ONE of the leading citizens of the county 
was George Cloud, the first County 
Surveyor. Another was David Moore. Among 
the early Sheriffs was Mr. Perry, an engi- 
neer on the river for a long time. 

In a letter from John Dougharty (no rela- 
tion of Gov. Dougherty) to Capt. Riddle? 
dated America, October 12, 1824, occui-s the 
following: 

" This place (America) becomes more dull 
every day; we are about to lose what few in- 
habitants there are in this county, and if we 
should lose the whole of them it would be of 
little consequence, as the majority of them 
are of no advantage to any county. Many 
families are going out and gone to the South 
and West, making about one- fourth of the 
whole; and those better informed on the 
subject than myself calculate on as many 
more in their room. May heaven send those 
of a better quality! I will have to turn to 
farming or will have to look somewhere else 
for a living than off this miserable popula- 
tion." 

Commenting on this rather gloomy letter 
of Dougherty's, the Rev. Olmstead says: 
"Heaven, alas! did not answer the prayer of 
John Dougherty. The emigrants met no 
immigrants; every sail set to catch the breeze 
was southward bound." 

Another letter from John Cloud to James 
Riddle, of Cincinnati, is dated America, De- 
cember, 1827 : " I am glad to have the op- 



portunity of informing you that Mr. Skiles 
and Mr. Whipper safely landed their boat at 
thiis town on Wednesday last. The same 
evening Mr. Skiles came to my house and I 
told him the situation of your lands. The 
next morning he went to Trinity to converse 
with friend AVebb. He v\ ill write you the 
substance of the conversation. They have 
opened a store in this place in a house known 
by the name of Allord's House, which I 
rented to them as agent of the Brownsville 
Bank. They will live with me. Believing 
them to be gentlemen, I shall use the utmost 
of my endeavors to promote their interests, 
as well as the interests of this place. After 
a cxniel scene of inebriation, which commonly 
causes drowsiness, this deserted place may 
awaken to that meridian of day that we may 
live to see and rejoice at." 

But no effort could arrest the decay and 
dry rot that had fixed upon the drowsy young 
metropolis, and, as told elsewhere, it per- 
ished from the face of the earth. 

The writers of these letters from which we 
have given the above extracts, together with 
David Moore, first Sheriff, James Berry and 
William Wilson, merchants, ai*e buried at 
the town of America. Capt. Riddle, Col. 
Justus Post and John Skiles are buried at 
Caledonia. The reduction of the army at 
the close of the wai' of 1812 had changed the 
occupation of Col. George Cloud, Col. Jus- 
tus Post, Col. E. B. Clemson and H. L. 



■532 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



Webb, and was the cause of each of these 
rather remarkable men of their day coming 
to Southern Illinois and engaging in the 
avocations of agricultm-e and city building. 

In the Cairo Argus of July" 1876, Reverend 
E. B. Olmstead, of Pulaski County, says: 
"Each principal settlement had its school. 
Of course, at that early day, they were sub- 
scription schools; but in the year 1825, the 
Legislatui'e appropriated money to pay one- 
half the salary of teachers. A man named 
Mclntyre taught in a log schoolhouse north 
of the Clavin place, to which scholars went 
from Caledonia, and among them the chil- 
dren of Capt. Riddle; and from near Cache 
River, among whom was H. M. Smith, our 
present State's Attorney, the former having 
to walk three miles, the latter six miles. 
There were no patent seats, no blackboards, 
no series of school books; under such diffi- 
culties were the foundations o an educa- 
tion laid in former days. Another of the 
early teachers was William Hazard, at Cal- 
edonia. 

"About 1830, the price of wheat was from 
20 to 60 cents per bushel; corn, 20 to 25 
cents; bacon from 3 to 5 cents per pound; 
harvesters, 75 cents a day; binders, 50 cents; 
and common laborers, 30 cents per day. 

"As slavery was prohibited in the North- 
west Territory, a system of apprenticeship 
was adopted. The slaves of the original set- 
tlers might be held ninety years, but their 
children were to be free at eighteea and 
twenty-one years of age, but many living in 
Illinois on the Mississippi River held their 
slaves absolutely, as citizens of Missouri, and 
crossed them over once a week to preserve a 
legal title; in this way George Hacker held 
forty slaves. 

" No young lady," he says, in speaking of 
the good old times, " played on the piano, 
but she could bring music out of the spin- 



ning wheel. Her pull-back was a pull at the 
loom. The young women planted their own 
cotton, cultivated it, picked and ginned it, 
spun and colored and wove it, and made 
dresses without consulting Madam Demorest 
or Harper's Bazaar, and without a sewing 
machine, and when the young man came 
around on the gay young horse, with a new 
saddle and a broad breast girth, " to see the 
boys," he would look approvingly on the 
striped and cross-barred superfluous and ex- 
tra dresses, and other feminine gear hung 
like banners on the inner wall, the very 
proofs and evidence of industry and skill and 
genius. The girls of that period were strong 
and healthy, and no one of them was ever 
known to faint under any provocation what- 
ever. They could sing treble, and some of 
them could have, perhaps, sung bass. They 
knew nothing of falsetto, but could bring the 
cows home in that key if they were half a 
mile away. The young men did not aspire 
to become teachers or drummers, or try to 
make a fortune on a capital of f -t in chromos, 
or to bang doors and slash around generally 
as brakemen on a railroad train. 

Settlements will never be made again in 
this country under similar circumstances. 
Never again will there be so miich danger 
and inconvenience and patient waiting for 
coming improvements. The modern new 
settlement is the goddess Minerva, fully 
armed, leaping from the head of Jupiter, and 
the Vulcan whose glittering ax opens the 
head is the machinist's, who builds that won- 
derful complication men call a locomotive. 
There is much difference in the condition of 
things between the Atherton colony (one of 
the earliest in Pulaski) and the Greeley col- 
ony as there is between history and fiction. 

In speaking of the birds of the early day, 
Mr. Olmstead says: " The mocking bird of 
the South made his first visits [here] during 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



523 



the war," etc. This is a mistake evidently. 
The writer well remembers seeing them in 
abundance as far north as St. Clair County 
as early as 1840. Mr. Olmstead is probably 
misled by the fact that many were brought 
north by returning soldiers, and many sol- 
diers made quite an industry of catching them 
and bringing them to Illinois to sell. The 
Carolina parrots or paroquets, in the early 
days, were common and numerous all over 
Illinois, as far north, at least, as is now the 
main line of the Ohio & Mississippi Rail- 
road. Two varieties of birds unknown to 
the early settlers, the wax, or cheny bird, 
so called from the wax-like tips on the end of 
the wings and for their fondness for cher- 
ries, and the bee bird, is another outcrop of 
modern life. Mr. Olmstead says: " We 
welcome the mocking bird as a full compen- 
sation for our bee bird and cherry bird. He 
builds his nests in the orchards and around 
our homes. He is many in one. With a 
voice as mellow as a flute and as harsh 
as the call of a guinea fowl, he imitates 
all the birds of the wood, and is the 
only songster that gives us nightly ser- 
enades. We have all the birds common to 
the Northwest, from the unclean buzzard 
down to the delicate humming bird; and 
truly the former bird, though a scaven- 
ger and unseemly when near at hand, rises 
in our estimation as he ascends into the 
heavens. No bird that spreads a wing can 
lie as he does upon the air without beating 
it, and we see him sweep in such majestic 
circles so high above the earth, we could 
wish he never would return to it again; we 
would fain forget that he is only snuffing, 
like a corrupt politician, for a more tainted at- 
mosphere. The humming bird, when stripped 
of his feathers, is little larger than a bum- 
ble bee. Starting from the orange groves of 
Florida, he pauses at the open portal of every 



flower, extracting honey or insects, as his 
taste inclines. To each degree of latitude as 
high as the great lakes, and even to Hudson's 
Bay, he introduces summer; but in all his 
migrations he never fails to exhibit before 
our admiring eyes his ruby throat and golden 
shield." 

Of the Black Hawk warriors of Pulaski 
County, the same authority says: " In 1832, 
the celebrated Indian chief, Black Hawk, 
made war on the settlements in the northern 
part of the State. Promptly a company was 
raised in our county by Col. Webb, which 
went to the scene of action. Of that com- 
pany none are alive but the Captain, Thomas 
C. Kenedy, John Carnes and Alfred Lackey. 

" The war with Mexico occurred in 1846. 
A company was raised immediately by Col. 
C. H. Webb and William A. Hughes. The 
former was elected Captain and the latter 
First Lieutenant. This company consisted 
of 105 men, the noblest and best of our citi- 
zens. They were in but one engagement, 
etc. * * * By changes and promotions, 
the company was officered thus on the day 
of battle (Bueua Vista): Captain, William 
C. Woodward; First Lieutenant, John Bar- 
tleson; Second Lieutenant, Aaron Atherton; 
Third Lieutenant, W^illiam Price. On that 
eventful day, Col. Bissell, riding up to where 
the Pulaski company was posted, said to 
Lieut. Price: 'You are too old to go into 
this engagement; you will remain in camp.' 
The old man, nearly eighty years of age, 
standing proudly erect, said: 'Col. Bissell, 
I came here to light. If my time has come, 
I just want to die for my country on this bat- 
tle-field.' As the company went into action, 
Lieut. Atherton, observing that Capt. Wood- 
ward had only a Sergeant's short sword, 
gave his to the Captain, saying, ' You can take 
this; I know better how to use a gun! ' The 
last that Metcalf, afterward Lieutenant, saw 



524 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



of Atherton, he was defending his prostrate 
friend, Price. As he had often swung 
his cradle, so his heavy rifle went in circles, 
wielded by his powerful arm, and many a 
Mexican went down before him. The sword 
of Atherton, so faithfully used by Capt. 
Woodward, and gashed on Mexican lances, 
is in thft possession of the Atherton family. 
Of the 105 men who went so gayly to Mex- 
ico, only forty-two returned. Sixteen were 
killed in the battle of Buena Vista, includ- 
ing every officer, from the Captain down to 
the Second Sergeant, and of the forty-two, 
fourteen only now remain (1876). Among 
these are Joseph Evans, E. A. Philips, 
Lieut. William Pate, Capt. A. P. Corder, A. 
C. Bartleson, Edward Bartleson, James H. 
Metcalf, R. J. Johnson, G. P. Garner, Reu- 
ben Vaughan and John Abbott. Among 
those who fell on the field were Capt. Wood- 
ward, First Lieut,. John Bartleson, Second 
Lieut, Aaron Atherton, Third Lieut. William 
Price, Orderly Sergeant William J. Fayssoux, 
private J. W. Kiger, H. Dirk, George 
Crippen and Joseph Emmerson. On their 
return in 1847, these men were welcomed 
with demonstrations of joy at a public gath- 
ering, when speeches were made and a poem 
read by J. Y. Clemson, of which we extract 
a couple of stanzas, showing that while we 
had brave men, we had poets to sing their 
praises : 

" We lost some noble men that day — 

Men that were stamped in nature's mould; 
For fame and country those they fell, 
Not for the sordid love of gold. 

' ' Conspicuous on that fatal day 
Was a small band from Illinois, 
Foremost they were in all the fray, 
The gallant, brave Pulaski boys." 

The occasion and the home-like sentiment 
and truth the poet expresses are a sufficient 
apology for any seeming tripping there may 



chance to be in the verse, that at that time 
found a hearty response in every heart. 

In the Adjutant General's office at Spring- 
field, we find the following very imperfect 
roster of this company. Like nearly all the 
rolls of the Mexican war soldiers, it is not 
only wretchedly imperfect, but the company 
is credited as the " place of enrollment, Al- 
ton, 111.," because there was where they were 
mustered, and no residence of the companies 
are given. This is an outrage by the State 
upon the memories of those brave sons of Illi- 
nois, and the State should by all means 
remedy the records, at least to that extent 
that it could be done now by those who yet 
survive. If neglected a few years, the 
wrong will be irreparable, and the very chil- 
dren of these men will remain in ignoj'ance 
of their illustrious sires. The writer has had 
occasion to write the war record of several 
different companies that were in the Mexi- 
can war, and invariably in talking with these 
old veterans in regard to their company, he 
has found the Adjutant's books almost 
wholly unreliable. For the State to longer 
neglect this would be a flagrant injustice to 
the whole people. 

Col. Foreman, the only surviving Illinois 
Colonel of that war, is now an old man, re- 
siding in Vandalia, 111. It would be a labor 
of love — and he is eminently fit.ted for the 
work — to go into each county that sent a 
company or companies to that war, and per- 
fect the roster of each company, give the 
correct residence of each man, and fill out a 
complete history of every man that Illinois 
sent to that war. The band of surviving 
Mexican war soldiers have not been any too 
handsomely remembered by their country. 
No pension steals have gone into their pock- 
ets, and we know of no more appropriate act 
the State Legislature could do than to com- 
mission Col. Forman to do this work. 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



525 



From the records in the Adjutant Gener- 
al's office we give the following as all that 
appears of Company B, Second Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers: 

Captain, Anderson P. Corder; First Lieu- 
tenant, John W. Rigby; Second Lieutenant, 
William W. Tate and James M. Gaunt; 
Sergeants,' Watho F. Hargus, Abraham S. 
Latta, Calvin Brown and John Delaney; Cor- 
porals. John L. Barber, Robert E. Hall, 
James Cuppin, and James H. Gorrell, Mu- 
sicians, Andrew I. Ring; Privates, John 
Abbott, William C. Anglin, Edwin Bartle- 
son. Augustus Bartleson, AbnerBaccus, ^V el- 
bourn Boren, John Barnett, Henry Burk- 
hart, William Crippin,^ Robert Cole, Jiles 
M. Cole, John Curry, Marion M. Davis, 
Henry Doebaker, Joseph Evans, iller 
Echols, Daniel Emerick, Charles Goodall, 
John Goodwin, Joseph B. Hornback, Will- 
iam Hughes, James M. Hale, Reason I. John- 
son, William Johnson, Elisha Ladd, James 
L. Loudon, Thomas E. Loudon, Pleasant 
Lefler, Patrick H. McGee, James H. Metcalf, 
Enos A. Phillips, George Purdy, Framuel 
Parkei', John B. Russell, Pinkney Russell, 
John Russell, David Renfrew, Jonathan 
Story, Columbus C. Smith, Calvin L. Scott, 
Jackson Summerville, Elijah Shepherd, Cy- 
rus Stephens, James Thorp, Andrew J. 
Tiner, William E. Tiner, Isham L. Tiner, 
Thomas Thompson, Reuben Vaugh, John 
White, William Whitaker, H. A. Young, 
died; Alfred Bakstou, March 21, at SaUillo; 
Thomas Jaines, March 4, at same place ; Enoch 
Kelso, at Loracco, tirae not known. Dis- 
charged, Private John Kitchell, on Sur- 
geon's certificate, March 20; Abraham S. 
Latta, on detached service, hospital, Septem- 
ber 29; James H. Gorrell, absent, sick at 
Laracco, from August 11; William C. Ang- 
lin, taken prisoner at Buena Vista; also at 
same time and place John Curry and Jos- 



eph Evans. Wounded in this battle, Charles 
Goodall, absent, sick at Loracco, from Au- 
gust 11; Calvin L. Scott, Elijah Shepherd, 
and W'illiam Whitaker. Taken prisoner at 
Buena Vista, James Thorp. 

The company was discharged from service 
at Camargo June 18, 1847. 

In the late unfortunate civil war, Pulaski 
County, like all the counties of Southern 
Illinois, was the first to enlist and the first 
and foremost in the battles of the country. 

Capt. William M. Boren raised Company 
K, of the One Hundi-ed and Ninth Regiment 
of which we have given the account in the 
Union County history in this volume. Capt 
Rigby's company was attached to the Thirty- 
first Regiment. This was John A. Logan's 
regiment, and it was formed entirely of 
Southern Illinois men. There were many 
other enlistments in the county in various 
I'egiments and in the naval service. 

But of the three counties, Union, Alexan- 
der and Pulaski, the first, in the matter of 
turning out fighters in the late war, was in 
the lead. In fact. Union County is entitled 
to be considered the banner county of the 
State, either in war or in voting for General 
Jackson straight at every election. 

In the biographical depax'tment of this 
work will be found an extended sketch of 
the life of J. Y. Clemson, whose fruit farm, 
near Caledonia, deserves especial mention. 
This is the finest fruit farm on the Ohio River 
and it produces pears, strawberries, peaches 
and small berries of all kinds that we much 
question if in either of these it can be 
equaled in the world. The fame of the 
fruits grown upon Mr. Clemson's farm is 
now all over the AVest and South, both for 
the size of the fruit and the exquisite delicacy 
of flavor. This farm is protected fi'om the 
frosts by the river and the hills, as is much 
of Pulaski County, and a failure of crops 



526 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



has never occurred since the settlement of 
this part of the county in 1817. Mi-. Clem- 
son has demonstrated that much of Pulaski 
County possesses great advantages over al- 
most any other spot on the globe for horti- 
cultural purposes. That tlie yield per acre 
is extraordinary, the quality and flavor per- 
fect, and there never occurs a failure of 
crops. In fact, at times when a killing frost 
had visited nearly all portions of the coun- 



try, this locality in the county has escaped 
untouched. It is only of veiy late years 
that this has become to be known of those 
heretofore despised lands of Pulaski County 
— the barrens, fhey were supposed to be 
nearly worthless, whereas the truth is they 
are by far the most valuable lands in the 
State, and it is the opinion of competent 
judges that in a few years they will develop 
wonders in both agriculture and horticulture. 



CHAPTER IV.^ 



AGRICULTURE— EARLY MODE OF FARMING IN PULASKI COUNTY— INCIDENTS— STOCK-RAISING 
—PRESENT IMPROVEMENTS— HORTICULTURE— FIRST ATTEMPTS AT FRUIT-GROW- 
ING— APPLES— TREE PEDDLERS— STRAWBERRIES— PEACHES -GRAPES 
AND WINE— OTHER FRUITS— VEGETABLES, ETC., ETC. 



rr^^HE agricultural history of this county 
-L could be nothing more nor less than a 
repetition of the history of almost every 
other county in Southern Illinois. But per- 
haps a short sketch of the subject may fill a 
niche in the mind of some reader that will be 
a lasting benefit to him. The area of this 
county is about one hundred and eighty- 
three square miles (one of the smallest coun- 
ties in the State), nine-tenths of which is 
susceptible of cultivation, and in a state of 
nature was one vast forest of the finest tim- 
ber in America. No prairies were here to 
welcome the hvisbandman; if any crops were 
grown, the timber must first be removed, 
which, in itself, was a herculean task, and 
the stumps and roots were still to contend 
with. What wonder is it that most of the 
county lay so long without improvement or 
cultivation';* For the first forty years of 
settlement in the county, there could be no 

* By George W. Endicott. 



incentive to grow crops which there was no 
market for. Each settler raised corn and 
potatoes and garden " sass " enough for 
his own use and no more. The implements 
of agriculture consisted of a small buU- 
tongue plow and a hoe made by the black- 
smith. 

The early mode of agriculture of this 
county consisted in beginning about the 1st 
of March to clear up three or four acres of 
land for corn. This, with the other small 
crops, would be planted as soon as the ground 
could be prepared, and it was then cultivate<l 
until it was ready to be "laid by," when 
there was nothing more to do on the farm 
until time to gather the corn and pumpkins 
in the fall. During this interval, the more 
industrious and enterprising men would go 
to some wood yard on the river and chop cord 
wood, while those not so disposed would 
hunt in the woods and loaf around among 
the neighbors. The " womanfolks " would 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



52T 



raise a patch of cotton and spin, weave, and 
make their own and their family's clothes. 

The main point in farming, in those days, 
was to have a herd of wild hogs in the woods, 
corn enough for bread and to feed the pony, 
and a few ears to toll the hogs up to mai'k 
them. 

When spring came, the crop time was a 
rather hard life to live, and about the only 
revenue that could be counted on was hens' 
eggs to buy the small luxuries, such as 
coffee, sugar, salt or anything in that line; 
and if the hens failed to come to time on the 
"lay," the old man and children would 
strike out to the woods to dig " ginseng." A 
large sack of this then, staple could be dug 
in a few days, and, when dried, would bring 
in $3 or $4 — a sum that would help out the 
family finances in a good shape. There was 
but little provision made for the cattle, as 
they could live all winter on the "cane" 
\^hich grew in the woods. But very little 
wheat was grown here then, as there were no 
mills to grind it, and no market for the sur- 
plus. Indeed, the first settlers were at great 
inconvenience to get their corn ground; there 
were nothing but horse mills, and very few 
of them. There are many good stories told 
of these early mills. One patron said he 
always took his corn to mill in the ear, as 
he could shell it faster than the mill could 
grind it, and then he had the cobs to throw 
at the rats to keep them from eating the corn 
all up as it ran down from the hopper. 
Another story is told on the first water mill 
that was built on Cache River. The owner 
of the mill put the grist in the hopper and 
let on the water, and about the time he had 
the mill going nicely he heard a turkey 
" call" in the woods, so he took his gun and 
went to look for the turkey. While he was 
gone, a blue jay alighted on the hoop around 
the bvihrs, and as fast as a grain of corn 



would shake down from the hopper he would 
eat it. W'hen the miller returned, the jay 
had eaten all the com, and the millstones 
were worn out. 

But all this is changed now. Our mills 
are first-class in every respect. A great 
change has come to the county since the ad- 
vent of the railroads. Saw mills have cut 
the timber off, to a gi'eat extent, and much 
of our lands have been cleared up and put 
under cultivation. Some of our 100-acre 
fields of wheat are now cut with self-binders, 
and an average of fifty harvesting machines 
are sold annually in the county. Our hay 
crop is of great importance, as the river 
offers cheap transportation to the South, 
where the market is always good. All the 
low lands are well adapted to timothy, and 
the hill lands grow as fine clover and or- 
chard grass as can be produced in the State; 
while the Kentucky blue grass takes to our 
pastures without any seeding, and with 
judicious management sheep could be pas- 
tured here all winter, except when the 
ground might be covered with snow, which 
is but seldom. 

The county has, practically, no sheep, but 
over three thousand worthless dogs; and 
where that number of dogs reign supreme 
sheep do not flourish. The stock of cattle is 
being graded up with short- horn and Jersey 
blood, which will prove a lasting benefit to 
the county. Our progressive farmers have 
abandoned the " elm peeler " or "hazel 
splitter " hogs, for a breed that is not all 
"snout" and " bristles," and the results 
are every way satisfactory. 

To sum up the whole matter of agriculture 
and horticulture, "after taking the quality 
and quantity of oui' products into consider- 
ation, the small area of oar county, and that 
only one-half improved, we feel like we have 
no reason to be discouraged at the results. 



538 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



Horticulture. — A history of Pulaski 
County that fails to accord it the first place 
on the list as a horticultural county, would 
fail to do justice to the capabilities of its 
soil and climate. While some counties 
grow more apples, some more grapes and 
some more tomatoes, yet there is not a county 
in the State where every one of the following 
list of fruits and vegetables can be grown to 
so great perfection: Apples, pears, peaches, 
grapes, strawberries, red raspberries, black 
raspberries, blackberries, tomatoes, melons, 
sweet potatoes, wax beans, early cabbage, pie 
plant, asparagus, and every variety of garden 
vegetable that can be grown in the temperate 
zone. All of the above-named fruits and 
vegetables can be grown on any single acre 
of good land in the county that is above high 
water mark, and good watermelons and 
tomatoes have been produced on a pile of 
earth taken from a well sixty feet deep, and 
that without any special fertilizers or care, 
except to supply water in a severe drought. 
This would prove that our soil is not ex- 
hausted as soon as the top is cultivated a 
few years. 

The history of horticultui-e is in intimate 
relation with the progress of civilization. 
An acute observer has justly remarked that 
the esteem in which gardening is held among 
nations is an unfailing index of the advance 
they have made in other forms of human 
progress. But it is not until society is im- 
proved, commerce extended and the human 
mind expanded, that horticulture takes its 
place among the arts, flourishing wherever 
there is wealth to encourage or taste to ap- 
preciate its charms and excellences. Hor- 
ticulture has advanced with civilization, and 
blended with all that adorns, refines and sus- 
tains the structure of a solid as well as an 
elegant society. The cultivation of fruit is the 
most perfect union of the useful and beautiful 



that the world has ever known. Trees, covered 
in spring time with their green and glossy 
foliage, blended with fragrant flowers of 
white to crimson and gold, that are suc- 
ceeded by the ripened fruit, melting and 
grateful through all the fervid heat of sum- 
mer, is indeed a tempting prospect to every 
land -holder in our favored region. It is 
natural to suppose that a people so richly 
endowed by nature as ours have given m rked 
attention to an art that supplies so m ay of 
the amenities of life, and around whic clus- 
ter so many memories that appeal to t > finer 
instincts of our nature. In a regio' ^avored 
with a climate bright, sunny and f. e from 
extreme changes, and with a soi] ""^hat, in 
varying composition, in fertility ar i aepth 
becomes suited to all the fruits c lO.non to 
the temperate zone, horticulture i ^aturally 
held in that high esteem that becomes so im- 
portant a factor in our welfare. 

The introduction of fruit into this county 
is almost coeval with its first settlement. 
Sprouts from the old apple trees and seeds 
from the favorite old peach trees of the old 
home in the South or East were a part of 
the pioneer's outfit, and were cared for with 
as much patience as the children or favorite 
cow. While the varieties thus grown would 
not be considered of any great value now, 
yet they served a good purpose by creating 
a landmark, as it were, to which the youth 
who waited for the fruit to ripen can look 
back with pleasure, and, while his head may 
be " silvered o'er with the frosts of man ywin- 
ters," a thought, perhaps, steals through his 
mind that the days spent under the old apple 
trees were the happiest of his life. 

Horticulture, as an art, received but little 
attention in the early settlement of this coun- 
ty. The fruits adapted to the soil and cli- 
mate had not been introduced; even the na- 
ture of the soil was not well understood. 





t<f^/f^&^^ 'c St0 j> 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



531 



There were no means at hand for the rapid 
diffusion of such knowledge. There were 
no horticultural societies and associations, to 
gather individual experience and present it 
in available form for the use of the masses, 
and at best there was not much time, in the 
struggle for the necessaries of life in a prim- 
itive country, for the obtaining of its amen- 
ities. 

Horticulture at this time, even in the older 
settled States, was but in its infancy, and 
the first effort of the pioneer was to repro- 
duce the fruit in cultivation at the time, and 
in the locality whence he had emigrated. 
Many of the old trees planted by the early 
settlers show some traits that have not been 
rivalled by the later and more improved 
varieties planted long since. Their hardi- 
ness and good bearing qualities are phenom- 
inal and that, too, without anyoi the scienti- 
fic pruning and care advocated by the horti- 
cultiirists of the present day. 

Improved horticulture in this county — 
that is, the planting of fruits for commercial 
benefits — dates back to about the year 1858- 
59. Judge A. M. Brown (now deceased), a 
prominent jurist and newspaper man of 
Kentucky, became infatuated with our hills 
and valleys, and located at Villa Ridge. He 
was the first man to plant largely of budded 
peaches, pears and apples for market. He 
was joined, almost immediately, by Dr. 
Brown, of Kentucky, and Dr. J, H. Grain, 
of Ohio, both very enthusiastic pomologists. 
They planted largely of apples, their first 
impulse being to grow apples for the New 
Orleans market, as the river offered a good 
outlet for that kind of fruit. But, like every 
other new enterprise, conceived by strangers 
to the soil and climate, they made some mis- 
takes in the selection of varieties; and while 
the trees were growing many of our old 
citizens caught the fever, and new men came 



in from the North and East, and all became 
more or less affected with the horticultural 
"itch." 

About this time, a new class of men came 
on the scene. These were denominated " tree 
peddlers," and to say that they gathered in 
a rich harvest would be a mild expression. 
They sold trees to all they could induce to 
buy, at high figures, mostly on time, and any 
man who had land enough cleared was flat- 
tered and cajoled by the fine pictures and 
preserved specimens, to plant from ten to 
forty acres, mostly in apples. Many of the 
trees were true to name, but the varieties 
were unsuited to this climate. The early 
varieties were all right, but Spys, Spitzen- 
bergs, Baldwins and many excellent East- 
ern winter apples are a failure here, as they 
ripen in August and September; while many 
of the orders thus taken were filled from the 
same pile, and labeled to suit the buyer. 
While this fraud was being pushed exten- 
sively, there was another class of men, who 
were more conservative, and thought that 
apples to suit our soil and climate should 
come from the highlands of Southei-n Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina. Among this class, 
and at the head, ought to be placed " old 
Uncle Tom " McClelland (deceased), who 
spent time and money to try all the better 
varieties of his old North Carolina home, and 
with a fair share of success. Without any 
records on the subject, he is conceded to 
have been the first man in this county to 
graft or bud the apple tree. Many of the 
farms in this county attest his work, by their 
"Carolina Red June," " Abram," ^'Nickajack," 
" Limbertwig," " Buckingham " and many 
other apples of that class, suited to om* soil 
and climate. While our experience has 
been a bitter one, it has inculcated many 
valuable lessons. One is, we are south of 
the latitude in which the apple attains its best 



532 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



estate. We can never hope to acclimate any 
of the choice Northern or Eastern apples to 
this section, yet we can and do grow good 
apples. Our "Winesaps," "Sparks," "Finks," 
" Rome Beauty," " Summer Pearmain " and 
many other varieties are not excelled any- 
where. While we give the apple the first 
place on our list of fruits for domestic use, 
it would have to accept a third or fourth 
place in a commercial point of view. The 
strawberry, peach and grape would ovitrank 
it for money. 

The strawberry, while it never assumes 
the dignity of a tree, or the spreading im- 
portance of a vine, yet it commands respect 
for its intrinsic merit. No other single crop 
in this county, at this time, has the influ- 
ence on the business relations of our people. 
An entire failure would almost bankrupt our 
merchants, and a good crop makes all hearts 
rejoice, from the merchant, with his thous- 
ands of dollars invested, down to the little 
negro with his " two quart check." The 
gathering and shipping of the strawberry 
crop to market, develops a spirit of business 
enterprise in our boys and girls that they 
would never attain by the study of text-books. 

The first strawberries ever grown in this 
county for market were grown by Mr. 
Stephen Blanchard, near the town of Amer- 
ica, about the year 1857. 

They were known as the " Virginia Seed- 
ling, " or " scarlet, " and were at that time 
considered a great luxury, but would not be 
tolerated on our farms to-day. The berries 
that he took to the home market were han- 
dled in shallow trays, with the traditional 
" paddle scoop, " and what he marketed at 
the towns on the Central Railroad were put 
up in small quart boxes, made of thin lum- 
ber, and set on shallow trays. Then an old 
German would take one of these trays in 
each hand and walk to tlie railroad, pay his 



fare to Cairo or any other market he wished 
to use, and carry 'the berries and sell them 
and bring back the boxes and money. 

The first Wilson strawberries introduced 
into this county was through the late Judge 
A. M. Brown; but the first Wilsons culti- 
vated for market were by Martin Harnish, 
from Lancaster County, Penn. His one- 
fourth of an acre soon spread. In the vicin- 
ity of Villa Ridge, many of his neighbors 
planted small patches, seldom over half an 
acre, as there were many who thought the 
markets would be glutted and the entire busi- 
ness overdone. For instance, when, in 1863, 
nineteen shippers sent off fifty cases in one 
day, almost everyone thought the market 
would be " busted." But the berries sold on 
the Chicago market the next day, at 45 cents 
per quart. 

The delusion that the market would be 
glutted, and that no one man could success- 
fully handle more than one acre, clung to 
our people like the fear of death; and it is 
only in the last six or seven years that we 
have learned that the same vim and push 
that would handle one acre would handle 
ten if multiplied by ten. To illustrate how 
the fear of spreading out was kept alive, it 
would be well to give a sketch of one large 
plantation, and the way it was managed 
here. Some Cincinnati men, learning that 
we could grow good berries, formed a com- 
pany, came here, and bought some land in a 
rich, sweet gum bottom. They cleared up 
twenty acres at a great expense, planted it 
partially with bogus plants, cultivated it in 
the most expensive manner and boarded at a 
hotel — in fact, moved things lively; build- 
ing extensive quarters for pickers, and pay- 
ing 3 to 5 cents per quart for picking. There 
wae no fruit train then, as now, and all had 
to go by express. Some days they would 
miss the train, and the berries would have to 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



533 



lay over to another day; sometimes the whole 
lot would have to be dumped out at the 
station and thus lost. All this, in connec- 
tion with the fact that the berries were ten 
days later in the rich bottoms than on the 
sunny hillsides, and a big mortgage was 
spread over the whole thing, and the reader 
will not be surprised that a grand failure 
was the result of the first big strawberry field 
in this county. Everybody was ready to say 
" I told you so," and "It can't be done; 
one acre is enough for any man," and 
many more such consolatory remarks. If 
c>ur people had seen where the failure came 
in, and profited thereby, we would, to-day, 
have I'anked first as a strawberry shipping 
point, instead of being the third on the Cen- 
tral Kailroad. 

The varieties in cultivation here now are 
many, but the Wilson still holds its own 
against all new comers in the minds of its 
old friends. The cash brought into this 
county by strawberries, twenty-two years ago, 
amounted to but a few dollars; the amount 
brought in this year (1883) will reach nearly 
1100,000, and the acreage, which was about 
600 acres this year, will, in 1884, be at least 
50 per cent higher. 

Peach growing has attained some siaccess 
in the county in the last twenty years; but 
many of the first budded varieties were not 
suited to the soil and climate, and one-half 
of all the peaches planted in the county have 
failed to pay a fair interest on the capital 
invested, for the reason that the planters 
had not the experience and will to give the 
proper care to growing the trees, cultivating 
the soil, and " bugging " and thinning the 
fruit. 

The late Judge Brown, already mentioned, 
and Martin Harnish planted the first com- 
mercial peach orchards in this county. They 
advocated starting the heads of the trees boot 



top high, so the limbs could bend down 
without splitting the trunks of the trees. A 
few years, however, of this style of pruning 
cured them of that idea, and Judge Brown 
became one of the stanchest advocates of 
high-headed trees, thorough " bugging" and 
thinning of the fruit. 

It would be useless to go through the list 
of peaches, to designate those that failed, or 
those that succeeded; but most of the peach - 
growers here noted that the early and late 
varieties pay better than to have an excessive 
crop in midsummer. With a better knowl- 
edge of what varieties to plant, and how to 
care for them, coupled with that progressive 
spirit of our planters, the outlook is promis- 
ing to make this county one of the foremost 
peach growing counties of the West. 

There may have been a few vines of Ca- 
tawba and Isabella grapes planted here at an 
early date, but old Father Huhner, a German 
from St. Louis, was the first to plant grapes 
in this county (about 1859-60) for commer- 
cial use. His object was the manufacture of 
wine, and in a few years there was a lively 
interest in the grape and wine business in 
the county. A considerable amount of good 
wine was made and sold here; but the 
changes aud vexations of the internal rev- 
enue, and the fact that the gi'apes would sell 
for as much money as the wine would bring, 
caused a falling-off in the production of wine, 
and to-day there is none made in the county. 
But the reader must not infer that grape 
growing has ceased. Far from it. Each 
year has witnessed an increase in the acre- 
age, and more care and thought used in 
gathering and marketing the fruit, until it is 
now considered one of our most permanent 
and profitable fruit crops. Last year (1882) 
there were more than seventy tons of grapes 
shipped from this county, and it was one of 
the worst years for the grape we have had. 



534 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



The business has grown, from a few hun- 
di-ed vines in 18G0, to near 200,000 in 
1883, including the yoiing vines planted this 
spring; and preparations are being made to 
still increase the number. The most hopeful 
outlook in the grape business in this county- 
is the introduction of better varieties for 
table use and wine. 

The red raspberry has always been a good 
fruit for market purposes, and has paid well 
the last few years; but our people don't plant 
largely of them on account of the trouble of 
getting them picked in good condition. Our 
hot summers sometimes burn the canes of 
the blackcaps so they die; and again, our 
market is so far off, that they are neglected 
as a market crop, although, in a general way, 
they grow and bear heavy crops, and are 
profitable to evaporate. 

What^ can we say of blackberries? The 
woods, fence-cornei-s and ditches are full of 
them; all fruiting annually, and making a 
glut in every market in reach. Some of the 
wild ones are good in quality, and larger in 
size than the Snyder, or many of the culti- 
vated sorts so highly extolled by nurserymen. 

In a commercial way, the sweet potato is, 
perhaps, the leading vegetable of this county. 
They have been grown here, for home use, 
for many years; but it is only in the last ten 
or twelve years that they have assumed any 
importance as a croi? to ship to Northern 
markets. The first full car load of sweet 



potatoes grown and shipped from Villa Ridge 
to Chicago was in 1870. It was shipped by 
the writer, and from that date to the present 
time the shipments have increased, until 
now they are considered one of our best an- 
nual products; and there is not a month, 
from October to April, that they are not 
shipped North by the car-load. 

The growing and shipping wax beans to 
the Northern markets was first successfully 
done by Mr. Israel Sanderson, of Pulaski (if 
we are not mistaken) in 1870-71. The busi- 
ness has grown, from a few one-third bushel 
boxes at the first, to eight or nine car-loads 
a year at present, and the demand seems to 
keej) pace with the supply. Mr. Sandei'son 
is also the first man to cultivate and ship the 
cantelope, or nutmeg melon to market from 
this county, and was the most successful 
grower in the county. But the melon -louse 
gave so much trouble that, as a commercial 
crop, they are now almost abandoned. 

The growing of tomatoes for market has 
never assumed very large proportions here. 
The earliest and finest specimens, however, 
have been raised and shipped from Villa Ridge, 
and there is no reason why it should not 
rival Cobden as a tomato station. There are 
many other fruits and vegetables that should 
be mentioned; but the brief space allotted to 
horticulture in a work of this kind, and the 
limited time at the writer's command, pre- 
cludes a more extended article. 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



535 



CHAPTER V. 



MOUND CITY— EARLY HISTORY OF THE PLACE— THE INDIAN MASSACRE— JOSEPH TIBBS AND 

SOME OF THE EARLY CITIZENS OF "THE MOUNDS"— GEN. RAWLINGS— FIRST SALE OF LOTS 

—THE EMPORIUM COMPANY— HOW IT FLOURISHED AND THEN PLAYED OUT— THE 

MARINE WAYS— GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL— THE NATIONAL CEMETERY, ETC. 



rr^HE earliest history of which we have 
-1- any accurate account of the location 
where Mound City now stands dates back to 
1812, that being the time of the Indian mas- 
sacre, and as it tells of the life and fate of 
many early pioneers in Illinois, we give the 
history of the massacre, as told by Thomas 
Falker, and as written by Rev. E. B. Olm- 
sted, and published in the newspapers some 
years ago. 

Thomas Falker, who died in Pulaski Coun- 
ty in 1859, gave the facts of the massacre 
of the whites where Mound City now stands. 
The first white settlers of the extreme south- 
ern portion of Illinois were Tennesseans, 
but it is not generally known that they were 
driven here by an earthquake, which gave its 
first shake December 16, 1811. The present 
site of Cairo was then known as Bird's 
Point. Two families, one named Clark and 
the other Phillips, lived near where is now 
Mound City. A man named Conyer had set- 
tled below the old town, America, and a Mr. 
Lyerle, a short distance above, and a man 
named Humphrey lived where Lower Cale- 
donia now stands. These were all the inhab- 
itants of the country, from the mouth of the 
Ohio to Grand Chain — twenty miles, They 
had made but small improvement, and as 
the land had not yet come into market, of 
course they did not own the soil. The fam- 
ily of Clark consisted of only himself and 

•By Dr. N. R. Casey. 



wife; their children were grown up and 
lived elsewhere, but paid them an occasional 
visit. The other family near Mound City, 
consisted of Mrs. Phillips and a son and 
daughter nearly grown and a man named 
Kenaday. The family originally were from 
Tennessee, and removed from that State into 
what is now Union County. Mr. Phillips 
having occasion to return to Tennessee, on 
business, Kenaday became acquianted with 
his wife and persuaded her to abandon 
Phillips and live with him. No disturbance 
followed this delinquency, and the easy 
morals of the times seems to have winked at it. 

In the fall of 1812, these families were 
enjoying their usual quiet, when some In- 
dians, ten in number, paid them an unex- 
pected visit. They belonged to the Creek 
tribe, which inhabited the lower part of 
Kentucky, and had been exiled and outlawed 
for some supposed outrages committed 
on their own nation. They wei*e known to 
the inhabitants of that country as " the out- 
lawed Indians," and on the occasion of this 
unwelcome visit were returning from a tour 
in the northern part of the territory, where 
they had been to see some other tribes. On 
the same day, Mr. Phillips returned home, 
accompanied by a Mr. Shaver, who lived in 
Union County, and whose wife Mrs. Phillips 
had been attending in her sickness. 

The cabin of Clark stood near the west 
boundary line of what is Mound City; that 



530 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



of Mrs. Phillips a short distance above, on 
the next elevation. Shaver stopped at Clark's 
and fastened his horse near the back door. 
"When he saw the Indians, he expressed ap- 
prehension to Clark, but he told him he was 
acquainted with them, had traded with them, 
and did not suppose they had any bad inten- 
tions. Yet when Clark on one occasion went 
out to the smoke house Shaver saw by the 
pallor of his face that he was much alarmed. 
It was his opinion that Clark had seen or 
overheard through the openings of the house 
enough to satisfy him of the hostile inten- 
tions of the savages, but feared to speak of 
it lest Shaver should mount his horse and 
leave him to his fate. The Indians asked 
for something to eat. Mrs. Clark told them 
if they would gi'ind some corn on the hand 
mill she would prepare them a meal. They 
did so and partook of the hospitality of a 
family they fully intended to butcher before 
night. 

The Indians were armed with guns and 
tomahawks; one of them came to Shaver and 
felt the muscles of his thighs, his knees, etc., 
as though he wished to judge of his ability 
to run. " Do you wish to run a race? " said 
Shaver. " No. " " Do you wish to wrestle ? " 
"No. " The situation of the white settlers were 
becoming more alarming. They hoped, after 
the Indians had eaten, they would take their 
departure, but they sauntered around as if 
unwilling to do so. It was Shaver's inten- 
tion to carry home some whisky, but Clark 
was afraid to draw it while the Indians were 
there. At length, five of the Indians went 
up to Mrs. Phillips' ; the other five remained 
at Clark's. Two of the latter took their sta- 
tion with apparent carelessness in the front 
door (next the river), and two more stood 
near the fire-place, where sat Mr. and Mrs. 
Clark and Shaver. The latter happening to 
look at the Indians in the front door, saw 



one of them make a signal in the direction 
of Mrs. Phillips', which was in sight, by 
striking his hands together vertically sev- 
eral times. Directly he heard screams and 
shouts in that direction, and the next instant 
received a stunning blow on his head, from 
the hatchet of the Indian who stood near 
him. He fell forward, but being a powerful 
man, he dashed between the two Indians at 
the bhck door and ran for his liorse, which, 
as said, was fastened near the back door. 
He soon saw, however, his retreat in that di- 
rection would be cut off, so he ran down the 
river bank, with two of the Indians in full 
pursuit. They doubtless supposed, as Shaver 
was already wounded, he would fall an easy 
prey; but he was fleet oE foot, and then he 
was running for his life. Blinded by the 
blood which poured down his face, and which 
he occasionally dashed away with his hand, 
he made for the bayou below the present Ma- 
rine Ways. A hatchet just missed his head 
and fell many yards in front of him. His 
first impulse was to pick it up and defend 
himself, but a moment's reflection convinced 
him the chances were too much against him. 
It was half a mile or so to the bayou; Shaver 
gained it in advance of the Indians. It was 
quite full and partially frozen over. He 
plunged in and gained the opposite shore. 
The Indians paused on the bank, afraid to 
follow. They told him he was a brave, and 
endeavored to induce him to return. Tradi- 
tion says he addressed some very strong lan- 
guage to the Indians and made his way to 
the Union County settlements. His escape, 
considering the circumstances, was wonder- 
ful. The Indians murdered Clark and his 
wife, Mrs. Phillips, her son and daughter 
and Kenaday. They ripped up the feather 
beds, destroyed the furniture and carried oflf 
whatever struck their fancy, including 
Shaver's fine horse. They crossed tlie river 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



537 



into Kentucky and were followed by the cit- 
izens of the settlement in Union County for 
some distance, but no trace of them could be 
found. A few days after, Capt. Phillips, 
who was stationed at Fort Massac, came 
down with a company of men to bui*y the 
dead. A shocking sight met their gaze. 
Clark and his wife were found in their house 
dead. The body of young William Phillips 
was found drifted ashore about a mile below 
Mound City. His sister was not found; one 
of her slippers was found on the bank of the 
river. It is supposed she and her brother 
got into a skiflf and were shot down before 
they could get away. Kenaday was found 
some distance from the cabin of Mrs. Phil- 
lips. His shoulder and back much cut in 
gashes by the tomahawks of the savages. 
The body of Mrs. Phillips was found, and 
also the body of her unborn babe, impaled 
upon a stake. 

After the Indian massacre, the place known 
as the Mounds seems to have been deserted 
for a time, but its advantages as a trading 
point overcame the fears, mixed with su- 
perstition, that possessed the people that 
migrated to and up and down the Ohio River, 
and in 1836 there were two double log cab- 
ins, with two thirty-foot rooms, a twelve- 
foot porch, a clapboard roo! over all, with 
large fire-place in each end, live other cabins 
and one storehouse. The two double 
cabins stood on the river bank, near where 
Meyer & Nordman's stave factory now 
stands. Two of the small cabins above where 
the 3Iound City Hotel now stands, two more 
near where P. M. Kelly now lives. The store- 
house, a little southeast of what was known 
as the Big Mound, on the river bank; a 
strip of ground then lay between the mound 
and river. The store, which consisted of dry 
goods, gi'oceries and a general assortment of 
such articles as were absolutely necessary, 



not embracing anything, however, that could 
be considered in those days a luxury. It 
was kept by Forbes & Vancil; the latter died 
at the Mounds, and the former in the county. 
In connection with this store, they had a 
wood-yard. They paid their wood-choppers 
in goods, and traded extensively with hunt- 
ers and trappers, and in this way did a 
thriving business for a number of years. 
The other cabins were occupied first by one 
and then by another, as they happened 
along, but the cabins could never be found 
empty. In 1838, a regiment of soldiers, re- 
turning from the Florida war, on their way 
to Jefferson Barracks, got ice-bound, and re- 
mained in camp, just this side of the mouth 
of Cache River, all winter. Three-quarters 
of a mile south of Mound City, the country 
was then comparatively a wilderness. What 
few emigrants bad sought the location had 
brought with them various kinds of stock. 
The wild grass and the vast canebrakes gave 
them unlimited pasture, summer and winter, 
and they increased rapidly. Wild cattle and 
hogs, never having been cared for by human 
hands, abounded in the woods. But they 
tell that the wild stock and the tame ones 
were much fewer when the soldiers left in 
the spring, that it was their custom to kill 
anything they saw that they imagined might 
be good to eat. On one occasion, a large 
company of them came up to Forbes & Van- 
cil's store; they found the log porch hung 
with game, among which was a dressed deer. 
They flocked on and around the porch, and 
when they left, the turkeys, ducks and squir- 
rels were all gone, and nothing left of the 
dressed deer but its skeleton. Soldiers have 
acted very much alike, it would seem, in all 
ages. 

There was a road leading from the Mounds 
to America, one to Jonesboro and one to Uni- 
ty, then the county seat, but they were not 



538 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



broad gauges, nor were they air lines, and 
to travel them with a wagon involved much 
uncertainty as to the outcome. In 1838, there 
was a storehouse built, by a man named 
Coblitz, of considerable pretensions. It 
was a frame and two stories high, 20x50 feet, 
but was burnt down in 1839. It also stood 
near the mound on the river. "We find at this 
date and earlier the present site of Mound 
City, an important trading point on the 
Ohio River for many miles. • When Mr. 
Coblitz left, which was after his storehouse 
and its efifectshad burned, Mr. James Doagh- 
erty, father of A. J. and J. L. Dougherty, 
moved to the Mounds in 1839, and became 
the business man of the place, cultivated 
the ten or fifteen acres of cleared land 
and continued the wood yard for three 
years. After James Dougherty, Joseph Tibbs 
came, a man of much native shrewdness, 
without education, not being able to read or 
write his name, but was the recognized 
leader of a majority of the inhabitants of 
this immediate settlement. He was frequently 
involved in law suits, and on one occasion 
he was asked why he did not employ a law- 
yer to defend him. His reply indicated "the 
kind of a man he was. " He said he had 
found it safer and even cheaper to employ 
witnesses. Joseph Tibbs cultivated the 
cleared land at the Mounds from 1843 to 
1852. In 1857, he was living on his farm, 
two and a half miles west of Mound City, 
when the writer met him for the first time. 
The first question he asked after the . intro- 
duction was, had I brought a good horse 
with me. I intimated that his reputation 
had extended to my former home, conse- 
quently I brought no horse. He died in 
1859 and had considerable property. He 
left but one son, and he demented. While 
many hard stories are told of Joseph Tibbs, 
he had many good qualities. 



From the time steamboats navigated the 
Ohio River, the deep water, the banks and 
the safe harbor, now fronting Moand City, 
was known by steamboat men and used by 
them as a place of safety for landing and 
mooring their boats during low water. This 
locality was considered by them the head of 
navigation during low water, when the upper 
river was frozen over. Steamers could reach 
this point at all seasons of the year from the 
Lower Mississippi. The warm watei's from 
the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers pre- 
vented the formation of ice sufiicient to in- 
terrupt navigation. As early as 1840, ten 
to fifteen steamboats laid up at the Mounds 
during the entire winter, while low water in 
the Mississippi, together with ice, prevented 
them fi-om reaching St. Louis, and it has 
ever since that time been considered by 
steamboat men a desirable place for mooring 
boats during low water, ice or storms. The 
Ohio River at this point measures one mile 
from the Illinois -to the Kentucky shore. 
The channel is wide and deep, and washes 
the Illinois side. The I'iver widens from 
this point to its mouth, and in early days, 
when the commerce of the Ohio Valley was 
transported by rivers south, it was no un- 
common thing to see ten or fifteen steamers 
in sight, including the celebrated Eclipse 
and like boats, loaded to the water's edge. 
It is not strange that a location that had 
been so long regarded so favorably as a trad- 
ing point should attract attention, and its 
natural advantages made available in build- 
ing upon the site a city. With that purpose 
in view. Gen. Moses M. Rawlings, in 1854, 
owning the following lands that had been 
owned by more than one person and had 
been divided into allotments and described 
as lots: Lot No. 2, contaiuing thirty-five 
acres; Lot No. 5, containing thirty -eight 
acres; and Lot No. 12, containing thirteen 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



539 



acres, all in Section 36, Town 16, Kange 1 
west, determined to lay out a city. A his- 
tory of Mound City without at least a brief 
history of Gen. Rawlings, would ceHainly be 
incomplete. 

Gen. M. M, Kawlings was born in Virgin- 
ia in 1798, his parents moving to Newcastle 
County, Ky., in 1794. When a boy, he 
left his father's house and on foot made 
his way to Shawneetown, 111., reaching that 
place without a dollar in the spring of 1809. 
At that early day, the Saline salt works were 
being operated, and directly and indirectly 
gave employment to a number of laborers. 
Youncj Rawlings took hold of whatever came 
in his way to do. The result was he soon accu- 
mulated more than a bare living. He invested 
in produce, furs, or anything out of which 
he thought a profit might be the result. 
Gen. Rawlings was married three times. He 
married his first wife, Miss Sarah J. Seaton, 
of Breckinridge County, Ky., in 1811, 
long before he had reached his majority, and 
by whom he had ten children. All died be- 
fore he came to Mound City but Sarah J, , 
wife of Dr. Henry F. Delaney, and now a 
widow, living on Rose Hill, six miles north 
of Mound City, and Francis M. Rawlings, a 
brilliant young lawyer, a man of imposing 
appearance, thoroughly educated and an or- 
ator not equaled in the State. He repre- 
sented Union, Alexander and Pulaski Coun- 
ties in the Legislature in the years 1854-55. 

He died in 1858, which greatly distressed 
his father and friends. After his marriage 
with Miss Seaton, Gen. Rawlings enlarged 
hio business, and in a few years he had the 
largest wholesale and retail dry goods and 
grocery establishment in the southern part 
of the State. He seems to have dealt in any and 
everything. Parties came down from Louis 
ville and agreed to pay him a certain price 
for all the pecans he could deliver to them 



at Louisville by a mentioned time. The re- 
sult was the General loaded a steamboat with 
pecans, which resulted in the financial ruin 
of the company. A similar transaction oc- 
curred with salt. Gen. Rawlings was a l§.rge 
and powerful man, full six feet tall, aod 
often weighed 300 pounds. He had great 
force of character; his energy and determi- 
nation never failed him, and whatever he en- 
gaged in brought into action all his intellect 
and energy. He had received no education 
in his youth, no free school to attend in his 
boyhood. He was strictly a self made man. 
He had a large amount of natural ability, 
and while employed in his active business 
life, he sought any moment he could spare 
to educating himself; while he did not excel 
in book learning, he did as the judge of char - 
acter of his fellow-man. He was always ex- 
ceedingly courteous, dignified and polite to 
ladies. No man living had greater respect 
or admiration for them. His kindness to 
little children was proverbial, and, while he 
was eccentric and irritable, and would often 
give vent to a whirlwind of words, not couched 
in Bible language upon slight provocation, yet 
the storm was soon over and he would be as 
calm as a May morning, but under all this 
worry and excitement, his heart was tender and 
yielded in sympathy and relief to distress 
wherever he found it. But his eccentricities 
got him into many episodes; while they 
were not injurious to any one or himself, they 
were at times a source of annoyance to his 
friends and even to himself. The anecdotes 
told of him and about him would fill a vol- 
ume. He suffered periodically with the gout. 
A friend one day very injudiciously 
asked him if gout was painful. After ex- 
hausting himself on the absurdity of the 
question, he wound up by saying, " My God, 
my friend, put your big toe in a vise, have 
an able-bodied man turn the crank until it 



540 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



seems he can turn ifc no more, but have him 
turn it again. That, my God, my friend, is 
gout." He married his second wife, Miss 
Henrietta B. Cahnes, daughter of Gren. 
Calmes, who lived near Hopkinsville, Ky., in 
1829. She died in 1833, leaving two children 
— Florida, who became the wife of Dr. N. R. 
Casey, and died in Mound City, August, 
1878, and Carroll H. Rawlings, who never 
married, and died in Texas in 1877. Gen. 
Kawlings was one of the three Internal Im- 
provement Commissioners. In 1839, Col, 
Oakley, Gen. Rawlings, two of the Commis- 
sioners, in company with ex-Governor Rey- 
nolds, one of the Governor's agents, went to 
Europe to negotiate canal and improvement 
bonds, etc. Judge R. M. Young, also an 
agent of the Governor's, subsequently joined 
them in London, and while the internal im- 
provement system of that day, as viewed at 
this date, was not the thing to do, for nego- 
ciating bonds and for whatever success the 
Commissioners had financially, was admitted 
to be due to Gen. Rawlings. Among the 
many enterprises the General engaged in 
was that of steamboating. He owned at one 
time the side -wheel steamboat Tuskina, that 
ran between Louisville and New Orleans. 
He made one or more trips as her Captain, 
and when she made a landing and when she 
backed from a landing was invariably ac- 
companied with a storm of commands which 
kept the pilot busy ringing the bells and the 
engineers working their engines and the 
passengers apprehensive she was on fire. 
Gen. Rawlings moved from Shawneetown in 
1840, purchasing a magnificent residence, 
surrounded by 200 acres of land, highly im- 
proved, four miles from Louisville, Ky. In 
1832, he was appointed by Gov. Reynolds 
Major General of the State militia. In 1840, 
he married Miss Ann H. Simms, of Wash- 
ington City. She died in 1849, without 



children. In 1846, he sold his country 
place and moved into Louisville. Gen. 
Rawlings never attached himself to any 
church, bat was always ready and willing to 
aid in building churches, and for several 
years before hotels were built in Mound 
City, the ministers who visited the place 
found a welcome at his house. He read the 
Bible much, and was familiar with its teach- 
ings. He was baptized -in the Catholic 
Church by Mother Angela, of the Holy Cross, 
a few hours before his death, which occurred 
January 11, 1863, aged seventy. Having an 
admiration for the State that had been his 
home for nearly forty years, had much to do 
in his location of Mound City in 1854. 

The original plat of Mound City was made 
by William J. Spence, Surveyor of Pulaski 
County, for Gen. Moses M. Rawlings' prop- 
erty, April, 1854. At that time, a log cabin 
stood on the banks of the river, and fifteen 
or twenty acres of land cleared was all the 
evidence of civilization to be seen. The 
General utilized the cabin as hotel, boarding 
house and residence. During rain-storms, it 
sheltered them, but when the days and 
nights were pleasant they staid and slept 
upon the Moand, on which had grown many 
locust trees, making a delightful shade, 
while the gentle south breeze from off the 
broad Ohio, from here to its mouth, only 
six miles away, made it a pleasant place 
of resort in the day time and delightful 
at night, and during the days and nights 
when the mosquitoes congregated, which 
they did in the early history of Mound 
City, the mound was about the only place of 
safety, or where you could stay and with any 
degree of confidence say your life was your 
own. It was upon this mound individuals met 
in consultation, and discussed and predicted 
the bright prospects of the future for the 
embryo city; upon this mound conventions 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



541 



were held; here political meetings were ad- 
dressed by young and by old politicians; 
here their voices were heard proclaiming the 
faith that was in them, and urging their fel- 
low-men to follow them or the country would 
be ruined. Upon this mound the late Gov- 
ernor, John Dougherty, in his elegant style 
and voice urged his hearers to vote for 
Breckenridge, and by doing so save the coun- 
try; here Hon. W. Josh Allen and Gen. John 
A. Logan, together in silvery tones, told the 
claims of Stephen A. Douglas, and occasion- 
ally came and talked upon the mound to the 
people, a travelling missionary, as it were, 
in favor of Mr. Lincoln. Upon this mound, 
while a few of the faithful rang the bells, 
Tom Green and others shook their locks and 
shouted for Bell and Everett; upon this 
mound the distinguished editor and poet, 
George D. Prentice, lectured upon the pres- 
ent and the future of the Mississippi Valley. 
Upon this mound, on Sabbath Days, came the 
ministers of the Gospel of all denominations 
and exhorted the inhabitants to flee from the 
wrath to come; and here at dewy eve the 
beans and belles enjoyed the soft zephyrs 
and whispered promises and pledges of 
eternal love. While other mounds are scat- 
tered over the place, this one, uj^on the rivrer 
bank, gave the name to the location and af- 
terward to the city. At what particular 
period of the world's history these mounds 
were made, tradition fails to tell. On dig- 
ging into them, the usual Indian relics are 
unearthed — pot metal, tomahawks made of 
stone, and many other things supposed to 
have been used in war and in peace by the 
aborigines. 

The first sale of lots in Mound City took 
place in May, 1854. Thirty or forty were 
sold. The first lot sold brought $135; none 
less than S50, and none more than $200. 
The lots were all 50x200 feet. Gen. :^aw- 



lings built the first house in Mound City. It 
was a frame, two stories high, 25x100 feet. 
It was framed in Louisville, Ky., and 
brought to Mound City on steamboats; this 
was in 1854. He filled the lower story with 
di'y goods, groceries, hardware, etc. , and used 
the second story for a residence. The next 
house was built by Gilbert Boren. It was 
two stories high, and a frame. In the lower 
part he kept a saloon, and lived in the second 
story. He met with a tragic death a year 
afterward while on the little steamer Gazelle, 
plying between Cairo and Paducah, be- 
comino- involved in a difficultv with the 
Steward of the boat, who stabbed him with a 
butcher knife. He died in a few minutes 
afterward. "The third house was built by R. 
H. Warner — a two-story frame house. He 
kept a grocery store in the lower story a ad 
lived in the upper one.. The fourth house 
was built by William Dougherty. He was 
born at America, four miles above Mound 
City, on the Ohio River, in 1828. He came 
to JVIound City in a trading boat in 1854. 
At that time, it was not uncommon to see 
twenty or thirty trading boats tied up along the 
river bank at Mound City. After remaining 
a few months on his trading boat, he came 
ashore and built the fourth house in the city. 
It was also a frame and two-story house. The 
lower story was a storehouse, while he lived 
in the upper story. Mr. Dougherty was ap- 
pointed Postmaster in 1859, and resigned in 
1861; he still resides in Mounrl City. The 
first brick house built in Mound City was F. 
M. Rawlings', in 1856; it was fifty feet 
square, two stories, with a thirty-foot ell — 
a very fine building, that succumbed to the 
great fire of 1879. Before Mound City had 
been platted, Gen. Rawlings had determined 
to build a railroad from the mounds to con- 
nect with the Illinois Central Railroad, three 
miles west and eight miles above Cairo, but 



545 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



to do so it required a charter. The winter of 
1854-55 found him at Springfield, lu-ging its 
passage. Strange as it may seem, he met 
with stubborn opposition. The Representa- 
tives of the Cairo Company opposed the pas- 
sage of the charter with all their energy and 
with all the means at their command. The 
building of the Mound City Railroad, three 
miles long, seems to have caused some ap- 
prehension that it might in some way or at 
some time be injurious to the interest of 
Cairo. Gen. Rawlings met one objection 
after another only to find new ones devel- 
oped as old ones disappeared. It is a part of 
the history of the times, however, that many 
members of that Legislature who have since 
figured in politics, both State and national, 
found themselves owners of corner lots in 
Cairo. The charter passed, and the General 
set about building his road at once, without 
selling stock or bonds, but with his own in- 
dividual means. The Commissioners to con- 
demn it were Joseph Essex, Joel Lackey 
and Jefferson Parker. The Commissioners 
reported at the October term of court, 1855, 
that no damage would accrue to the land or 
owners by building the road. William Burk, 
an Irish gentleman, who had much experience 
in building railroads, and having just com- 
pleted a contract on the Illinois Central 
Railroad, was given the contract of building 
the Mound City Railroad. Gen. Rawlings 
in his lifetime claimed to have engineered it 
himself without instruments, determininsf 
the levels and grades with his eyes. The 
winter of 1855-56 was a disagreeable one, 
especially the spring of 1856. The con- 
tractor met with delays from rains. The in- 
tention was to make the road on an air line 
from Mound City to the Central, but when 
about half way out from Mound City, they 
found water standing on the line of the road 
in such quantities as to interfere with the 



progress of the work, and, desiring to com- 
plete it within a certain time, induced them 
to make a curve sufficient to avoid the water, 
hence the crook in the road that has so often 
been asked why it was done and why the 
road was not built straight. By the time the 
road bed was completed, the iron had ar- 
rived, via New Orleans per steamboat, and 
soon followed the locomotive, baggage and 
passenger coach, and in the spring of 1856 
the whistle of the " Pilot" started the inhab- 
itants, alarmed the cattle that fed upon the 
cane along the line of the road, and put the 
owls and other birds of prey to flight for the 
first time. There was but five or six houses 
in Mound City when the road was finished. 
The building of the road was looked upon 
as an era, promising much in the near fut- 
ure for the city. Up to this time, the place 
was without a post office, the people receiv- 
ing their mail from Caledonia mostly, but in 
June, 1856, a post office was established, 
receiving two mails a day, with Gen. Raw- 
lings Postmaster, a position he had to take 
for the want of any other available man to 
fill it. In 1858. Gen. Rawlings resigned, 
much to his relief, and equally so to the pub- 
lic. He kept the office in his store room. 
While his clerks were deputies and attended 
to the office, there were times when persons 
would call for their mail, when the clerks 
were out and the General alone. We are 
sure he never opened or distributed a mail, 
neither did he ever find a letter or paper for 
any one. When he made the effort to do so, 
he never knew where to look for them, and 
after considerable worry, he would discharge 
the aj^plicant with " Who would write you a 
letter, anyhow?" R. C. Daniel was ap- 
pointed Postmaster to fill the vacancy. He^ 
kept the office in the railroad depot until 
early in 1859; he resigned and William 
Dougherty was appointed, and in 1861 he 



HISTORY or PULASKI COUNTY. 



543 



resigned and George Mertz was appointe d 
and has been and is still Postmaster. 

In 1855, on the 25tli of June — more than a 
year after Gen. Ptawlings had laid off Mound 
City, and his first and only sale of lots had 
taken place — Paul K. Wambaugh, John 
Fawcit Smith, and John R. Gabriel, who 
had conceived the idea of obtaining foothold 
in Mound City, formed a joint -stock associa- 
tion, under the nam.e of Emporiom Real 
Estate & Manufacturing Company, in the 
city of Cincinnati. It has never been record- 
ed that either of the above gentlemen had a 
dollar at the time, to gain a foothold any- 
where; however, they surrounded the organ- 
ization with the mystery of secrecy. They 
gave out that a seci'et city was to be built 
upon the banks of the Lower Ohio; sometimes 
saying on the high bluff banks. The city 
was to be grander than all the cities built 
since the downfall of ancient Rome. The 
imaginary golden streets of the New Jerusa- 
lem were to be duplicated in the Emporium 
City — the name given to this forty mile 
square city on paper. The room they occu- 
pied in Cincinnati, while they were forming 
this association, was kept locked and bolted, 
the keys and bolts only turned upon the de- 
mand of one of the original three, or an in- 
itiated member accompanied b}^ friends. 
When once within the private precincts, the 
above gentlemen would proceed to explain, 
in a whispered voice, with an occasional mys- 
terious and fearful glance at the door, appre- 
hending an intruder might approach and over- 
hear the story of wealth and happiness that 
could only be vouchsafed to those who offered 
to take so much stock in the grandest enterprise 
known to any century; but before they placed 
their names on paper, the result of which would 
yield them in the near future all the wealth 
man ought to have or ever desire, they must 
make a solemn promise never to reveal to the 



uninformed what their eyes saw or their ears 
hfard. Wambaugh sat at the head of the 
table, gi'ave and dignified. Jere Griswold, 
who had been one of the first initiated, and 
who afterward was the company's Secretary, 
sat with pen in hand and another behind 
his ear, with his bland smiles, could be heard 
to say, " Please sign your name on this line. 
Take 15,000 or $10,000 of stock?" "You 
may put me down for $10,000. Should 
tradf and deals develop as I anticipate they 
wilL I will take $10,000' more later." And 
so, from day to day, new members were 
added to the association, while J. Fawcit 
Smith, with a brilliant imagination, which 
constituted his principal stock-in-trade, ex- 
tended, each day, the width and length of 
the sti'eets of the secret city; while John R, 
Gabriel blew his trumpet in its softest notes 
in the corners of the room to the hesitating. 
Thus, in 1855, the Emporium Real Estate 
& Manufacturing Company was formed, and 
when the members met in June, 1856, they 
had over a thousand members. Ohio, In- 
diana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania 
and Illinois each had large representation, 
and at that time they represented a million 
and a half in n^oney and real estate. A per- 
manent organization was made by electing 
Hartzell Hiner, of Ohio, President, and J. 
W. Cochran, G. W. Hite, W. H. Stokes, H. 
K. Linsey, of Kentucky, John Jorriam, of 
Indiana, and M. M. Rawlings and Dr. Arter, 
of Illinois, Directors, with J. Griswold, 
Secretary. In the meantime, the company 
had purchased a strip of ground of Gen. 
Rawlings, lying north and running east and 
west along the line of his platted city. 
Joining this strip, they had purchasd land 
from the Bichtel l^ieirs,* all of which they 



*The laud upon which Eiuporium City was located was Sec- 
tions 19 and :iO, Town KJ, Range 1 east, also the southeast quarter 
of Section 25 and the north part of Section 30, Town 16, Range 
1 west. 



544 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



laid out into streets and lots (including Wash- 
ington Park, donated for court house, jail, 
etc., the ground where the jail now stands). 
Gen. Rawlings, in platting Mound City, 
made it with the river, but when the Empo- 
rium Company laid off Emporium City (more 
than a year later), they laid it oft" east and 
west, north and south, hence the streets in 
Emporium City strike Movind City at Walnut 
street, that divided the then city in the mid- 
dle of the block. 

The first sale uf lots in Emporium City 
took place in July, 1856. The sale amounted 
to $100,000. In the same" year, the Shelton 
House was built. It was three stories high, 
an imposing building, framed in Cincinnati 
and brought to Mound City on steamboats; 
and at the same time came mechanics, and 
in just sixty days from the time the frame 
was landed at Mound City, the hotel was 
completed, accommodating boarders and the 
traveling public. Sixty men were employed 
during its construction. Of all the me- 
chanics who came to work upon the build- 
ing, but one now resides in Mound City — 
Mr. James Holmes. J. C. Worthington was 
among the number, to do the painting; after 
living several years in Mound City he moved 
to a farm four miles northwest of Mound 
City. N. L. Wickmire, carpenter, remained 
in Mound City several years, then moved to 
Cairo, and fi-om there to St. Louis, where he 
is now doing an extensive business as an 
architect. The rest have gone, we don't 
know where. James Holmes and J. C. 
Worthington were two of the incorporated 
CoTincilmen. The second sale of lots was in 
November, 1856. The terms of sale were one- 
quarter cash, the balance in three install- 
ments, with per cent interest. The sale 
was a great success. Four or five hundred 
persons attended the sale. They were here 
from many of the States. Ninety- five lots 



were sold, bringing, in the aggregate, 
800; the price per front foot varying from 
$90 to $14. At the third sale of lots, June? 
1857, 137 lots were sold, averaging $761.40 
each, and averaging $26,99 per front foot. 
The sale amounted to $104,968. At the No- 
vember sale following, ninety-seven lots were 
sold, averaging $957. At this sale a 
vacant lot in the neighborhood of where the 
Union Block now stands sold for $113 per 
front foot. It began to look as if Wam- 
baugh's dignity, Fawcit Smith's imagina- 
tion and Gabriel's whisperings had not 
been all in vain. Hartzell Hiner was still 
President of the company, and J. Griswold, 
Secretary; but it required several Assistant 
Secretaries to keep the books posted during 
the interregnums between the public sales. 
The President and^Secretary were daily sell- 
ing lots at private sale. Hiner, the Pres- 
ident, looked and walked the Major General. 
Money flowed into the cofi'ers; newer and 
larger safes were bought, to hold it: every- 
thing seemed to pale and grow dim outside 
of the Emporium Company. They built a 
house for their ofiice, in which they had 
reception rooms, consultation rooms, clerks' 
rooms, president's room, private secretaries 
and porters. A tingling bell was the signal 
that one of the high contracting parties de- 
sired to be waited on. 

About this time, they conceived the idea 
that they needed more territory; they did 
not have lots enough; they must extend their 
borders; at the same time, enlarge their 
sphere of usefulness to their fellow-men. 
The Cairo Company owned forty acres of 
land in the woods northwest of the Empo- 
rium Company's plat. If it had not been 
bought of the Government by Hoi brook, or 
other Cairo agents, in an early day, for 
$1.25 per acre without ever having seen it, 
we are sure, under the fit act, it would have 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



545 



been the last forty acres purchased. After 
becoming satisfied they must have it, they 
began negotiating for it with Col. S. Staats 
Taylor, the Cairo Company's Agent. Final- 
ly, after much going and coming, Col. Tay- 
lor agreed (being it was them) to take $38,- 
000 for the forty acres. President Hiner 
thought it was reasonable, and fully con- 
fident no other person living could have 
secured so favorable an offer from the 
Colonel as he had; but just at that particular 
time the President of the Emporium Com- 
pany had only $30, 000, but would have more 
very soon, and as they were needing the 
forty acres at once, he would pay Col. Tay- 
lor the $30,000 and give a mortgage on the 
entire forty acres to secure the payment of 
the remaining $8,000. Col. Taylor pretended 
not to hear the proposition distinctly the first 
time, but after Hiner had repeated it several 
times, the Colonel said he hated to part with 
the land — it was a forty acres he had always 
regarded as very valuable, but owing to friend- 
ship, etc. , he would take it. The $30,000 was 
paid to the Colonel, the mortgage was given, 
which some years after was foreclosed, and 
the Cairo Company still own the foiiy acres. 
In 1856, the Emporium Company purchased 
the steamboat " Buckeye Belle." She was a 
side- wheel boat, and was employed in towing 
barges of rock from up the Tennessee River, 
and from about Golconda, for foundations 
for houses and for cellars. She was often 
used for excursions, and for a short time 
run as a packet between Mound City and 
Hickman. Early in 1857, Mr. Alexander 
Kirkpatrick completed his pottery. In 1867, 
the Emporium Company bought of Gen. 
Rawlings the Mound City Railroad, and from 
that time operated it. When the crash 
came upon that company (the beginning of 
which might be dated from the time they 
gave the Cairo Company $30,000), they sold 



locomotive and passenger cars and ran the 
road with mules attached to a caboose. Less 
than a year ago it was sold to satisfy claims, 
and has since then been bought by the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad, with the understand- 
ing that they will shortly re-organize it by 
putting it in good condition, and make it a 
valuable feeder to this end of their road. 
The land purchased by the Emporium Com- 
pany, and laid out into streets and lots, was 
covered with heavy timber, and when the 
trees were cut down and brush piled the 
ground looked to be covered ten feet deep, 
but logs and brusli were finally "burnt up, 
leaving the stumps of the ^rees, thick enough 
to nearly walk on them. That part of Em- 
porium City was soon called " stump town," 
and while the stuinps have long since disap • 
peared, the name " Stump Town " still clings 
to that locality. Failing to have Gen. Raw- 
lings change Mound City to Emporium City, 
an act of incororpation of Mound City, and 
to change the name of Emporium City to 
that of Mound City, passed January 29, 1857. 
In this act of incorporation, Moses B. Harrell 
was constituted Mayor, and Francis M. Raw- 
lings, John Given, A. J. Miller, J. Griswold, 
James Holmes and Joseph C Worthington, 
Councilmen. Moses B. Harrell continued 
Mayor until 1859, when Dr. N. R. Casey 
was elected, and was Mayor from that time 
until 1874, a period of fifteen years, when 
Capt. Romeo Friganza was elected, who was 
Mayor until 1883, when George Mertz, pres- 
ent Mayor, was elected. Mound City has 
been an incorporated City twenty-six years, 
but has had but four Mayors. 

In 1856, James Goodlow, of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, under the auspices of the Emporium 
Company, commenced and completed, in 
1857, a large three-story brick foundry on 
the river front, in the upper portion of the 
city. It fronted the river 180 feet; it was 



546 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUXTY 



complete and extensive in all its departments. 
Mr. Goodlow was an elegant old gentleman, 
and had much experience in foundries. He 
cast, in 1857, the heavy machinery for the 
marine ways of this place. AVhen the civil 
war broke out, he closed the foundry, but con- 
tinued to live in Mound City until he died, 
which was m 1865, at the age of sixty-eight. 
His widow still resides in Mound City. 
Notwithstanding she is eighty-two years old, 
she is active, and does much of the work 
about the house. George Mertz was fore- 
man of the foundry when building, and while 
it was in operation; still lives in Mound 
City. He has been Justice of the Peace, 
Police Magistrate, City Councilman, County 
Commissioner, Postmaster s-ince 1801, and 
the present Mayor of the city. The foundry 
building was taken by the Government for 
the storage of shell and shot in 1863. Soon 
after it was thus occupied some sailoi's were 
handling loaded shells, when three ex- 
ploded with a terrific noise, breaking 
down a part of the building, and in- 
stantly killing one sailor and frightfully 
mutilating two others. They died in a few 
hours in great agony, and thus the great 
foundry that promised so niuch for Mound 
City in her early days of prosperity, passed 
away. You can scarcely find the place upon 
which it stood. The Emporium Company, in 
1856-57, built a number of houses to rent. 
At that time, many who came to locate, un- 
able to get houses, went away. 

The winter of 1857, the Emporium Com- 
pany secured of the Illinois Legislature 
a charter for what was known as the Illinois 
Southern Railroad. The incorporators met 
the same year at the Shelton House, in 
Mound City, and organized. Gen. A. R. 
Butler, of Ohio, was made President, A. J. 
Keykendoll, of Vienna, C. B. Brown, of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, George W. Hite, R. B. 



Shelton, William Burke, of Mound City, 
Hiram Boren, of Caledonia, Directors, and 
M. D. Gilbert, Secretary. The office of the 
company was located in Mound City. Its 
southern terminus was to be at Mound 
City, while its northeastern was to be at Vin- 
cennes, Ind. The road was surveyed, located 
and the contract for building let. In some 
of the counties through which it ran con- 
siderable grading was done. For a time it 
promised success; but stringency in money, 
and other difficulties, delayed its progress 
until the civil war put an end to further 
efforts. In 1874, a new charter was obtained, 
the name changed to Cairo & Vincennes Rail- 
road, and as such was built. 

Among the early enterprises inaugurated 
by the Emporium Company was the building 
of the Marine Railway. They were located 
at the south end of Rawlings' reservation, 
and early in 1857, Mr. Robert Calvin, from 
Ohio, had the contract for grading the river 
bank preparatory to building the ways. After 
this contract was completed, Calvin graded 
the wharf, and did much other work for the 
company. He soon after repaired to a farm 
near Caledonia, where he still lives, enjoying 
the fruits of his labor and the beauties of 
granger life. Samuel T. Hambleton, of Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, had full charge of the con- 
struction, and no man in the country was 
better qualified. Familiar with all the de- 
tails of a work of that kind, he possessed 
much practical sense, with a genial happy 
disposition, made him a favorite with all, 
and especially with the large force of men he 
worked upon the ways. As was said, the im- 
mense wheels and all the machinery was 
molded at the Mound City Foundry, but not 
until 1859 were they completed. The first 
boat that was taken from the river and drawn 
upon the ways was the R. H. W. Hill, a large, 
side wheel cotton boat, that ran between 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



549 



Memphis and New Orleans. To see the ma- 
chinery work, and to see a boat di-awing so 
much water and weighing so much gently 
lifted from the water and left upon cradles, 
high and dry, to those who had never seen it 
done, was an interesting sight. This, coupled 
with the desire that it might be accomplished 
safely, upon which depended the success of 
the ways and the interest of the city, for the 
time being, at all events, caused a large num- 
ber of people to be present while the boat 
was being taken out. Everything worked 
like clockwork. The engineer, the men at 
the different posts assigned them, the cradles 
and the boat, all moved together, and the 
success of hauling oul one of the largest 
steamers upon the river was accomplished, 
and Capt. Sam Hambleton was happy, and 
so was everybody else; if they were not at 
that time, an hour later they were. Tradi ■ 
tion breaks a bottle of champaign on a new 
boat when launched, and on an old boat 
when pulled out on new ways; that is one of 
the traditions which has continued to be ob- 
served to the present day. Upon this oc- 
casion it was not an exception. Nick Long- 
worth's (we do not think the old man was 
dead then) sparkling Catawba flowed free 
and copiously. Upon the command of Cap- 
tain Sam, toasts were drunk, speeches were 
made and the entire population were happy. 
The happy feeling was not confined to the 
Catawba, but those who took ice water felt 
the inspiration. It was quite a day for the 
marine ways and for Mound City. 

Soon after this, Capt. Sam Hambleton re- 
turned to Cincinnati, where he and his 
brother, W. L. Hambleton, owned a marine 
railway, and his brother William came to 
Mound City (but did not bring his family 
until 1860), and took charge of the ways at this 
place. The ownership of the ways passed 
from the Emporium Company to Hamb leton, 



Collier & Co., W. H. Stokes, of Louisville, 
Ky., the company, Capt. W. L. Hambleton, 
one of the fii-m. Superintendent. No man in 
the country possessed the resources and quali- 
fications for the position as did Capt. Bill 
Hambleton. As a special notice will be 
given him in this history, we shall only re- 
fer to him in connection with the marine 
ways, of which he had charge from 1859 
until he died in 1883 — a period of twenty- 
four years. The ways worked, constantly, 
a large force of men, from their completion 
until the civil war came. The position of 
Mound City, and of her marine railway, at- 
tracted the attention of the Government. 
The three wooden gunboats had been con- 
structed at Cincinnati, and had come to 
Mbund City and anchored out in the river 
They were the acorns from which grew the 
great Mississippi Squadron. The Govern- 
ment leased the marine ways, paying $40, - 
000 a year, retaining Capt. W. L. Hamble- 
ton in charge. Before, however, Hambleton, 
Collier & Co., by contract with the Govern- 
ment, built three iron-clad gunboats, the Cin- 
cinnati, the Carondelet and the Mound City. 
After that, the Government made gunboats 
of steamboats, and repaired, when needed, 
the boats belonging to the squadron, working 
1,500 men. On the 1st day of July, 1863, 
the Government took possession of the prop- 
erty fronting the river, known as Rawlings' 
reservation, for a navy station, together with 
the Mound City Railroad depot, that stood 
on the reservation. A lease was given the 
Government to this reservation by the city, 
and the depot that belonged to the Empo- 
rium Company was sold to the Govei-nment, 
after which the Mound City Railroad depot 
was built on the corner of Main street and 
Railroad avenue, where it no-w stands. Im- 
mediately after the leasing of the re.=erva- 
tion. the entire Mississippi Squadi'on moved 

31 



550 



HISTOKY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



to Mound City, Admiral D. D. Porter in 
command, while Capt. A. M. Pennock bad 
command of the navy yard, and of the large 
force of mechanics and laborers. More than 
a thousand men were under the control of 
William H. Faukner, the chief Steam En- 
gineer, and Romeo Friganza, Naval Con- 
structor. It was under their supervision ex- 
tensive improvements were made; workshops, 
ordnance and office buildings. During the 
years 1863, 1864 and 1865, the squadron was 
increased from twenty- four gunboats in 1863, 
to 100 gunboats, 22 transports, 32 mortars 
and 8 tugs in 1865. In this year, the es- 
tablishment of a navy yard in the West 
seemed to be favored by the naval officers at 
this place, and by the Navy Department. 
Cairo desired the station and the navy yard, 
if established. Carondelet, below St. Louis, 
desired the same. Mound City had the 
station, and wanted the navy yard. But 
Congress was the making power; Congress, 
therefore, must be appealed to. To see and 
talk to Congress, Cairo sent, as her repre- 
sentative. Col. S. Staats Taylor and Gen. 
Isum N. Haynie. Blow, of Carondelet, was 
a Member of Congress, and aided by Gen. 
Frank Blair, did the talking for Carondelet. 
Mound City sent Dr. N. R. Casey to tell of 
the superior advantages of Mound City as a 
location for a permanent navy yard. As 
somebody has said, " they met at the hat- 
ter's." The station was not moved from 
Mound City, and had Congress believed a 
navy yard in the West a good thing to have, 
Mound City would have received the location. 
In ^1865, Admiral Porter was ordered East, 
and Admiral Lee took command, followed by 
Commodore Livingston; he was relieved by 
Commodore Poor; in 1867 came Commodore 
Schank; he was followed by Commodore 
Walk, who remained until 1869, when 
Commodore Goldsboro relieved him, and he 



was relieved in 1870. by Capt. Thompson, 
who remained in command until 1873. On 
the 1st day of July, 1874, the navy depart- 
ment having no further use for the navy 
station at Mound City, the Secretary, Mr. 
Robeson, discontinued it, the Governaient 
releasing the lease, and turned the buildings 
and improvements over to the city. When 
the war was over, the Government turned the 
marine ways over to the owners, Capt. W. 
L. Hambleton, Superintendent. In 1880, 
his brother, Capt. Sam T. Hambleton, came 
and superintended the work about the yard; 
he continued to do so until 1882, when he 
began to have trouble with his heart; he 
returned to his home in Cincinnati, when, a 
few weeks later, a noble man passed from 
earth, surrounded by his family and friends. 
While he was never a resident of Mound 
City, he had been identified with it for 
twenty-five years, and was known and loved 
by all the inhabitants. Capt. W. L. Ham- 
bleton continued in charge of the ways until 
he died, which took place in February, 1883. 
They are now in possession of Capt. W. P. 
Halliday, of Cairo. 

The Emporium Company, in 1857, built 
the stone foundation for twelve buildings on 
the river front, known as Union Block, but in 
June, 1858, they sold lots and foundations 
to individuals — parties from Ohio, Indiana 
and Kentucky. These parties jointly, in the 
years 1858 and 1859, built the block of the 
best of brick made above the city limits, on 
the Ohio River. Each of the buildings was 
twenty-five feet by eighty feet, and three 
stories high. The third stories of the two 
south buildings were thrown together and 
finished in good style, and called Stokes 
Hall. The latter is fOrty-six feet by eighty 
feet, now known as the Opera House. 
Theatricals, dances, conventions, and, since 
the destruction of the court house by fire in 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



551 



1879, Circuit Courts are held in it. Until 
the civil war, the building was unoccupied. 
The Government, in 1861, took possession of 
it, and from that time until after the close of 
the war, it was the largest United States 
hospital in the West. The wounded from 
the battle of Belmont were the first admitted. 
After the battle of Shiloh, 2,200 wounded 
and sick were provided for. Among the 
surgeons in charge were Dr. Franklin, of St. 
Louis, Dr. H. Wardner, now in charge of the 
insane asylum at Anna, 111., and others, while 
it required fifteen or twenty Assistant Sur- 
geons to attend the sick and wounded, who 
came from various parts of the country. The 
present location of none of them are known, 
but Dr. C. W. Dunning, of Cairo, and Dr. 
N. K. Casey, of Mound City. 

Soon after the battle of Shiloh, the hos- 
pital, full of sick and wounded, with a hun- 
dred or more attaches, several hundred 
strangers in the city, visiting and looking 
after wounded and sick friends, sensational 
reports wei'e frequent. Rebels had been 
seen in large numbers on the opposite bank 
of the river, in Kentucky; a large body of 
rebels had crossed the Mississippi at ^^Com- 
merce, all looking to a raid on Mound City, 
the main object being to destroy the marine 
ways, where the Government was repairing 
and fitting out so many gunboats and trans- 
ports. This gave color, and to many positive 
belief, that the stories circulated were not 
only reasonable but true. During one of 
these exciting days, the sui'geon in charge 
of the hospital was called away, to be gone 
twenty-four hours. Before leaving, he 
turned the hospital and all his authority over 
to Dr. Charlie Vail -until his return. Dr. 
Vail was a young man of much promise as a 
surgeon and physician, with a large amount 
of social qualities. The night the Chief 
Surgeon left. Dr. Vail attended a wine sup- 



per — plenty of eating and plenty of wine, 
drinking was indulged in, followed, of 
course, by patriotic songs and patriotic 
speechtts. This patriotic feast was indulged 
in until after midnight, when Vail reached 
his headquarters. By that time he concluded 
he would at once put down the rebellion by 
a grand. move upon the enemy; but to do so 
he must have more troops. After first order- 
ing out all persons attached to the hospital, 
Jie summoned one Tom Clarke, who was a 
sort of a private detective — that is, would 
follow the troops down into Missoui'i or Ken- 
tucky and" return with some old buggies and 
horses. To Clarke Vail issued an order, 
first making him Commander cf the citizens' 
forces, with authority to press at once into 
the service all able-bodied residents in the 
place. Clark arrayed himself with a cavalry 
sword and scabbard. With sword drawn and 
scabbard thumping the sidewalk, with aids 
at his heels, he proceeded to rouse the peo- 
ple and order them to the fi'ont of the hos- 
pital; that strife and carnage was less than 
a mile away. People turned out pell-mell — 
some alarmed, and some to see what was 
going on. When they got in front of the 
hospital, Clai'ke mustered them into the serv- 
ice for the night. Many did not like this 
coercive business, and sent for N. R. Casey, 
the Mayor; they wanted to be relieved. The 
Mayor went. He found all the space in 
front of the hospital, to the river, covered 
with men, armed with all soits of deadly 
weapons. Near the Chief Surgeon's office 
he met Dr. Vail, Commander-in-chief. Upon 
asking him what all this meant, Vail's reply 
was, " Casey, make 'em a speech — -make 'em 
a speech." The Mayor saw the Doctor retire 
for the night, and then dismissed his army, 
and quiet prevailed. Dr. Vail removed to 
Wisconsin after the war, and some years ago 
his bright, happy spirit passed from earth. 



553 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



Those who died at. the hospital were buried 
on the river bank, just above the city, and 
some further up, near old America. After 
the close of the war, the Government pur- 
chased ten acres of ground, three quarters 
of a mile west of Mound City, for a national 
cemetery, and moved all who died or were 
killed at Columbus, Belmont, Cairo, Com- 
merce, Paducah and Mound City, and buried 
their remains in this ten-acre plot of ground, 
and when counted they numbered 5,555. 
Congress made provision for the improvement 
of the place. It was soon inclosed with an 
iron fence. Evergreens, shade trees and 
flowers were planted; marble head-boards at 
each grave; a comfortable brick lodge built 
for the Superintendent, and a brick rostrum, 
from which orators address the great multi- 
tudes of people who visit the spot every 30th 
of May to decorate the graves of the dead 
soldiers. In 1874, N. R. Casey, then a 
member of the Legislature, secured the pas- 
sage of a bill appropriating, out of the State 
Treasury, $25,000 to build a monument at 
this national cemetery. The Governor ap- 
pointed, as Commissioners to carry out the 
provisions of the bill, Capt. W. L. Hamble- 
ton, of Mound City, Jonathan C. Willis, of 
Metropolis, and Dr. Looney, of Vienna, and 
in 1875 the monument was completed, stand- 
ing seventy-two feet high from its foundation. 

Congress, at its last session, appropriated 
$15,000 to build a gravel road from the land- 
ing on the Ohio River to the cemetery, which 
will soon be completed. Joe P. Roberts, 
Esq., at the solicitation of many of the citi- 
zens, went to Washington City, and when he 
stated to our Member of Congress, Hon. 
John R. Thomas, the necessity of the road, 
Capt. Thomas at once introduced a bill appro- 
priating $25,000. That bill passed the House. 
The Senate amended it by making it $15,000. 
The House concurred, audit became a law. 



After the war, the building that had so 
long been used for United States Hospital, in 
which had suffered and died so many brave 
men, where the Sisters of the Holy Cross had 
come as ministering angels early, and stayed 
until the last sick and wounded had gone 
was vacated. For a long time it stood 
idle, as if taking a rest after its long oc- 
cupancy of suffering and distress. Its gloomy 
walls seemed to tell the sad story of the 
part it took in the rebellion. But the 
war was over, and something else must be 
done. Three of the south buildings were 
constructed into a hotel, and called the Stokes 
House, and was kept by different persons; 
among them, Capt. F. A. Fair, who came to 
Mound City in 1856, and did the brick work 
on the first brick house built in Mound City, 
in ] 856 and 1857, afterward owned and kept 
the wharf-boat, and still resides in Mound 
City. Mrs. Van Ostraa at one time kept the 
Stokes House, having for many years kept a 
boarding-house in Mound City. She had 
great energy, and the general verdict was, 
she knew how to keep a hotel. She died 
while proprietress of the hotel. It is now 
kept by Mr. McClenan, a gentlemanly prop- 
rietor, kept in first-class style, and called 
the Mound City Hotel. W. H. Stokes, of 
Louisville, before his death, became owner of 
the block, and at his administrator's sale the 
buildings were bought by persons of Mound 
City, Mr. G. F. Meyer being the largest pur- 
chaser, after which he took down three of the 
buildings on the north end, out of which he 
built his extensive and elegant storehouse 
building, on the corner of Walnut and Main 
streets. The remaining part of the block, 
not occupied for hotel, is being rapidly ar- 
ranged for a large furniture factory. The 
factory has already been incorporated, with 
Mr. Ellis, of Indiana, G. F. Meyer, and Ferd 
Wehrfritz, of Mound City, incorporators. 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



553 



CHAPTER VI. 



MOUND CITY— DECLINE AND DEATH OF THE EMPORIUM COMPANY— OVERFLOW OF THE OHIO IN 
1858— FLOODS OF 186'2, 18(37, 1882 AND 1883— LEVEEING THE CITY— BONDS FOR THE PAY- 
MENT OF THE SAME— A FEW MURDERS WITH A TASTE OF LYNCH LAW, ETC. 



THE first public evidence of financial 
trouble with the Emporium Company 
cropped out at the annual meeting of the 
stockholders in June. 1858. They appointed 
a committee to consider ways and means by 
which they might be relieved from their in- 
debtedness. Said committee reported and 
recommended that the President and Direc- 
tors be instructed to issue mortgage bonds, 
to the amount of $140,000 to liquidate the 
indebtedness of the company. The recom- 
mendation was unanimously appx'oved, and 
the bonds were issued for their payment. 
All their real estate was mortgaged. The 
President and Directors, finding that the 
bonds could not be sold for more than 80 
cents on the dollar, and to avoid this shrink- 
age they made a proposition to the stock- 
holders, to advance an amount of money in 
proportion to the amount of stock they 
owned, and receive these mortgage bonds 
therefor. This plan was adopted. A large 
number of stockholders made the advance and 
took bonds. Those that did not, held the 
stock; but as all the property of the company 
had been mortgaged, left the stock worth- 
less. At this meeting, in June, 1858, Dr. 
B. Cloak, of Kentucky, was elected President 
of the company, and he continued to act in 
that capacity until 1860, when Jesse Payton, 
of Philadelphia, was elected. He wrote and 
published several encoiu'aging reports. He 
was President for two years, when J. R. 

* By Dr. N. R. Casey. 



Emerie, of Mound City, was elected; he 
served two years, when George W. Carter, of 
Mound City, was elected President. He was 
a man of intelligence and energy. He came 
from Versailles, Ky. , to Mound City in 1860, 
and identified himself with the people and 
the interests of the place. He owned a large 
number of lots and houses. He entered at 
once into the work of trying to save the de- 
cliuing fortunes of the company, and had it 
been possible he would have done so. The 
vast amount of money realized from the sale 
of stock and lots had gone, and what property 
was left was mortgaged. Time and space for- 
bid a minute history of this company. For the 
first two years of its existence it was a brill- 
iant success. It has been said, precocious 
children do not live long; so it was with the 
Emporium Company. George W. Carter 
was eight years President of the company. 
He was often a member of the City Council, 
and four years one of the County Judges; 
he died in 1877 greatly regretted. He was 
succeeded as President of the company 
by his son, John W. Carter, who served 
two years. John W. Carter, in 1878, 
came to an untimely death. He was a 
bright, genial young man, possessing more 
than ordinary intelligence and business 
capacity. His loss by death was seri- 
ously felt by the community. Then, as 
President of the company, follow N. R. 
Casey, Judge W. H. Green, of Cairo, D. 
Hogan and H. G. Carter. These last-named 



504 



IIlSTORi: OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



gentleman were elected Presidents with 
Directors to preserve the charter. The 
mortgag6d property was sold in 1868, and 
bought by the bondholders. Those holding 
bonds, bought enough to cover the amount 
of bonds they held. As has been intimated, 
it would take a volume to follow the Empo- 
rium Company through all its wanderings. 
The charter incorporating this company had 
been granted for twenty- five years only, and 
it expired in 1882. While the end of this 
once grand corporation had been reached 
some years before, its breathings only ceased 
when the charter died. 

The question whether the Ohio River ever 
had, or ever would overflow her banks at 
Mound City, was one often asked and dis 
cussed by the early inhabitants of the city; 
but in June, 1858, the question was answered. 
Along in May, the river became bank- full, 
and then gradually began to overflow. It 
was not rapid or turbulent, but a constant 
increase in volume. First, the depressions 
filled with water, then it passed around ele- 
vations and formed a small island; then the 
island grew less until it disappeared. Houses 
were encroached upon; a false floor was 
necessary, in order to live " dry shod " on 
the inside. Thus the river continued to come, 
and the people continued to put in false 
floors in their houses until the water stood 
from two to three feet over the city, except 
the mounds. The weather was warm and 
pleasant. It was the first experience of the 
kind the people ever had, and instead of 
despairing and discouraging them, they 
rather enjoyed it. Business houses, upon 
their raised floors, kept open; there was but 
little interruption of the trade of the city, 
any way. Skiffs, yawls, scows, flats of every 
conceivable shape and style of boat, could be 
seen carrying through the streets merry and 
happy people. The "gunnel," twenty t(» fifty 



feet long, bearing up a half-dozen passen- 
gers, controlled and steered with a pole, was 
a great favorite with many, especially with 
those who, in their es.treme kindness, de- 
sired to get some friend on board and tilt 
him off into the water. The nights were 
moonlight, and the gay and happy people of 
all ages enjoyed their boat rides at night. 
Music, both vocal and instrumental, floated 
upon the air in every direction; serenading 
parties were frequent. Cotillion parties 
would be given, and, instead of coach and 
four, fifty gondolas would be moored around 
the hostess' house. Mound City looked very 
much like Venice did when the American 
lady said she visited Venice at an unfortu- 
nate time — tbe town was overflowed, and the 
people had to go in boats. By the 1st day 
of July, the waters had receded, and soon 
afterward it was difiicult to find a resident 
that would admit water had been in the 
town. However, it established the fact that 
a levee was necessaiy to protect the city 
against a similar occurrence; yet it was de- 
layed, and in the spring of 1862 the city was 
again overflowed. The river became higher 
than it did in 1858, and the novelty was not 
so great; nor was the enjoyment of the peo- 
ple so marked. After the flood had come 
and gone, the cily authorities set about build- 
ing a levee. By authority, they issued city 
bonds, bearing 10 per cent interest and run- 
ning ten years, to pay for it. Some were eold 
for 80 cents on the dollar, but a contract 
was made with George W. Carter and Alex- 
ander Frazier and Timothy Booth, to do the 
work for 30 cents per yard, and take city 
bonds in payment. Therefore, late in 1866, 
the levee was completed. The length was three 
miles. In the spring of 1867, the Ohio, fed 
by the Cumberland, Tennessee, Wabash, and 
other less rivers, again overflowed her banks, 
and soon surrounded the levee. Fears at once 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



555 



were entertained that, from the newness of 
the levee, it would fail to resist the pressure 
of the water from without. Their fears were 
realized, in the extreme northwestern por- 
tion; there a break occurred, fifty feet wide, 
and water rushed into the city with great 
force and rapidity, but it was twenty hours 
afterward before the water stood as high on 
the inside of the levee as it was on the out- 
side. No particular damage resulted, but 
more inconvenience, for the reason less prep 
aration had been made for such a visitation. 
When the location where the levee gave way 
was examined, after the water had receded, 
several old logs were found, having been 
placed in the levee when building, which 
evidently was the cause of the break. Then 
followed the contract, on the part of the city, 
with A. J. Dougherty and George E. Louns- 
berry, to build the levee broader at its base 
and higher, paying them in city bonds. This 
was in 1867-68. The total amount of city 
bonds issued for levee purposes amounted to 
$47,500. The river was again high in 
1872 and 1875. By this time, the levee had 
become firm and compact. In the spring of 
1882, the unprecedented flood came; but the 
levee protected the city. This flood was fol- 
lowed, in 1883, with a still greater flood, and 
while many towns and cities on the Ohio 
River were flooded, resulting in great loss of 
property, the Mound City levee stood the 
pressure, and the city remained dry. In the 
winter of 1867, N. R. Casey, then a member 
of the Legislature fi'om this county, obtained 
from the State, by special act of the Legis- 
lature, the State tax of Mound city for ten 
years, to be applied to building levee, and 
paying the bonds and interest on the same. 
The State paid to the city the taxes for two 
years, when the new constitution, adopted in 
1870, prohibited any fvirther payment. The 
levee had been built, and bonds sold, and as 



one of the inducements, especially to pur- 
chasers of bonds, was the fact that the city 
would receive yearly her State tax and thus 
make the investment good. The winter of 
J 883, Hon. Daniel Hogan, Senator from this 
(Fifty-first) district, introduced a bill ap- 
propriating to the city of Mound City $8,000, 
the amount the city would have received from 
the State, had the new constitution not pro- 
hibited. After making many and serious ob- 
jections, the bill passed, and the city now has 
the money. The flood of 1883 established 
the fact that Mound City is protected beyond 
a question against all floods that may come 
in the Ohio River in the future. 

The first murder committed in Mound City 
was early in 1857. John T, Cook lived upon 
a flat-boat lying opposite where McDowell's 
saw mill now stands. Cook kept boarders. 
There were no hotels nor boarding-houses 
then in Mound City. He often had as many 
as sixty boarders — never less than thirty. 
In a shanty, a little way back from the river 
and Cook's flat-boat, lived a man by the name 
of Harper. He was a large, stout, i-obust 
Irishman. Cook was off" his boat, but near 
the water's edge, splitting stove wood, when 
Harper came up to him, and a quan-el com- 
menced about the ownership of some hogs; 
Cook claiming ihat he had taken them from 
a man for making a coffin for the man's wife, 
while Harper said they were his, when a 
tight between Harper and Cook commenced. 
At this time a man came up, by the name of 
Scott, who struck Harper with a club or saw- 
buck, on the head. Harper fell, was taken 
to his shanty, but never spoke, and died the 
next morning. Cook and Scott were arrested. 
Cook took a change of venue to Golconda, 
and was acquitted. Scott was tried at Cale- 
donia and was convicted of murder in the 
first degree, and was sentenced to be hanged 
on a certain day. Some hours before the 



556 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



time set to hang him, the Governor gave a 
reprieve for thirty days.- This information, 
however, was not known to many, and early 
on the day^set for banging Scott the people 
began to arrive in Caledonia. The gallows 
was built, and his coffin was stored away in 
the com-fc house. By 12 o'clock, it was es- 
timated that two thousand people, includ- 
ing men, women and children, were upon the 
ground, and when informed that the Gov- 
ernor had respited Scott, and that they 
would have to wait thirty days longer before 
they could see him hanged, they were out- 
raged, abused the Governor and all who had 
taken any part in giving Scott further time 
to prepare to die. The sequel shows that 
before the expiration of the thirty days Scott 
made his escape from the jail, and was never 
heard of afterward. 

In the winter of 1857, there lived in a 
cabin opposite the south end of the marine 
ways, but back where the Wabash Railroad 
crosses the levee, a man by the name of Jerry 
O'Haloran, and his wife. They were both 
addicted to drink, especially the wife, and it 
was known that they frequently had out- 
breaks and fights. One night, at 9 or 
10 o'clock, Mrs. O'Haloran was found dead 
in their house. Evidence indicated that she 
had come to her death from strangulatioD. 
Her husband was 'arrested as her mm-derer, 
who was finally convicted, but the Judges 
gave him a new trial, and before another 
term of court commenced Jerry escaped from 
jail and came down to Mound City to see his 
attorney, Tom Green; but Green telling him 
he had better get out of the country, he did 
80, and was never heard of afterward. 

The next murder was in 1859. A family 
by the name of Vaughn lived here part of 
the time, and part of the time on the river, 
and occasionally in Massac County. Their 
reputation was not good; they did not seem 



to have any abiding-place long at a time. 
Joel Vaughn, the father, was frequently ar- 
rested for fighting, or disturbing the peace 
in some way. In some of his fights, his an- 
tagonist had bitten off his under lip, and to 
conceal the appearance it gave his face, he 
wore a strip of cotton cloth over it, the ends 
tied at the back of his head. He was fre- 
quently di'unk, and by no means a desirable 
Sunday afternoon companion. His son Jim, 
probably twenty-five years old, lived about 
the same kind of a life. He occasionally took 
trips to New Orleans on flat-boats, and was 
said to be a good hand. In October, 1859, a 
number of men had congregated at Zanone's 
saloon; a fight commenced, in which several 
seemed to be taking a part, among them 
Daniel K. Charles, who had just knocked a 
man down by the name of Wilmott, when he 
was shot without knowing who did it. He 
staggered, and fell dead. It was soon 
learned Jim Vaughn had done the shooting. 
Vaughn escaped from the city, and crossed 
the river that night |into [Kentucky. Capt. 
C. M. Ferrill, City Marshal, learning these 
facts, followed him early Sunday morning, 
overtaking him about ten miles below (Jairo, 
on the Kentucky side. He admitted the 
shooting, and was brought to Mound City 
just at night. A large crowd met him when 
he landed on this side of the river, and 
threats of hanging were made freely; but he 
was placed in the calaboose, and, to protect 
him the Mayor appointed six men, provided 
with loaded shotguns, to guard the calaboose. 
At 12 o'clock that night, the Mayor and 
Marshal passed through most of the streets; 
found them all quiet; stopped at the cala- 
boose, and instiiicted the guards, should an 
attack be madexo spare one of the number to 
inform them (the Mayor and MarsLal;, and 
they went to their homes. It seems, at the 
time these instructions were given, at least 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



557 



sixty of the inhabitants of the city were then 
concealed in the gymnasium, that had a high 
and tight fence around the ground, and stood 
near where Capt. Cole Boren's residence now 
stands, arranging the [details to hang 
Vaughn, and they soon after made their ap- 
pearance at the , calaboose. Some sixteen of 
them were disguised, and to them the hang- 
ing was intrusted. When they found the 
guards there they hesitated, but upon one of 
the guards saying, " If you are going to 
hang him I wish you would do it, as I want 
to go home and go to bed," with this en- 
couragement they began to batter down the 
door. Judge Emerie and others arrived at 
this stage of the proceedings, and made an 
effort to be heard, but no attention was paid 
to them. Vaughn was soon pulled out, and 
the rope placed around his neck. He begged 
for fifteen minutes to say his prayers in, but 
that length of time was denied him. He was 
dragged along to where a tree had been 
blown over, about twenty feet from the 
ground, but not separated from the main 
trunk. Over that portion that had been 
blown over they threw the rope, and pulled 
Vaughn up several feet above the ground; 
then tying the end of the rope to a stump, 
they left him to choke to death, which he did. 
This tree upon which he was hanged stood 
just south of where the Catholic Church now 
stands. The first intimation the Mayor had 
that Vaughn was hanged was given him 
next day morning by Jim Vaughn's father. 
About daylight the father came to the Mayor's 
house, di'unk, and said, " Well, they hung 
Jim," and thus ended the "tragedy," Jim 
Vaughn's father was afterward convicted of 
placing obstructions upon the Illinois Cen- 
tralRail road, near Pulaski Station, in this 
county, and sent to the penitentiary for a 
term of years. 

After this hanging, we hear of no more 



murders until 1863. Civil war was upon 
the country, and at Movind City was camp- 
ing the Eighteenth Illinois Regiment, com- 
manded by that veteran. Col. Mike Lawler, 
later a General. With very slight provoca- 
tion, or none at all, one soldier, early in the 
evening, shot and killed a brother soldier. 
The murderer was arrested at once, and Col. 
Lawler made an effort to deliver the man 
over to the civil authorities. The civil au- 
thorities, knowing that the regiment would 
soon be ordered away, and with it would go 
the only witnesses against the murderer, re- 
fused to have anything to do with him, and 
suggested that the regiment dispose of its 
own murderers. Upon this suggestion. Col. 
Lawler organized a court, consisting of a 
judge, prosecuting attorney and jury, and 
appointed an attorney to defend the man. 
The court cenvened in a few hours after the 
murder had been committed. The best legal 
talent in the I'egiment had been selected. 
The prisoner was brought before the court, 
and the trial proceeded. In a short time the 
evidence was all in; the attorneys had made 
their speeches; the Judge had delivered his 
instructions to the jury, and the jury had 
rendered a verdict of guilty. The court im- 
mediately pronounced the sentence, and it 
was that the murderer be taken, at sunrise 
the next morning, to the most convenient 
tree, and there hung by the neck until dead. 
The word dead was not repeated by the 
judge, so, at sunrise or a little before, the 
next morning, twelve hours after the murder, 
the condemned man, sitting on his coffin, in 
a cart drawn by a yoke of oxen, passed out 
of town and along the Mound City Railroad, 
until they reached the " convenient tree" 
that stood not far from where the negro 
man Cotton afterward built a house. 
One end of a rope was fastened around his 
neck, and the other over the limb of the tree, 



558 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



and the order " Drive off the cart " given, 
which left the victim dangling in the air. 
After strangulation was complete, be was cut 
down, placed in his coffin, and during the 
hanginsf a few soldiers had made a hole in 
the ground, into which was placed the dead 
man, and covered over with dirt. " And the 
man that kills his fellow-man shall by man 
be killed " had been followed out to the let- 
ter. Not until July 4, 1883, did Mound City 
again have to record a murder and the mur- 
derer executedVithout Judge or jury. The 
accommodation train on the Wabash Rail- 
road, as it passed down to Cairo on the morn- 
ing of the 4th of July, was crowded with 
people going to attend the celebration. 
Upon its return in the evening, about 6 
o'clock, the same people were on board, re- 
turning home. Among the number on this 
train was John Kane, a white man, foreman 
of the bridge builders on the Wabash road. 
He lived in Carmi, 111., and was on his way 
home. Nelson Howard, a negro man, was 
also on the train, and had worked as a sec- 
tion hand on the road at Grand Chain, in 
this county, where he lived. Kane and 
Howard had no acquaintance. As the train 
was pulling up to the depot at Mound City, 
some rudeness on the part of Howard in 
passing Kane, caused a quarrel between 
them. A scuffle ensued, and Kane drew a 
pistol. Both men had been drinking. How- 
ard quickly snatched the pistol from Kane. 
When they commenced this trouble, they 
were on the outside platform of the car, but 
when Howard got the pistol from Kane they 
were just on the inside of the car. Howard 
shot Kane in the head and through. the body. 
From his actions it was evident he was fatal- 
ly shot. By this time the train had reached 
the depot, when Howard escaped, pursued 
by Gibson, the conductor, and others, but 
they failed to overtake him. Kane was taken 



into the depot, and upon examinaton, besides 
the two pistol wounds, he had been stabbed 
in the breast, supposed to have been done 
before Kane drew his pistol. He died at 10 
o'clock that night. The same night, Will- 
iam Painter, Jailer and Deputy Sheriff, and 
A. J. Ross, City Marshal of Mound City, left 
in pursuit of Howard, and on their way to 
Grand Chain, where Howard lived, they were 
joined by William Nappier, G. F. Boren 
and Robert Summers. Howard lived a half- 
mile from Grand Chain. The above party 
reached his house between 3 and 4 o'clock 
in the morning. They surrounded it, and 
he was called to the doow He made his ap- 
pearance. The presentation of pistols, look- 
ing him in the face, induced him to surren- 
der without having any difficulty with his 
captors. They brought him to Mound City, 
and placed him in the jail. Dui'ing that day 
(July 5) the inquest was held on Kane's body, 
the jury finding he had come to his death by 
the hand of Nelson Howard, as above stated. 
No threats of lynching Howard were made 
during the day, but the tragedy was regretted 
by the people, neither of them being resi- 
dents of Ithe city; however, no unusual feel- 
ing was created by the occurrence. The 
night of the 5th came, and Jailer Painter 
retired at his usual hour, taking the precau- 
tion, as he always does when he has a bad 
criminal in his charge, of sleeping in the 
debtors' room. The jail is a two-story brick 
house. You enter a hall from the front, and 
the hall passes through the building, from 
which a door opens at the ]-ear end. The 
rooms to the left of the hall, as you enter, 
are occupied by the jailer and his family. 
The stairway starts from near the back hall 
door, that leads up to the debtors' room. 
From the debtors' room, a door leads into the 
room that contains the ^iron cage or crib, in 
which persons charged with mui'der, etc., are 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



559 



kept, and where Howard had been placed. 
There is room enough to pass around this cage, 
and you can look out of the grated windows 
and see what is going on below. About half- 
past 1 o'clock, the morning of the 6th, rapid 
knocking was heard by Mrs. Painter, the 
jailer's wife, at the front door, soon followed 
by Mrs. Painter calling to her husband that 
there were a great many men about the jail. 
He got up, getting his revolver, and going 
forward heard some one say below, " Give me 
a boost." The jailer went into the room 
where Howard was caged, and upon looking 
out of the east window, he saw from seventy - 
live to one hundred men below, and that some 
of them were holding guns in their hands. 
The jailer warned them, and said. " When 
this man goes out of here it will be accord- 
ing to law; and you will get hurt if you at- 
tempt to take him out." Some one below said 
" The jailer may give us trouble; we will 
call the rest of our company." Thereupon a 
whistle was given, when a crowd of twenty 
or thirty more came in answer to the whistle; 
when some one said, " We will go to the 
church and get the ladder, and plug him 
through the bars." Others said, " No; we 
want the scoundrel out of there." Below, 
Mrs, Painter talked to them through the 
screened windows. They wanted the keys of 
the jail, and she had made four trips up- 
stairs to talk to her husband, and to advise 
him that it was useless to attempt to resist 
them; that there was no use in sacrificing 
himself in attempting to defend Howard. 
The jailer started down stairs, and got half 
way when he changed his mind and returned, 
and locked himself in the debtors' room. 
Then he heard thnm jumping in through the 
windows, and were soon at the door up stairs, 
saying, "Jailer, we want you out of here; 
we don't want to hurt you, but you have kept 
us out long enough, and if any of us suffer 



you will suffer with us. The jailer opened 
the door and stepped out on the stairway. 
They then demanded the keys to the cell, 
with pistols pointed at his head. Ho said he 
could not give them up; that L. F. Grain, 
the Sheriff, had them at his house. Then 
they shoved the jailer down the stairway. 
Joe T. Diller was stopping with the jailer, 
having come in from the country that day. 
The jailer had told his wife, on her first visit 
to him, to have Diller slip out of the back 
door and inform the Sheriff of what was 
going on. His wife replied, " I have already 
done so;" but when Mrs. Painter returned 
from her fourth visit to her husband up 
stairs, she found Diller sitting on a lounge 
in one of the bedrooms, looking discouraged. 
Upon her asking why he had not gone and 
notified Grain, the Sheriff, as requested, his 
reply was, " My God, woman, I can't get out 
of here; the house is surrounded by men. 
I did make the effort, when a dozen pistols 
were pointed at me, while one man said, 
' Let him come, and we will fill him so full 
of lead he can't run.' " " Well," said Mrs. 
Painter, " I will go myself; " and started, 
and had gotten half way from the front door 
to the gate, probably thirty yards, halloaing 
for the Sheriff at the top of her voice. 
Several said, " Stop that noise." Two men 
came up, and caught her, placing their hands 
over her mouth. A little man came up, and 
presented a I'evolver to her face, saying, " I 
will make her stop it." She knocked his 
arm down, and he desisted, while another 
said, " We are not here to insult or hurt 
you, but you must not halloo." In placing 
their hands over her face they got a finger 
in her mouth, which required some effort to 
get it out. Finally, a large, stout man put 
his arm across her throat, which completely 
garrotod her, and stopped her from making 
any further noise. She begged, throughout. 



560 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



for the negro man, that he ought to have a 
fair trial. The reply was, " We have come 
to court martial him." During this time, 
the jailer was in the cell-room, and he had 
said to Howard to halloo for help, which he 
did. After they had shown the jailer down 
stairs, they went to a bedroom and got a 
lamp that was burning, and took it up stairs, 
when they began on the cell door with sledge 
hammers, with which they were provided. 
The negro man was still halloaing, but seemed 
to quit when the pounding on the door 
ceased. The jailer heard some one say, 
" Pick him up, boys; pick him up." The 
jailer, like Diller, made an effort to escape 
by the back door, but was forced back into 
the hall, with the order, " Hold up your 
hands," and then guarded. They brought 
Howard down, and through the hall, and out 
the front door, and between there and the 
gate leading out of the jail inclosure Mrs. 
Painter heard one say, "Stand up and walk, 
or we will make you." Fifty yards from the 
gate, on the outside, they hung him to a 
limb, with a rope about the size fishermen 
use, and call " trot line," but it was arranged 
with a regular hangman's knot. When this 
was done, three pistol shots were heard, when 
the jailer saw four men march out of the jail 
yard. Then all left, going south. Neither 
the Sheriff, jailer or any one else had been 
notified or warned of the danger of a mob 
hanging Howard. Still, four or five colored 
men went that night to guard the jail, but 
all left with the exception of Pat Scott and 
a man by the name of Howard— no relation. 



however, to the man who was hanged. They 
were not over fifty yards from the tree How- 
ard was hung on when the mob came. Scott 
passed over the levee, but Howard remained 
where he was. They had guns, but made no 
effort to protect Howard. After he was 
hanged, they gave the alarm, rang the fire 
bell, but when the Sheriff and others reached 
the jail, Howard was hung and the mob gone. 
The Sheriff cut Howard down. The inquest 
developed the fact, the next day, that the 
back of Howard's skull was crushed in, which 
was probably done before they got him out of 
the jail yard, when he refused to walk. No 
clew has been obtained as to who was engaged 
in the lynching; belief, however, is that it 
was done by employes on the Wabash Rail- 
road. No citizen, it is quite certain, of 
Mound City was engaged in it. Hand cars came 
up from Cairo that night, if not a locomotive, 
as both have been reported and believed. No 
ai-rest followed. The city offei'ed |200 re- 
ward for the arrest of the guilty ones. No 
blame could be attached to the Sheriff of the 
county or the jailer. The jailer did all he 
could to prevent it, and might have sacrificed 
his life, but that would not have saved How- 
ard. Mrs. Painter, the jailer's wife, ex- 
hibited great courage, and did all she could 
to aid her husband in protecting the mur- 
derer. Much excitement, with some threats, 
prevailed among the colored people for some 
days afterward, but it gi-adually subsided. 
The lynchers all wore masks, and seemed to 
have a captain who gave the orders, which 
were readily obeyed. 



HISTORY or PULASKI COUNTY. 



561 



CHAPTER VII, 



MOUND CITY— IT BECOMES THE COUNTY SEAT— COUNTY OFFICIALS— JUDGE MANSFIELD— LAWYERS 
— F. M. RAWLINGS AND OTHERS— JO TIBBS AGAIN— THE PRESS— "NATIONAL EM- 
PORIUM "—OTHER PAPERS— FIRST PHYSICIANS OF THE CITV^— 
'SCHOOLS— TEACHERS AND THEIR SALARIES, ETC., ETC. 



THE enabling act authorizing the people of 
Pulaski County to vote upon the removal 
of the county seat from North Caledonia to 
Mound City passed the Legislature in February, 
1865, and the vote was taken on the thirteenth of 
May following. This question in Pulaski 
County engendered the same feeling and un- 
pleasantness among the people that invariably 
develops upon a question of this character. 
The vote, however, resulted in favor of its re- 
moval, and after some legal objection had been 
determined it was moved to Mound City in 
1868. Judge John Olney held the first court 
after its removal. The City Hall building had 
been given to the county without charge. The 
court was held in the hall, while the rooms on 
the first floor were occupied by the Clerks and 
Sheriff. At the time of the removal, A. M. 
Brown was County Judge, with Capt. W. L. 
Hambleton and George W. Carter, Associates ; 
H. 31 Smith, Circuit Clerk ; H. C. Mertz, County 
Clerk, and George Minnich, Sherifi". In 1869, 
Col. E. B. Watkins was elected, and continued 
County Clerk until 1873, when Daniel Hogan 
was elected. He continued Count}^ Clerk un- 
til 1882, the expiration of his second term, 
when he was elected State Senator from this 
the Fiftj'-first District. John A. Waugh, the 
present incumbent, was elected in November, 
1882. B. L. Ulen was elected Circuit Clerk in 
1872 ; was re-elected in 1878 and 1882, and 
consequently is the present Clerk. Mr. Ulen 
lived in Pulaski Count}' since 1855. He was 

By Ur. N. R. Casey. 



four years in the Union army ; was severely 
wounded, making him a cripple for life. 
George S. Pigeon was County Judge until 1872, 
when he resigned, and the Governor appointed 
Judge A. M. Brown to fill the vacanc}'. In 
1873, G. L. Tombelle was elected, and continued 
County Judge until 1877, when Judge A. M. 
Brown was again elected, but died before his 
term expired, and this vacancy was filled by 
Judge Smith, who is still the County Judge. 
In 1866, S. 0. Lewis was elected Sheriff, and 
in 1868 H. W. Dyer ; in 1870, Thomas C. Ken- 
neday ; in 1874, H. H. Spencer was elected 
Sheriff, and in 1876 Robert Wilson was elect- 
ed Sheriflf, and held the office until 1880, when 
L. F. Crain, the present Sheriff, was elected, 
serving out his second term. These gentlemen 
have held the position in the county since the 
removal of the county seat to Mound Cit}'. 
Judge Thomas J. Mansfield, the County Judge, 
in 1856 removed and lived for a year or more 
in Mound City. When he came to Mound 
City, no Justice of the Peace or Police Magis- 
trate had been elected. Parties for disturbing 
the peace were frequently' brought before him. 
If an}' of them appeared the second time, he 
invariably said, " Here you are, boys, again. 
I fine you $3 and cost." If their attorney in- 
sisted on an investigation, the Judge would 
remark, " The judgment was entered ; no 
further proceedings in order.'" The officer 
would retain the party assessed until fine and 
cost were paid. Judge Mansfield came to Pu- 
laski County from Franklin County. Ill, but 



562 



HISTORY OF PULA5KI COUNTY. 



was originally from Tennessee. He moved to 
Texas after the expiration of bis term of office, 
and there died. 

The first lawyer that located in Mound City 
was F. M. Rawlings. He had moved from 
Louisville in 1847 to Benton, 111., and was 
soon after elected State's Attorney, when only 
twenty-three years old. Under the judical 
districting of the State, he was Prosecuting 
Attorney for more than a dozen courts. In 
1850, he went to Cairo, and for awhile edited 
a paper in Cairo. He moved to Thebes, then 
the county seat of Alexander County, and 
while there he was elected to the State Legis- 
lature. In 1855, he moved to Mound City 
(his father, Gen. Rawlings, having laid out 
the city in 1854), and practiced law in this 
judical district until 1858, when he died. He 
was a 3'oung man of fine abilit}'. 

The second attorney that practiced law in 
Mound City was William Hunter. He came 
to the city a pattern-maker, and worked at 
his trade in the foundry in 1857, and at the 
same time taught and led a brass band. George 
Mertz, the foreman at the foundry, had a law- 
suit. He went to employ Frank Rawlings, but 
Rawlings informed him he was employed b}^ 
the other party. Hunter hearing of Mertz's 
trouble, volunteered his services. They were 
accepted and from that da}' on he was a full 
fledged lawyer. He finally moved to Memphis, 
joined the Union army, when war was de- 
clared. He became a Major, and after the war 
was Judge of the Criminal Court in Memphis. 

George W. Hite, from Bardstown, Ky., lived 
and practiced law for a short time in Mound 
Citj'. He had been a member of the Kentucky' 
Legislature, was a pleasant speaker, looked 
upon as a good lawyer, but moved to Louis- 
ville, Ky. 

R. H. Warner was elected in 1856 Justice of 
the Peace, and James Coons and F. A. Fair, 
Constables. They were the first officials of 
the city. Dick Warner, as he was familiarly 



called, had no great judicial ability, and while 
he held the office he shunned its duties as much 
as possible. Soon after his election, parties 
came in from the country in search of Joe 
Tibbs, who they said had been harboring and 
concealing horse-thieves. They found Tibbs 
in Warner's store. Tibbs inquired if they had a 
warrant for him ; when the}' said no, he drew 
his pistol and walked away, mounted his horse 
and rode home. The next week, the same 
parties brought Joe Tibbs in. and took him be- 
fore Squire Warner for a less serious offense. 
George W. Hite was employed to prosecute 
Tibbs. While the trial was in progress, Jim 
Anglin, one of the prosecuting party, asked 
Joe Tibbs if he had told a neighbor that they 
had him arrested because they wouldn't feed 
him any longer. Tibbs i-eplied that he had, 
and Anglin struck him in the face. Tibbs drew 
his pistol. The Justice went out at the back 
door, followed by Hite, the Prosecuting Attor- 
ney, while the others followed, or went out 
through the windows. Tibbs leasurely walked 
out and over to Gen. Rawlings' store, bought 
some goods and went home. That ended the 
trial, and the next day Dick Warner resigned 
his office. Jim Coons, the Constable, was killed 
some years later in a saloon at Ashley, III. 

After Hite left, Tom Green came, and prac- 
ticed law several years. During the time, his 
brother, E. Bell Gi'een, came, and practiced 
awhile before he moved to Mt. Carmel, where he 
still lives and has an extensive practice. His 
brother Tom went to Kansas City. Then came 
Hite and Watts from Louisville, Ky., in 1869. 
They practiced law about two years in Mound 
City, when they returned to Louisville. In 
1859, S. P. Wheeler, now of Cairo, located in 
Mound City to practice law; he was young in 
the practice, and young in years, but studious, 
and gave evidence of much promise in the 
future, which has been verified. He was gen- 
erally found defending those charged with vio- 
lating the law. To fill the vacancy caused by 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



563 



Warner's hasty resignation, A. W. McCormick 
had been elected Justice and Acting Police 
Magistrate. The Esquire's education had been 
neglected in his youth, but he was ever ready 
to sit in judgment upon his fellow-man when 
complained of. He came from Memphis, and 
lived on a flat-boat, with his family, in 1857, 
but moved on shore before he was elected. The 
improvements going on at the time in the city 
brought every character of people to the 
place, many of them adventurers, consequently 
there were frequent broils and violations of the 
statutes. During Esquire McCormick's adminis- 
tration, Wheeler was before his court constantly 
defending parties, but day after day, and week 
after week, his clients were found guilty. This 
sort of thing began to feel and look discourag- 
ing to a young lawyer. One day, while thus dis- 
couraged, he was defending a man before the 
Squire, and had established the fact, beyond a 
doubt, that his client was innocent, but the 
Esquire, with his thumbs in his vest, legs 
crossed, while he gave his judicial chair a gen- 
tle motion, found Wheeler's client guilty, ac- 
companied with a lecture to law-breakers and 
evil-doers generall}-. Wheeler was outraged 
and indignant, and broke out in unmeasured 
terms of the court and his findings, and said 
at the close that he would not stand it; that the 
law and the evidence; that right and justice, 
had all been violated by the court. This was 
said before the audience that usually attend 
the Justice's court. The court adjourned, and 
the Esquire took Wheeler into an adjoining 
room, and said : " See here, Dr. Casey told 
me to decide all the cases in favor of the city, 
and if you will say nothing more about it, I 
will decide the next case in favor of an}- one 
you may be defending," and that settled the 
unpleasantness between the court and attorney. 
Henry G. Carter came to Mound City with 
his father, Judge George W. Carter, in 1860. 
He returned to Kentucky to study law, but 
came back to Mound City. The first case in 



which he ever appeared was in 1862. It was 
one in which his father was complainant. The 
trial was before 0. A. Osburne, Esq. His father 
felt considerable interest in the suit, but be- 
lieved his son Henry could carr}' him through 
it safely. S. P. Wheeler was the opposing 
counsel. Esquire Osburne had upon his table, 
opened at the pages referring to such cases, the 
latest statutes, " Osling's Justice " and " Haines' 
Treatise." The trial commenced and pro- 
ceeded to the close, interspersed on the part of 
the attorneys with the usual, " I object," but 
the Esquire referred to his library, and rapidly 
decided all objections to questions or points of 
law. The case was closed, and the decision of 
the Esquire was against George W. Carter, 
greatly to his disappointment. He turned to 
his son Henry and said in great earnestness : 
" My son, I have gone to much trouble and ex- 
pense to educate you, and fit 3-ou for the prac- 
tice of the law, but if this is the best 3'ou can 
do, you had better quit it and go to plowing 
corn." 

Late in 1858, Judge J. R. Emerie came 
to Mound City from Hillsboro, Ohio. He had 
been County Judge of the county, and had 
been a Member of Congress one term from that 
district. He was elected Police Magistrate in 
1860, and continued to act in that capacity 
until 1865. A part of the time he edited the 
Mound Cit}' Gazette, and kept a grocery store, 
besides practicing law. He died in Mound 
City in 1869. 

James B. Crandell came to Mound City from 
Caledonia in 1863 ; sold groceries until 1865, 
when he commenced the practice of law ; since 
that time, he has been in active practice, and 
still resides in Mound Cit}-. 

Col. E. B. Watkins moved to Mound City 
from Caledonia in 1869. He was County 
Clerk, but practiced law ; was elected to the 
State Legislature in 1876, and died in 1880. 
He was a man of abilit}- ; he took an active 
part in politics ; was frequently elected School 



564 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



Director, taking great interest in the prosperity 
and success of the public schools. 

H. Gr. Carter, the present City Attorney, J. 
P. Roberts ex-County Attorney, and one of the 
Chester Penitentiary Commissionei's, J. B. 
Crandell and John Linegar, L. M. Bradley, the 
present County Attorney, Thomas Boyd and 
W. T. Breeze are the resident attorneys of 
Mound City. 

The Emporium Company, recognizing the 
press greater than any other means they 
could employ, to advance the interest of the 
company. Even before the company was or- 
ganized in 1856, bought a printing press at 
Cincinnati and had it shipped to Mound City. 
The first number of the National Emporium 
was issued in June, 1856. With the press 
came the editor, who prints his name at the 
head of its columns. Dr. Z. Casterline, with 
J. Walter Waugh, publisher. Dr. Casterline 
came from Ohio, and J. Walter Waugh from 
Pennsj'lvania. Casterline edited the paper 
about six months, when he departed to some 
other country. J. Walter Waugh, the pub- 
lisher, went to Aviston, 111., and commenced 
the study of divinity. A few years later, he 
went to the West Indies as Missionar}' and is 
still there enlightening the people upon the 
great hereafter. When Dr. Casterline vacated 
the editorial chair, Moses B. Harrell sat down 
in it, and John A. Waugh, a brother to J. Wal- 
ter, became its publisher. Harrell came to 
Mound City from Cairo. He was a ready and 
graceful writer. He advocated the interests of 
the Emporium Company, Mound City, and the 
county with ability. His editorials were full 
of good sense. The advantages Mound Cit}' 
possessed as a desirable location for manufac- 
tories were truthfully represented. Harrell 
was full of wit and repai'tee, and^ never came 
out second best in the tilts he had with his 
brother editors. He was clear and distinct in 
all he wrote, and gave great satisfaction to his 
readers. The Emporium Company's financial 



embarrassments indicated retrenchment on 
their part, and they withdrew their support 
from the paper, and Harrell withdrew from the 
editorship in 1859, after which he moved back 
to Cairo, and edited the Cairo Gazette for a 
number of years, and from Cairo he went to 
Chicago, where he now lives, and is connected 
with a pap«r at the Stock Yards. Wherever 
he goes, the people that lived in Mound City 
during his Emporium daj's will be glad to 
know that he lives, and hope, when his time 
comes, he may die happy. 

Upon Mr. Harrell retiring from the paper, 
its publisher, John A. Waugh, became editor, 
and continued its editor until 1860. Mr. Waugh 
became clerk of the Marine Railway Company 
in 1865, and continued to occupy that posi- 
tion until the death of Capt. Hambletou, the 
Superintendent, in 1883. Mr. Waugh is a 
Christian gentleman ; was elected County Clerk 
in November, 1882. He made a good editor, a 
good clerk at the Wa3-s, and is making a good 
County Clerk. Upon Mr. Waugh's retiring 
from the Empjorium, no paper was published in 
Mound City until late in 1860. Judge J. R. 
Emerie started the Mound City Gazette, but it 
survived only a year. After the collapse of the 
Gazette, Mound City was not represented by a 
newspaper until 1864, when J. D. Mondy es- 
tablished and edited the Mound City Journal, 
but he was soon relieved by S. P. Wheeler. 
Mr. Wheeler continued to edit the paper until 
1865, when he published his valedictor}-, and 
soon after moved to Cairo, where he still re- 
sides. He was a bold and independent writer, 
and advocated the claims of Mound City and 
Pulaski County with zeal and earnestness. He 
came to Mound Cit}- when comparativel}^ a 
boy, in 1859. As law3-er, editor and citizen, he 
is still remembered in the kindest manner by 
his old friends and associates in Mound City. 

H. R. Howard, who had been the publisher 
of the paper during Wheeler's administration, 
assumes the duties of editor, and May 26. 1866,. 





^^ 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



567 



he sold the press and all else belonging to it, 
to Capt. H. F. Potter, who was its editor from 
that day until he removed to Cairo in 1874, 
taking his press with him. 

Capt. Potter had considered himself a resi- 
dent of Mound City from 1864, as, while he was 
at that time in the army, his family lived in 
Mound City. When the war was over, after 
having served his country more than four 
years, he joined his family at Mound City, and 
soon thereafter, as stated, bought the Mound 
City Journal. He devoted his entire time 
and talents to his paper, and it became the 
organ of the city and count3^ He discussed, 
what seemed to be the interest of both town 
and county with intelligence, and did not over- 
look State or National affairs. He was con- 
servative and judicious in all he said, and his 
paper had much influence wherever read. He 
now edits the Cairo and Mound City Journal, 
weekly, and the Cairo Argus, daily. He was 
elected Circuit Clerk of Pulaski County in 
1868, for four years, and was elected Chief 
Enrolling and Engrossing Clerk of the Senate 
of the Twent3'-ninth and Thirtieth General As- 
sembly, which duties he performed with. credit 
to himself, and to the satisfaction of all inter- 
ested. While he is not now a citizen of Mound 
Cit}', her people remember and appreciate him. 

The National Emporium, throughout its ex- 
istence, was neutral in politics, its object and 
aim being to advance originall}' the interest of 
the Emporium Company, and of Mound City. 
When the name of the paper was changed to 
the Mound City Journal, and later, when Capt. 
H. F. Potter purchased it, under his manage- 
ment it was Democratic. 

The Pulaski Patriot was established and 
first copy issued on the 17th day of June, 1871, 
by A. J. Alden and B. 0. Jones, editor and 
publisher ; Republican in politics ; a seven-col- 
umn folio. The second week, F. R. Waggoner as- 
sociated himself with Alden & Jones in the 
business, and withdrew November 16 of the 



same y^ar. The week following, the firm of 
Alden & Jones was dissolved, Alden retiring 
on the 7th of December. B. A. Jones sold 
the entire outfit of the office to F. R. Waggon- 
er, who became the editor. On the 1st of Jan- 
uary, 1872, M. 0. H. Turner purchased an in- 
terest, the firm name being Waggoner & Tur- 
ner. This firm continued the publication of 
the Patriot until the 1st of November, 1872> 
when Turner withdrew. On the 1st of Decem- 
ber of same year, Fred W. Corson became as- 
sociated in the business, the firm name of Wag- 
goner & Corson. On the 10th of April, 1873, 
Dr. Waggoner withdrew and was succeeded by 
Ed H. Bintliff, firm name Corson & Bintliff. 
On the 23d of January, 1874, Bintliff with- 
drew, and Corson continued alone until the 1st 
of November, 1874, when he sold the office to 
Ed S. Ackerman and A. Ackerman, with the 
latter as editor, who continued to conduct the 
affairs of the paper until December, 1877, 
when he retired, and the paper passed entirely 
into the hands of Ed S. Ackerman, who con- 
tinued the business until the latter part of 
July, 1880. During these years, the paper was 
a seven-column folio, with both sides printed 
at home, until 1879, when it was enlarged to 
an eight-column, with one side patent. In 
July, 1880, J. P. Robarts purchased the office 
reduced the paper to seven columas printed at 
home, and continued the publication until the 
1st of September, 1881, when L. M. Bradley 
purchased an interest. The present firm name, 
Robarts & Bradley, proprietors, always Repub- 
lican in politics. For the above history of the 
Patriot we are indebted to W. S. Singleton, 
local editor. 

The first physician to locate in Mound City 
was Dr. James F. Mahan in 1856. He re- 
mained only a short time ; the second was Dr. 
R. M. Embry had his office room No. 10, Shel- 
ton House, but like Mahan, he soon went 
farther West. The third practicing physician 
was Dr. J. H. Brown, and it was in 1856. 

32 



568 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



Brown came from Bardstown, Ky. He was an 
educated and intelligent gentleman. He was 
retiring and diffident in his manners, was not 
married, and was I'eacliing that age when a 
single man was liable to be called a bachelor ; 
notwithstanding his diffidence, upon an ac- 
quaintance, he was genial and social, and be- 
came a favorite with the people. He practiced 
medicine several years in the city, when he 
bought a fai'm three miles northwest of Mound 
City and moved onto it, and soon became a 
great enthusiast upon the subject of growing 
apples, peaches, and all kinds of fruit. He 
continued the practice of medicine in the 
country, but his great sympathy for the sick, 
and their suffering seemed to him as much as 
they ought to endure, without paying a doctor's 
bill ; consequently he did not realize much from 
his profession. Some years ago, he moved 
back to Kentucky. He pays Mound City and 
Pulaski County an occasional visit, when he is 
warmly welcomed by his old-time friends. 
He was elected City Councilman when living 
in the city, and while he was living in the 
country he was elected County Superintendent 
of Schools. He has never married ; resides at 
Bardstown, Ky., inhaling the perfumes of the 
blue grass. Soon after Dr. Brown, came Dr. 
Stapp, located in Mound City. He was a mid- 
dle-aged man, with a large family ; he remained 
a year or two. Where he came from or where 
he went to is not known. He was followed by 
Dr. Robert Kelly, who came from Kentucky, 
and practiced medicine for several years in 
Mound City with success. He went to Texas, 
and was never heard of afterward. Dr. A. 
Gregg was the fifth doctor to locate in Mound 
City, and lived for several years in the city, 
practicing medicine. He was an educated 
physician, and was a surgeon of some reputa- 
tion. He had practiced medicine in China for 
a number of years. He bought a lot and built 
a house ; the latter he said represented the 
stj'le of houses built in China. It was one 



story high with low ceiling, with a flat roof 
and located where Mrs. Capt. Hamble- 
ton's residence now stands. The Doctor 
was fond of exhibiting Chinese curios- 
ities that he had collected while in 
that countiy. He moved from Mound City 
to Memphis, Tenn. In June, 1857, Dr. N. R. 
Casey came from Mount Vernon, 111., and 
located in Mound City. Dr. Grenick, an edu- 
cated Grerman, came next. After remaining 
several years, he moved to Cairo, and from 
there to St. Louis, where he died some years 
ago. During the war, and while the United 
States Grovernment Hospital remained, the city 
was full of doctors, those attached to the Hos- 
pital not refusing a call to see a patient in the 
city. Some of them remained after the war 
was over. Among them Dr. A. C. McCoy, who 
was a long, slim man, with eyes receding, said 
to have been so from the time he had 
laid a number of days, supposed to have 
departed this life, that is, his spirit. He 
had quite a practice, and gave general satisfac- 
tion. He at one time became much concerned 
about the existence of what was known at one 
time as the Ku Klux. He imagined that they 
were located in or about Mound City, and that 
he was liable to meet them almost an}- dark 
night ; he moved from the city. Dr. A. Kim- 
sic, a large, portly gentleman, located in Mound 
City in 1867. He was rough and bluflE", did much 
practice and was regarded a good physician. 
His health was bad during the last year that 
he practiced in Mound Cit}- ; he went to 
St. Louis, Mo., and died in the Sisters' Hos- 
pital, having been baptized a Catholic before 
he died, 1874. Dr. F. R. Waggoner came 
from Shelbj'ville, 111., and located in Mound 
City, and practiced medicine for sevex'al years, 
editing the Patriot paper a part of the time. 
He moved to Carbondale, receiving an ap- 
pointment from the (xovernment as Physician 
to some Indian Agency, and is now somewhere 
in the Indian Territory. In 1871, Dr. A. N. 



HISTOEY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



569 



Amonett located in Mound City to practice 
medicine. He came from Columbia, Massac 
Co.. 111., but was originally from Tennessee. 
He was a young physician of abilit}'. In 
connection with his practice he purchased 
the drug store of George Mertz. His health 
failed him in 1875 ; h\ 1876, he went to Col- 
orado, hoping the climate might restore him ; 
but finding no relief, he started home. At 
St. Louis he took the Cairo Short-Line Rail- 
road, but died in his seat in the car, soon after 
the train passed Belleville. Besides those 
alluded to, man}' others have come and gone. 
Of all the number, N. R. Casey is the onl}' 
one that still remains in Mound City, he hav- 
ing been a resident of the place over twenty- 
six years. 

Early in 1857, a frame schoolhouse was built 
on Walnut street ; it was built by subscription, 
Gen. Rawliugs giving the lot and $50. It was 
of no great pretensions, but was large enough 
to hold all the children comfortably, then in 
the young city. Before the building of the 
schoolhouse, however, a school had been taught 
in a small building belonging to Frank Dough- 
erty, located on the alle}- between Poplar and 
Walnut streets. Here the first school was 
taught b}- Samuel P. Steel, a young man who 
had taken Greeley's advice and come West from 
Pennsylvania. For a number of years, he 
taught school in Mound City, and gave general 
satisfaction. He still resides in Pulaski County. 
At no time since has the necessity' of schools 
been overlooked. When the public funds are 
exhausted, and the public schools have to close, 
pay schools are well supported until the public 
schools commence again. The amount of 
monej' expended in the townships for the fiscal 
3'ear ending April 4, 1883, to wit : District 
No. 1, $2,381.90 ; District No. 2, $746.36 ; Dis- 



trict No. 3, $931.53 i District No. 4, $560.18 ; 
township miscellaneous expenses, $62.38 ; 
amount on hand at the end of the 3'ear, total. 
$4,765.40. The number of children attending 
the public schools during the past year, were 
620, and the census shows 225 children under 
the school age. The School Directors provide 
a separate and comfortable schoolhouse, and 
furnish competent teachers for the colored chil- 
dren. The following were the teachers of the 
public school during the past year, and salaries 
paid them : Prof. T. J. Crawford, Principal, 
salary, $75 per month ; Mrs. Hattie M. Smith, 
Assistant, $48 ; Miss Flora Marford, Second 
Assistant, $45 ; Miss Phrona Howard, Third 
Assistant, $40 ; Miss Maggie Harris, $20 ; M. 
M. Avant (colored), and teacher of the colored 
school, ^40, and his wife Assistant, with a 
salary of $18. The present school Directors 
are : F. G. Fricke, Edward A. Hayes and 
Quinn McCracken. The great fire of 1879 
burned the public schoolhouse, and the build- 
ing used for schools at that time, which left the 
city without a schoolhouse. The School Direc- 
toi's secured the City Hall building, making 
such improvements as required, and since then 
the public schools have occupied it. 

Sabbath schools were organized as early as 
1857, before thei'e was a church organization. 
The same year a temperance society was formed, 
and while several murders have been commit- 
ted, and the murderers disposed of, without the 
benefit of judge or jur}', which is always to be 
regretted, even wlien extenuating- circumstances 
exist, notwithstanding, history records such 
instances in Mound City, a high regard for 
morality, the laws of the country, and the law of 
God, is recognized arid observed by the actual 
citizens. 



570 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



CHAPTER VIII.* 



MOUND CITY — ITS rilURCH HISTORY — CATHOLIC CHURCH— THE METHODISTS, ETC. —COLORED 
CHURCHES— FIRES AND THE LOSSES WHICH RESULTED — MANUFACTORIES — SECRET 
AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES— SOMETHING OF THE MERCANTILE BUSINESS- 
POPULATION OF THE CITY— ITS OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT, ETC. 



AS early as 1857, a number of Catholic 
families lived in Mound City, but had no 
organization. Father Walsh, from St. Patrick's 
Church at Cairo, came to Mound City every 
third or fourth Sunda}^, and said mass in the 
school house, located on Walnut street. Occa- 
sionally, an effort was made to build a church. 
Bishop Younker, of the Alton Diocese, which 
embraced this locality, refusing to send a Priest 
until a church was built. The effort to build 
was continued — Jerry Dunleary, P. M. Kelly, 
C. Buckheart, Mrs. N. R. Casey, James 
Browner, and indeed all the Catholics living in 
the place were not only anxious, but zealous, 
in their efforts to accomplish their object, and 
in 1863 they had the satisfaction of worshiping 
in their own church. The Emporium Company 
gave the lot they built upon. It was located 
on High street, and runs back to Pearl street, 
between Railroad avenue and Walnut street. 
The organization, and the christening of the 
Church St. Mary's followed its completion. The 
building was 25x56 feet, and finished and fur- 
nished in good style. The organization, at that 
time, was a strong one. A large number of 
Catholic families were here, many of them con- 
nected with the naval station, the United States 
Government Hospital, and the Government 
works of various kinds. Father Moor was the 
first priest, followed by Father Elthrop. They 
were here only a short time, when Father Kuck- 
enbach came, and while he remained the first 
house was built, a two-story frame, with one- 

*Bj Dr. N. R. Casey. 



story ell. Father Kuckenbach was relieved by 
Father Walsh, who took charge of the congre- 
gation. He remained six or seven years, and 
was a very popular priest, with more than ordi- 
nar}' ability. Father O'Conner followed Father 
Walsh ; he was a young man of ability, but 
was suffering from the incipient stages of con- 
sumption. He remained at his post of labor 
until unable to do so longer, went to the Sister's 
hospital at Cairo, and from there to Jackson- 
ville, 111., where he died. Father Denneher was 
the next priest. During his administration, 
the ground upon which is located St. Mary's 
Catholic Cemetery, near Mound City Junction, 
was bought. The members of the church had 
long felt the expense and inconvenience of 
burying their dead in the Catholic cemetery at 
Villa Ridge, eight miles from Mound City. 
To avoid this, Mrs. N. R. Casey inaugurated 
the plan to buy of the Bichtill heirs twenty 
acres of land embracing the first high ground, 
north of the Mound City Junction, opposite 
the Beach Grove Cemetery, and along the line of 
the Illinois Central Railroad. To do so would 
cost $200. Mrs. Casey succeeded in raising 
the amount by subscription. Her Protestant 
friends of Mound City and Cairo were as libei'al 
as her Catholic friends. She received $20 from 
Archbishop Spalding, of Baltimore, who was 
her god father, and had married her and 
her husband. When the twenty acres were 
surveyed, it showed a strip of land containing 
three or four acres, lying between the land 
bouoht and the Illinois Centi'al Railroad, com- 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



571 



pletely cutting off the view of the cemetery 
from the junction and railroad. This strip 
had also belonged to the Bichtill heirs, but Dr. 
Grain had a tax deed for it. The agent of the 
heirs agreed to deed Mrs. Case}^ this strip of 
land, provided she secured the deed from Dr. 
Grain, which she did by paying him $50 and 
it was added to St. Mary's Gatholic Ceme- 
tery, and upon that high, beautiful elevation, 
a part of the strip alluded to, Mrs. Gasey selected 
in her life-time, for her last resting place, where 
she now lies buried. 

After Father Denneher, Father Grant came, 
who did not remain long ; he was followed by 
Father Masterson, a young priest when he 
came. He became a favorite with his congrega- 
tion and with the community. He remained 
five or six years, when he was relieved from 
his charge at Mound City and ordered by the 
Bishop to Cairo ; an effort was made to have 
the Bishop retain him longer in Mound City, 
but without success. Father Becker came in 
his place, who remained one year, when the 
present priest. Father Eckert came. The 
church has maintained a Catholic school the 
greater part of the time since its organization. 
The^^ have also maintained a Sunday school. 
The church built some years ago a one-story 
schoolhouse, on Fourth street, between Walnut 
and Poplar. N. R. Casey gave them the lot, 
while the building was paid for, largely, b}" pri- 
vate subscriptions and money raised b}' festi- 
vals, etc. The church is out of debt ; while the 
majority of its members are poor, they are al- 
ways willing to contribute their mite for the 
advancement of the church. 

In the year 1857, the Methodist Episcopal 
Church was organized. Rev. R. H. Manier of 
this Conference, and now of Effingham 
charge, was the first Pastor in charge. For 
some time, it was connected with Cairo charge. 
In 1858, Revs. J. A. Scarrett and Lingenfelter 
were sent as pastors in charge of the work. 
Inasmuch as no record during the years of 



its connection with Cairo has been kept in tlie 
possession of the Mound City Church, the 
names of certain pastors who officiated from 
the time of organization to the year 1865 will 
not appear here. In the year 1865, the church 
was organized as a station, under the pastorate 
of Rev. J. P. Dew, with forty-nine members in 
full connection. The charge was then in 
Equality District, Southern Illinois Conference. 
The pastors who have been associated with the 
charge from 1865 up to September, 1880, when 
it ceased to be a station, are Revs. J. Hill, one 
year ; F. L. Thompson, one year ; A. P. Morri- 
son, one year; D. W. Phillips, two years ; F. M. 
Vantreese, two years ; C. H. Farr, one year ; J. 
H. Garret, one year ; R. Z. Fahs, one year ; 
Revs. Fredgold and G. W. Willson, two years ; 
Ephraim Joy, three years. In 1880, the charge 
was oi'ganized into a circuit, and Rev. E. M. 
Glasgow was sent and had the pastoral care 
for one year. In September, 1881, at the Con- 
ference held in Greenville, Bishop Hurst sent 
to the charge Rev. H. A. Doty, who is now the 
present pastor. 

In the year 1865, under the labors of Rev. 
J. P. Dew, a brick churchj 36x60 feet, was 
built. Its cost was $5,000. Its seating capac- 
ity will accommodate 300 persons. On the 
1st day of Jul}', 1866, it was solemnly set 
apart and dedicated to the worship of Al- 
mighty God, by Dr. G. W. Hughey, now of 
St. Louis, Mo. Since its origin, up to the pres- 
ent time, the records designate its prosperity 
and its decline. During the palmier days of 
the cit}', it flourished accordingly. During the 
last pastoral year, twenty-six have been added 
to the church at Mound City, so that at pres- 
ent there is a membership of sixty, and in the 
entire charge a membership of I-IO. The 
charge is now, as Mound City and Ville Ridge 
charge, in the Mt. Vernon District, Southern 
Illinois Conference, with Rev. C. Nash, Presid- 
ing Elder. For the above history of the Meth- 



572 



HISTOKY or PULASKI COUNTY. 



odist Church, we are indebted to the very kiud 
and reverend Mr. Doty. i 

In 1861, Dr. Stephen J. McM aster resigned 
the Presidency of a college in Missouri, and be- 
came Chaplain of Col. Buford's Illinois regi- 
ment. In 1862, by special request, he became 
Chaplain of the United States Government 
Hospital at Mound City, where he administered 
to the sick and dying. Finally, a chapel for 
regular service was Qtted up in the hospital. 
The service in the chapel was attended by cit- 
izens as well as soldiers. Dr. McMaster 
was a gentleman of education and cult- 
ure. In 1863, Dr. Isaac P. Labough became 
rector of the church in Cairo. Desiring to 
hold church in Mound City, the Methodist 
Church was kindly tendered him, where he 
held service for awhile and afterward at the 
schoolhouse. In 1865, the Rev. John Foster 
held service in the schoolhouse. During the 
year 1866, the Rev. William Britton officiated, 
and during this year the church was built and 
dedicated St. Peter's. Dr. N. R. Casey gave 
the lot ; it was 26x60 feet, upon which it was 
built ; and at a festival, held in the brick store- 
house on the corner of Poplar and First 
streets (afterward occupied by W. J. Price) the 
members realized $2,200. Rev. M. Lyle held 
the first service in the church, followed by Rev. 
Mr. Roften in 1868. Rev. William Mitchell 
had chaige during the year. Bishop White- 
house confirmed a class of thirteen in 1869-70. 
The Rev. James Coe and Rev. Edwin Conn 
held service in the church Sunday afternoons. 
In 1871, Rev. A. E. Wells had come to Mound 
City as Chaplain of the Navy Station, but soon 
took charge of St. Peter's Church, and re- 
mained its minister for six years; he was a so- 
cial, pleasant gentleman, and was favorably 
known b3^ the community. Rev. Dean Ervine 
held service in 1881, and in 1882-83 Rev. Will- 
iam Steel and Rev. F. P. Davenport occa- 
sionally held service in the church. Bishop 
Whitehouse, McClaren and Seymour were 



present at different confirmations. To the Rev. 
Dr. McMaster, in his capacity as Chaplain at 
the hospital at Mound Citv, should be given 
the credit of inaugurating the first move to- 
ward the establishment of the church. While 
the church is at present without a minister, its 
members keep up their Sunday school organi- 
zation, and it is understood they are soon to be 
supplied with a pastor. 

The colored people of Mound City are sup- 
porting four churches. The First Free- Will 
Baptist Church is located in the northwest part 
of the cit^^ It is a frame building, 26x50, has 
been built for several years, and has one hun- 
dred and eleven members, while the average 
attendance at the church is about one hundred 
and fifty. Rev. Nelson Ricks is the pastor. 
They have forty-five children that attend the 
Sunday school. The Second Free-Will Baptist 
Church is near Main street, in the upper por- 
tion of the city. It is not so fine a church as 
the Fii-st. It is a box house, 18x30 feet. They 
have twenty-five members ; the average attend- 
ance is about fifty. Rev. George W. Young is 
the minister in charge. They have twenty-five 
children at their Sunday school. The Meth- 
odist Church is a frame building. 25x40 feet, 
has a membership of forty, fifty or more gener- 
ally attending the meetings on Sunday. Rev.' 
Joseph White is in charge. Thirty-fix e chil- 
dren attend their Sunda}' school. The Mis- 
sionary organization has no building of its own 
to worship in. They rent the Second Free-Will 
Baptist Church to hold their meetings. They 
have twenty members. Rev. Charles Moore is 
the minister. Have no Sunday school. 

On Sunday, November 2, 1879, about 2 
o'clock in the afternoon, fire was discovered is- 
suing from the top of John Zanone's two-story 
building, on Main street, used for a saloon, 
billiard hall and residence, and almost immedi- 
ately thereafter it was evident the Imilding 
could not be saved. The wind was blowing 
rapidly from the northwest, and the entire roof 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



573 



was soon in flames. Mrs. Vogel's two-story 
house, north of Zanone's, was soon on fire, 
while Kriss Keller's, south, had caught and 
was burning. Then on the north followed the 
burning of a one-story house, belonging to Mr. 
Blum. Here an effort was made to stay its 
progress north by pulling down the Blum 
house, but it was not accomplished, and 
soon Mr. F. T. Fricke's drug store and his 
residence, in the rear, were on fire, that soon 
extended to the large double two-story house 
belonging to G. W. Carter. Then came Peter 
Coldwater's two-story building, saloon and 
residence, together with Unsol's building, 
residence and barber-shop. This included all 
the buildings from where the fire started, going 
north on Main street, to William Stern's two- 
story brick house. Here the fire was stopped 
going north ; by great exertion Stern's house 
was saved. All this time the fire was being 
driven on rapidly by the wind southwest. 
After Keller's house came Alexander Wilson's 
furniture store. When once on fire, it was but 
a moment when G. F. Meyer's large two-story 
grocery store was on fire. From Meyer's, on 
the corner of Main and Walnut streets, the 
fire was driven across Walnut street, and caught 
the old brewery building, on the corner of Wal- 
nut and First streets. The large two-story 
brick residence of Mrs. Ninnenger's, along- 
side of the brewery building, was next to take 
fire and burn ; then Mrs. Moll's residence and 
store building west of the brewery ; then the 
old public schoolhouse across the allej^ on Wal- 
nut street. By pulling down the schoolhouse 
saved the buildings south, to the river, from 
the brewery. The fire burned all the buildings 
on First street to Poplar, then it crossed Pop- 
lar street and burned W. J. Price's brick store- 
house ; from there it went west on Poplar 
street to where Mr. Nordman now lives, and 
south on First to the reservation. From Mey- 
er's store and the old brewery, the fire crossed 
Walnut and First streets, to G.G. & J. W. 



Morris's tin shop, then Tom Dun's house, then 
Mrs. M. E. Rawlings' large two-story brick 
house, then William Dougherty's two-story 
frame residence. All the houses in the block 
east, the fire had burned ; B. L. Ulen's resi- 
dence, Ferd. Wehrfritz on Commercial street, 
and all the buildings (skipping colored church) 
and depot on that block. From there it caught 
the cooper shop, Rawlings' reservation, then 
the court house building, then Meyer & Nord- 
man's stave factory, and then all the buildings 
on the bank of the river, that was built b}- the 
Government, except the one now used by Mr. 
Reel for a flouring mill. Fifty-five houses, in- 
cluding business houses and residences, in three 
short hours, had been reduced to ashes. 

The cit}- was without a fire engine. They 
had hooks and ladders, and worked man- 
fully, but it was soon evident, nothing could 
stay its march to the river. The wind seemed 
to increase with the fire until it blew a gale, 
bearing boards and shingles, which blew across 
the river, setting the woods on fire in Ken- 
tucky. When the fire was discovered, the 
people were helpless. No power they had at 
command could stay its progress. The Mayor 
telegraphed to the Cairo fire companies, and 
they responded cheerfully. The Cairo & 
Vincennes Railroad furnished an engine and 
flat cars, upon which two hand-engines were 
brought to the city with the companies, while 
the fire had about exhausted itself when they 
came, for the want of material to burn. The 
engines did good service in throwing water on 
the still bux-ning houses. It was not believed 
any number of engines, after the fire got well 
started, could have stayed its progress. Many 
lost not only their homes, but all their homes 
contained. Household goods removed fi'om 
the house and left on some street far away 
from the fire, where it was supposed they 
would be safe, were soon overtaken by 
the fire and burned up in the street. Even the 
locust trees upon the Mound on the river bank, 



-.74 



HISTOEY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



that had so long been cherished by the people, 
were all burned down. No lives were lost, but 
distress and excitement were seen ever3'where ; 
women and little children huddled together in 
the middle of the street, wondering where they 
would lay their heads that night, or when their 
hunger would be relieved ; and to add to the 
calamity, thieves were busily engaged in car- 
rymg off any and everything they could get 
hold of that was left exposed. Special police- 
men had to be appointed before the stealing 
could be stopped. Those whose houses had not 
burned provided for as many of the destitute as 
they could, and in this way all had found a place 
to sleep, and were provided with something to 
eat by 10 o'clock that night. An appeal the 
next day was made to the public, and some 
SI, 500 or $1,600 was given by various towns 
and cities for the destitute. This was greatly 
appreciated. The estimated loss by the fire 
was over $200,000. The citizens that had 
escaped the Are continued to render aid and 
comfort to the afflicted. Compared with the size 
of the city and the number of inhabitants, the 
fire in 1879 was as disastrous to Mound City 
as the great Chicago fire was to that city. 
While the fire was discouraging, the owners of 
the property burned set about at once rebuild- 
ing, and while all the lots made vacant by the 
fire have not been i^ebuilt upon, still a majority 
of them have, and instead of frame houses, the 
larger number are elegant brick dwellings and 
business houses. 

In 1857, Conner & Fubager built and operat- 
ed a stave factory in the upper part of the city. 
They worked about fifty men. At that time 
they procured the timber for their staves, imme- 
dietely around the factory, as a heavy forest of 
fine timber lay all around them. In 1858, the 
factory burned. In 1857, H. C. Howard & Co., 
near Connor's stave factory, built and operated 
a furniture factory. The close proximity to 
desirable timber, the cheapness of labor, and 
the cheapness of freight upon the river, made 



it a desirable location. Their trade was prin- 
cipally from the South. The civil war coming 
upon the country, the factory in 1861 was 
closed. Mr. Howard, the active partner, some 
years later, died, and it was never revived. In 
the same year, a planing mill and a sash 
and door factor}^ was built in the satue 
neighborhood of the furniture factory. For 
want of capital, the parties that built it sus- 
pended before they had run it long. The same 
year, and near the furniture factory, Johnson 
& Carpenter built a flouring mill. This mill 
was run for a number of years, when the build- 
ing was purchased by Yocum, and in 1864 
started an ax handle factory ; later it was 
Yocum & Harris, and in 1869 the Walworth 
Handle Works were established, where McDow- 
el's saw mill now stands, and Yocum & Harris 
and the Walworth factories were consolidated. 
They did an extensive and profitable business 
until 1876. They moved the factory to 
St. Louis, where it is still operated by Chester 
& Harris. In 1858, a man by the name of 
Skeen built a saw mill near the mouth of Cache 
River. In about a year, it passed to a man by 
the name of Brown, and from Brown to a man 
by the name of Dudley. In 1861, Capt. W. 
L. Hanibleton became owner, and William 
Dougherty operated it a year or two, when 
George E. Lounsberry had charge of it until 
1868, when William Dougherty became owner. 
He moved it near the bank of the Ohio River, 
rebuilding the greater part of it. He operated 
it- until 1872, then Craig & Crandell for a year 
followed ; by Crandell, Morris & Dougherty 
for a year, when the machinery was sold and 
removed, which ended the existence of rather 
an eventful saw mill. In 1869, Jones & Harlin 
established a shingle factory at the mouth of 
Cache River. Soon after, in 1870, A. J. Dough- 
erty bought it, and run it for a year. In 1871 
he added machinery for manufacturing staves, 
but it was burnt down soon afterward. In 
July, 1871, A. J. Dougherty bought the build- 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



575 



ing in which Yocum first started his ax handle 
factory, and started a stave factor3', first mak- 
ing salt barrel staves for the Ohio Salt Com- 
pany. In the course of the 3"ear, he enlarged 
the business by manufacturing flour barrel 
staves. The demand for the goods increased, 
and instead of eight or ten men employed, as 
was all required at the start, the trade now re- 
quires 100 men to operate it. In 1877, a stock 
company was organized, and is now carried on 
as the Mound City Stave Compan}'. The first 
stockholders were : W. L. Halliday, Jake 
Martin and A. J. Doughert3^ The stock is now 
owned by A. J. Dougherty and Orlando Wil- 
son ; capital stock, $5,000. In 1881, the factory 
burned down, involving a loss of $15,000 ; in- 
sured for $7,000. After the fire, the company 
purchased the lots on the corner of East First 
street, and levee, upon which they built the 
present factory at a cost of $20,000, and are 
now operating it with success. 

In 1865, the hub and spoke factory was 
established in the Union Block building by the 
Keer Bros., with W. H. Stokes, of Louisville, 
Ky., furnishing the capital. It was continued 
for a number of years, realizing ready sales for 
their work, but by a combination of circum- 
stances, principall}- bad management, it went 
into bankruptc}'. 

In 1867, Edward Shippen commenced to 
manufacture wheel-barrows in the Union Block, 
which he carried on extensivel}- for about four 
years. He was a son-in-law of the late W. H. 
Stokes, of Louisville, Ky. Becoming interested 
in the provisions of his father-in-law's will, he 
moved to Louisville to look after it. 

In 1857, William Ninnenger rented a two- 
stor}- house, between Poplar and Main streets, 
in which he commenced the manufacture of 
beer, where he continued until 1860, when he 
built the brewery on the corner of Walnut and 
First streets. Here he made considerable 
money. In 1866, his health became bad, and 
he went to Havana, hoping to find relief, but 



early in 1867 he died in New Orleans on his 
way home. His brother Charles continued the 
brewery until 1870, when he closed it and died 
in 1871. The Walworth Handle Company 
left their building standing when they moved 
to St. Louis, and in 1878 John McDowell, from 
Brazil, Ind., purchased it and established an 
extensive saw mill. The mill has great ca- 
pacity, and is considered the most extensive of 
the kind in Southern Illinois, if not in the 
State. The active and congenial Quinn Mc- 
Cracken, also from Brazil, Ind., is the Superin- 
tendent. J. R. Reel, another gentleman from 
Brazil, in 1879 established in one of the orig- 
inal Grovernment buildings, upon the levee, a 
flouring mill, but it became a victim to the 
great fire of the same year. He is now occu- 
pying and operating a flouring mill in the only 
building the ravages of the fire spared upon 
the river bank. In 1858, Gr. F. Meyer came 
direct from Germany to Mound City, and at 
once went into partnership with A. C. Hallen- 
berry in a small grocery store on Main street, 
opposite where the post olfice is now kept. 
The}' soon moved their business down to the 
brewery building, and then to the lot he now 
occupies, on the corner of Main and Walnut 
streets. Meyer & Hallenberry dissolved part- 
nership in 1867, Meyer continuing at the same 
location, Hallenberry establishing himself on 
the opposite side of the street, with a grocer\' 
store. Mr. Meyer at an early day connected 
the business of buying and shipping staves in 
the rough. At one time for a number of years 
he controlled and operated the saw mill known 
as Webster & Carroll's, located three miles 
north of Mound City ; had a wooden railroad 
built from the mill to the Ohio River, upon 
which the lumber was brought and shipped. 

In May, 1879, Meyer & Nordman established 
their extensive and complete stave factory, in all 
its departments, upon the river bank just north 
of the Mound, and on Rawlings' reservation, 
when, the same year, November 2, 1879, the 



576 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



factory, staves and all apartments thereunto be- 
longing succumbed to the fire that was so dis- 
astrous to so much ^of Mound City. The ashes 
were hardly cold, however, when they began to 
rebuild, and on the 18th day of December the 
same year, they were running. They manu- 
factured, bricked and jointed seasoned white- 
oak staves and headings for ale hogsheads and 
barrels, beer half-barrels, and kegs for whisky, 
and sirup barrels ; in connection with the fac- 
tory they worked fifty men. They shipped 
their staves as far East as Boston, and west to 
San Francisco, and have quite a trade to 
Canada. Mr. Nordman came from Indianapo- 
lis ; like Mr. Meyer, he had much experience 
in the stave business ; both seeing and appre- 
ciating the advantages of the place for such an 
enterprise, availed themselves of it. The Wa- 
bash Railroad runs a switch upon their ground. 
The Mound City Railroad near by, and the 
Ohio River washing the shores just in front of 
them, tells them to choose the route to send 
their goods. The da}- the fire consumed the 
stave factoi-y of Meyer & Nordman, it also 
burned the large grocery store of Mr. Meyer 
His loss was great, but 'he carried an insurance 
that relieved him to a considerable extent, and 
the next day after the fire, Meyer was found 
selling groceries on the opposite corner, in a 
building which he owned. In 1882, he com- 
pleted and moved into his elegant store build- 
ing upon the ground he had done business so 
long befo;e the fire. His store building is 
complete in all its departments. It is built of the 
best of brick, foundation of stone. The struct- 
ure is 180x80 feet, and consists of four separate 
and distinct double stores having seven de- 
partments, all admirabl}' managed and all con- 
nected by broad archways, with ample light, 
and two elevators. In one department groce- 
ries, in another hardware and stoves, then 
boots, shoes, hats and caps, then saddlery, 
then furniture, and separate departments for 
liquors and groceries in wholesale, each line 



being full. The building is connected with 
Cairo by telephone. The entire second floor 
is devoted to wholesale or duplicated stock, as 
is also the basement, which latter, together 
with the entire sidewalk extending around 
three sides of the building, is made of English 
Portland cement, making them impervious to 
water and vermin. The building has three 
fire and burglar-proof vaults, one in each 
double store ; on the second floor an elegant 
private and a book-keeper's office. Mr. Meyer 
buys for cash direct from importers and first 
hands. In a warehouse, 37x130 feet, he keeps 
wagons, buggies and carriages of all descrip- 
tions and styles. He keeps in a building 
45x50, a full stock of sash, doors and blinds. 
He is interested in nearl}; every industrial 
enterprise that contributes to the growth 
and prosperity of the city. His chief of 
staff, the gentlemanly Ferdinand Wehrfritz, 
has full charge of the business in Mr. Mey- 
er's absence. While other business men have 
made money in Mound City and gone else- 
where to spend it, G. F. Meyer spends it 
where he made it. 

Mound City Lodge, No. 250, I. 0. 0. F., was 
instituted March 11, 1858. The M. W. G. 
Master, W. DuflT Green, of the I. 0. O. F. of the 
jurisdiction of Illinois, accompanied by Grand 
officers, P. G., D. Hannon, R. W. D. G. M. pro- 
tem Brother Greenwood, R. W. G. M. P. G., 
George McKensie, R. W. G. T. and Brother 
Owen, R. W. G. G., instituted the lodge with 
the following charter members : P. G. J. Gris- 
wold, P. G. H. Hiner, Bros. C. Kirkpatrick, 
W. McNight and J. S. Hawkins. On the same 
evening, the following persons were proposed 
and admitted, to wit : P. G. C. M. Ferrill, P. 
G. N. R. Casey, M. B. Riggs, A, Patrick, R. 
Adams and sixteen others. On the 12th of 
March, 1858, the hall was dedicated. On the 
15th of October, 1858, a charter was granted 
to the lodge, W. Duflf Green being Grand 
Master. The first oflficers elected were J. 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



577 



Griswold, N. G.; C. Kirkpatrick, V. G.; William 
McNight, Sec; and N. R. Casey, Treas. Since 
the institution of this lodge, a quarter of a cen- 
tury has elapsed. It has undergone man}' 
vicissitudes ; burning of its hall in the fire of 
1879, it survives the struggle of other years 
with a brighter outlook before it. It now 
numbers twenty members. Its present officers 
are W. T. Freeze, N. G.; H. A. Doty, V. G.; L. 
D. Reel, Sec; T. W. Reed, Treas. Since the 
burning of the hall in 1879, they fitted up a 
hall over Price's store, on Main street, and 
went there every Frida}' evening. 

The Knights of Honor were organized in Oc- 
tober, 1879, with twenty-four charter members. 
Since then the order has increased to fifty-four 
members. But one death has occui-red since 
the organization of the lodge, that of A. 
Schnider. The lodge meets in the Odd Fellows 
Hall. Its present officers are George Bosum, 
Dictator ; Joseph Cale, Vice Dictator ; H. G. Car- 
ter, Reporter, and Edward A. Hays, Financial 
Reporter. 

The Ladies and Knights of Honor, No. 587, 
were organized November 4, 1882, with twenty- 
four charter members. They have increased 
since then to twenty-eight members. No death 
has occurred since the order was established. 
The present officers : Mrs. Joseph Goodloe, Pro- 
tector ; Mrs. Ninnenger, Vice Protector ; Mrs. 
Hattie M. Smith, Deputy Protector ; Mrs. E. B. 
Watkins, Sec, and William Painter, Treas. 

In 1857, there lived in Mound City a num- 
ber of Masons, belonging to lodges in different 
parts of the country, and that they might en- 
joy directly the advantages from the order. 
Cache Lodge was instituted in 1858. The fol- 
lowing were the charter members : James 
Goodloe, H. R. Howard, J. Y. Clemson, R. H. 
Warner, I. E. Anderson, J. R. Emerie and C. 
Jennings. James Goodloe was its first Master. 
Of the charter members none are now living 
in Mound City, and the majority have long 
since been admitted or rejected in the lodge 



above. Man}^ of them and of those that be- 
came members of the order were faithful and 
zealous in the cause, probably none so much 
as J. W. Morris, now of Cairo. He was fre- 
quently chosen to represent Cache Lodge in 
the Grand Lodge of the State, which duty he 
performed with great satisfaction. But cir- 
cumstances over which they had no control 
induced them to consolidate with the Cairo 
Lodge, which they did in 1874. 

In 1866, the first Good Templars society was 
organized by old Father Bingham, the great 
temperance worker. The lodge was carried on 
successively, and did much good until 1876. 
The meetings were discontinued, but more or 
less temperance work was done until 1878, when 
the Red Ribbon movement was inaugurated by 
Dr. Reynolds, which resulted in much good. 
In 1882, another Good Templars Lodge was 
established, and is now in successful operation. 

The first store opened in Mound City was 
by Gen. M. M. Rawlings in 1855, and contained 
a large stock of assorted merchandise. It was 
continued until early in 1863. The store room 
was 25x100 feet. The building fronted Raw- 
lings' reservation ; after 1863, it was known as 
the Marine Barracks, the marines occupying 
it for several years, or while the}' were sta- 
tioned at Mound City. The second business 
house was kept by R. H. Warner, 1856. It 
consisted of groceries only. He built the 
house, and it also fronted the reservation. The 
lot and buildings were afterward sold to Capt. 
Kelsey for $10,000. In 1857, Warner & Dona- 
goa kept a grocery store on Poplar street, 
between Front street and the reservation. 
John Donagon is still in Mound City. Then 
Harrell & Dougherty in 1856 kept a store con- 
sisting of general merchandise, wholesale and 
retail. John withdrew; had a grocery and 
provision store. Coyle & Harris were the first 
carpenters and builders to ask patronage in 
their business in Mound City. At the same 
time. Joe Worthins^ton offered to do house 



578 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



and ornamental paintino;. The firm of Coyle 
& Harris was soon changed to Holmes & Wick- 
wire. John Given, J. B. Morrison, carpenters 
and contractors, found plent}^ to do in Mound 
City. Charles Ninnenger was the first barber, 
in 1856, Room 34 Shelton House. Soon after- 
ward came Ben Savage, and opened barber- 
shop on Front street. He was a colored man, 
pretty well advanced in years ; for several 
^■ears, besides practicing his art, played the 
fiddle for all the children's parties in the city. 
He was not an Ole Bull in that line; he very 
rarely had more than three strings to his fiddle, 
yet the music and the dance went on, and old 
Ben, as the night advanced, while the noise of 
the fiddle continued, seemed to charm himself 
into sweet repose, and some of Peck's bad 
boys would stick pins in him to keep him go- 
ing. He, like all the men, had a history, and 
was always anxious to tell it. He had one 
story that was his favorite. It was connected 
with his life, away back "where he came from." 
All who sat under his razor had to listen to it 
every time they occupied his chair. It referred 
to his youthful da3's and his youthful sports. 
It was always enjoyable, especially so when 
3'ou were in a hurry, for the recitation seri- 
ously delayed the business in hand. But in a 
few years he passed from these shores, and old 
Ben and his fiddle were heard no more. 
Jonathan Tucker kept the first butcher shop. 
The first matrimonial alliance in Mound City 
was consummated b}' Jackson Stanl}-. groom, 
and Miss Mary Venoy the bride. Rev. I. C. 
Anderson pronounced the words that made 
them inseparable. 

Capt. C. M. Ferrill and Nelson kept a wharf 
boat in 1857. Ferrill was elected the first Po- 
lice Magistrate in Mound City, resigning 
soon after. He was elected Citj' Marshal, and 
was a terror to evil doers. He built two cot- 
tages in Mound City, and lived in one of 
them a number of years, when he moved to 
Elizabeth town. Went into the army, came back 



a Colonel of a regiment, and in 1873 was elected 
to the State Senate from the Fifty-first District. 
In 1857, Bennett & Eddy were house and orna- 
mental painters ; acquired a good business in 
their lines. Mayfield and Cresp, surgeon and 
dentist, could be found if you had the tooth- 
ache, on Main street, in 1857. J. S. Hawkins, 
plasterer. He was a small man, walked unu- 
sually rapid,' but understood his business. 
King & Rice were brickmakers in 1856, and 
Capt. F. A. Fair was the bricklayer. The Shel- 
ton House was supplying the wants of the in- 
ner man. It was first-class and had some style 
about it. The proprietor, R. B. Shelton, fur- 
nished his guests with a bill of fare at all meals. 
The writer of this has one dated June 3, 1857. 
It starts out with three kinds of soup, then 
fish, then comes corn beef and cold dishes, 
entrees ; but listen to what follows under the 
head of roast — chicken, beef, veal, mutton, ham. 
pork, pig and duck — which or how many 
kinds will you have ? was the question. Then 
comes game, then follows vegetables, eleven dif- 
ferent kinds. Then relishes, puddings and 
pastries, consisting of fifteen varieties, then 
desserts. The list of wines, with meal hours, 
including when children and servants shall be 
waked, and when they may eat, covers one en- 
tire side of the bill. Hei'e at the elegant din- 
ners at the Shelton House, sat the President, 
Directors and stockholders of the Emporium 
Company in 1857. sipping their champagne, 
and talking of oriental palaces and marble halls. 
Detwiler & Yonker, were the first fashion- 
able boot and shoe makers. Their sign hung 
from the railroad building in 1856. In April, 
1856, Younking & Ma3^field opened the first 
drug store in the building where George Mertz 
& Son now keep grocery store. It had many 
owners. In 1876, Dr. Amonett was the owner, 
but before his death he disposed of it, and it 
was removed from Mound City. In 1857, Tou- 
rill & Faelix established a drug store where 
Mrs. Moll now carries on business. In connec- 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY 



579 



tion with drugs, they kept books and periodi- 
cals. Faelix sold his interest to Tourill, and 
returned to German3-. Tourill built a house 
on Main street, south of Railroad avenue, and 
in it continued the drug business until 1870, 
when he sold to F. G. Fricke, and moved to 
New York City, where he died some 3'ears ago. 
Mr. Fricke bought property on the east side of 
Main street, to which he moved the drug store. 
He was burnt out in 1879, after which he built 
a brick house, and still carries on the drug 
business. A. Fraser advertises, in June. 1857, 
tin, sheet-iron and copper-ware for sale, whole- 
sale and retail. He was then on a flat-boat, 
but built a house on Main street, and moved 
into it soon after. With him came Gr. Gr. and 
J. W. Morris, who for man}' years afterward 
lived in Mound City, and as Gr. Gr. & J. W. 
Morris, did business. Gr. G. Morris is now su- 
perintending a stave factory at Stone Fort, in 
this State, while J. W, MoitIs lives in Cairo, 
and carries on a tin, sheet-iron and copper shop. 
In 1857, Orsbern & Kornlo, opened on First 
street, an ice cream saloon, and to increase the 
luxuries in the business, they added cigars and 
tobacco. 

John F. Morgan, in 1857, kept a grocery 
and feed store. The same year T. Hilder- 
brand opened a saddle and harness shop, and 
about the same time John D. James & Co. 
opened on Fi-ont street, between Poplar and 
Walnut, an exchange and banking office, but 
did not survive a great while. In 1857 Clem- 
son & Barney opened an extensive dr}' goods 
house on First street, south of Poplar. Before 
and during the war, a number of gentlemen 
made fortunes selling goods in Mound City, 
but moved away to enjoy them and at the same 
time to add to them. But they have found fort 
une to be fickle, and their thousands have de- 
parted. The moral would indicate, you had 
better continue to live where 30U do well. 

Mound City has a population of 2,500. Her 
location, contrai'y to the judgment of a strang- 



er, is exceedingly health}-. Visit her public 
schools and see her bright, healthy -looking 
children ; visit the public demonstrations that 
call out the population, and for healthful ap- 
pearance they will compare with any people in 
any part of the countr}'. The breeze from the 
Mississippi and Ohio Rivei's absorbs or drives 
over and above Mound Cit}- the malaria, where 
it exists in the couptry while Mound Cit}' is 
comparatively exempt from many diseases that 
carry off people further north, and who are 
living upon higher ground. No question can 
exist but that the health, according to actual 
statistics of Mound City, would compare favor- 
ably with any town in Illinois. In other words, 
you can live as long in Mound City as you 
would an}' where, and, as to your happiness 
afterward. Mound City should not be responsi- 
ble. Mound City presents no idlers or loafers. 
Her manufactures and her enterprises keep 
everybody employed, consequently jMouud 
City has no paupers or people suffering for 
bread. 

The present businesses of the city are repre- 
sented by Mrs. Moll's dry goods store, on Wal- 
nut street, at the foot of Main sti-eet ; A. Lutz, 
butcher shop, on west side of Main ; John Yo- 
gel, baker and confectioner ; John Ballany , 
silver smith ; John Trampert, boot and shoe 
maker, with large stock ready-made ; George 
Stoltz, Stoltz House, of which he is proprietor; 
S. Back, dry goods store, boots and shoes and 
ready-made clothing ; L. Blum, dry goods, 
boots and shoes and ready-made clothing ; C. 
Boekenkamp & Co., groceries ; P. Ward, ice 
cream saloon and confectionery ; Caesar Shel- 
ler, butcher ; George Bosura, boots and shoes ; 
all west side of Main street and south of Rail- 
road avenue — James Mulrony, saloon, livery 
and feed stable ; Thomas Browner, groceries ; 
A. Weason, undertaker ; west side of Main 
street and north of Railroad avenue — Bell & 
McCoy, groceries and provisions ; A. Mont- 
gomery, undertaker ; Loren Stophlet, groceries 



580 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



and feed store ; N. Newnogle, bakery, confec- 
tionery and toys ; George Mertz & Son, gro- 
cery and feed store ; Mike Praclit, tobacconist ; 
William Hough, tinner ; W. J. Price, dry goods, 
groceries and ready-made clothing; Dr. C. B. 
Toher ; William Neidstein, saloon and billiard 
rooms ; Romeo Friganza, books, stationery, 
fancy articles, periodicals and newspapers ; 
William Stern, saloon ; Jake Unroe, barber, 
ice cream and confectionery saloon ; Peter 
Coldwater, saloon ; F. G. Fricke, druggist ; 
Mrs. Vogel, washing house ; John Zanone, 
variety store ; Kris Keller, barber ; G. F. 
Meyer, groceries, boots and shoes, hardware, 
hats, caps, furniture, saddlery, wagons, plows, 
reapers and mowers, buggies and carriages, and 
many other things, all on the west side of Main 



street ; Mrs. Blake, milliner, on Commercial 
street ; Mrs. Fray, dress-maker ; Mrs. Nick 
Smith's Planter's House ; Mound City Hotel, 
McClenen, proprietor, on Railroad avenue and 
river front ; P. M. Kelly, Eagle Hotel ; John 
Dishinger, blacksmith shop ; Pat Scott, black- 
smith and wagon shop, on Main street ; C. A. 
Dowd, blacksmith ; B. R. Barry, blacksmith 
shop, on Third street, between Walnut and 
Poplar. 

The present officials of the cit}- are I. W. 
Reed; Justice of the Peace and acting Police 
Magistrate ; George Mertz, Mayor ; G. F. Mey- 
er, A. J. Doughert}', Quinu McCracken, C. N. 
Bell, J. H. Reel, Daniel Hogan, Councilmeu ; 
Frank R. Casey, Clerk. 



CHAPTER IX.* 



ELECTION PREClNCrS A.SIDE FROM MOUND OITV— BOUNDARIES, TOPOGRAPFIin\L FEATURED, 

ETC.— ADVENT OF THE WHITE PEOPLE AND THEIR SETTLEMENTS— HOW THEY LIVED— PHOO 

RESS OF CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS— GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OK THE COUNTY. 



' ' How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke. ' " 

— Or ay. 

BEFORE the rear-guard of the savages had 
left the Territory of Illinois, their pale 
faced foes were seeking lodgment in the present 
precincts of Pulaski County. In a preceding 
chapter, we have a thi-illing account of a mas- 
sacre of a number of defenseless whites by a 
band of Indians, near Mound City, as an evi- 
dence that the Anglo-Saxons were, here as else- 
where, treading upon the red man's heels, and 
as elsewhere, but shared the fate of many of 
their ancestors, as a penalty of their temerity. 
We have not, in all cases, been blameless in 
our contests with the Indians. The most in- 
sicrnificant " worm of the dust " will sometimes 
turn when trampled upon, and the " untutored 

*By W. H. Perriu. 



savage," with the provocation of Being depnv^ed 
of his lands, often without any remuneration, 
can scarcely be censured, bj- the unprejudiced 
mind, for his attempts to punish the despoiler.s. 
Driven step by step from the homes of his 
fathers, he has almost reached the end of his 
wanderings, and from the peaks of the '• rookies" 
he " reads his doom in the setting sun." As 
Sprague says, " he must soon hear the roar of 
the last wave which will settle over him for- 
ever." Yes, we have often been the aggressor 
in our " discussions " with the Indians, and 
much of the punishment we have received at 
his hands was richly merited. The very full 
and complete history of the county given in 
the preceding chapters, leaves but little to be 
said, without itidulging in repetition, in the 
individual precincts. All the principal points 



HISTORY OF PUJ.ASKI COUNTY. 



581 



of historic interest have been gone over, and 
the progress, growth and development of the 
different portions of the county fairly and 
truthfully written. A few words, however, will 
be devoted to each precinct in this chapter, b}- 
way of conclusion of our work. 

Burkville Precinct. — This is the smallest 
division of the count}-, and With Mound City 
Precinct forms its southern extremit}'. It con- 
tains some fine land, and could it be fully pro- 
tected from inundation, it would, with artificial 
drainage, would prove as fine a farming region 
as can be found in the State. It is mostlj' rich 
bottom, but the danger from overflow renders 
much of it comparativel}' valueless. It is 
bounded on the north by Villa Ridge Precinct 
on the east by Mound City Precinct, and on 
the south and west by the Cache River. The 
timber growth is that common in the bottoms 
in this portion of the State, with a heav}'^ under- 
growth. 

Owing to the nature of the ground, its low 
level surface, it was not settled as early as 
other sections of the count3\ No settlements 
were made until after the Emporium Compan}' 
had commenced operations at Mound City, if 
we may except an occasional squatter. But 
since the building of the Central Railroad, the 
land has been mostly taken up, and a number 
of enterprising people have settled within its 
limits. No doubt the time is not far distant, 
when, b}- our Yankee achievements, Burkville 
Precinct will become the very garden of Pu- 
laski County. 

The Village of Burkville was laid out b}' 
William Burke Ma}- 25, 1858. It is situated on 
the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 
22, Township 16 and Range 1 west. It is, the 
junction of the Mound City division of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, but as a town its 
pretensions are modest in the extreme, and half 
a dozen houses are all there is of it, except the 
side-tracks of the railroad. The Beech Grove 
and Catholic Cemeteries are located a little 



north of the village — one on each side of the 
railroad, and but a short distance apart. There 
are but one or two .schoolhouses in the precinct, 
owing to the sparse settlement. 

Villa Ridge Precinct.— H\\\& is one of the 
most thickly settled, as well as productive por- 
tions of the count}-. It is a fine fruit-growing 
section ; in fact, fruit and vegetables are its 
chief products. There are few points on the 
Central Railroad from which are shipped more 
fruit and vegetables than from Villa Ridge. 
The land of the precinct is high and rolling, 
verging into hills on both sides of the railroad, 
and is well adapted to fruit culture. The tim- 
ber is principally oak, walnut, hickor}-, maple, 
gum, ash, etc., etc. The land is drained by a 
number of small streams which flow into Cache 
River. Villa Ridge is bounded on the north by 
Pulaski Precinct, on the east by Ohio and 
Mound City Precincts, on the south b}^ Burk- 
ville Precinct, and on the west by Cache River. 
The Illinois Central Railroad passes nearly 
through the center with a station at the town of 
Villa Ridge. Taken altogether, it is a fine neigh- 
borhood ; the people are thrifty, energetic and 
intelligent, and are rapidly growing wealthy. 
The Atherton settlement was one of the first 
made, not only in this precinct, but in the pres- 
ent limits of the couut3\ Aaron Atherton was 
the pioneer, and came from Kentuck}-, probably 
as early as 1816, and settled west of Villa 
Ridge Station, a communit}- that is still known 
as the Atherton Settlement. There were nine 
families of the Athertons and their relatives 
that came here together, and about the same 
time. The first church in the county was or- 
ganized here, and probably the first burying 
ground was laid out in this settlement. The 
church was known as the Shiloh Baptist 
Church, and was organized in 1817, and is said 
to have been the second church established in 
the State. James Edwards and Thomas How- 
ard were instrumental in its formation, and it 
still exists as a monument to their Christian 



582 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



piety. The first building was a hewed log 
house. In time it was replaced with a large 
frame, which was afterward burned. The pres- 
ent building is a frame ; the present pastor is 
Elder T. S. Low. 

There are several other church organizations 
in Villa Ridge Precinct. A church called the 
Seventh Day Baptist stands about two and a 
half miles east of the village, and was organ- 
ized about 1869. Elder Cottrell was the first 
pastor. The church building is a frame, and 
was erected some ten years ago at a cost of 
$650. A flourishing organization of Good Tem- 
plars, known as Meridian Lodge, No. 94, meets 
in the church. It was formed about six years 
ago, and is still doing good work in the tem- 
perance cause. The colored people have a 
Methodist Church and also a Baptist Church in 
this precinct. The Baptist Church is in the 
grove near the village. Rev. A. J. Johnson is 
pastor of the Baptist Church, and is noticed 
further in Pulaski Precinct. The Methodist 
Church is located northwest of the village, and 
is called Chapel Hill. 

Villa Ridge has been laid out as a village in 
installments. A part of it, but whether the 
first part of it the i-ecords do not say, was laid 
out by William Harrell, April 17, 1866, on the 
southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of 
Section 34, Township 15, and Range 1 west. 
Another part was laid out by the same party on 
the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter 
of Section 3 of Township 16, and Range 1 west. 
The record of this addition gives no date. A 
place called Salem was laid out on the hill 
above Villa Ridge, but has been vacated. 

Villa Ridge is the shipping point for a fine 
fruit-growing section, and large quantities of 
fruit and vegetables are shipped from here 
every season, as will be seen from the chapter 
on agriculture and horticulture. It is also a 
place of considerable business, having several 
stores, mills, shops, etc. It has suffered a great 
deal from fires during the past two or three 



years, so much so that insurance companies, we 
learn, withdrew their policies. A Masonic lodge, 
entitled Villa Ridge Lodge, No. 562, A., P. & 
A. M. was organized here June 22, 1867, with J. 
H. Lufkin, Master. A Methodist Church was 
organized here at an early day, and for a long 
time held their meetings at diflferent places in 
the neighborhood. About the year 1870, ef- 
forts were commenced to build a house, and as 
soon as a sufficient amount of money could be 
raised, the present church was erected at a cost 
of about $1,000. It was dedicated in 1871, 
and is a substantial frame building. A union 
Sunday school is maintained with a good at- 
tendance. 

Ohio Precinct. — This precinct contains 
some fine farming land. It borders on the 
Ohio River and lies directly north of Mound 
City Precinct. The land is somewhat rough 
along the river, rising into bluffs in places, 
but back from the river it is a high table- 
land, lying well, and is adapted to grain and 
fruit. The fruit business, however, has not 
received the attention here that it has in 
other portions of the county. Much of the 
precinct was originally heavily timbered, but 
this is fast disappearing before the march of 
progress. It is bounded north by Ullin and 
Grand Chain Prec'ucts, east by Grand Chain 
and the Ohio River, south by Mound City 
Precinct, and west by Villa Ridge and Pu- 
laski Precincts. 

Among the early settlers of this precinct 
were Enoch Smith, Thomas Forker, the lat- 
ter a Magistrate and a man of considerable 
prominence ; Nathan M. Thompson, also a 
prominent man ; Capt. James Riddle and 
others. Capt. Riddle was the father-in-law 
of "Parson" Olmstead, as his friends all call 
him, and was a man of energy and of the finest 
business abilities. He built the house where 
Mr. Olmstead now lives, and owns a great 
deal of land, amounting to several thousands 
of acres, in this and Alexander Counties. He 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



585 



was one of the first traders to New Orleans, 
and followed boating for jears, and ran one 
of the first steamboats to New Orleans. A 
native of Pennsylvania, he lived several years 
in Kentucky, and was one of the original 
proprietors of the town of Covington in that 
State, but came here in an early day. But so 
much is said of him in a preceding chapter 
that it is unnecessary to repeat it. Mr. 01m- 
stead himself is not a new-comer here, but 
has been in the county nearly half a cen- 
tury, and is well acquainted with its histor}'. 
From a centennial sketch of Pulaski County 
written Idj^ him and published in the Cairo 
Argus, in 1876, many important facts in this 
part of our work have been obtained. He 
lives in the little village which beai'S his 
name, and having nearly reached the end of 
life's journey, he stands among his fellow- 
men, highly respected by all. 

The old town of Caledonia was laid out 
by Capt. Riddle and John Skiles, after the 
abandonment of America. It was at one 
time quite a business place, but upon the 
death of the proprietox's, its progress was ar- 
rested, and in 1861, it was vacated b}' act of 
Legislature. Among the early settlers and 
business men of old Caledonia were John 
Worthington, Sr., William A. Hughes and 
Hugh and Isaac Worthington. all of whom 
are now deceased. 

North Caledonia was laid out on land owned 
by Col. Justis Post, on Section 26, and the 
south half of Section 23. all in Township 15 
and Range 1 east. The plat was surveyed 
July 7, 1843, and submitted to record Sep- 
tember 6, following. Col. Post made a dona- 
tion of land for a court house and other 
county buildings. It was afterward increased 
and enlarged by the Winnebago Land Com- 
pany, and at one time was a flourishing 
town. But the building and opening of the 
Illinois Central Railroad drew its trade to 
other points, and it has since declined in 



prosperity, until at the present time it is 
almost wholly deserted. The town of Na- 
poleon is a thing of the past. It was once a 
village of this precinct, but not a vestige of it 
now remains. 

The little village of Ohnstead was laid out 
E. B. Olmstead, September 9, 1872, on the 
northwest quarter of the northeast quarter, 
and the northeast quarter of the northwest 
quarter of Section 27, and the southwest 
quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 22. 
all in Township 15 and Range 1 east. It con- 
tains a dozen or so of houses, two or three 
stores and a few shops. The Cairo and Vin- 
cennes Division of the Wabash Railroad passes 
through it, and its station here is the shipping 
point for a large scope of country. 

A number of churches in the precinct afford 
the people ample religious facilities. There is 
a Presbj'terian Church at the old town of Cal- 
edonia ; a Southern Methodist Church at the 
Center Schoolhouse, and a Colored Methodist 
Church two or three miles north of Olmstead. 
The precinct has some four or five good, com- 
fortable schoolhouses, in which schools are 
taught for the usual terms each year. 

Pulaski Precinct. — Next to Villa Ridge 
Precinct, Pulaski pays more attention to fruit 
than any division of the county. Its topo- 
graphical features, except a small portion of the 
northwest corner along Cache River, which is 
somewhat swampy, partake of the same nature 
of Villa Ridge, being high, rolling and hill}^, 
with plenty of timber of the kinds common to 
the county. The precinct is bounded north b}' 
Ullin Precinct; east b}' Oliio, south by Villa 
Ridge, and west by the Cache River. It has 
the advantage of the Illinois Central Railroad 
as a means of communication with the outside 
world. Settlements were not made in Pulaski 
as early as in many other portions of the 
county. The Lackey settlement was perhaps 
the first in the precinct made by white people. 
Thomas Lackey, a North Carolinian, came here 



586 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



about 1823, and still has a number of relatives 
and descendants living in the vicinity. At the 
time, however, of building the Central Railroad, 
nearly the entire precinct was a thick, unbroken 
wilderness. But since that great thoroughfare 
was opened, it has settled to a considerable ex- 
tent, and is developing rapidly into a fine farm- 
ing and fruit-growing region. 

The village of Pulaski was laid out and the 
plat recorded March 28, 1855. It is located 
on Section 15 of Township 15, and Range 
1 west. Abraham A. Perley and Egbert 
E. and Henry Walbridge were the orig- 
inal proprietors. The latter two gentlemen were 
among the leading business men of the place, 
and under the name of Walbridge Brothers, 
carried on a large trade. Lumber has always 
been the largest and most profitable interest, 
and man}' saw mills have from time to time 
been in Qperation, turning out immense quanti- 
ties of lumber, which finds its way to market 
over the Central Railroad. Several stores here 
do a flourishing business. The post office was 
originally called Walbridge, but has been 
changed to Pulaski. A. W. Lewis is the pres- 
ent Postmaster. The vegetable business was 
commenced here about 1867, and has since 
grown to large dimensions. 

The Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, located 
in the Lackey, settlement, though having a 
small membership, is in a very healthy state 
The colored people also have a flourishing 
church on Section 24, and deserve considerable 
credit for their zeal in religious matters. 

In connection with this church, a few words 
are due to Rev. A. J. Johnson, a man born a 
slave, in Clark Count}', Ky., August 18, 1818, 
to Col. J. D. Thomas. By his own energy and 
industry, coupled with a native intelligence 
superior to that of most of his race, he worked 
in the hemp business in Kentucky, made 
money and purchased his freedom, paying to 
his master $800 for the same. He came to 
Illinois in 1857, and first stopped at Mound 



City, but a few years later came to this pre- 
cinct, where he has since resided, and where 
he owns a well-improved farm. He has been 
in the ministry for thirty-two years, first in the 
Christian Church, but upon coming to Illinois 
he united with the Free-Will Baptists, and for 
the past seventeen years he has had charge of 
the Villa Ridge Colored Baptist Church. 

Education receives the attention of the citi- 
zens of the precinct, and a number of com- 
fortable schoolhouses attest their interest in 
this great civilizing influence. Good schools 
are taught each year in all of the school dis- 
tricts. 

Vllin Precinct. — This precinct, like Pulaski, 
is comparatively new as regards settlement. 
It is largely composed of bottom lands, which 
extend from Wetaug into Pulaski Precinct. 
Cache River running through, and its bottom 
spreading out over nearly the whole precinct, 
frightened the early settlers from what they 
deemed its miasmatic swamps. It lies south 
of Wetaug Precinct, north of Pulaski Precinct, 
west of Grand Chain Precinct, and east of 
Alexander County. Since the building of the 
Illinois Central Railroad, the precinct has been 
considerably settled. The lumber interest is 
the most valuable industry and receives much 
more attention than agriculture. The Legisla- 
ture appropriated $1,000 at one time for im- 
proving the State road through the bottoms of 
Ullin Precinct. This money was expended in 
grading and corduroying the road, so as to 
render it passable at all times, when not over- 
flowed from high water. 

The precinct is well supplies with churchesj 
and the people have no lack of church privi- 
leges. There is a Methodist Episcopal Church 
in the village, and a Lutheran and Methodist 
Church in the precinct. There is also a Bap- 
tist Church on Section 21 of llie precinct. 
Several comfortable schoolhouses show the in- 
terest the people take in educational matters. 

TJllin Village was laid out by D. L. Philips 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



587 



and J. F. Ashle}', and the plat submitted to 
record Februar}' 20, 1857. It occupies the 
southwest corner of Section 26, and a part of 
Section 23, Township 14, Range 1 west. It is 
but a small place, having but a hundred or 
two population, two or three stores and a few 
shops. The lumber interest is large and valu- 
able. The saw mills of James Bell are the 
largest in Southern Illinois, and the piles of 
lumber cut annually by them are simply im- 
mense. Mr. Bell ships millions of feet from 
these mills, and still has plenty "more to fol- 
low." The mills are on the banks of Cache 
River, by which stream great rafts of logs are 
brought to their doors, thus saving the poor 
patient oxen many a hard pull. 

The lime business has long been a valuable 
interest of Ullin Precinct. Of this business, 
Mr. Olmstead says in his sketch : " The works 
of the Ullin Lime & Rock Company are situ- 
ated near Ullin. The quantity of pure blue 
limestone is inexhaustible. The capacity of 
the kilns is three hundred barrels per day. 
The lime is specially adapted to the manufact- 
ure of gas and glass, and for building pur- 
poses it is excellent. Since 1866, the company 
has expended $40,000 in improvements. 
There are twenty-five neat dwellings belonging 
to the company, besides other buildings. The 
company furnish lime, slightly damaged, in 
any quantity to farmers, and many are avail- 
ing thetnselves of this generous offer." 

Grand Chain Precinct. — This division lies in 
the northeast corner of the county, having for 
its boundaries, Johnson County on the north, 
Massac County on the east, the Ohio river on 
the south, and Ohio and Ullin Precincts on the 
west. The name of Grand Chain was derived 
from the chain of rocks which extend through 
the precinct, and across the Ohio River here. 
The precinct, like Ohio, is a fine farming coun- 
try, and some of the most flourishing and pro- 
ductive farms and thrifty farmers in the 
county are to be found here. The land is high 



and lays well, is gently rolling, except along 
the river, which is quite rough and hilly. Origi- 
nally the land was mostly heavy timbered, and 
to open a farm was a work of great labor. 
From the number of squatters who came in 
early, the community was christened "The 
Nation" by Capt. Freeman, a name it long 
bore, and which is still often applied to it. In 
the formation of Pulaski County this portion 
of its territory was cut off from Massac County. 
It is also told that during the campaign upon 
the new county question, that this place again 
received the name of The Nation. But although 
some of the first comers were men rather rude 
and uncouth, the communit}'- has grown out of 
the backwoods period, and in no portion of the 
count}', nor of Southern Illinois, can there be 
found a more intelligent and refined people, or 
a better and more honorable class of citizens. 
Some of the early settlers were : Absalom 
Youngblood, William Cain, the Crockers, 
Smiths, Bartlesons, Hugh McGee and others. 
These hardy pioneers came here when the coun- 
try was a wilderness, and by dint of great 
labor and perseverance, succeeded in opening 
farms and rearing houses and homes. A prior 
occupanc}^, however, was what was known as 
Wilkinsonville. " Gren. Wilkinson," says Mr. 
Olmstead, " about the close of the war of 
1812. ascended the Ohio River with a large 
body of troops, and established himself 
at the head of Grand Chain. He erected ex- 
tensive buildings for barracks, with large brick 
chimneys, the remains of which are still to be 
seen. Quite a population gathered around the 
place, which in honor of the commander, was 
called Wilkinsonville. From 200 to 400 graves 
mark the spot where citizens and soldiers found 
burial. The last inhabitant was Mr. Cooper, 
the father of Bonaparte Cooper.' This move- 
ment of Gen. Wilkinson is a little curious, and 
has, perhaps, never been wholly accounted for. 
Why he would lead a body of men to this spot, 
at the time he did, is something of a problem. 



588 



HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY. 



A Christian Churcli was built in the pre- 
cinct, mostl}^ by Mr. Porter, which is used by 
all denominations, but the Christians, we be- 
lieve, have the preference. It stands near 
Grand Chain Village, but was built before the 
village was laid out. The colored people also 
have a church organization called Bethlehem 
Church. The precinct is well supplied with 
schoolhouses. and education receives the warm- 
est support of the people. Some half a dozen 
good, comfortable schoolhouses are scattered 
over the precinct at convenient distances, and 
ai-e well attended during the school terra. 

The village of New Grand Chain was laid 
b}^ Joseph W. Gaunt, Warner K. Bartleson 
and David Porter, and the plat recorded Octo- 
ber 31, 1872. It is located on the southwest 
quarter of the northwest quarter, and the north- 
west quarter of the southwest quarter of Sec- 
tion 32, Township 14, and Range 2 east. It is 
on the Cairo Division of the Wabash Railroad, 
about five miles south of the county line, and 
is a small and unpretentious village, with a few 
stores and shops. A large amount of shipping 
is done, the surplus produce of a large tract 
of territory accumulating here for transporta- 
tion to the different markets of the country. 

A village called Grand Chain was laid out 
near where the present village of New Grand 
Chain is located, but we have no record of it. 
Cacheton was also laid out as a town by John 
Butler, November 13, 1873. It was situated 
where Oaktown Post Office stands, on the rail- 
road, near the county line. Februaiy 17, 1875, 
it was vacated bj' law. 

Wetatig Precinct. — This is the northernmost 
precinct of Pulaski County. It partakes some- 
what of the surface features of UUin Precinct, 
which lies south of it. in that it has a good 
deal of bottom lands, subject, more or less, to 
overflow. It contains, however, considerable 



fine farm lands, and man}' productive farms 
and prosperous farmers are to be found in this 
section. The precinct is bounded north by 
Union County, east by Johnson County, south 
by Ullin Precinct, and west by Alexander 
County, from which it is separated by Mill 
Creek. There was, originally, considerable fine 
timber, but much of it has been cut away and 
sawed into lumber. 

One of the earliest settlements made in the 
county was in this precinct, and was known as 
the Sower's Settlement. Henry Sowers was 
the pioneer of quite a colony, who came from 
North Cai'olina. Sowers settled at the Big- 
Spring, as it was called, and which is now in 
the village of Wetaug in 1816. Among those 
who gathered around him were : Judge Hoff- 
ner, Richard Brown, the Nall^- family, the Dex- 
ters, William Mcintosh, the Knupps, Levi 
Hughes and others. Some of these are still 
living, and many of them have descendants 
here. Judge Hoffner is still a resident of the 
precinct, and is one of the prominent men of 
the count}'. 

Educational and religious facilities of the 
precinct are ample, and the people lack neither. 
In the village of Wetaug, there is a Catholic 
and a Lutheran Church, both of which are 
flourishing. Preparations are making for the 
building of a German Reformed Church in the 
village, and it will perhaps be erected during 
the present year. 

The village of Wetaug is rather a small place, 
containing perhaps not more than a hundred or 
so of inhabitants. A store or two; a few shops 
and a large flouring mill comprise its business. 
It is a water and coal station on the Illinois 
Central Railroad, and is the only stop the fast 
mail train makes between Anna and Cairo. We 
could find no record of when it was laid out as 
a village. 



PART V. 



Biographical Sketches, 







.M^^:^':;^:^^:^^^:^^^^:^^ 



PART V. 



Biographical Sketches. 



CAIRO. 



WILLIAM ALBA, deceased, was a son of 
Daniel Alba (barber), who was born in Grosen- 
buseck, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, on the 
28th day of February, 1807. He grew to 
manhood in Germany, and married a woman 
whose name cannot now be known, by whom 
he had five children ; William, late of Cairo, 
is the only one ever represented in the United 
States. She died in the old country, and Mr. 
Alba was again married in Germany to Miss 
Margretta Doring, who is still living with her 
daughter in Cairo, 111. This marriage was 
blessed with twelve children, of whom four are 
now living, viz. : Conrad Alba, barber at 
Cairo ; Henrietta Klee, of Cairo ; Catherine, 
wife of Edward Leffern, of St. Louis, and Ma- 
ria, wife of Albert Niemuth, of St. Louis. 
Daniel Alba died in St. Louis on the 7th day 
of September, 1857. William Alba was born 
in Grosenbuseck, Hesse-Darmstadt, on June 
13, 1837, and emigrated to the United States 
with his father's family, and settled in St. Louis in 
1857. He there married, on the 25th of Febru- 
ary, 1872, to Miss Minnie Lohmeier. She was 
born at Minden, Westphalia, Prussia, on the 
15th day of May, 1835. and came to the 
United States in 1857, with a sister, Caroline, 
wife of Fred Dunker, of South Carondelet, Mo. 
She is a daughter of Christopher Lohmeier, 



and the mother's name is unknown, both par- 
ents having died when she was a small child, 
leaving a family of eight children, five of 
whom came to the United States — Frederica 
(deceased), Lizzie, Louisa, Caroline and Mrs. 
Alba. Mr. Alba raised a family of five chil- 
dren, viz.: Bertha, born in Cairo Jul}- 12, 
1863 ; Matilda, born May 12, 1865 ; Itta, born 
August 1, 1867; Benito, born October 20, 
1869 ; Minnie, born July 7, 1874, and died 
September 17, 1878. Mr. Alba died in Cairo 
on the 9th of November, 1882. He was a 
member of the Masonic fraternit\^, I. O. 0. F., 
Knights of the Golden Rule, and of the Fire 
Department. He was buried with the honors 
of these several societies. 

CONRAD ALBA, barber, on Eighth street, 
Cairo, 111., is a native of Frankfort, Germany, 
where he was born on the 15th of June, 1849. 
His parents, Dr. Daniel Alba and M. Alba, 
of Germany, came to the United States, and 
settled in the city of St. Louis in 1857, where 
the father soon after died, leaving a large fam- 
ily, of whom but three children are now living, 
one in St. Louis and two residents of Cairo, 
III. The mother was born on the 8th of April, 
1810, and is now living in Cairo, with her 
daughter, Mrs. Jacob Klee. Conrad Alba came 
to Cairo in 1862, and at once begran the trade 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



of barber, working for his brother, William 
Alba, until 1875, when he opened a shop on 
Eighth street, where he is still located. He is 
not a partisan in politics, but on matters of a 
general issue acts with the Republican party. 
He is a member of the Masonic fraternit}- and 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

GEORGE M. ALDEN, commission merchant 
in Cairo, is a native of South Carolina, born in 
Newberry District November 4, 1828, son of 
Royal and Malinda A. (Prazer) Alden. The 
father was a native of Stafford, State of Con- 
necticut, and the mother of South Carolina. 
They had a family of nine children, of whom 
George M. is the oldest. His mother died in 
Illinois in 1840, on her thirty-fourth birthday. 
They came from South Carolina in 1837, and 
settled in Hamilton County. The father was 
subsequently married to Mrs. Eliza C. Lasater, 
by whom he had a family of nine children. They 
both died in Hamilton County, he in 1869 and 
she in 1870. The father was a teacher by profes- 
sion for many years, teaching thirty j'ears in 
Hamilton County. George M. was educated 
under his instruction. He is a lineal descend- 
ant of John Alden of the ship Mayflower, who 
was private secretary to Miles Standish. As a 
first employment for himself, he followed the 
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers for ten years, and 
became a pilot. He enlisted in 1862, in the 
Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry, and in the oi'gan- 
ization of the regiment was commissioned Cap- 
tain of Company G, in which capacity he served 
until April, 1865, when he was promoted to the 
position of Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment; 
promoted to full Colonelcy in August of the same 
year, with which commission he was discharged 
at Springfield, in October, 1865. Col. Alden 
participated in much of the service of the 
Seventh Army Corps, and was principally con- 
fined to the States of Missouri and Arkansas. 
Andrew J. Alden, a younger brother of the 
Colonel, was first enlisted as a Captain, in a 
company of the Sixty-second Infantry', and was 



discharged on account of disability' at the end 
of one year. Recovering his health, he rercuited 
a company for the Thirteenth Cavalry, and was 
commissioned Captain of the company ; he 
was made a prisoner at the battle of Cross 
Roads, Ark., and held over one year at Tyler, 
Tex. He was promoted to the position of 
Major, and mustered out as Lieutenant Colonel 
of the regiment. He is now in the Government 
Printing Office in Washington, though his home 
is in Cairo, 111. George M., was married at 
McLeansboro, 111., in April, 1860, to Miss 
Elizabeth Wilmott, a native of Illinois. She 
was born in 1840 and died in 1863. He was 
married to his present wife December 9, 1865. 
Her name was Ann T. Knight, widow of Elisha 
R. Knight, and daughter of Thomas C. and 
Nancy Graves. This union has been blessed 
with two children — Leon L. (born November 
13, 1866) and Wilber L. Alden (born on Sep- 
tember 22, 1869). Besides these there are two 
children as result of Mrs. Alden's first marriage 
— R. G. Knight and M. G. Knight. Subject 
came to Cairo in 1867, since which time he has 
been in the flour and grain business. He is a 
member of the I. 0. 0. F., and the family of 
the Christain Church, in which he holds the 
position of Elder. R. G. Knight was born in 
Illinois, and chose the medical profession, but 
instead of practicing he became a druggist lor 
some years, and is now on the stafl!" of the 
Chicago Herald. M. G. ^Knight is a resident 
of Fort Worth, Tex. 

JOHN ANTRIM, tailor, Cairo, 111., was born 
December 18, 1828, in Lawrenceburg, Dearborn 
Co., Ind. His father, Joel Antrim, was born 
in 1806 in Hamilton County, Ohio, and was of 
Irish parentage. He was b}' trade a shoe-mak- 
er, and in early life moved to Indiana, where 
in 1827 he was married to Miss Mary Morgan. 
She was born in ] 805 in Pennsylvania, of Ger- 
man ancestry. They had five children, John 
being the eldest ; Eliza, deceased wife of Dr. R. 
Ward, of Harrison, Ohio ; Sarah Antrim, who 



CAIRO. 



is also deceased ; James Antrim, a grain-dealer 
of Peoria, 111. ; Elisha Antrim, a farmer in Ma- 
con County, 111. The father is still living, and 
a resident of Richmond, Ind. The mother died 
in 1840 in Iowa. John was reared to manhood 
on the farm, and received a common school ed- 
ucation. He earl}^ developed a taste for mer- 
cantile business, and when eighteen years old 
obtained a position as salesman in a dr}' goods 
house, where he had two years' experience. 
In 1848 he went to Kentucky, where he re- 
mained as a clerk until 1850. His next posi- 
tion was that of clerk on a merchant store boat. 
The two 3'ears immediately preceding his com- 
ing to Cairo, he was employed in a wholesale 
and retail clothing house in Madison, Ind., in 
which he obtained his first lessons in the busi- 
ness of merchant tailoring. In 1852, in connec- 
tion with John Kelley, he established a busi- 
ness at Vincennes, Ind., under the firm name of 
Antrim, Kelley & Co., which continued about 
eighteen months, when the stock was removed 
to Metropolis, 111., where they continued for 
some 3'ears. At the expiration of two years, 
however, Mr. Antrim retired from the firm, and 
in the same j'ear (1855) came to Cairo and 
opened a clothing business, which existed until 
1864, during which time he enjoyed unlimited 
success, amassing a fortune of over $100,000. 
But being yet a young man full of business en- 
terprise, he was loath to retire from the arena of 
trade, and in 1864 sold his stock, went to the 
city of St. Louis and engaged in an ex- 
tensive wholesale business, in which he 
lost heavily, being reduced to "first prin- 
ciples." He returned to Cairo in 1870, 
since which time he has engaged in the 
merchant tailoring business, employing three 
skilled workmen. He was married in Concor- 
dia, Meade Co., Ky., May 10, 1853, to Miss Eliza 
A. Parr (daughter of Col. Smith and Mary 
Parr, of Kentucky'), in which State she was born 
in 1831. Their family consists of John M., Al- 
bert W., Nellie May, Addie, Viola M., Hugh S. 



and Walter Antrim. Mr. Antrim is a member 
of the Masonic fraternity of Cairo. 

DR. DANIEL ARTER, deceased, was born in 
the State of Maryland, on the 3d day of June, 
1798, and died in Cairo, 111., on the 6th day of 
August, 1879. He was twice married, and his 
last wife and three of their family of six daugh- 
ters are now residents of the cit}^ of Cairo. 
The Doctor came to Southern Illinois in its pio- 
neer days, and for twenty -five 3"ears was a resi- 
dent of Pulaski County, where, including 
adjoining counties, he had an extensive medical 
practice, always (except the last year of his 
life) blessed with great vigor of body and an 
active, well-balanced mind; he not onl}^ became 
a very successful physician, in his treatment of 
the diseases incident to the country, but be- 
came a widely known, popular and influential 
citizen, loved and admired in life for his many 
virtues, the memory of which are still cherished 
in the hearts of his many ardent friends. At 
the outbreak of the war, he removed to Cairo, 
and accepted an appointment from President 
Lincoln to the then ver^^ responsible and labori- 
ous position of the Surveyor and Collector of 
the Cairo port. This oflSce he held, always per- 
sonally surpervising its affairs, until the close 
of the war, when he retired from business al- 
together, having in his eventful life obtained 
an ample competence for his old age, and though 
frequently importuned to oflfer himself as can- 
didate for ofl3ces of public trust, he seemed to 
possess no ambition in that direction, and dur- 
ing his eighteen years' residence in Cairo con- 
tented himself with a single term as Select 
Councilman, a position he filled most intelli- 
gently and industriously. Although but little 
in public life, few men were more constantlj- 
before the public, known to and knowing almost 
everybody' in the country'. In the manage- 
ment of his private business, he was prudent 
and successful, and his declining j'ears were 
blessed with " temporal abundance." During 
the last decade of his life, he gave much atten- 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



tion to matters of theolog}', and became noted 
as an independent and deep thinker, discard- 
ing every ism and form of religious doctrine 
not in accord with his ideas of an Infinite God, 
and embodied in pamphlet form the results of 
much of his mature thought. He approached 
death without a fear — 3'ea, he longed for it as a 
happ}- release from his sufferings — as a sweet, 
rest for his care-worn bodj'. For several days 
preceding the close of his life, he would fre- 
quently exclaim, " Oh, will the end never come?" 
and in the growing certainty that the end could 
not long be delayed, he was never alarmed, but 
manifested a composure that bespoke peace of 
mind as to the great future, and thus he calmly 
rested in death, and though feeble and full of 
years, his place in the community is difficult to 
fill. See portrait elsewhei'e. 

ROBERT BAIRD, Street Commissioner, 
Cairo, 111. In every local community or city, 
there is always an " oldest inhabitant," and in 
this, as in most other matters of interest, Cairo 
is not lacking, but points with pride to her 
" oldest inhabitant " in the person of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, Robert Baird. He is of 
Irish origin, his father, John Baird, being born 
in the old country, on the 26th September, 1784. 
His mother, Jane Walker, was born in Wil- 
mington, Del., on the 9th of January, 1790. The 
parents were married at Wilmington, about 
1806, and reared a family of twelve children, of 
whom Robert is the eleventh. He was born on 
June 5, 1826, at Philadelphia, and was left 
motherless by the death of that parent three 
years later, September 26, 1829. The father 
lived to the age of seventy years, and died in 
Cairo December 18, 1854. Robert left the 
home of his father when eleven years old, and, 
in company with a sister and brother-in-law, 
moved to Pittsburgh, Penn., where they re- 
mained but a short time, coming thence to 
Smithland, Ky., where he began the trade of 
ship carpenter. It was while working at this 
trade that he chanced to come to Cairo, 



being sent here in 1839, then but thirteen years 
old, to make some repairs on a boat. By some 
fatality he remained, and now, though in active 
business life, is a landmark of Cairo's earliest 
history. He followed his trade for some years 
after coming to this city, and finally became 
owner and captain of a steamboat, and during 
the late war was in the emplo}" of the Govern- 
ment in transporting troops and provisions- 
He has acceptably filled the various oflficial po- 
sitions in the city government, and now 
has the supervision of her streets. He 
is an honored member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity, possessed of a life experience which is 
a model of temperance, and in politics a Demo- 
crat. His worthy wife, Fransina Tanner, to 
whom he was married in the fall of 1853, was 
born in Tennessee in 1830. They have been 
blessed with six children, of whom but three 
are living, viz., Henry, Robert and Mary Baird. 
The famil}' residence i^ on the corner of Ninth 
and Walnut streets. 

SANFORD P. BENNETT, of the firm of 
Wood & Bennett, Cairo, 111., is a native of Mil- 
ton, Pike Co., 111., and is the second of a family 
of five children of Lucius Bennett and Deborah 
Renoud. His parents are of French ancestry, 
though native born — the father a native of the 
State of New York, where he grew to manhood 
and married. From New York they removed 
to Illinois and settled in Pike CountyT Sanford 
P. was educated in the common schools of 
Pike County, and afterward took a course in a 
commercial college in the city of St. Louis, Mo 
His early business life has been largely ab- 
sorbed in clerical duties, having worked for 
seven years as Deputy Circuit Clerk of Pike 
County, besides a term as County Clerk in the 
same county. On the 24th of May, 1861, he 
enlisted in Company K, of the Sixteenth Illinois 
Infantry Regiment, from which he was dis- 
charged in December, 1862, on account of phys- 
ical disability, and from that time until 1866 
he was connected with the Quartermaster's De- 



CAIRO. 



partment at Cairo, 111. In May, 1861, he was 
appointed to the position of Postmaster of 
Pittsfield, 111., by President Lincoln, which office 
he filled by deputy until removed by President 
Johnson in 1866. In December, 1876, he be- 
came a member of the firm of Green, Wood & 
Bennett, which, by the retirement of the first 
named gentleman, is now Wood & Bennett, 
who do a general grain and milling business on 
the Ohio levee, corner of Eighteenth street. 
Mr. Bennett was married, December 14, 1865, 
in Pittsburgh, Penn., to Miss Kate McCallinn, a 
native of Scotland, where she was born on the 
16th day of December, 1842. She came from 
Scotland to Philadelphia, Penn., with her par- 
ents, when four years old. Their family con- 
sists of five children, of whom one is deceased. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are members of the 
Presbyterian Church of Cairo, III., and he is a 
member of the I. 0. 0. F. 

ADOLPH BLACK, merchant, Cairo, 111., is 
a Hungarian by birth, and a son of Leopold 
Black, who was a landlord in that dominion. 
Both father and mother (Betty Black) were 
bom and died in the old country. Adolph was 
born May 20, 1823, and grew to manhood on 
his father's farm, and in 1844 was married to 
Aessie Neiman, who was born in 1823. Mr. 
Black came to the United States in 1856, land- 
ing at New York City, and soon located at 
Cleveland, Ohio, where for five years he en- 
gaged at his trade, that of optician. Having 
decided to engage in merchandising, he removed 
to Upper Sandusky, in Wyandot County, Ohio, 
where he opened a dry goods store, which he 
successfully conducted until coming to Cairo, 
111. He landed in Cairo on the 11th daj^ of 
May, 1867, and immediately established him- 
self in the boot and shoe business, located on 
the corner of Eighth street and Commercial 
avenue, remaining at that place until 1874, 
when he moved to No. 140 Commercial avenue. 
His business career has proven abundantly suc- 
cessful, and he now carries an extensive stock. 



and employs several skilled workmen in manu- 
facturing. He is a member of the I. 0. O. F., 
and has a family of eight children, viz.: David 
Black ; Betty, wife of S. Rosenstein ; Fannie, 
wife of Samuel Rosenwater, of Cairo ; Sarah 
Rosenwater, of Sikeston, Mo. ; Herman H., 
lawyer and ex- member of Illinois State Legis- 
lature ; Lewis, Marx C. and William E. Black. 
BYRON F. BLAKE, merchant, Cairo, 111., 
was born November 21, 1848, at Kensington, 
N. H. His father, Josiah, T. Blake, was also a 
native of New Hampshire, and born August 15, 
1812. His mother, Joanna H. Raynes, was 
born March 16, 1814, in York County, Me. 
They had a family of seven children, B. F. 
Blake being the third. When he was yet a 
child, his parents removed to Lynn, Mass., 
where he grew to manhood and was educated, 
and where the parents still reside. In the 
above-named city he learned the trade of a 
last-maker, which he preferred to that of his 
father, who was a carpenter. He worked at 
last-making in the city of Lynn for six years, 
but finally left the parental roof to seek his 
fortune in the West. He first came to Chica- 
go, where for several months he did a fair bus- 
iness at his trade, but soon returned to his 
home in Lynn, with the expectation of remain- 
ing ; but, having seen a portion of the West 
in its rapid development and numerous busi- 
ness advantages, he soon decided to return, 
which he did in 1869. In that year, he came 
directly to Cairo, 111., which has since been his 
home. On coming to Cairo, he associated him- 
self with Benjamin F. Parker in business, un- 
der the firm name of Parker & Blake. The 
stock consisted in paints, oils, glass, wall-pa- 
per, window-shades, etc., in which Mr. Blake 
is still engaged, on an increased scale. In 1874, 
the partnership terminated by the retirement 
of Blake, but was again renewed in January, 
1876, and in the fall of the same year was 
again dissolved, this time by the retirement 
from the firm of B. F. Parker, Since that time, 



BIOGKAPHICAL : 



Mr. Blake has conducted the business alone ; 
has a large stock of supplies in his line, and 
does an extensive business in house-painting, 
by which he gives employment to quite a force 
of practical painters. Business location, on the 
corner of Eleventh street and Commercial av- 
enue. He is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity, Royal Arch and Knights Templar, also 
of the Knights of Honor. In politics, he is an 
enthusiastic Democrat. He has served the 
city of Cairo as Treasurer two terms, and is 
serving his third year as a member of the City 
Council. He was married in Cairo, 111., on the 
29th of June, 1876, to Miss Annie E., daughter 
of John B. and Rachel J. Phillis. She was 
born in Washington County, Penn., March 8, 

1851. John B. Phillis died in Cairo on the 
25thof September, 1881. The mother is still 
living, and makes her home with the subject 
of this sketch. Mr. Blake has one son, Frank 
F. Blake, born in Cairo February 17, 1883. 

HENRY BLOCK, manufacturer and dealer 
in boots and shoes, Cairo, 111., was born in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 25th day of December, 
1841. His father, Fred Block, was born in 
Hanover, Germany, in 1812, and the mother, 
Sophia Kramer, was born in the same kingdom 
in 1817. They were married in their native 
country, where they resided until after the 
birth of their first child, when, in the spring of 
1838, they came to the United States and set- 
tled in Cincinnati, Ohio. Later, the family 
removed to Ripley County, Ind., where, in 

1852, the father died. He had a family of 
twelve children, Henry being the third. Mrs. 
Block was subsequently married to Peter Gros- 
mann, to whom have been born four children. 
She still survives and resides in Ripley County, 
Ind. Henry received an ordinary German ed- 
ucation in Indiana, and went to the trade of 
shoe-making in 1857, which he completed in 
two years, working at his shoe-bench until after 
the breaking-out of the war, when he was em- 
ployed at Cincinnati, by the Government, in the 



manufacture of military saddles. In 1867, he 
went to St. Louis, Mo., where he worked at his 
trade until 1870, coming that year to Cairo, 111. 
He here worked in the shop of Fred Winter- 
berg for about two and a half years, and for 
the next year and a half was again in St. 
Louis. In April, 1874, he opened a small shop 
in Cairo, situated on Eighth street, between 
Washington and Commercial avenues. By 
close application to work, he was able, in 1868, 
to invest in a small stock of ready-made boots 
and shoes, to which he added as he was able. By 
honorable dealing, he has succeeded fairly, and 
now, at No. 131 Commercial avenue, he has a 
complete stock of goods, in connection with 
which he does an extensive custom business, 
employing three skilled workmen. To say 
that Mr. Block has risen from the shoe-bench 
to the proprietorship of a first-class shoe store 
would only do him an injustice, as he has 
not abandoned his bench, but continues to su- 
perintend the manufacturing department and 
work at the bench when not otherwise engaged. 
He was first married in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 
the 24th of October, 1865, to Miss Louisa 
Kortgartner. She was born in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, November 10, 1845, and died December 
5, 1866, leaving one daughter, Louisa Block, 
born November 17, 1866. He was married to 
his present wife, Dena Stekhahn, August 6, 
1874. She was born in Hanover, Germany, 
April 22, 1851. Her parents, George and El- 
eanor Stekhahn, both natives of the kingdom 
of Hanover, Germany, came to the United 
States in 1867, and settled in Cairo, 111., where 
the father died October 1, 1877. He was by 
trade a wagon-maker, and, like each of the sur- 
viving members of the family, was a faithful 
member of the Lutheran Church. Was born 
in July, 1812. The mother was born Septem- 
ber 20, 1807, and now lives with her daughter, 
Mrs. Block. Mr. Block's family comprises Al- 
wena, born April 29, 1875 ; Hermina, born 
October 28, 1876 ; Anna, born June 4, 1879; 



CAIRO. 



9 



and Ludwig Block, born August 19, 1881. 
Mr. Block is a member of the American Legion 
of Henor, and is in politics a Democrat. Fam- 
ily residence on Eighth street, between "Wash- 
ington avenue and Walnut street. 

HERMAN BLOMS, Cairo, 111., grocery and 
provision dealer, on the corner of Seventh 
street and Washington avenue, was born in 
Hanover, Germany, on the 16th day of October, 
1841. The names of his parents were Engle- 
bert H. Bloms and Gesina Kettel, both of whom 
were natives of the Kingdom of Hanover. His 
father was born in 1800, and died in the old 
country in 1866. His mother was born in 1798, 
and is now living in Hanover. They had but 
two children, the subject and an older sister, 
Mary, wife of William Book, of Germany. She 
was born in 1838. Herman received a fair ed- 
ucation in the country of his nativity, and ob- 
tained his business training in Rhorer's Com- 
mercial College, of St. Louis, Mo. He came to 
this country in 1860, and after finishing his 
business course he established a market business 
in the city of St. Louis, remaining in that city 
in business until 1865. In March of that year, 
he came to Cairo, 111., and for two years there- 
after engaged in the same kind of business, 
but in 1867 opened a grocery and provision 
store on Washington avenue, between Eighth 
and Ninth streets. In 1869, he was burned out 
with a severe loss, but, knowing no such word 
as fail, he immediately opened up again, and 
this time on the corner of Seventh street and 
Washington avenue, where he is still located. 
He carries an extensive stock and enjoys the 
confidence of a large number of friends. He 
was married in Cairo, on the 5th of January, 
1873, to Miss Maragret Maloney. Their family 
consists of M. Gesina, Englebert J., Herman 
and Annie Bloms. The family are members of 
the Catholic Church of Cairo. Mr. Bloms owns 
city property consisting of three improved lots 
on his business corner, and including his family 
residence. 



WALTER L. BRISTOL. In all communities 
are found men who rise equal if not superior 
to their surroundings, and instead of being en- 
tirely the creatures of circumstance, by their 
native energj' and perseverance, so mold and 
direct their business interests as, to a great 
extent, to govern circumstances and make them 
subserve their immediate interests. The cit}^ 
of Cairo is not without its portion of such men. 
Taking front rank in this class is the subject 
of these lines, Walter L. Bristol. He was born 
in Erie County, Penn., on the 6th of May, 1839, 
and is the son of Lester Bristol and Adelaide 
Pettibone. The father was of German parent- 
age, and was married in Pennsylvania, and 
about 1844 removed to Wisconsin, where the 
mother died in 1849. The father lived to the 
age of seventy-seven years, and died in Iowa 
about 1870. They had a family of five children 
—Walter L., of Cairo, 111.; Edward Bristol, of 
Dakota ; Adeline, deceased wife of A. Stone- 
braker; George Bristol, of Wisconsin; and 
Lucius Bristol, of Iowa. Mr. W. L. Bristol was 
reared on the farm, and chiefly by strangers. In 
1859, having grown to manhood, he went to 
Chicago, and until 1863 was emplo^-ed in the 
dry goods house of Potter Palmer, of that city. 
Having saved a little money, he came to Cairo 
in 1863, and soon after associated with L. W. 
Stilwell in the grocery trade, the partnership 
existing until April, 1875, when Mr. Stilwell 
retired from the firm, which was known as 
Bristol & Stilwell. Since the latter date, Mr. 
Bristol has conducted the business alone, and 
with marked success. In 1881, he erected a 
neat two-story brick business house at No. 32 
on Eighth street, where he keeps a select 
stock of groceries, provisions and queensware. 
In addition to his cit}' business, he has a grain 
and fruit farm of 243 acres in Pulaski County. 
He was married in Bristol, Wis., on the 25th 
of December, 1866, to Miss Louisa S. Watkins, 
daughter of George and Maria (Chamberlain) 
Watkins — the former born in England in 1811, 



10 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



and the latter was born in 1814 in Connecticut. 
These parents, in 1844 (then having three 
children), removed from the State of New York, 
to Kenosha County, Wis., where the father en- 
gaged in farming until his death, which occurred 
in 1851. His wife and four of a family of nine 
children still survive him. Mrs. Bristol 
was born in the State of New York in 1844. 
Their family consists of Walter W., born Octo- 
ber 2, 1867; Willis E., born October 23, 1868; 
Louis T., born September 1, 1872; and John B. 
Bristol, born May 15, 1877. He is a member 
of the I. 0. 0. F., and both husband and wife 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
of Cairo. 

EDWARD A. BUDER, jeweler and watch- 
maker, Cairo, 111., was born November 4, 1839, 
in Austria, He is the second of a famil}- of 
five sons of Florian and Rosalia Buder, both of 
"whom were Austrians by birth. Edward A., 
"when fourteen years old, having received a fair 
•education, came to the United States, and for 
four years was located at Hartford, Conn., dur- 
ing which time he was learning the art of plat- 
ing in the establishment of the famous Rogers 
Bros, of that city. Leaving there in 1857, he 
came to St. Louis, Mo., where he spent another 
four years in perfecting the trade of watch- 
maker and jeweler. He came to Cairo, 111., in 
1861, and that year, in connection with his 
brother, William Buder, opened a business on a 
very limited scale. By a natural adaptation 
to business, and a thorough knowledge of their 
line, together with a native energy, they soon 
found themselves able to branch out largely, 
and in a few years began a wholesale business, 
employing a traveling salesman. For a num- 
ber of years the firm did business on corner of 
Eighth street and Washington avenue, now oc- 
cupied by Barclay Brothers, druggists. Mr. 
Buder has met with some severe losses, one by 
fire, and others perhaps more serious, and from 
a source far more aggravating. Being in busi- 
ness during the war, they were subjected to 



cruel robbery at the hands of an unprincipled 
mob of drunken soldiers who, in passing along, 
were attracted by the display of watches in the 
show windows. Immediately, as if by instinct, 
they were impressed with their need of watches, 
and a rush was made for the window, all (in- 
cluding the proprietors) striving for first 
choice. In 1877, the partnership terminated 
by the withdrawal of William, since which time 
Edward A. has been sole proprietor. He is 
now located at No. 104 Commercial avenue, 
where he has a stock and trade second to none 
in Southern Illinois. He owns a quantity of 
valuable city real estate, including a block of 
three-story buildings on northwest corner of 
Eighth street and Commercial avenue. He is 
a member of the I. 0. 0. F. and Knights of 
Honor. He was married in Cairo, 111., Febru- 
ary, 1866, to Miss Susan Schmidt. She 
was born in Prussia in 1844, and died in 
Cairo, 111., in 1870, leaving two daughters — 
Mary and Rosa Buder. Minnie Kaufman, to 
whom he is now married, was born in Prussia 
in 1850. By this union there are four chil- 
dren, viz. : Edward, Otto, Minnie and Florence 
Buder. 

ANDREW J. CARLE, Cairo, 111., was born 
near Ithaca, Tompkins Co., N. Y., on the 7th day 
of April, 1823. He is the fifth of a family of 
ten children of David T. Carle and Sibyl Ow- 
ens, who were both natives of New York. The 
father was born December 25, 1794, and died 
in Pennsylvania on the 20th of March, 1872. 
The mother was bomi on March 20, 1789, and 
died in Pennsylvania on the 17th of February, 
1865. In 1836, the family moved from Tomp- 
kins County to Western New York, where An- 
drew J. grew to manhood, and from where the 
parents removed to Penns3^1vania. In the year 
1844, Andrew J. went to Girard, Penn., and 
there learned the trade of a carriage-maker. He 
opened a carriage shop at Meadville, Penn., in 
1846, which he operated until 1852, when he 
sold out and removed to Lacon, 111., where he 



CAIRO. 



11 



purchased a carriage business, but becoming 
dissatisfied with the business facilities of that 
town lie soon returned to Meadville. Here, on 
the 23d day of August, 1853, he was married 
to Miss Harriet M. Kinnear, of Pennsj'lvania, 
and daughter of Milita Kinnear, of Cairo. She 
was born in 1825, and died in Cairo in 1870, 
leaving one son, Frank A. Carle, who was born 
June 10,1860. Soon after marriage, Mr. Carle 
settled in Allegany County, N. Y., where they 
lived, however, but a short time. The}' re- 
moved to Cincinnati from Allegany County 
by water, bringing their effects on a rude raft 
constructed for the trip, and spent nine weeks in 
reaching Cincinnati. He then established a bus- 
iness in Willoughby, Ohio, where he remained 
until coming to Cairo, 111., which he did in the 
fall of 1858, immediately after the flood of that 
year. In 1859, he was appointed to the office 
of City Police, and for many years thereafter 
was connected with that part of the city gov- 
ernment. In 1873, he opened a livery and sale 
stable on the corner of Tenth street and Wash- 
ington avenue, which he still owns. In 1883, 
there was opened another stable on corner of 
Tenth street and Commercial avenue, which is 
under the control of Frank A. Carle. Mr. Carle 
was married to his present wife, Mrs. Angeline 
("Warner) Bushnell, in November of 1871. Mrs. 
Carle has one daughter by former marriage, 
Clara Bushnell, who was born in Pennsylvania 
December 4, 1859, and the mother in Ohio in 
1836. Family residence. No. 32 on Ninth 
street, Cairo. 

WILLIAM G. CARY, undertaker, Cairo. 
Among those whose residence in Cairo entitle 
them to the appellation of pioneers must be 
mentioned the name of William G. Cary, who 
came here in 1854. His father was a native of 
England, though of Irish descent, and married 
in Vermont Miss Aurilla Bishop, a native of 
that State. They reared a family of six chil- 
dren, all of them now living, and of whom 
William is the third. From Vermont the par- 



ents moved to Palmyra, Wayne Co., N. Y., 
where our subject was born on the 14th of 
April, 1824. They then removed to Canada, 
and later to Michigan, where they died — the 
mother in 1858, and the father in September, 
1881, at the advanced age of one hundred and 
eight years. At the age of twenty, William Gr. 
went from his home in Canada to Niagara Falls, 
where he remained about five years ; then 
went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and ran the rivers 
from that place to St. Louis, Mo. He after- 
ward engaged in business in Louisiana, from 
where he came to Cairo in 1854, as above 
stated. Being a practical carpenter and 
builder, he found the city of Cairo an ample 
field of labor, for some time emploj'ing a large 
number of men in his business. In 1858, he 
began the manufacture of coffins, and has re- 
mained in Cairo, engaged in the undertaker 
line, ever since. He was married, 1855, to Em- 
ma Crabtree, daughter of James Crabtree and 
Phoebe E. Cookney. Her father was of Eng- 
lish and the mother of Scotch birth. They 
were married in Virginia, and had a family of 
ten children. Of this family, Mrs. Cary is the 
fourth member, and was born in Kentucky on 
the 29th day of September, 1829. Mr. Cary 
has a family of three children living, and has 
buried several — Aurilla J., wife of W. H. 
McFarland, was born September 23, 1858 ; 
Ella M., born January 27, 1864, and George 
W. Cary, born March 10, 1867. It is worthy 
of remark that Mr. and Mrs. Cary are still liv- 
ing in the same house in which they began 
their married life, where each of their children 
were born, and also a grandchild, daughter of 
Aurilla J., who was married at the " same old 
stand." They are members of the Episcopal 
Church, and he of the I. 0. 0. F. 

BENJAMIN F. CLARK, engineer, Cairo, 111., 
was born in Ohio County, Va., January 19, 1824. 
He is the youngest of a family of eleven children 
of Samuel and Elizabeth (Anderson) Clark, who 
were born and reared in Maryland. He was 



13 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



left an orphan at the age of twelve years by 
the death of his mother, the father having died 
about seven years previous. He thus early in 
life was thrown, comparatively, upon his own 
resources, and soon after began an apprentice- 
ship to the trade of blacksmith, which he pur- 
sued until the year 1852. He worked at his 
trade, in the emplo}' of the G-ovcrnment, during 
the Mexican war, remaining with the United 
States Army through the entire contest. In 
1852, he began what has ever since been his oc- 
cupation, that of marine engineer, on the 
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and during the late 
civil war was a regularly commissioned engi- 
neer in the United States Navy, participating 
in several severe naval engagements. Since 
the war, he has been a resident of Cairo, 111., 
and employed on local vessels ; now in the em- 
ploy of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Compa- 
ny, as engineer of their transfer vessel. In 
1845. at Ravenswood, Jackson Co., Va., he 
married Miss Mary E. Merryman, daughter of 
Caleb Merryman, formerly of Baltimore, Md. 
She is a native of Virginia. 

JEFFERSON M. CLARK, painter and pa- 
per hanger, Cairo, 111., is a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and was born in the city of Philadelphia 
on June 1, 1844. His parents, Charles S. Clark 
and Sarah B. Taylor, were born and reared in 
the East, the father in New Jersey, and the latter 
in Pennsylvania. Jefferson M. is the oldest of 
a family of eight children ; he learned the 
trade of painter in Philadelphia, and in 1860 
moved with his parents to Indiana, and in the 
spring of the following year he enlisted in 
Company F, of the Thirteenth Indiana Regi- 
ment, serving in this organization for three 
)'ears. He was afterward commissioned a First 
Lieutenant, on Gen. Thomas' staff, and served 
one year. He participated in several hard- 
fought battles, including Rich Mountain, Win- 
chester, Nashville and the siege of Charleston 
and others. He was discharged in Nashville, 
Tenn., where he immediatel}' began work at 



his trade, and where, on September 25, 1865, 
he was married to Miss Mildred E. Atkins. 
She is a daughter of A. L. and Nancy Atkins, 
and was born October 22, 1847, at Waverly, 
Tenn. Mr. Clark continued in the South until 
1874, when he came to Cairo, 111., and has 
since been engaged constantly at his trade. 
He keeps in stock an assortment of paints, 
wall paper, window shades, picture frames and 
moldings. Mr. Clark has four children living 
and two deceased — Bertie, born October 3, 
1867; Jefferson L., born June 25, 1869; 
Charles M., born January 6, 1873, died Sep- 
tember 19 of same 3'ear ; John A., born July 
9, 1874, died February 16, 1879 ; Angelo A., 
born February 7, 1879 ; and an infant, born 
September 3, 1881. Mr. Clark is a member of 
the I. 0. 0. F., in which he has filled the vari- 
ous offices of honor ; is also a member of the 
Knights of Honor and of the Arab Fire Com- 
pany. Addison L. Atkins, father of Mrs. Clark, 
was born in Virginia ; married, in Tennessee, 
Miss Nancy S. Coffman ; reared a family of ten 
children, and died in 1868. The mother still 
lives at Waverl}^ Tenn. 

ALBERT C. COLEMAN, traveling passen- 
ger agent of the Illinois Central Railroad, is a 
native of Oneida County, N. Y., born March 7, 
1824, son of John and Ama (Smith) Coleman, 
the father a native of Hartford, Conn., and 
a descendant of an English family, who 
were first represented in the United States 
about 1760. He grew to manhood in Connecti- 
cut, and in 1808 became a settler in Oneida 
County, N. Y., then a wilderness ; he was there 
married to Miss Ama Smith, a native of Ver- 
mont, and of English origin, and a daughter of 
Asal Smith, a Revolutionary soldier. A. C. 
Coleman is the youngest of a family of ten 
born to these parents. He grew to manhood in 
Oneida County, N. Y., receiving the benefits of 
an academic education. From 1841 to 1857, 
he was chiefl}' employed on steam and sail ves- 
sels, becoming a master. In 1852, however, 



CAIRO. 



13 



he was employed by Messrs. Phillips & Vandu- 
seu, contractors on the Illinois Central Rail- 
road, as foreman of a part of their work, and 
superintended the first of their earthwork at 
La Salle, 111. Since Jnne, 1864, he has been 
in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad 
Company, as traveling passenger agent, with 
his residence at Cairo, 111. He was first mar- 
ried in Bellows Falls, Vt, to Miss S. A. 
Carter, a native of New Hampshire. She died in 
1851, at La Salle, 111. Subsequently he was mar- 
ried, in Chicago, to Miss Susan E. Mclntyre, of 
Fabius, Onondaga Co., N. Y. She died in 
Cairo, 111., February, 1876, leaving two chil- 
dren — Effle May and Albert V. Coleman. His 
present wife was Miss Flora Van Cleve, daugh- 
ter of Dr. William Van Cleve, of Centralia, 
111., and was born in Illinois in 1844. Mr. Cole- 
man is a member of the Masonic fraternity. 

WILLIAM M. DAVIDSON, tinner, Cairo, 
111., was born February 7, 1838, in Allegany 
County^ N. Y., and was reared from child- 
hood to maturity in Wyoming County, of that 
State. James Davidson, father of William M., 
was born in 1808, in the State of New Jersey, 
but of Scotch parentage. He grew to manhood 
in his native State, and in Tompkins County, 
N. Y., he was married to Miss Lucy Com- 
stock, of that State. Their family comprised 
eight children, seven of whom are now living, 
William M. being the second of the family. 
The mother died in Pulaski County, 111., on 
May 29, 1877. The father is still living, making 
his home with his son William M., and though 
seventy -five years old retains much of his youth- 
ful vigor. William Davidson first came West 
in 1854, located at Rockford, III., where he 
adopted the trade of tinner, and where he worked 
until 1858, returning that year to New York, 
there engaging at the trade until May, 1861, 
when he became a member of Company I, 
Thirty-second New York Infantry. He par- 
ticipated in both the Bull Run battles, and 
most of the active service incident to Glen. Mc- 



Clellan's campaign of the peninsula. He was 
mustered out in New York City at the close of 
his term of enlistment, with the commission of 
First Lieutenant of his company. Immediately 
after being discharged, he came to Cairo, 111., 
where for a short time he was employed as a 
clerk in the post office. Soon, however, in con- 
nection with a man named Brown, he opened a 
tin store on a very limited capital, and a portion 
of that was borrowed funds. Fortune smiled 
upon them in this enterprise, and they were 
soon able to expand their business, and to do 
so they leased the Cunningham Building on 
Commercial avenue, paying an annual rental of 
$2,000. Mr. Davidson has stemmed the tide 
of business depressions, overcoming some 
severe financial reverses, and to-day has a very 
complete stock of stoves, tinware, etc., occupy- 
ing Nos. 25 and 27 on Eighth street. He was 
married in Cairo, 111., on the 30th of October, 
1867, to Miss Anna Helby, daughter of Herbert 
Helby. She was born in Liverpool, England, 
September 26, 1847. Their family consists of 
William, James H., Charles E., Harlow C, 
Lucy and Frank M. Davidson. Mr. Davidson 
is a member of the American Legion of Honor. 
GIDEON DESROCHER, market gardener 
and florist, is the eldest of a family of six 
children of Francis and Victoire (Lafortune) 
Desrocher. His parents were born, reared and 
married in Canada, where he was also born on 
the 20th of April, 1829. His father was born 
in 1801, and died in Jackson County, 111., in 
1862. The mother died ten j^ears later in 
Canada. Gideon was educated in his native 
place, and while young learned the cabinet, 
trade. In 1856, he went to Chicago, 111., where 
for three years he was foreman in a cabinet 
manufactory. From Chicago he removed to 
Jackson County, 111., where he undertook the 
task of clearing a tract of land, which he 
developed into a valuable fruit farm. The re- 
sult of this labor he lost in an unfortunate bus- 
iness partnership in Murphysboro, 111. In 1872, 



14 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



he came to Cairo and established a gardening 
business, which is fully noticed elsewhere. In 
1851, he was married in Canada to Miss Har- 
menia Beauchamp. She was born in Canada 
in 1836, and died in 1869 in Jackson County, 
111., leaving four children — Arthur, Oscar, 
Henry and Josephine Desrocher. The oldest 
son, Arthur, married Miss Thompson, and has 
two children, named Oscar and Francis Gideon. 
The second son, Oscar, married Miss Mary 
Scott, and has one daughter — Emma Des- 
rocher. Mr. Desrocher was married to his 
present wife, Eliza Tippet, in 1872. She was 
born in England in 1847. Frank Desrocher is 
the only child by the second marriage. 

CHARLES W. DUNNING, physician and 
surgeon, Cairo. The greatest genius of which 
any one can boast is the power of molding 
circumstances — of being able to turn them to 
good account, and of using his talents to bet- 
ter the condition of others and develop in him- 
self a true manhood. Such reflections natur- 
ally come to us as we study the life-histories 
of such men as he whose name heads this arti- 
cle. He was born April 15, 1828, in Auburn, 
N. Y. His father, Lucius Dunning, died in 
1834, and his motlicr, Mary Dunning, who was 
born in 1807, is still living. His father died 
when he was but six years of age, and he was 
left to battle with the world, stimulated only 
by a mother's devoted love and his own energy. 
He was educated in Gambler College, Ohio, 
and immediately after finishing his course at 
that institution, he determined to gratify his 
desire to become a physician, and to that end 
entered upon the study of medicine. He un- 
derwent the usual preparatory reading with 
Dr. G. W. Hotchkiss, of Nashville, 111., and 
Prof Joseph N. McDowell, of St. Louis. In 
1850, he graduated from the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Missouri. Imme- 
diately after, he accepted the position of Assist- 
ant Resident Surgeon of a private hospital in 
St Louis, known as the "Hotel for Invalids," 



where he remained for two years, and then re- 
moved to Centralia, 111. During a residence 
here of four years he won for himself many ar- 
dent friends, and established a lucrative prac- 
tice. From Centralia he removed to Cairo, 
which has since been his permanent home, 
though his business and profession frequently 
calls him away. He was connected with the 
United States Hospital at Mound City, 111., dur- 
ing the years of 1861 and 1862, returning to 
his home in Cairo when his services there were 
no longer a necessity. In 18 63, he was hon- 
ored with the appointment of Professor of Sur- 
gery in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chi- 
cago, which he declined, and in 1865 he was 
appointed Professor of Physiology and Materia 
Medica in the University of Missouri. This 
position also he was forced to decline, on ac- 
count of business and professional connections 
here which he could not sever. Dr. Dunning 
is often called to attend critical cases remote 
from and beyond the circle of his usual prac- 
tice. His popularity as a man and as a phy- 
sician has been fairly and honorably earned, 
and his professional success no less due to his 
knowledge and ability than to his purely sym- 
pathetic nature so indispensable in the sick 
chamber and in the character of the true phy- 
sician. While he devotes his attention closely 
to his practice, he also takes an unselfish but 
heart}' interest in the politics of the day, and 
exerts no small influence, the benefits of which 
are enjoyed b}^ the Democratic party. He 
wields a commanding influence in the Masonic 
fraternity, in which he is an honored member. 
He is an oflficer in the Grand Commandery of 
Knights Templar for the State of Illinois, be- 
ing Grand Captain General of that august body. 
He has been ten times elected Eminent Com- 
mander of Cairo Commandery, No. 13, which 
position he now fills. Dr. Dunning was first 
married in 1840 to Amanda Shannon, of Spar- 
ta, 111. She died in 1859, leaving one son, who 
is now living. His present wife was Miss El- 



CAIRO. 



1& 



len 0. Dashiell. They have one child — a 
daughter. 

WILLIAM EICHHOFF, wholesale and re- 
tail dealer in parlor, oflSce and kitchen 
furniture, on the corner of Seventeenth street 
and Washington avenue, Cairo, was born in 
Westphalia, Prussia, June 19, 1835. He is a 
son of Casper H. and Anna Eichhoff, both of 
whom were natives of Prussia, the former born 
in 1789, and the latter in 1796. They married 
in Prussia, and to them were born a family of 
six children, William being the fourth. He 
was educated in Prussia, and came to the 
United States with an elder brother, Charles 
Eichhoff, in 1854, and the same ^^ear located at 
Cairo, 111. Here he engaged at his trade, that 
of carpenter and cabinet-maker, and worked on 
the first storehouse erected on the Ohio levee. 
In the year 1856, he went to Dongola, 111., 
where for several years he followed contracting 
and building. He returned from there to Cairo, 
111., and in 1865, established a planing mill on 
Eighteenth street, which he operated success- 
fully for about two years, discontinuing this to 
place the machinery in a furniture manufactory, 
which he erected on the corner of Seventeenth 
street and Washington avenue, which has been 
his business location since, and which has been 
converted from a manufacturing to a wholesale 
and retail establishment. Mr. Eichhoff was 
first married in Union County, 111., to Miss La- 
vina Casper, who was born in Union County 
March 4, 1840. She died in Dongola, of small- 
pox, April 3, 1863. His second wife, Rachel 
Fleshman, to whom he was married February 
3, 1870, was born near Manheim, on the Rhine, 
in Germany, June 12, 1844, and died in Cairo, 
111., April 12, 1873, leaving two children, viz.: 
Sibilia Eichhoff, born February 9, 1873, and 
Walter Ellsworth Eichhoff, born April 17, 1871. 
Sibilia died June 20, 1873. Mr. Eichhoff is a 
member of the order of Masons. 

EUGENE E. ELLIS, job printer and book- 
binder, of Cairo, and son of Henry B. and Otti- 



lini (Waugh) Ellis, was born in Rock Island, 
III, on the 20th day of June, 1 859. His father , 
Henry B. Ellis, was born in Devonshire, Eng., 
in August of 1829, and, while an infant, came 
with the parents, Richard and Mary Ann Ellis, 
to the United States, where, after brief resi- 
dences in various places, settled at Rock Island. 
Mr. H. B. Ellis, while a young man, learned the 
trade of marble cutter, in Cincinnati, Ohio, at 
which he worked for eight years, when he be- 
came interested in the iron foundry business in 
St. Louis, which he conducted for a term or 
fifteen years. From St. Louis he came to 
Mound City, 111., and took charge of a foundry 
at that place, which he ran for two years, com- 
ing thence to Cairo, which is still their home. 
He was married in Rock Island, in March, 1858, 
to Miss Ottilini Waugh. She was born in Canada, 
on the 4th of March, 1839. She is a niece of Sam- 
uel Waugh, the celebrated painter of Philadel- 
phia. Eugene E. is the oldest of a family of nine 
children born to these parents, two of whom are 
deceased. He established, a few years since, a 
job printing and book-binding house in Cairo, 
which is doing a very successful business. He 
was married on the 16th of May, 1883, to Miss 
Edith L. Martin, daughter of Jacob Martin, of 
Cairo, 111., and is a member of the American 
Legion of Honor. 

ISAAC FARNBAKER, merchant. Cairo, 
was born in Bavaria, German}-, son of Solomon 
Farnbaker and Zerlina Teldhahn. He grew to 
manhood and received an education in Ger- 
man}', learning the trade of weaver when young. 
In 1840, being then twenty years old, he came 
to the United States, and for four years made 
his home in the city of New York, though en- 
gaged during the time to travel, two years in 
Maine and two years in the South. He then 
made a permanent settlement or residence in 
Mississippi until 1856, at which time he came 
to Cairo, and cast in his lot with the pioneers 
of that city, which at that time contained but 
few of the present buildings of Cairo. The 



16 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



town of Cairo was in need of just such enter- 
prise and energy as Mr. Farnbaker possessed, 
the impress of which has been realized and felt 
for years. He embarked in the clothing trade 
in 1856, and has been actively engaged in that 
line since, a portion of the time having two 
stores in Cairo, and one in Paducah, Ky., be- 
sides, from 1864 to 1872, he was conducting a 
wholesale establishment in the city of New 
York. In 1862, he paid $10,000 in currency 
for the lot on corner of Levee and Sixth streets, 
now occupied by Mr. F. Korsmeyer. His 
present location is corner of Commercial ave- 
nue and Seventh street. He was married, 1849, 
at Natchez, Miss., to Mrs. Eliza A. Flippen. 
She was born at the above named city on No- 
vember 22, 1826. Their family consists of 
three sons, viz., Solomon, Joseph and Morris 
Farnbaker ; the latter married in Cairo, in 1880, 
to Miss Ellen Torrence, daughter of Smith Tor- 
rence, of that place. They have one child — a 
daughter. 

GEORGE FISHER, lawyer, Surveyor of 
Customs and ex officio Collector of the Port of 
Cairo, III, was born April 13, 1832, in Chester, 
Vt. His father, Joseph Fisher, was a native 
of New England, though of Scotch origin, and 
his mother, Orythia (Selden) Fisher, was a lin- 
eal descendant of the eminent English states- 
man, John Selden, who figured prominently in 
literature and politics in the first half of the 
seventeenth century. The family name upon 
both sides was represented in New England at 
an early date. Mr. Fisher's elementary' educa- 
tion was obtained in the common schools of 
his native town ; he fitted for college at the 
Chester Academy. He afterward entered the 
Middlebury College, where he continued for 
four years, receiving the degree conferred by 
that institution in 1858. Immediatel}' after 
the completion of his collegiate course, he be* 
came the Principal of an academy in Vermont, 
where he remained three years, winning for 
himself a name among the leading teachers of 



his State. His next position was as Principal 
of one of the grammar schools of Alton, 111., 
where he also took rank among the leading 
educators of Illinois. Dui'ing the three years 
that he taught in Alton, he pursued the study 
of law, under the instruction of Hon. H. W. 
Billings, and later of Seth T. Sawyer. In 1864, 
having been admitted to practice, he removed 
to Cairo, 111., which has since been his perma- 
nent home, and where he has enjoyed a lucra- 
tive practice, as well as the confidence and 
esteem of an extensive circle of friends. While 
his court practice has not, perhaps, been as 
extensive as some members of the Cairo bar, 
he has proven himself especially able as an 
office lawyer, and in the settlement of estates, 
which he has made a specialty. His ancestry, 
for several generations, have been noted for 
their ability and enthusiasm in political issues, 
and it is but natural to expect that Mr. Fisher 
would have inherited some of their character- 
istic zeal ; while he is not a politician in the 
accepted sense of that term, he takes an ardent 
interest in public affairs, and his natural abili- 
ties afford no small aid to the Republican 
party, with which he has always acted. In 
1869, he was appointed Surveyor and ex officio 
Collector of the Customs for the Port of Cairo, 
111., and has held the position ever since. For 
several years he has served as a member of the 
Board of Education, and takes a lively and 
unselfish interest in the advancement morally, 
intellectually and politically of the community 
in which he is an honored citizen. He was 
married, November 29, 1860, to Miss Susan G. 
Copeland, of Middlebury, Vt. 

NICHOLAS FEITH, undertaker, on the 
corner of Eleventh street and Washington 
avenue, was born on the 6th of December, 
1819, in Echternech, Luxemburg, Europe. He 
is the fifth of a family of eight children of 
Peter Feith and Catherine Nea. But three of 
the family are now living. The father was 
born December 25, 1777, and the mother on 



CAIRO. 



17 



the 6th of December, 1787. On arriving at 
manhood, Nicholas adopted the trade of cabi- 
net-maker, in which he acquired a great profi- 
ciency, and is without a superior, if, indeed, he 
has an equal in the United States, on inlaid 
work. He worked extensively in Paris, 
France, and in Brussels, Belgium, where, on 
the 26th of July, 1845, he married Miss Su- 
sanna Feller. She was born in Medernach, 
Luxemburg, February 12, 1820. There was 
one child born to them in the old country — 
Anna Feith, born on the 23d of June, 1847, 
and is the deceased wife of William Kluge, of 
Cairo. Mr. Feith came to this country in the 
fall of 1848, and lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
until 1854, in which time three children were 
born to the family — Madeline, born November 
17, 1849, deceased ; Nicholas, born January 5, 
1851, deceased, and Katie Feith, present wife 
of William Kluge, born August 10, 1853. In 
1854, he removed to Southeast Missouri, where 
he purchased a farm and resided until 1862, 
and at that place were born John Feith, Au- 
gust 24, 1857, and Eddie, January 29, 1860. In 
December, 1862, the family came to Cairo, 111., 
but, being unable to procure a house, they 
again went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where, on the 
17th of August, 1863, William, the youngest 
child, was born. They returned to Cairo in 
1864, and the following year Mr. Feith opened 
a shop for the manufacture and sale of coffins, 
and has ever since been engaged in that line of 
business. The family are members of the 
Catholic Church of Cairo, 111. 

WILLIAM B. GILBERT, lawyer, Cairo, 
111., is a son of Hon. Miles A. Gilbert, whose 
biography- appears elsewhere in this volume, 
and Ann Eliza (Baker) Gilbert. He was born 
September 24, 1837, in Kaskaskia, 111. ; ob- 
tained a classical education in Shurtleff Col- 
lege, of Upper Alton, and began the study of 
law in the office of his grandfather, Judge 
David J. Baker, Sr. At the age of twenty, he 
became a student in the law office of Krum & 



Harding, of St. Louis, continuing his reading 
with them for one year. In May, 1859, he 
was admitted to practice, and soon after en- 
tered the senior class in the Law Department of 
Harvard University, graduating therefrom, 
with the degree of LL.B., in July, 1860. In 
the summer of 1861, he took the degree of 
A. M. from St. Paul's College, Mo. He began 
the practice of his profession in Genevieve, 
Mo., associated with Hon John Scott, one of 
the most eminent and able lawyers of Mis- 
souri. In the spring of 1862, owing to the 
suspension of the Missouri courts, he removed 
to Illinois, and located at Alton, forming a 
partnership with his uncle, H. S. Baker, which 
continued until March, 1865, when he came to 
Cairo, and associated himself with Gen. I. N. 
Haynie and B. F. Marshall. By reason of Mr. 
Haynie's appointment to the office of x\dju- 
tant General of Illinois, Mr. Gilbert became 
the leading member of the firm, and continued 
in the chief control of its immense and im- 
portant business until May, 1867, when, by 
the withdrawal of Haynie and Marshall, he 
was left in the possession of a practice sec- 
ond to none in Southern Illinois. In June, 
1867, he formed a partnership with Judge Will- 
iam H. Green, and still continues an active 
member of the firm of Green & Gilbei't, which 
includes a junior partner in the person of his 
brother, Miles F. Gilbert. They have charge 
of the legal business of the Illinois Central, 
New Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago, and the 
Cairo & St. Louis Railroad Companies, the 
Cairo City Property Company, City National 
Bank and other corporations. Mr. Gilbert was 
admitted to practice in the Federal courts in 
1865, and to the Supreme Court of the United 
States in 1873, and in that court represented 
his firm as counsel for Phillips in the case of 
the Grand Tower M. M. & T. Co. v. Phillips 
and St. John, involving a judgment of $200,- 
000. He was married, in 1866, to Miss Kate 
Barrj', daughter of A. S. Barry, and has a fam- 



18 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



ily of three sons, viz. : Miles S., William C. 
and Barry Gilbert. The genealogy of the 
Gilbert family traces back to some of the most 
distinguished characters in English history, 
and was first represented in the United States 
by five brothers, who settled in Virginia, Mas- 
sachusetts and Connecticut, the father of our 
subject being a descendant of the Connecticut 
branch. Mr. Gilbert is an influential member 
and a Vestryman in the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. 

MILES F. GILBERT, lawyer, Cairo, is the 
junior partner of the law firm of Green & Gil- 
bert ; was born September 11, 1846, at Alton, 
111. He received a high school education in 
Alton, 111., and entered the Washington Univer- 
sity, but was compelled to quit this course on 
account of failing health. He then became a 
student in the Pennsylvania Military Academy, 
where, through the rational discipline of that 
institution, he was restored to health. He be- 
gan the study of law in 1866, and after two 
years' reading was admitted to the bar. He 
then became a member of the senior class in 
the Law Department of Harvard University, 
and received the degree conferred by that in- 
stitution in 1869. He has been a member of 
the well-known law firm of Green & Gilbert 
since 1870, in which year he was married to 
Miss- Addie L. Barry. He is a Vestryman in 
the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

JACOB A. GOLDSTINE, Cairo, 111., was 
born in Hungary August 17, 1832, and is the 
second member of a family of seven children 
born to Abraham and Rachel (Kohn) Goldstine. 
Of these seven children, two are deceased, and 
the remaining ones are residents of the United 
States. The father, Abraham Goldstine, was 
born in Hungary, in the year 1805, and died 
July 24, 1873. The mother was a native of 
the same country, born 1807, and died on the 
30th of tlie same month as her husband ; both 
died of the cholera. In 1847, in the time of 
the Hungarian war, Jacob A. left his home 



and attended school in the cities of Werpclet, 
Gyungybs and Presburg, being absent from his 
home for more than nine years, during which 
time he acquired a liberal education. He was 
married in the old country. May 22, 1859, to 
Miss Mary Roth. She is the eldest of a fami- 
ly of five childi'en, of Ignatius Roth and Hanie 
Moseovitz, all of whom, including parents, are 
residents of the United States. Mrs. Goldstine 
was born September 18, 1842. They have two 
interesting daughters — Annie B., born August 
25, 1860, and Rosa G., born November 16, 
1862, both of whom are being educated in Vas- 
sar College. Mr. Goldstine, with his little fam- 
ily, left their native country for the United 
States on the 7th of July, 1863, arriving at New 
York City August 3, 1863, and on the 9th of 
the same month located in Cleveland, Ohio, 
and during a short residence there was engaged 
in merchandising, in the meantime making his 
home with Mr. M. Black, of the firm of D. Black 
& Co., from whom he received some material 
assistance. February 10, 1864, Mr. Goldstine re- 
removed to Cairo, and the year following he 
formed a business connection with his present 
partner, Mr. Rosenwater, which has since exist- 
ed and grown into one of the most substantial 
business firms of Illinois. Mr. Goldstine has 
for several years been an active member of the 
Board of Education for Cairo, and is an hon- 
ored member of the Masonic order. He wields 
a potent influence in the local politics which 
benefits are enjoyed b}^ the Republican party. 
J. J. GORDON, M. D., Cairo, was born in 
Perry County, Ohio, January 6, 1835. His 
parents, Adam Gordon and Eleanor Shriver, 
were natives of Pennsylvania, where they were 
reared and married, soon after which they 
moved into Perry County, Ohio. There the 
father died in 1836, leaving but one child, the 
subject of this sketch. His mother was sub- 
sequently married, reared a famil}^ and is now 
living at the old homestead, in Perry County, 
in her sixty-ninth year. J. J. Gordon grew to 



CAIRO. 



19 



maturity in his native county, receiving the ad- 
vantages of a common school education, and 
then took a three years' course in the St. 
Joseph College of same county. He then en- 
tered the office of W. W. Arnold, M. D., of 
Ohio, under whom he pursued the study of 
medicine for four years. He graduated from 
the Cleveland Medical College in 1859, and im- 
mediately began the practice of his profession 
in the town of Somerset, Ohio, where he re- 
mained but a brief period, coming to Cairo, 111., 
in the fall of 1859. Since that time he has 
been in active practice ; from 1863 to 1868, he 
was associated with Dr. W. R. Smith, but with 
that exception, he has practiced alone. Office 
on Commercial avenue. He was married, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1862, to Mrs. Isadore Burke, widow 
of William Burke, and daughter of Dr. Henry 
Delane3^ She was born in Kentucky Febru- 
ary 23, 1838, died November 14, 1875, leaving 
two children — Mary Adella, born March 29, 
1863, and Joseph J., born February 6, 1866. 
The family are members of the Catholic 
Church, and enjoy the confidence of many 
warm friends. 

HORACE A. HANNON,dealer in and gen- 
eral agent for sewing machines, being the dis- 
tributing agent for Southern Illinois, Missouri 
and Kentucky of the White Manufacturing 
Company. He is a native of Illinois ; was born 
in Springfield on the 14th day of June, 1843. 
Daniel Hannon, father of H. A., was born in 
Charlestown, Mass., in 1810, where he grew to 
manhood and received the benefit of a liberal 
education. He early adopted the business of 
architecture, for which he became veiy noted. 
He came to Illinois and located in Springfield 
about 1840. He was married in Charlestown, 
Mass., to Miss Welthea Ewell, a native of 
Massachusetts, and born m 1809. They had a 
family of six children, one of whom, Daniel 
Hannon, was born in Massachusetts, and who 
is deceased ; Mary, wife of B. F. Parker, of 
Chicago ; H. A. Hannon, of Cairo ; Lucy, wid- 



ow of George T. Cushing, of Dubuque, Iowa ; 
Charles, deceased ; Eva, wife of Gr. W. John- 
son, of Dubuque, Iowa ; were born, reared and 
educated in Springfield. The mother is still 
living, and is a resident of Dubuque. The 
father died in Cleveland, Ohio, 1863. H. A. 
Hannon, in company with the family, came to 
Cairo, 111., in 1857, the father having come the 
year previous. He earl}' learned the business 
of printing in the office of the Cairo Gazette, 
and afterward became a salesman in the drug 
store of J. B. Humphi-eys & Co., and the pre- 
scription clerk. In September 6, 1861, he 
enlisted in the United States Navy, in the 
capacity of " first class boy," and was mustered 
out, January, 1866, as Captain of a gun-boat. 
He participated in much of the active service 
of the Mississippi Squadron, and was in seven- 
teen engagements, receiving a wound at 
the battle of Greenwood. At the close of the 
war, he returned to Cairo and engaged in the 
book business, associated with W. J. Yost, un- 
der the firm name of Yost & Hannon, in which 
he continued until 1868, when he bought the 
interest of Mr. Yost and continued the busi- 
ness until 1872, and sold to B. F. Parker. 
Since the latter date, he has been in the sewing 
machine and real estate business. He was 
married, September 19, 1872, in Caledonia, 111., 
to Mrs. Sallie Wood, daughter of B. F. Echols 
and widow of L. Wood, of Iowa. She was 
born in Caledonia June 14, 1845. Thej' have 
one son, Horace Blake Hannon, born in Cairo 
May 18, 1874. Mr. Hannon is a member of the 
Episcopalian Church, and is a Master Mason, 
and a member of the A. L. of H. 

A. HALLEY, merchant, Cairo, was born 
February 6, 1837, in Monroe County. Ark. 
He is the sixth of a family of ten children of 
David and Elmira (Jacobs) Halley, the father 
a native of Virginia. Our subject was in early 
life left an orphan, and compelled to face the 
realities of life for himself In 1852, he went 
to Cincinnati, Ohio, where, althougli among 



no 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



■strangers, he managed to avail himself of the 
advantages of a common school education, and 
then turned his attention to learning the tin- 
ner's trade, but after serving two years his em- 
ployers failed, and he went to St. Louis in 1858, 
where he completed his trade, and where he 
remained until the breaking-out of the war, 
when he became connected with the Quarter- 
master's Department. In 1863, he came to 
Cairo, 111., and was here employed in the navy 
yard until its removal to Mound City, in which 
city he worked until the fall of 1864, when he 
returned to Cairo and opened a tin-shop on a 
small scale. After two j-ears, he was able to 
add a stock of stoves to his business, and in 
1875 extended the business to embrace a full 
line of hardware. Mr. Halley has been very 
successful, and is entirel}^ the architect of his 
own fortune. He was married in Cairo on the 
1st day of December, 1869, to Miss Mary Hart- 
man, daughter of Daniel Hartman, of Cairo. 
She was born in 1844. Their family consists 
of four children, viz.: William, born Novem- 
ber 4, 1870 ; Leah, born April 30, 1874 ; Da- 
vid, born March 11, 1879 ; and Pearl Halley, 
born August 31, 1881. Mr. Halley is a mem- 
ber of the I. 0. 0. F. 

EDGAR C. HARRELL. Among those who 
in an early day came to Cairo and assisted in 
its subsequent development was Isaac L. Har- 
rell. He was married in Missouri to Miss Mil- 
dred E. Keesee, a native of Tennessee. To 
these parents were born six children, but one 
of whom is now living — Edgar C. Harrell, of 
Cairo. He was born in Cairo, 111., on the 5th 
of January, 1856. His father was born in 
Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1824, and came to 
Cairo on arriving at manhood. After his mar- 
riage, he resided in Cairo for some years, but 
before the war removed to Missouri, where he 
was engaged in mercantile business until 1872, 
returning that year to Cairo. Here he em- 
barked in the furniture trade, at which he con- 
tinued until his death, which occurred Novem- 



ber 19. 1882. Mildred E. Harrell was born on 
the 31st of December, 1828, and is now a resi- 
dent of Cairo, 111. Edgar C. succeeds his 
father in the furniture business, and is located 
on Tenth street, between Commercial avenue 
and Poplar street, where he has six rooms well 
stored with stock of the most modern pattern. 
They own a family residence on Twelfth street, 
between Walnut and Cedar streets. 

GEORGE W. HENRICKS, carpenter and 
contractor at Cairo, 111., is a native of Spring- 
field, Ohio, and was born November 1, 1825. 
His father, William Henricks, was one of the 
first settlers of Springfield, Ohio, and assisted 
in its organization. He was born in Kentucky 
in 1797, and was of German parentage. He 
went to the Territory of Ohio, and there mar- 
ried to Miss Mary Darnell, also a native of 
Kentucky, born in 1799, and descends from 
Irish ancestry on the mother's side. To these 
parents were born six children, George W. be- 
ing the fifth of the family ; three are now de- 
ceased, one living in Missouri, and one in 
Washington Territory. When G. W. was four- 
teen years old, the family removed to Illinois and 
settled in Hancock County (1839), the father 
having died in 1827 at Natchez, Miss. The moth- 
er died in Illinois in 1858. In 1849, George W. 
crossed the plains to California, where he spent 
two years in mining. Returned to Warsaw, 
Hancock Co., III., and in 1852, February 15, 
there married Miss Martha A. Elliott, a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania. She was born August 
10, 1832, and is still living. Soon after mar- 
riage, Mr. Henricks removed to Hannibal, Mo., 
where the}' resided until 1860, when they went 
to Memphis, expecting to make their home 
South, but owing to the breaking-out of the war, 
returned North, and in 1862 settled in Cairo, 
111., which has since been his home. He 
learned the carpenter's trade when a young 
man, and has spent most of his life in that de- 
partment of labor. He has had a family often 
children, four of whom died in infancy, and one 



CAIRO. 



21 



died at the age of twelve years. Those living 
are William and George, both lawyers in Cairo, 
Laura, Clara E. and Beatrice Henricks, Will- 
iam is present City Attorney of Cairo, 111. 
Mr. Henricks is a member of the American Le- 
gion of Honor. Family residence on Twelfth 
street. 

JESSE HINKLE, senior partner of the firm 
of Hinkle & Co., pork-packers and dealers in 
leaf tobacco, Cairo, 111., is a native of Shelby 
County, Ky., where he was born September 28, 
1829. His father, for several years an exten- 
sive farmer and stock-grower of Kentuck}', 
was born in Shelby Count}' in 1802, and died 
in same count}' in 1842. His mother, Jessie 
Oglesby, first cousin to Richard J. Oglesby,ex- 
Grovernor of Illinois and United States Sena- 
tor, was born in Kentucky in 1797 and died in 
same State in 1881. They reared a family of 
six children, all of whom are now living, viz. : 
George Hinkle, a farmer of Ballard County, 
Ky. ; Jesse, the subject of these lines ; Susan, 
wife of William J. Scott, of Hinkleville, Ky. ; 
Elizabeth, wife of Benjamin Seary, of Shelby 
County, Ky. ; C harles, a practicing physician 
at Hinkleville, Ky., and Rachel, wife of J. W. 
Rollings, of Ballard County, Ky. Jesse grew to 
maturity in his native county, and in Decem- 
ber, 185-4, married Susan S. Hinkle. She was 
born in Shelby County, Ky., in October, 1835, 
and died in Cairo, 111., January 14, 1878, leav- 
ing two children: Robert Hinkle, born Septem- 
ber 7, 1855. He is the junior partner in the 
firm of Hinkle & Co., and was married April 
21, 1881, to Miss Jessie Phillis. of Cairo, who 
was born in Pennsylvania September 4, 1857. 
They have one child, Mildred D., born Febru- 
ary 3, 1883. Jessie F. Hinkle was born Octo- 
ber 14, 1861, is the wife of Phil C. Barclay. 
[See biography.] Jesse Hinkle removed from 
Simpsonville, Ballard Co., Ky. (where he had 
previously engaged in mercantile pursuits), in 
1856, and located at the present site of Hinkle- 
ville, in Ballard County, where he again en- 



gaged in mercantile business. During the late 
war, he championed the cause of the South, and 
in 1861 was mustered into service as First 
Lieutenant of Companj' C, of the Seventh Ken- 
tucky Regiment, and was mustered out at the 
close of the war as Major of that regiment. He 
is now serving his second term as member of 
the City Council, is a member of the order of 
Masons, and both he and sons are members of 
the Knights of Honor. They came to Cairo in 
1872, since which time they have been engaged 
in the tobacco trade and pork-packing, in addi- 
tion to which they conduct two meat-markets, 
one at No. 79 on Ohio Levee, and at No. 14 on 
Eighth street. In this latter business they 
have been very successful, their sales amount- 
ing to over $100,000 annually. On the 5th of 
July, 1882, their tobacco warehouse burned, 
incurring them a loss of about $10,000, part- 
ly covered b}' insurance. He was married to 
his late wife, Katie C. Moylan, of Memphis, in 
December, 1879. She died in Cairo March 
15, 1883. 

JOHN HODGES, Sheriff of Alexander 
County, 111., and a resident of Cairo, was born 
at the old town of Unity, in Alexander County, 
August 19, 1836. His father, John Hodges, 
was born in the State of Tennessee in 1810, 
and came in an earl}^ day to Southern Illinois, 
first locating in Union County, and there mar- 
ried Miss Margaret Hunsucker, in 1833. soon 
after which event he removed to Unity, Alex- 
ander County, where the family of twelve chil- 
dren were born. He was by trade a hatter, but 
engaged mostly in mercantile pursuits, indeed, 
with the exception of the few closing years, his 
entire life was spent in merchandising. He 
was a man of strong ph3-sical development and, 
while of limited education, was possessed of a 
strong will power and brilliant intellect, some- 
what slow to decide, but whose judgment when 
formed was seldom at fault. He was a Jack- 
son Democrat, and represented Alexander 
County two years in the General Assembly — 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



probabl}' in 1848-49. Shortly after the close 
of his Legislative office, he purchased a farm 
a few miles from Unity, upon which he lived 
until his death, which occurred in the fall of 
1862. Mrs. Margaret Hodges is a member of 
one of the oldest families of Union County, 
and is still living on the old homestead near 
Unity. John Hodges, the subject of these 
lines, is the oldest of their family of twelve 
children, and received the benefit of a common 
school education, and obtained a practical knowl- 
edge of business while with his father. He was 
married in Mississippi County, Mo., on the 25th 
of July, 1858, to Miss Isophine I. Wicker, 
daughter of^Charles and Margaret Wicker. She 
was born August 20, 1837. Mr. Hodges was 
elected to the office of County Treasurer and 
Assessor in 1859, but resigned to become a 
candidate for Sheriff, in 1860, and was elected 
to that office, which he filled for two years. 
From 1862 to 1864, he was Deputy Sheriff un- 
der 0. Clreenly, and, until 1866, in the same 
office under C. D. Arter. In 1876, he was again 
appointed to the office of Deputy Sheriff under 
Peter Saup, serving until elected to the Sheriff's 
office in 1878. He still holds the office, having 
been re-elected in 1880 and again in 1882. He 
is a Democrat, and a member of the Knights of 
Honor. They have a family of six children — 
Charles E., born May 30, 1859; John S., born 
March 17, 1866; Loraine, born June 17, 1868; 
Margaret, born September 26, 1870; Mary E., 
born August 19, 1873, and Fredoline B. 
Hodges, born March 13, 1875. Family res- 
idence on Ninth street, between Washington 
and Walnut streets. 

JOHN HOWLEY, merchant, Cairo. Among 
the pioneers of the citj' of Cairo may be 
mentioned the name of John Howley, a man 
who has witnessed the erection of every build- 
ing now in the city. He was born in the 
County of Mayo, Ireland, on the 27th of June, 
1819, and is the eighth of a family of ten 
children of Patrick and Eleanor (Hughes) How- 



ley, of whom but two survive— John and James 
Howley, the latter of Pennsylvania. John 
Howie}' was reared and married in his native 
country, and came to the United States in 1840, 
and from that date until 1853 spent much of 
the time traveling in the Eastern States. In 
1853, at a time when Kansas was being peopled 
so rapidl}' with Eastern and Southern people, 
Mr. Howley started to find for himself a home 
in the West, but being impressed with the 
beautiful location of the then infant city of 
Cairo, he determined to make it his future 
home; he therefore invested in property and 
the year following (1854) came and made a per- 
manent residence at that place, which, with 
slight exceptions, has been his home since. 
He has been engaged in business of a mer- 
cantile nature through all these years, and in 
1859, during the fire known as the " Ta^^lor 
house fire " he sustained a loss of $2,500, partly 
covered by insurance. Mrs. Catherine Howley, 
whose maiden name was Connell}^ was born in 
Ireland. They have traveled together along 
life's pathway for a period of forty-five years. 
Though they have never had any children born 
to them, they have reared several children who 
were left orphans and in need of homes. Family 
residence on corner of Third street and Com- 
mercial avenue. Members of Catholic Church. 
CICERO N. HUGHES, insurance agent, 
Cairo, 111., is the oldest of a family of 
four children, born to David B. and 
Mariah (Griffith) Hughes. His father was a 
native of Delaware, and the mother of Mary- 
land. They were married in Missouri, where, 
in Knox County, Cicero N. was born on the 7th 
of August, 1838. The family, in 1846, removed 
to Keokuk, Iowa, where, ten j-ears later, the 
mother died, the father surviving her until No- 
vember, 1881, when he died in California. Cic- 
ero N., being possessed of robust form and 
abundant mental endowment, to which he added 
a liberal education, early found fields of use- 
fulness opening before him whereon to bestow 



CAIRO. 



23 



his energy. His earl}' life, after concluding his 
school studies, was spent in the position of 
book-keeper for the firm of R. B. Hughes & Co., 
of Keokuk, for whom he worked four years, re- 
signing that place to accept the position of 
teller in the bank of Charles Parsons & Co., of 
Keokuk, which he filled for three years, when 
he became Teller in the Keokuk State National 
Bank. This position he filled with credit to 
himself for seven years, and in the meantime 
served that city in the capacity of Treasurer, 
and also as a member of the City Finance 
Committee ; and while a member of that body, 
as the city records show, performed a very 
prominent part in successfully grappling with 
a city bonded debt of $1,750,000, which was 
adjusted in the brief term of ten years. He 
was also a member of the City Council of Keo- 
kuk two terms. In 1865, at the close of the 
war, he came to Cairo, 111., to accept the posi- 
tion of Teller in the First National Bank at that 
place, but at the expiration of one year, was 
made its cashier, which duties he performed 
with ability and entire acceptance until 1873. 
Since the latter date, his business has been 
general insurance. In politics, he wields a 
very potent influence, the benefits of which are 
enjoyed by the Republican party. For the 
past six years, he has been Chairman of the 
Republican Central Committee, and is now 
serving his fourth year as Chairman of the Re- 
publican Congressional Committee of the 
Twentieth Congressional District. For several 
years he has been a member of the Board of 
Aldermen, and is also a Trustee of the South- 
ern Normal Institute. Being a man of broad 
and charitable views, during his residence in 
Cairo he has surrounded himself with an exten- 
sive circle of ardent friends. At the beginning 
of the civil war, Mr. Hughes organized a com- 
pany of cavalry troops, known as the Keokuk 
Cavalry, for the protection of the border. He 
was commissioned Captain of the company, 
which commission he held until he was regu- 



larly mustered out. He was married in Cairo, 
111., in 1868, to Miss Ella C. Miller, daughter of 
John C. and Annis Miller. She was born on 
the 2d of March, 1848, in Carrolton, Green Co., 

ni. 

JACOB KLEIN, brick-maker, Cairo. 111., 
a native of Bavaria, Germany, is the only 
living representative of a family of five 
children of Peter and Margaret Klein, 
who were born, married and died in the 
old country. Jacob was born on the 29th of 
May, 1825, and received a common German 
education, and was married to Agnes Zeller, in 
1852, and two years later came to the United 
States, landing at New York on the 15th of 
July, 1854. He first located at Louisville, K}-., 
where he lived for about ten years, and where 
his wife died on the 18th of June, 1864, leaving 
two children — Annie, wife of Charles Rode, and 
Elizabeth, wife of Valentine Resch, of Cairo. 
He was married in Cairo in 1865, to the widow of 
Peter Kleiner, his deceased brother, with whom, 
in 1868, he visited the scenes of his boyhood in 
the old country. His second wife died in March, 
1875, and he afterward married his present 
wife, Cai'oline Haller. She was born in Ham- 
ilton County, 111., May 21, 1844. They have 
been blest with three children, viz.: Louisa, 
born August 15, 1876 ; Jacob A., born in Oc- 
tober, 1878, and Emma C, born in January, 
1881, died in September, 1882. Since coming 
to Cairo Mr. Klein has been engaged in brick 
manufacture, in which he has been very suc- 
cessful. He owns a quantity of city real estate, 
including four lots and buildings adjoining the 
court house, and about eight acres of land, in- 
cluding the family residence on the western side 
of the city, also a farm of eighty acres near 
Goose Island, in Alexander County. He is a 
member of the Fire Department, and the family 
are members of the Catholic Church. 

FRANCIS KLINE, butcher, Cairo, HI., was 
born in Bavaria, Germany, January 30, 1831. 
His parents, Ferdinand and Catherine (Greg) 



24 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



Kline, with three children, Catherine, Elizabeth 
and Francis, emigrated to the United States in 
1840, and that year settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Catherine Kline was married to Jacob Strieker 
of Cincinnati, and is now deceased. Elizabeth 
is the wife of George Smith and is a resident 
of Cincinnati, Ohio. Francis, at an early age, 
went to the trade of butchering, and later to 
that of carpentering. He continued a resident 
of Cincinnati until coming to Caii'O, 111., in 
1864, which time was occupied variously at his 
trades and in the capacity of cook on steam- 
boats. In 1847, he enlisted in the United 
States military service, and participated in the 
closing campaign of the Mexican war, serving 
as musician. Since 1864, he has been a resi- 
dent of Cairo, and constantly employed in the 
management of a meat market. His wife, 
Anna B. (Collet) Kline, to whom he was mar- 
ried in Cincinnati, was born December 11, 1831, 
in Prussia. She came to this countr}' in 1847, 
in company with a brother, her parents having 
died while she was quite young. Mrs. Cathe- 
rine Kline, mother of Francis, was born in 1808 
and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856. His 
father was born in 1800 and died in 1863 in 
Cincinnati. Annie Kline, who was married to 
John Kent, is a daughter of Francis and Cath- 
erine Kline, and was born on the 9th of July, 
1858. He has one son, John Kent, born Octo- 
ber 1, 1874. Lena Kline was born October 4, 
1863, in Cincinnati ; Theresa Kline, born in 
Cairo, III, April 6, 1867. 

WILLIAM KLUGE, wholesale and retail 
grocer, and one of the most successful of Cairo's 
business men, is a native of Prussia, and was 
the third of a family of six children of John 
Kluge and Wilhelmine Loedige. The parents 
were each natives of Prussia, the father born 
in 1800 and died in his native country in 1849, 
his wife surviving him until 1871, when she, 
too, died. The names of their children were 
Augusta, Hermine, William, Amelia, John (who 
died in infancy) and Mary Kluge. William 



received a practical education in the country 
of his nativity, which, combined with his na- 
tive ability, has placed him among the foremost 
of the business men of Southern Illinois. He 
came to the United States when seventeen 
years old, and for a period of about three years 
was engaged as a salesman in a Chicago busi- 
ness house. He then went to New Orleans, 
where he established a small business in the 
way of a market stand. Being impressed with 
the commercial facilities of Cairo, he came to 
that city in 1860, and soon after opened a pro- 
vision and produce store on a vei*y limited 
scale. Having business energy and a high ap- 
preciation of honorable dealing, he soon found 
his trade rapidly increasing until a removal to 
more commodious rooms became necessary. 
He therefore obtained a room on Commercial 
avenue, opposite his present place, where he 
added a line of groceries to his stock. In 1874, 
he erected the substantial brick store building 
on the corner of Sixth street and Commercial 
avenue, where he is now located. Since 1878, 
he has done considei;^ble wholesale trade. Mr. 
Kluge's success in Cairo has not been procured 
without meeting loss, as he sustained serious 
loss by fire, and, during the war, was repeated- 
ly relieved of quantities of goods at the hands 
of those who appeared to have a Government 
license to steal. He was married in Cairo, 111., 
to Miss Anna Feith, daughter of Nicholas and 
Susanna (Feller) Feith. She was born in Ger- 
many June 23, 1847, and died in Cairo, 111., on 
the 28th of April, 1873, leaving one child, Ida 
Kluge, who was born October 28, 1871. His 
present wife, Katie Feith, to whom he was mar- 
ried in November, 1874, is a younger sister to 
his former wife, and was born in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, August 10, 1853. They have had one 
child, a son — Willie Kluge — born November 8, 
1875, and died September 16, 1879. The fam- 
ily are members of the Catholic Church of 
Cairo. Besides his business property, Mr. 
Kluge owns considerable city real estate. Fam- 



CAIRO. 



25 



ily residence on Seventh street, between Wash- 
ington and Commercial avenues. 

MICHAEL KOBLER, merchant tailor, 
Cairo, 111., was born in Alsace, France (now 
German}-) August 18, 1831. His father, 
George J. Kobler, who was an agriculturist, 
w-as born in France in 1783, and died in the 
same place in 1844. His mother, Eva Friedley, 
was born in France in 1791, and died in 1840. 
To these parents there were born nine children, 
of whom Michael is the eighth, and besides 
whom there are but two living — Peter Kobler, 
a tailor, of Cairo, 111., and Phillip Kobler, a 
shoe-maker, in New York. Michael was reared 
to the age of twenty-one j'ears in his native 
country, during which time he took the trade 
of tailor. Coming to the United States in 1853, 
he first located in New York City, for several 
months engaging at his trade in that place. 
From New York he came to Cairo, 111., in 1854. 
Since the latter date he has been a perma- 
nent resident of Cairo, where for many years he 
worked as journeyman tailor, first for Peter 
Neff, and afterward for John Antrim. In 1871, 
in connection with Phillip Lehnning, he opened 
a shop on Eighth street, and continued as part- 
ner with Mr. Lehnning until August, 1878, 
when the partnership was, by mutual consent, 
dissolved. Since 1878, Mr. Kobler has con- 
ducted business alone, and in 1879 removed to 
his present site, on Commercial avenue. He 
employs three skilled workmen, and is enjoy- 
ing a successful trade, which is wholly due to 
his enterprise and skill in conducting his busi- 
ness. Mr. Kobler was first married in Cairo, 
111., on the 26th of September, 1856, to Miss 
Wilhelmina Oexle, who died in the summer of 
1860. His second wife, to w^hom he was mar- 
ried in Cairo, was Elizabeth Rees. She died in 
the Insane Asylum at Anna, 111., leaving two 
daughters — Elizabeth Kobler, born in Cairo 
December 13, 1866, and Katie Kobler, born in 
Cairo January 28, 1869. The family residence 
is on Ninth street, besides which Mr. Kobler 



owns a quantity of city real estate. He is a 
Republican, and a director in the Woraens and 
Orphans' Mutual Aid Societ}'. 

CHRISTIAN KOCH, manufacturer of and 
dealer in fashionable boots and shoes, at No. 90 
Commercial avenue. Cairo, 111., was born in 
Germany August 21, 1835. He is the youngest 
of a family of five children of Christian Koch 
and Margaretta Hubochneider, of Germany. 
His father died in 1846, while in the prime of 
life, and the mother in 1853, at the age of six- 
ty-three years. Mr. Koch was educated in 
Germany, where he also served an apprentice- 
ship of four 3'ears to the trade of shoe-maker. 
In 1854, he came to the United States, landing 
at New York, and first located at Louisville, 
Ky., where for some time he worked at his 
trade, receiving a weekly wage of $1.50. From 
Louisville he went to New Albany, Ind., where 
he worked about two years, thence to St. Louis, 
where he remained until coming to Cairo, 111., 
in 1861. In that yeai', he opened a shop for 
the manufacture of boots and shoes at Cairo, 
to which he added a small stock of read3'-made 
goods. He returned to St. Louis after the war, 
where he did business during the year 1866, 
coming to Cairo a second time at the close of 
that year, and in the fall of the year following 
sustained a loss by fire of $3,500. He now has 
a two-story brick building comprising two store 
rooms, Nos. 88 and 90 Commercial avenue, which 
he erected in 1875, at a cost of $8,500, in one 
of which he is carrying a $7,000 stock of boots 
and shoes. Mr. Koch was married in St. Louis, 
Mo., on the 19th of August, 1860, to Miss 
Frances Gerst, a daughter ofWentel and Cath- 
erine Gerst, the former deceased, and the mother 
a resident of St. Louis. His wife was born in 
Bavaria, Germany, on the 6th of August, 1841, 
and came to America with the parents when a 
child. She died in Cairo, 111., March 14, 1880, 
leaving a family of five children living, two 
having died previous to the death of their 
mother — Christian Koch was born August 13, 



26 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



1861 ; Louisa, born March 25, 1863, and died 
April 28, 1865 ; John G. was born February 
15, 1865, and died on the 1st of June, 1865; 
William F. was born Februar}' 21, 1867; Henry 
P., born June 4, 1869 ; Matilda K, born in May, 
1871, and Augusta L., was born July 30, 1878. 

JOHN KOEHLER, liquor-dealer, on the 
corner of Twentieth street and Commercial 
avenue, and one of Cairo's pioneers, was born 
on the 23d of June, 1831, in Germany. Fred 
Koehler and 3Iary Statler were both natives 
of Germany, where they grew to maturity and 
married, and to these parents were born five 
children, John Koehler being the third of this 
family. In 1836, the mother died and the fol- 
lowing 3'ear the father also died, leaving the 
children dependent almost entirely upon their 
own exertions for their sustenance. John was 
reared in the family of a friend and sent to 
school until he was fourteen years old. From 
that time until he was of age, he was engaged 
as a farm laborer, and in 1852 he came to this 
country, and for two years made his residence 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned the baker 
business. About 1854, he came to Cairo, III, 
in the capacity of cook for the Taylor House, 
and has made this his home ever since. On the 
25th of April, 1857, he was married to Miss 
Louisa Ritter, daughter of Abraham Ritter. 
She was born June 11, 1838, in Ohio. For 
nearly twenty years Mr. Koehler has engaged 
in the produce trade, in which he was very 
successful. He is a Democrat in politics, and 
a member of the Fire Department. He has a 
family consisting of William, born February 13, 
1857 ; George G., born December 17, 1858; 
Kittle, born July 10, 1860; John B., born Feb- 
ruary 8, 1862; Mary, born June 15,1864; and 
Annie Koehler, born on the 8th of August, 
1867. The family are members of the Lutheran 
Church. Mr. Koehler owns a quantity of val- 
uable city real estate. 

JOHN A. KOEHLER, manufacturer of guns 
and pistols, and dealer in general hardware, at 



No. 160 on Commercial avenue, was born in 
Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, on the 3d day of 
September, 1830. His father, John Koehler, 
was born in Germany in 1790, married Elizabeth 
Luly, who was born in same country in 1800. 
The father died in 1850, and the mother in 
1849, having had a family of nine children — 
George Koehler (deceased), Matthew Koehler 
(also deceased), Lena, wife of Lewis Pfeffer, of 
Buflfalo, N. Y.; Balthser Koehler, of Chicago; 
John A. Koehler, subject of this sketch ; 

Catherine, wife of Caston, of Blue Island, 

111.; Elizabeth, wife of William Kleber, of 
Chicago; Frank Koehler, of Chicago; and Eve, 

deceased wife of Mishler, of Germany. 

John A. was reared in his native countr}^, 
where he served four years' apprenticeship to 
the trade of gunsmith. He came to the United 
States in 1851, and for ten years worked at his 
trade at various points, principally in Chicago, 
from where he came to Cairo in 1861. He 
came here to engage at his trade in the interest 
of the Government, and has been a resident of 
the city of Cairo ever since. In 1872, he 
erected a two-story brick business house at a 
cost of $5,000, located on Commercial avenue 
between Ninth and Tenth streets, where, since 
1880, in addition to his regular trade stock he 
has kept a full line of general hardware goods. 
He was married in Ottawa, La Salle Co., 
111., on the 24th of May, 1863, to Miss Hen- 
rietta Purucker, who was born in Bavaria, Ger- 
many, in October, 1844. She was the second 
of a family of four children of Adam and 
Elizabeth (Weis) Purucker, the latter deceased. 
The names of this family were John, Hen- 
rietta, Margaret and Johanna Purucker. Mrs. 
Henrietta Koehler and the 3'oungest sister are 
deceased; the former died in Cairo, on the 15th 
of January, 1876, leaving two children — Louisa, 
born July 18, 1866; and Charles Koehler, born 
August 13, 1868. The family are members of 
the Lutheran Church. Mr. Koehler is a mem- 
ber of the I. 0. 0. F., and in politics, Repub- 



CAIRO. 



27 



lican. He owns a i-esidence property on Center 
street, Cairo. 

FREDERICK KORSMEYER, wholesale to- 
bacconist, Cairo, is a native of the principality of 
Lippe, Germany, and was born March 4, 1836. 
His father, William Korsmeyer, also a native of 
Germany, and a farmer by profession, having 
married Miss Julia Schafer, of Germany, reared 
a family of seven children, of whom Frederick 
is the third. The family emigi-ated to the 
United States in 1854, with the exception of 
Frederick, who remained two years later, in 
order to complete his mercantile training in the 
business house of Henry Gerhard, in the town 
of Holzminden. The family settled near Evans- 
ville, Ind., and, with the exception of the par- 
ents and one daughter, who are deceased, are 
at this time residents of the United States. 
Soon after coming to Indiana, which was in 
1856, Mr. Korsmeyer obtained a position in 
the dry goods house of Rose Bros., of Evans- 
ville, where he remained for some months, but 
after worked two years in a general store near 
the home of his parents, conducted by a Mr. 
John Decker, whom he bought out at the end 
of the second year, and conducted the business 
himself for about two years, this being his first 
business undertaking. He was married in 
1859 to Miss Adelia Lemcke, of Evansville, 
but, a native of Hamburg, Germany. She was 
born November 11, 1839, and is a daughter of 
Martin and Elizabeth Lemcke. Preferring to re- 
side in the city, they, in 1861, removed to 
Evansville, selling his stock of goods, and for 
a time was employed in the business house of 
Schroeder & Lemcke, and after emploj^ed as 
clerk on a steamboat. In 1864, he came to 
Cairo, and engaged in the retail tobacco trade, 
associated with Alexander Lemcke, as Lemcke 
& Co. Mr. Korsmeyer conducted this business 
for three years, when he purchased the interest 
of Lemcke, since which time he has been sole 
proprietor, and since 1878 has done a wholesale 
trade, and now employs two traveling sales- 



men. Business on corner of Smith and Levee 
streets. He is a member of the Masonic order, 
Cairo Commander}'. They have a family of three 
children, viz.: William, Elizabeth and Alexander. 
FRANK KRATKY, baker and confectioner, 
on Commercial avenue, between Fourth and 
Sixth streets, Cairo, 111., is a native of the town 
of Predbor, BiJkemia, German}^, and was born 
on the 23d of March, 1834. He is the fifth of a 
large family of Wenzel and Anna (Lehovetz) 
Kratky, both of whom were born in Germany, 
where the father still lives, the mother having 
died in 1873. Frank Kratky was reared to 
manhood in his native country, and was for ten 
years a soldier in the German Army. In 1863) 
he left the old country and came to New York 
City, and thence to Mexico, where he remained 
about four yeai's engaged in the bakery business 
in the City of Mexico. He came to Cairo, 111., 
from Mexico, in 1868, since which time he has 
conducted a bakery and confectionery store at 
that place. In 1879, he sustained a loss of 
about $2,000 by fire, and the same year erected 
the two-stor}' brick house on Commercial ave- 
nue, which he now occupies. He was married 
in the city of St. Louis, April 20, 1873, to Miss 
Laura Weber, daughter of Ambrosias Weber 
and Dora (Tier) Weber. She was born at Kal- 
ter-Vasser, Germany, July 11, 1852, and came 
to the United States with her parents in 1865. 
They settled in St. Louis, where the mother is 
still living in her sixty-second year, and where 
the father died January 4, 1883, at the age of 
sixty-three. Mrs. Kratky is the second of a 
famil}' of five children of these parents. Mr. 
and Mrs. Kratky have a family of six children, 
of whom four are deceased. Emma Kratky was 
born in Cairo, 111., on the 6th of February, 1874, 
and Rosa H. Kratky, born in Cairo, May 28^ 
1881. The family are members of the Catholic 
Church. Mr. Kratky 's parents were members 
of the Catholic Church, as was also the father 
of Mrs. Kratky, her mother belonging to the 
Lutheran Church. 



28 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



CHARLES LAME, carpeutei*, is a native of 
Philadelphia, Penn., and was born May 31, 1811. 
He is a son of Caleb and Margaret Lame, 
both natives of New Jersey, and is the young- 
est and only surviving one of a family of five 
children. The father was a soldier in the Trip- 
olian war, serving three years with Decatur 
and Com. Bainbridge. He died at Phila- 
delphia in 1812. The mother survived him 
until 1850, and died in the same city. Charles 
was reared, educated and learned his trade 
in Philadelphia, where he made his residence 
until coming to Cairo in 1863, and where, in 
October, 1834, he married Miss Hannah Rose, 
daughter of William Rose, Sr., a manufacturer 
of Philadelphia. She was born in Philadel- 
phia on the 29th of February, 1812, and is a 
direct-lineal descendant of the family of Will- 
iam Penn. Mr. Lame has engaged in his 
trade since he was twenty-one years old, and is 
still actively engaged, though he is now seven- 
ty-two years old, and maintains his youthful 
vigor to a great extent. He came to Cairo, 
111., in 1863, and has continually resided there 
since. His family consists of five children, of 
whom but two are now living — William R. 
Lame, the oldest, is a resident of Brooklyn, 
N. Y. ; John and Charles Lame, each of whom 
died in infancy, and Margaret K., wife of E. C. 
Ford, of Cairo, 111., and Annie M., deceased 
wife of E. A. Burnett, of the Cairo Bulletin. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lame are members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church of Cairo. He is a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. Family residence on Tenth street, 
between Washington and Commercial avenues. 

CHARLES LANCASTER, lumber dealer, 
Cairo, III, was born in St. Clair County, 111., on 
the 15th of August, 1836. The father, Levi 
Lancaster, was of English parentage, though 
born in Virginia in 1801. He came to Illinois 
and to St. Clair County in 1822, and there mar- 
ried Elizabeth Terrey, by whom he had seven 
children, Charles being the fifth, and besides 



whom there is another member of the family 
in Cairo, Sarah, wife of Robert S. Lemmon. 
Levi Lancaster, Charles' father, died in Hastings, 
Minn., where he had gone for health, in 1859. 
The mother died in 1841, in St. Clair County, 
111. Charles was educated in the common 
schools of St. Clair County and in Collinsville, 
and learned the trade of carpenter in Minne- 
sota and in Peoria, 111. He came to Cairo, 
111., and engaged at his trade in 1862, and 
until 1874 was chiefly employed as ship car 
penter. In 1874, he began the lumber busi- 
ness, though on a very limited scale when com- 
pared with the present business. He has asso- 
ciated with him Newton Rice, and in 1881 they 
established a large planning-mill, in which the}' 
employ regularly several workmen. In addi- 
tion to their mill, preparation is now being 
made to erect a large warehouse. In Febru- 
ary, 1868, Mr. Lancaster was married to Miss 
Sarah Hodge. She was born in Kentucky 
March 4, 1846. Their family consists of Min- 
nie, born October 27, 1868 ; Pearl L., born 
June 4, 1873 ; Mabel, born November 12, 1876, 
and Geraldine L. Lancaster, born December 16, 
1878. Mr. Lancaster is a member of the 
I. 0. 0. F., Knights of Honor, and the Amer- 
ican Legion of Honor. 

THOMAS LEWIS, lawyer, Cairo, was born 
on the 9th of July, 1808, in Somerset County, 
Ohio. His parents were Thomas Lewis and 
Susan McCoy, the former of Welsh descent and 
the latter of Scotch, and both natives of New 
Jersey, where they married and reared a family 
of eleven children, Thomas being the ninth and 
the only member of the family now living. He 
received the benefits of a common school edu- 
cation in his native county, and at the age of 
sixteen an apprenticeship to the trade of shoe- 
maker, which he completed. Soon after he 
completed his trade, he started a wholesale 
boot and shoe manufactory in the city of 
Brunswick, N. J., which business he conducted 
successfully for seven years, employing a large 



CAIEO. 



29 



number of workmen. In 1836, he came West 
to look out a location for a future home, and 
as a result of which he settled the year follow- 
ing in Springfield, 111., where he again em- 
barked in the boot and shoe trade. Having a 
natural fondness for law, to which he had given 
considerable study, he decided to adopt the 
profession, and in 1845 was admitted to prac- 
tice. Though he has not been a prominent 
practitioner, he has been associated with some 
of the best talent of Springfield, and in the 
meantime was engaged in various business en- 
terprises of magnitude. He came to Cairo, 
111., in 1863, and established the Cairo Demo- 
crat, which he conducted for some years, re- 
turning to Springfield in 1869 to engage in ed- 
itorial work. Since 1875, he has been a resi- 
dent of Cairo, and that year organized the Al- 
exander County Bank. In 1867, he organized 
the " Widows' and Orphans' Mutual Aid Soci- 
et}'," of which he is now Secretary. He is a 
stockholder in the Cairo Street Railway, which 
he organized, in connection with Messrs. Strat- 
ton and Goldstein. Mr. Lewis was married in 
New Jersey to Miss Margaret A. Van Nor- 
strand, of New Jersey. She was born October 
4, 1810. They celebrated their golden wedding 
on the 4th of April, 1882. Have a family of 
three children — Adaline, wife of S. D. Aj^ers, of 
Kansas Cit}^; William T. Lewis, of Kansas; 
and Albert Lewis, a resident of Cairo. 

HON. DAVID T. LINEGAR, lawyer and 
present member of Legislature of Illinois, was 
born in Milford, Clermont Co., Ohio, February 
12, 1830. His father, Thomas Linegar, was of 
German ancestry, and his mother, Hannah 
Thompson, was of English origin. His pai'ents 
in 1840 removed from Ohio to Indiana; there 
he acquired a common school education, and 
with a fixed deter-mination to enlarge his 
sphere of usefulness, he qualified himself for 
the duties of a teacher, and during his four 
3'ears' experience in that capacity', availed him- 
self of the opportunity thus afforded to read 



law. He subsequently entered the office of 
Hon. L. Q. DeBruler, of Rockford, Ind., and 
in 1856 was admitted to practice. In 1858, he 
located for practice in Fairfield, 111., where he 
remained until 1861, coming in that j'ear to 
Cairo, 111., which has since been his home. 
Here he has been associated with some of the 
ablest lawyers of Southern Illinois. He was 
reared under Democratic influences, but has 
not been a strict partisan, but has acted with 
that party whose political policy most nearly 
harmonized with his own. From 1854 until 
1874, he was in the Republican ranks, and 
from 1861 to 1863 was Postmaster at Cairo. 
In 1872, he was the Republican Presidential 
Elector of Illinois for the State at large, and 
cast his vote for Grant. He was elected to 
the Illinois Legislature in 1880 as a Democrat, 
and is now serving his district with credit and 
acceptance. He was married in Newburg, 
Ind., August 24, 1853, to Miss Emma Hutch- 
ens. They have two children, viz.: Luella and 
Lucretia Linegar. 

ANDREW LOHR, Cairo, 111., was born on 
the 20th of December, 1831, in Prussia. His 
father, Henry Lohr, was a native of same 
kingdom, and was a soldier in the Prussian Ar- 
my, participating in the famous battle of Wa- 
terloo in 1815. He was married to Miss Cath- 
erine Sticher. They reared but one child, the 
subject of these lines. The father and mother 
both died in the old country, the former in 
1850, and the latter in 1854. Andrew, at the 
age of fourteen, was compelled to provide for 
his own sustenance, and for several years both 
before and after coming to Cairo, worked b}' 
the month. He was married in Germany in 
1857 to Miss Catherine Steckhahn, who was 
born in Germany on the 28th of September, 
1837. The}^ came to the United States in 
1858, and on the passage was boi'n their only 
child, Herraine, wife of Harry Schulze, of Cai- 
ro. She was born September 5, 1858. They 
came directly to Cairo, and for some months 



30 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



Mr. Lohr worked for $8 per month. He soon 
became the possessor of a cow, and began the 
milk business on a small scale, but by adding 
to his herd of dairy cows, he soon built up a 
desirable trade. He next fitted up a dray, 
which proved a profitable investment, and thus 
he worked his way until 1861, when he sold 
his stock of horses and cows, and bought a soda 
factory, which he has operated ever since with 
abundant success. In 1858, he erected a small 
house at a cost of $300. This building was 
destroyed by fire on the 7th of December, 1861, 
just three years from the day on which he 
moved into it. He next erected a $4,000 brick 
building, which he now occupies as a famil}' 
residence. He has erected some substantial 
brick buildings in connection with his manu- 
factory. Besides, he owns a large amount of 
city real estate elsewhere. He is a member of 
the Lutheran Church, having been a trustee 
since its organization, and for some years Su- 
perintendent of the Sabbath school. He is a 
member of the Arab No. 2 Fire Company, and 
has been three years its President, and the 
present Vice President. Mr. Lohr is in poli- 
tics a Democrat, and has served the Second 
Ward for three years on the Board of City 
Council. Mrs. Lohr died in Cairo, in June, 
1879, and in August of the following year he 
was married to Miss Amanda Hahn. She was 
was born in Saxony, Germany, September 14, 
1860. This union resulted in two daughters, 
Rosa and Emma Lohr, the former born on the 
19th of August, 1881, and the latter October 
7, 1882. Hermine Lohr was married to Harry 
Schulze on the 21st of November, 1878, and is 
the mother of three children, viz.: Ida, born Oc- 
tober 10, 1879; Herman, born July 10, 1881, 
died June 8, 1882, and Harry Schulze, born 
November 7, 1882. 

WILLIAM LONERGAN, merchant, Cairo, 
111. The writers of this book are largely in- 
debted to the man whose name heads this 
sketch for much valuable information that per- 



haps could have been obtained from no other 
source. Mr. Lonergan was born May 20, 1833, 
in Pottsville, Penn. His parents, Michael and 
Bridget (Riley) Lonergan, were both of Irish 
birth. They were married in Pennsj'lvania, 
and had three children, William being the 
eldest. His father died while he was yet a 
small bo}', and as a consequence he was de- 
prived of many of the advantages which are 
the common enjoj'ment of most boys, especial- 
ly those that are the result of education. Al- 
though he was deprived of the benefit of even 
a common school, 3-et by application to study 
and bj' close observation, he has been able to 
succeed very well, and now manages his mer- 
cantile business without the aid of a book- 
keeper. He came to Cairo in 1852, and has 
been engaged in various business enterprises 
ever since, the past nineteen 3'ears in the flour 
and commission trade. He has had a large 
experience as a steamboat man, and during the 
late civil war was mate on the boat used as 
Gen. Grant's flag-ship and headquarters. He 
was married in 1858 to Miss xMary Kinney, who 
was born in Louisville, Ky., but reared in Cairo 
by Robert H. Cunningham. They have had 
eight children, the three oldest of whom are 
deceased. Their names are Michael, William 
E., John K., Alice, Mary, Margaret, Frank and 
Thomas Lonergan. The famil}' belongs to the 
Catholic Church of Cairo. Mr. Lonergan en- 
joys the enviable reputation of never having 
been intoxicated. He has served the county 
as Constable and the city of Cairo on the Board 
of Councilmen. 

WILLIAM LUDWIG, manufacturer and 
dealer in harness and saddles, at No. 121 Com- 
mercial avenue, Cairo, 111., was born June 22, 
1854, in Hanover, Germany, but came to the 
United States with his parents, Henr3- and 
Sophia Ludwig, when three years old. His 
parents are both natives of Hanover, and are 
still living at Warrington, Ind., where they set- 
tled when they first came to America. Will- 



CAIRO. 



31 



iam is the youngest of their family of seven 
children, and was educated in the public 
schools of Warrington, Ind. He took the 
trade of harness-maker and saddler at Fort 
Branch, Ind., in which business he has since 
engaged. He came to Cairo in 1872, and in 
August of that year established a harness shop, 
which he has conducted ever since with varied 
success. He now carries a $4,000 stock of 
harness and saddles, in addition to which he is 
dealing in hides, tallow, wool and furs. He 
was married, December 31, 1876, in Cairo, 111., 
to Miss Thakla Whittig, daughter of Carl 
Whittig, a noted musician who died some years 
ago in Cairo, her mother having previously 
died in Memphis of yellow fever. They had 
three daughters, one of whom is a resident of 
Pittsburgh, Penn., and one of Grolconda, 111. 
The Ludwig family has been represented in 
Cairo by a daughter, wife of William Beerwart, 
who was well and favorably known in Cairo, 
and intimately connected with the business 
and official interests of the city. He died on 
the 3d day of February, 1879, at Evansville, 
Ind., where his wife and four children now live. 
JACOB MARTIN, book-keeper, Cairo, 111., 
was born in Londonderry, Ireland, April 21, 
1836. His father, Hugh Martin, was born in 
Ireland March 30, 1801, where he died Sep- 
tember 11, 1837. His mother, Hannah Liv- 
ingston, was also of Irish birth, dating from 
the 4th of May, 1803. She and family came 
to the United States in 1841, and located at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, where, on the 13th of May, 
1878, the mother died. Jacob was educated in 
the city of Cincinnati, and acquired proficiency 
in the science of book-keeping, and in early 
manhood came to Mound Cit\', 111., as book- 
keeper and secretary for the Mound City Em- 
porium Compan}'. For the past eighteen 
3'ears, he was been in the employ of the Halli- 
day Bros., in the capacity' of book-keeper and 
financial seci'etary. He was married, October 
4, 1863, to Miss Araarala Arter, daughter of 



Daniel Arter, whose portrait will be found else- 
where. The record of Mr. Martin's family is 
as follows: Amarala (Arter) Martin, born May 
2, 1837; Edith L., born October 20, 1864; Lau- 
ra I., born November 25, 1871, died October 
25, 1873; Jacob P., born March 22, 1877, and 
died June 24, same year; and Jessie V. Mar- 
tin, who was born on February 7, 1879, and 
died April 16, 1881. 

JAMES S. McGAHEY, lumber dealer on 
corner of Twentieth street and Washington 
avenue, was born at Jackson, Mo., on the 7th of 
December, 1834. His father, Edwin McGahey, 
was a native of North Carolina, born in 1804, 
where he grew to manhood, and married Elea- 
nor McNeely, also of same State, and born in 
1803. They emigrated to Missouri in 1832, 
and settled at Jackson, where he for many 
years followed farming and dealing in mer- 
chandise. J. S. McGahey is the fourth of a 
family of eight children born to these parents. 
The father died in Murphysboi'O, 111., in 1874, 
and the mother in Missouri in spring of 1845. 
Edwin C, the sixth member of this family, has 
for several years been in Anna, Union Co., 111. 
J. S. McG-ahey was reared on the farm, and ed- 
ucated in the common schools of his native 
State, and married in Duquoin, 111., September 
2, 1862, to Miss Carrie E. Dyer, daughter of 
Dr. L Dyer, of that place, and one of the old 
physicians of Southern Illinois. Mrs. McGa- 
hey was born in Martinsburg, Knox Co., Ohio^ 
on the 23d of September, 1837. Their family 
consists of four children, viz.: Laura, Eleanor, 
born in Vergennes, Jackson County, 111., on the 
18th of August, 1863; Clara D., born in Du- 
quoin, 111., September 19, 1865; Marcus H. , 
born in Pulaski Count}', 111., September 29, 
1869, and E-uth Lee McGahey, born in Cairo 
August 2, 1873. From 1862 to 1868, he en- 
gaged in the produce business at Duquoin, and 
from there went to Pulaski County, where he 
engaged in the lumber business. He came to 
Cairo and established a lumber trade in 1871,. 



33 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



since which time it has been his permanent 
home. He is a member of the Widows' and 
Orphans' Mutual Aid Society, and is its present 
President; also a member of the American Le- 
gion of Honor. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gahey are 
members of the Cairo Baptist Church. Family 
residence on Twenty-eighth and Poplar streets. 
Dr. Lewis Dyer, father of Mrs. McGahey, 
was born in Manchester, Vt., on February 24, 
1807, and reared to manhood in Vermont, and 
when a young man taught school to secure 
funds with which to qualify for his chosen pro- 
fession, that of physician. He graduated from 
different medical institutions in the East, and 
while a young man came to Ohio, where for a 
time he was physician and surgeon for 
the Kenyon College in Knox County. He 
was married in Vermont to Miss Lau- 
ra A. Purdy, a native of Vermont, on De- 
cember 24, 1828. She was born at Manches- 
ter, Vt., January 21, 1810, and died in Illinois 
on the 27th of August, 1858. Mrs. McGahey 
is the fourth of a family of seven children born 
to these parents. The father was for three 
years a surgeon in the late war, entering as 
Begimental Surgeon of the Eighty-first Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, from which he was pro- 
moted to Brigade, and finally to Division Sur- 
geon. He is still a resident of Duquoin,Ill. 

JAMES W. McKINNEY, of Cairo, III, Cap- 
tain of the Illinois Central Transfer, is a native 
of Beaver County, Penn. He was born on the 
21st of December, 1839, and is a son of Charles 
McKinney and Permelia Lytle. But little can 
be learned of his parents, his mother dying 
when he was but nine years old, and his father 
when he was twelve. He was then left an or- 
phan in childhood, and reduced to the necessity 
of supporting himself, which he managed to do 
quite handsomely. About the time of the 
death of his father, be became a cabin boy on 
the steamboat Irene, running on the Ohio River 
from Pittsburgh, Penn., to Wheeling, Va. He 
continued to serve as cabin boy until strong 



enough to assume the duties of a deck hand. 
He rapidl}' worked himself into the position of 
pilot, receiving his first license to that position 
in 1861. In 1862, he was appointed to the po- 
sition of post pilot at Cairo, and Captain of the 
boat Champion No. 2. He continued in this 
position until September, 1865, and during the 
war made some ver}-^ perilous trips on the Mis- 
sissippi River. At the last-named date, he was 
employed as Captain of the Illinois Central R. 
R. Passenger Transfer from Cairo to Columbus, 
Ky., and during a period of eight years made 
12,040 round trips, never meeting with the 
slightest accident. Since 1873, he has been 
Captain and pilot of the company's transfer 
boat at Caii'o. He is a member of the A., F. & 
A. M. — Ro3'al Ai'ch and Knights Templar. Mr. 
McKinney was married in Champaign, 111., 
March 17, 1873, to Lulu J., daughter of D. W. 
and Tabitha Robinson, of Effingham, 111. She 
was born in Lima, Allen Co., Ohio. They have 
had six children, three of whom are dead : Fannie 
S., James W., James W., Jr., William H. G., 
Josie Bell, and Clarence Wilbur. The}' own 
a city residence at No. 20 Twentieth street, be- 
sides a valuable property on corner of Ninth 
and Cedar streets. 

HERMAN MEYERS, dealer in cigars and to- 
bacco, 62 Ohio Levee, Cairo, 111., was born in 
the city of Hanover, Germany, on the 29th of 
May, 1835. At the termination of his school 
years, he adopted the trade of locksmith and 
machinist, serving an apprenticeship thereat 
of four years. In 1853, he came to the United 
States and located in Chicago, 111., where he 
engaged to work in the machine shops of Se- 
ville & Sons, who had a contract for the first 
locomotive engines ever built in Illinois. He 
was afterward employed in the Wright Reaper 
Factory, and finally in 1855 he opened a cigar 
manufactory in Chicago, which he operated 
with varied success until the panic of 1857, 
when he was compelled to seek other fields. 
He next located at Davenport, Iowa, from 



CAIRO. 



33 



whence he went to St. Louis, where he became 
associated in business with his brother-in-law, 
William Meyers, and enjoyed a successful bus- 
iness until the breaking-out of the civil war, 
when he came to Cairo, 111., in 1861, and 
opened a manufactory there, and is now the 
oldest tobacconist in the city. Here he has a 
very lucrative trade, as his brands of cigars are 
of the best quality on the market. He was 
married on the 9th of August, 1863, and has a 
family of nine children, of whom two are dead. 
WILLIAM M. MURPHY, a native of Ad- 
ams Count}', Ohio, and present Postmaster of 
Cairo, was born on the 24th day of September, 
1836. His pai'ents, R. S. Murphy and Rachel 
Kelley, were natives of New Jerse}', but came 
with their parents to Ohio while 3'oung. The 
grandfather of our subject was the original set- 
tler on land now occupied by the city of Cin- 
cinnati. R. S. Murphy and Rachel Kelley were 
married and reared their family in Adams 
County, Ohio, where they still reside. William 
M. was educated in the common school of his 
native county, and in a college of Cincinnati. 
He first came to Cairo in 1858, when he en- 
gaged as salesman in the dry goods firm of 
Kelley Bros., with whom he remained until the 
breaking-out of the rebellion. He became a 
member of the Eighty-first Ohio Regiment and 
was mustered in as private in Company H, from 
which he was mustered out as Captain in May, 
1865, at the city of Cincinnati. He participated 
in all the active service incident to the siege of 
Atlanta, and Sherman's march to the sea. From 
the close of the war until 1869, he was con- 
nected with J. H. Kelle}' in hotel business, but 
that year entered the office of revenue depart- 
ment as clerk. In 1870, he was made Chief 
Deputy Collector of the district, which position 
he filled until March 1, 1883, when he received 
the appointment of Postmaster under Presi- 
dent Arthur. He is a member of Masonic fra- 
ternity, holding the position of Captain Gen- 
eneral of the Cairo Commandery, No. 13. 



PETER NEFF, retired, Cairo, was born on the 
18th of July, 1826, in the kingdom of Hesse- 
Darmstadt, Germany. His parents, Bernhard 
Neffand Barbara Boehm, were natives of same 
place and reared a familj- of six sons, Peter 
being the youngest. The famil}' have been repre- 
sented in the United States b}' the three sons, 
Adam, George A. and Peter ; the former died 
in Cairo, 111., in 1867, leaving a family consist- 
ing of wife and two daughters, who are now 
residents of Cairo. George A. is a resident of 
St. Louis, Mo. The subject of these lines was 
reared and educated in the old country, where 
he learned the trade of merchant tailor. He 
came to the United States in 1847, and that 
year located in the city of St. Louis, where, for 
four years, he worked at his trade. In Sep- 
tember, 1851, he removed to Jouesboro, 111., 
where he made his first independent business 
venture in the way of a small stock of cloth- 
ing. He remained in Jonesboro until 1854 
(spring), at which time he removed his stock to 
Cairo, where he has since lived. Here he soon 
merged into an extensive trade in clothing and 
furnishing goods, and for many A'ears enjoyed 
an immense patronage. In 1878, he sold his 
entire stock of clothing to A. Marx, but con- 
tinued in the tailoring business until 1881, 
when he retired. He has erected several bus- 
iness houses and controls a large interest in 
city real estate. At present he is Vice Presi- 
dent of the Alexander Count}' Bank. He has 
a family of four children, of whom one is de- 
ceased, those living being Calvin, Alexander 
W. and Effle NeflT. The maiden name of his 
present wife was Rachel Leuce, who was born 
at Jonesboro, 111., in 1841. 

GEORGE F. ORT, general merchant, on 
the corner of Commercial avenue and Twenty- 
eighth sti'eet, Cairo, 111., is a native of Am- 
sterdam, Holland, and was born November 27, 
1842 ; son of G. F. Ort and Elizabeth De 
L'Etang, both natives of Holland, the former 
of German descent and the latter of French 



.34 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



origin. Ttie fatlier was born in 1812 and the 
mother in 1807 ; both are living and are the 
parents of five children, of whom George F. is 
the second. Names of children are as follows: 
Elizabeth, resident of Amsterdam ; G-eorge 
F., of Cairo ; Charles P., of Amsterdam ; 
Jeanette, wife of John Vergonue, of Holland ; 
John G. N., present book-keeper for the 
Cit}' National Bank at Cairo. George F. was 
reared and educated in his native country', and 
took a practical business training in the mer- 
cantile line in the old countr3^ He came to 
United States, and in the fall of 1860 located 
in Eastern Iowa, where, for three j-ears he en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuists. He came to 
Cairo, in June, 1864, and engaged in market 
gardening, associated with Mr. Smallenburg, 
but after returning from a visit to the scenes 
of his boyhood, in 1867, he engaged alone in 
the same business, and continues the bus- 
iness still. In connection with this in 
the spring of 1882, he opened a general 
store, where he is now located. He employs 
regularly three salesmen. He was married in 
Cairo, 111., on the 6th of November, 1874, to 
Miss Ellen DeGelder, of Holland, where she 
was born, September 7, 1850. She came to 
the United States with her parents, Matthew and 
Gertrude (Vermazen) De Gelder, in the year 
1856. The parents are now residents of Alex- 
ander County, 111. 

CHRISTOPHER M. OSTERLOH, dealer in 
hay, corn, oats, and proprietor of general 
feed store on Commercial avenue, between 
Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, Cairo, 
111., was born April 27, 1823, in Bruns^^ick, 
Germany. His father, John H. Osterloh, was 
a native of the same dukedom, where he was 
reared and married, and died in 1845, leaving 
a familj' of six children, Christopher M. being 
the third. The family was first represented in 
the United States by the oldest son, Henry, 
who came and located in Missouri in 1845 
soon after the 'death of his father. In 1848, 



the mother and four children came, and also 
settled in Missouri, where, in the fall of 1852, 
the mother, Mary Osterloh, died. Christopher 
M. remained in Germany until 1850, when he, 
too, came to this country, but made his first 
permanent location at Yazoo Cit\^, in Mississipi, 
where he opened a barber shop, having learned 
the " art tonsorial " in the old country. He 
was afterward employed as barber on a steam- 
boat, and thus he came to Cairo, 111., in 1852, 
and was induced by its people to open a barber 
shop, which he did, first on a wharf-boat, but 
soon after removed upon the levee. He 
continued to be .a " knight of the razor " until 
1864, in the fall of which year he sold out ; the 
year following he built the brick storehouse 
which he now occupies, located on Commei'cial 
avenue, where he has done a general grain and 
feed business ever since. On the 3d of Octo- 
ber, 1858, in Cairo, III., he was married to Miss 
Catharine Wagner, of Germany, where she was 
born April 7, 1838, coming to St. Louis in 1847. 
Their union has been blest with eight children, 
all born in Cairo, viz.: Charles, born Novem- 
ber 22, 1859 ; Louisa, born November 30, 1861, 
and died January 5, 1863 ; Amelia, born De- 
cember 31, 1863 ; Ernest, born October 3, 1866 ; 
Ada, born December 20, 1868 ; August, born 
September 28, 1871 ; Louisa J., born April 1, 
1874, and Frank Osterloh, born July 14, 1876. 
Mr. Osterloh is a Republican, has served four 
years on Board of Cit}^ Councilmen, and for 
twenty-seven years a member of the I. 0. 0. F. 
MILES W. PARKER, Treasurer and Asses- 
sor of Alexander County, was born June 12, 
1826, near the site of the village of Sandusky, 
in Alexander County, 111. His father was born 
about 1772, in the State of Maryland, where he 
grew to manhood, and married Ellen Guerten, 
who was also a native of same State, and was 
born perhaps in 1782. After a brief residence, 
they moved to Virginia, thence to Kentucky, 
and in 1818 removed from Kentucky to Illi- 
nois and settled in the western part of Alex- 



CAIRO. 



35 



aader Count}-. The fother died in Pulaski 
County, 111., iu 1833, and the mother in Alex- 
ander Count}' in 1837. They had a family of 
sixteen children ; of these Miles W. is the fif- 
teenth. Through force of circumstances, he 
received but a limited common school educa- 
tion, being reared under the influences incident 
to pioneer life. He possessed however a natural 
business abilit}', which he took opportunity to 
develop as soon as he became of age, coming 
to Cairo in 1847, to engage in the steamboat 
wood trade, continuing it until 1852, when he 
embarked in the grocer}' trade. He continued 
in the grocery business until 1863, and some 
time later invested his means in the livery 
business. In 1875, he was reduced to " first 
principles " by the burning of his stable and 
contents, which, being uninsured, was a total 
loss in less time than is required to pen this 
sketch. His loss is better described in his own 
words : "I saved nothing but a set of broken bug- 
gy shafts, which I turned over as a part pay on a 
blacksmith's bill." He is now engaged in busi- 
ness on Washington avenue, near Tenth street. 
In 1879, he was elected to the office of County 
Treasurer and re-elected in 1882 and now fills 
that office. He cannot be termed in any sense 
a politician, but has acted with the Democratic 
party. He was married in 1852, to Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Fisher, who was born in Pennsylvania on 
the 24th of September, 1826. She came to 
Illinois with her parents when a child. Their 
family consists of six children, of whom three 
are deceased — Mary, wife of W. F. Axley, of 
Cairo ; Gilbert Parker, deceased ; Emma, de- 
ceased wife of H. A. Harrell ; Nellie, wife of 
William Winter, and Lizzie Parker. Mr. 
Parker is a member of the Knights of Honor. 
CHARLES 0. PATIER, wholesale and re- 
tail merchant, Cairo. The subject of this sketch 
is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born Jan- 
uary 1, 183y. He is of French descent, his fa- 
ther having emigrated to this country in 1820, 
and located at Easton, Penn., where Charles 0. 



was born. He was educated in the public 
schools until twelve years of age, when he was 
sent to Williamsport, Penn., to learn the mer- 
cantile business with Adam Follmer, then a 
leading merchant of that place, and while a resi- 
dent there, took a course of instruction in the 
Commercial College of that city. At an early 
age, he became noted for his great energy and 
success as a salesman, to which he seemed 
peculiarly adapted. At the age of eighteen, he 
came West, and stopped at Freeport, 111., where 
he was employed as salesman for William Allen^ 
and soon established for himself a reputation 
for ability and efficiency equaled by few men 
of his age. He had always been a strong Re- 
publican, in all the political issues of the time^ 
and immediately upon the breaking-out of the 
late civil war, he went to St. Louis, and there 
aided in raising a company of volunteers, and 
joined the Sixth Missouri Regiment, under the 
first call of President Lincoln for troops. He 
was mustered into the United States service as 
First Lieutenant of Company J), of the Sixth, 
and took part in the march to Southeastern ]Mis- 
souri after the Confederate Gen. Pi'ice. After- 
ward he was appointed Provost Marshal of 
JeflEerson City, in which capacity he remained 
about two years, and became noted for his 
patriotism and the able manner in which he 
discharged the duties of this office. After this, 
he again joined his command ; took part iu 
the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and the 
battles following ; participated in Sherman's 
march to the sea ; was seriously wounded in 
the right breast, at Goldsboro, N. C. After 
which he was sent to David's Island, New York 
Harbor, to be cured, and after four months was 
again with his command, which was then on 
duty at Little Rock, Ark., and there remained 
until the close of the war. He was promoted 
to the rank of Captain, and mustered out with 
his regiment in June. 1865, having served his 
country faithfully and nobly — not from a taste 
for the profession of arms, or for official po- 



36 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



sition, but from a strict sense of duty. He 
settled in Cairo in 1866, and was engaged as 
salesman, by William H. Purcell, whose stock 
of merchandise at the time consisted of a rem- 
nant of sutler's goods, not exceeding $1,0()0 
in value, but under the stimulus of Mr. Patier's 
activity, the business rapidly increased, and 
the house assumed the style of the " New York 
Store." In 1868, he bought a half interest in 
the firm, which continued to prosper and grow 
in favor with the public. In March, 1872, Mr. 
Patier bought the remaining interest of the firm 
and became sole proprietor, and taking into 
partnership with him Mr. William Wolf, the 
former book-keeper of the house. The new 
firm now entered upon a career which, for suc- 
cess and rapidity of growth, has had but few 
equals, and still fewer superiors in the annals 
of commerce. They commenced business in a 
small frame house, with a small stock of mis- 
cellaneous goods, valued at $5,000, while to- 
day they have a stock embracing every va- 
riety of articles needed in the economy of 
home, person or farm. From the little ham- 
pered room in which they commenced busi- 
ness, they have enlarged and expanded their 
trade, until in 1875 their present magnificent 
brick and iron store was erected. It is 175 feet 
deep and seventy feet front, three stories 
high, every floor of which is packed with goods. 
The house began with two salesmen, the pro- 
prietors ; and now they employ a full force of 
clerks, with several salesmen on the road. A 
quarter of a century ago, Mr. Patier was an 
obscure clerk, in an interior town in Pennsyl- 
vania. Through his own eflforts, firm business 
integrity, and tireless industry, he has risen to 
the proud distinction of a leading merchant 
and capitalist of Illinois. He has achieved this 
success fairly and honorably, and truth, candor 
and inflexible uprightness have characterized 
all of his transactions. Mr. Patier was married 
on the 27th of November, 1874, to Miss Mary 
Toomy, of Chicago. They have two children — 
a son and a dauohter. 



ALMANZER 0. PHELPS, artist, Cairo, 111., 
a native of Natchez, Miss., was born on the 6th 
of October, 18-12, soon after which date, the 
parents, Clark L. and Pascalena (Paul) Phelps, 
removed to Muscatine, Iowa, where he was 
reared and educated. The father was born 
near Hartford, Conn., in 1816, where he resided 
until grown to manhood, going thence to 
Natchez, where he married Miss Pascalena 
Paul. She was born in Natchez in 1819, 
though of French ancestry, and died in Mus- 
catine, Iowa, on the 12th of June, 1880. The 
father in early life was an extensive trader and 
speculator, and later in life was engaged in the 
interest of steamboating, being for thirt}^ 
years the Captain and owner of a steamboat on 
the Upper Mississippi and tributaries. He is 
still living and a resident of Cairo, III. He 
reared a family of seven children, of whom 
Lorenzo A. is the eldest, and subject the second. 
Two sons and one daughter — Charles F., 
Joseph P. and Nancy C. Phelps, are residents 
of Muscatine, Iowa; one son and daughter, 
Clark L. and Flora Phelps, are deceased. A. 
0. Phelps began life as an engineer and be- 
came a regularly licensed engineer on river 
and ocean steamers, but becoming wearied of 
this life determined to turn his attention to 
photography, for which the family appear to 
develop a natural fitness, the four brothers 
being each skilled artists. He came to Cairo, 
III., in 1876, and at once engaged in this work, 
and now has two galleries, one on Eighth street, 
and one on Sixth street, under the management 
of his brother, L. A. Phelps. They are pre- 
pared to execute all kinds of artistic work 
coming within the range. of their profession. 
A. 0. Phelps was maiTied in Quincy, III., on 
the 15th of August, 1868, to Miss Ella Vance, 
daughter of John and Mary (Kreel) Vance, the 
former deceased, the latter of Keokuk, Iowa. 
She was born at Steubenville, Ohio, on the 
11th of May, 1853. Tliey have one son, viz.: 
Almanzer 0. Phelps, Ji'., born in Muscatine, Iowa, 



CAIRO. 



37 



on the 11th of Juh', 1871. Lorenzo A. Phelps 
was born in Natchez, Miss., on June 11, 1840, 
was educated in Muscatine, Iowa, and spent 
his earl}- life as pilot on the Upper Mississippi 
River. He began the trade of photographer in 
1871, at which he engaged in Muscatine until 
coming to Cairo in the fall of 1881. He was 
married in Muscatine, on the 16th of October, 
1874, to Miss Lillian S. Perkins, daughter of 
Capt. T. P. Perkins, a well-known steamboat 
man and owner of the vessel " Mongolia," which 
burned several years since at St. Louis, IMo. 
Both the father and mother — Annie Perkins — 
were natives of New England, and are now de- 
ceased. She was born in St. Louis, September 
29, 1855. They have a famil}* consisting of 
Lillian A., born August 8, 1875 ; Frederick L., 
born February 22, 1877 ; Ada P., born October 
18, 1878, and Frank S. Phelps, born December 
22, 1881. Mr. L. A. Phelps is a member of 
the American Legion of Honor and one of the 
board of managers of the Widow's and Orphan's 
Mutual Aid Society. The grandfather on the 
mother's side was Paul Pascaline a relative and 
body guard to Napoleon Bonaparte, after whose 
defeat he fled to the United States, dropping 
the name Pascaline, and was afterward known 
as Mr. Paul. 

GEORGE B. POOR, present Wharfmaster at 
Cairo and one of the oldest of its inhabitants, 
is a native of Steuben County, N. Y. He 
was born on the " old Holland Purchase " Feb- 
ruar}' 29, 1828, and when eight years old his 
parents, Samuel Poor and Elnora Begole, re- 
moved to Michigan. The father was a native 
of Massachusetts, and was born about 1782 ; 
was a soldier under Gen. Harrison in the war 
of 1812, and was wounded at the battle of 
Black Rock, He was married in Steuben 
County, N. Y., about 1822, to Miss Elnora Be- 
gole. She was born in Maryland, and descends 
from French origin, and was a first cousin to 
Hon. Josiah Begole, present Governor of Michi- 
gan. She died in Michigan May 9, 1848. They 



had a family of nine children, of whom George 
P. is the second ; Elizabeth, widow of Daniel 
Fenn, of Jackson, Mich. ; Jane, deceased wife 
of M. Powel, of Grass Lake, Mich. ; Hannah, 
wife of Aaron Morfort, of Barry Count}', Mich., 
"William, deceased ; Samuel B., of Dongola, 111., 
married to Nettie Hite, of Pulaski County, III ; 
David M. Poor; Methodist Episcopal minister, of 
Kansas ; I]van J., of Barry County, iMich.; 
and Harlan Poor, killed in the battle of Spott- 
sylvania Court House in Virginia. George B. 
grew to manhood in Michigan, and took the 
trade of millwright, which he followed until 
the fall of 1850, at which time he commenced 
laying railroad track for the Michigan Central 
Company. In 1854, on the 9th of April, he 
arrived at Cairo, where he took charge of the 
track-laying for the Illinois Central Railroad 
Compau}', putting down the first rail in Cairo 
on the following day, April 10. He remained 
in the employment of the company until July, 
1861, as the supervisor of their track from 
Cairo to Jonesboro. On the 26th of July, 
1861, he was mustered into military service as 
Captain of Company K, Ninth Illinois Volun- 
teers, in which he served until December of the 
same year, when he resigned on account of the 
ill health of his wife, who died on the 30th of 
April, 1862. He afterward took command 
of a dispatch boat from Cairo southward. In 
November, 1865, he became Captain of the 
boat " Ike Hammitt," and held the position 
until August, 1875, since which time he has de- 
voted his attention to the interests of his farm 
in Union County, III., until November, 1882, at 
which time he took the office of Wharfmaster 
at Cairo. He was first married in Cairo, June 
14, 1855, to Miss Julia Clerry, who was born 
at Jacksonville, III., in 1838, and died as above 
stated. Married to his present wife, Addie 
Osborn, daughter of Otis A. Osborn, of Cairo, 
111., on the 17th of September, 1863. She was 
born in Hartford, Conn., December 17, 1839. 
Their family consists of six children, only two 



38 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



of whom are living, viz. : Lewis C. Poor, born 
January 24, 1869, and Vida V. D. Poor, born 
November 29, 1877. Mr. Poor is a member of 
the Masonic fraternity, Dongola Lodge, No. 
581. 

'THOMAS PORTER, a pioneer of Cairo, III, 
was born on the 11th day of April, 1820, in 
Stokes County, N. C. His father, whose name 
was also Thomas, was born in the same county, 
and married Miss Elizabeth Brand, by whom 
he had two children — Thomas Porter, of Cairo, 
and James Porter. The parents died in North 
Carolina while Thomas was yet a child, and he 
removed with an uncle to Tennessee when 
twelve years old. There he grew to manhood, 
and married in 1848 to Miss Martha Ely, of 
Kentucky. She died in Cairo in 1859, leaving 
a family of four children, three of whom are 
still living. Came to Cairo in Januaiy, 1856, 
and has been a resident ever since. His pres- 
ent wife was IMrs. Mesnier Knight, daughter of 
William and Sarah Knight. She was born in 
Kentucky, March 26, 1840. Their union has 
been blest with five children, two of whom ai'c 
deceased — Henry B. and Edward Porter, are 
deceased ; John ^Y., William E. and Addie D. 
Porter are living with the parents. Of the first 
family, there ax'e living Mary, wife of Harry 
Clifton, of New York City ; Julia, wife of Fred- 
erick Lawton, of New York City, and Thomas 
B. Porter. Famil}- residence on corner of 
Twenty-first street and Commercial avenue, 
Cairo. 

NATHANIEL PROUTY, of Cairo, 111., was 
born near Boston, Mass., June 3, 1830. 
The father, Elijah Prout}', was born in the same 
State, and there married to Mary Stoddard, of 
Massachusetts. To these were born six chil- 
di'en, Nathaniel being the oldest. The parents 
and three of tlie children are deceased. Na- 
thaniel left the parental roof at the age of 
twelve years, and when seventeen went to 
Boston, and there took the trade of Louse-car- 
penter, at which he worked until 1875, with the 



exception of three and a half years — while he 
was connected with Company I, of the Second 
Kentuck}' Cavalry. He left Massachusetts in 
the summer of 1857, and the same year located 
at Cairo, which has been his permanent home 
since. During his militar}^ service, he was 
taken prisoner at Newnan, Ga., and for five 
months was a prisoner of war in Andersonville 
and Florence Prisons. He participated in the 
battles of Perry ville, Chickamauga, Stone River 
and several others of minor importance. He 
was mustered in at Mound City, 111., in October, 
1861, and discharged with the rank of Ser- 
geant, at Louisville, Ky., April, 1865. He re- 
turned to Cairo and pursued his trade until 
1875. On the 12th of Ma}-, 1876, he was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Dinkle, widow of Henr}' Din- 
kle. Mr. Prout}', for more than twenty years 
has been a member of the Arab Fire Depart- 
ment. Since 1875, he has been the proprietor 
of a saloon on Commercial avenue, No. 92, 
with family residence connected. 

JOHN T. RENNIE, manufacturer, Cairo, was 
born in Ayr, Scotland, May 20, 1819, where he 
grew to manhood, and remained until coming to 
the United States in 1840. Being a blacksmith 
by trade, he worked at various places in this 
country before coming to Illinois. He was 
married, in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1845, to 3Iar- 
garet J. McFarrel, a native of Pennsylvania, 
but of Irish parentage. She died in Cairo, 
111., in 1876, leaving eight children. Soon 
after his marriage, Mr. Rennie went South and 
located in Louisiana, where, until 1852, he car- 
ried on a shop ; but, owing to the prevalence 
of the cholera, returned North, and, in 1852, 
located at Metropolis, in Massac County, 111. 
There he engaged in the dry goods business 
until 1862, when he came to Cairo and estab- 
lished his present business, though on a limited 
scale. In 1878, he sustained a very severe 
loss in the destruction by fire of his entire 
foundry and shops, but rebuilt, and was in 
active operation in less than one month from 



CAIRO. 



39 



the time of the fire, a fact which speaks much 
for the business energy of Mr. Rennie. His 
business location is between Eighth and Tenth 
streets, on the Ohio levee. Familj' residence 
on Walnut street. He is a member of the 
Masonic order and of the I. 0. 0. F. He was 
married to his present wife, Jane K. (Davison) 
Kennedy in June, 1877. 

WOOD RITTENHOUSE, merchant, Cairo, 
is a native of Hamilton Count}', Ohio, and was 
born June 21, 1835. His father, Joseph Rit- 
tenhouse, was born in the same county in 1808, 
and, in 1828, married Miss Sarah J. Ewing, 
who was born in 1812 in Hamilton County, 
Ohio. To these parents were born five sons — 
William E , John H., Wood, James A. and 
Joseph H. Rittenhouse. Their father died in 
1842, and the mother was subsequentl}' mar- 
ried to Thomas Lind. She is now living on the 
old Rittenhouse homestead in Ohio, though 
enfeebled by age. Wood Rittenhouse received 
a common school education in his native State, 
to which he added a course in the Evansville 
Commercial College of Indiana. In 1858, he 
came to Cairo, 111., and for four or five years 
was emplo^-ed in the capacity of salesman for 
B. S. Harrell and William White. At the 
death of Mr. White, Mr. Rittenhouse and C. 
Hanny, another clerk, became his successors, 
and continued their business for a term of 
eight years, the last five years of which time 
they occupied the building now used for the 
Alexander County Bank, which they erected in 
1865. At the termination of this partnership, 
Mr. R., in 1870, began his present line of trade, 
that of flour and commission business, locating 
on the Ohio levee. In 1872, he associated 
with him in business his brother, Joseph H. 
Rittenhouse, which partnership still exists, and 
is one of the standard firms of Cairo. Mr. R., 
for several years past, has been and now is 
President of the Chamber of Commerce. He 
has served the cit}- for several years as a mem- 
ber of its Council, and also of tlie Board of 



Education. He is a member of the Masonic 
order, and a Republican in politics, and 
morally and socially he exerts an extensive 
influence for good. He was married, in Pulaski 
County, 111., December 31, 1863, to Miss Laura 
J. Arter, daughter of Dr. Daniel Arter, whose 
biography and portrait appear elsewhere. She 
was born in Pulaski County April 30, 1841. 
Their family consists of Isabella Maud, Wood 
Arter, Harry H., Fred M. and Robin C. Ritten- 
house. 

JOSEPH H. RITTENHOUSE, junior part- 
ner of the firm of Rittenhouse & Bro., was born 
in Hamilton County, Ohio, on the 7th of 
November, 1840, and grew up to manhood in 
his native State, receiving in the meantime the 
benefits of a common school education. On 
the 29th of August, 1862, he became a member 
of Company D, Fifth Ohio Cavalry, in which he 
served for the time of his enlistment, or to the 
close of the war, being discharged June 26, 
1865, and was mustered out at Raleigh, N. C. 
Until May, 1864. he was employed principally 
on detached duty in Tennessee and Mississippi, 
but at the latter date was connected with the 
Atlanta campaign, and was with Sherman on 
his memorable march to the sea. He came to 
Cairo in October, 1865, and entered the custom 
house as Deputy Surveyor of Customs under 
Dr. Daniel Arter, in which office he continued 
until May, 1869. In 1872, he became a mem- 
ber of the firm of Rittenhouse & Bro., and has 
continued a member of that firm since. He 
was married, October 15, 1874, in Hamilton 
County, Ohio, to Miss Martha E. Mclntyre, 
daughter of Peter and Mary Mclntyre, the 
former a native of Scotland, and the latter of 
Virginia. Mrs. Rittenhouse was born in Hamil- 
ton County, Ohio, on the 18th of October, 1852. 
Their family consists of two children, of whom 
one died in infancy, the other, Archie M. Ritten 
house, was born in Cairo December 7, 1875. The 
famil}' residence is on Walnut street, between 
Seventh and Eighth streets, Cairo. 



40 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



JOHN H. KOBINSON, County Judge, 
Cairo, is a native of Ross Count}-, Ohio, and is 
the fourth of a family of eleven children of John 
J. and Katie Robinson, both natives of West- 
moreland County, Ya. They were married in 
the State of Ohio, about 1826, and settled in 
Ross County, where John H. was born May 
31, 1833. The father was born December 17, 
1801, and died in Springfield, Mo., December 
24, 1882. The mother, whose maiden name was 
Katie Hutt, was born May, 1809, and is now a 
resident of Springfield, Mo. John H. left the 
parental roof at the age of sixteen, and worked 
for some time at his trade of cigar-making 
which he had previously learned. In 1853, in 
Somerset, Ohio, he was married to Miss Clara 
M. Brunner, daughter of Jacob and Julia 
Brunner. She was born in Ohio, October 9, 
1833. Mr. Robinson came to Cairo, from 
Louisiana, in May, 1858, and started a cigar 
manufactory on the corner of Eighth street and 
Commercial avenue, which business he con- 
tinued for about one 3'ear. He was soon after 
elected to the office of County Constable and 
Deputy Sheriff. In 1862, he organized Com- 
pany C, One Hundred and Thirtieth Illinois 
Volunteer Infantr}', and was mustered in as its 
Captain, which position he continued to the 
close of the war. He took part in the battles 
of Port Gibson, Champion Hills, Black River 
and the siege of Vicksburg ; was then trans- 
ferred to the department of the Gulf under 
Banks, and participated in the famous and 
fatal Red River expedition. He was mustered 
out at New Orleans in February of 1865. On 
returning to Cairo, he was appointed Chief of 
Police of the city, which he filled about two 
years to acceptance. Since that time, he has 
been for about nine years in the employ of the 
Cairo City Propert}' Company, as superinten- 
dent of lands and levees, during which time he 
was twice elected to a seat in the Board of 
Aldermen. Has been frequently elected to the 
office of Justice of the Peace, and in November 



of 1882, he was the choice of the people for 
the office of County Judge, which position he 
now holds. In politics he is a Democrat, a 
member of the I. 0. 0. F. He has a family of 
two children, viz. : Kate, wife of James M. 
Murry, of Alexander County, and Florence 
Robinson. Family residence on Eighth street, 
between Walnut and Cedar streets. 

SAMUEL ROSENWATER, of the firm of 
Goldstine & Rosenwater, Cairo, 111., was born in 
Hungary on the 13th of May, 1840. His pa- 
rents, Aaron Rosenwater and Leah Gross, were 
each natives of Germany, the former born in 
1798 and the latter in 1809. The father, who 
was a farmer and hotel-keeper, died in Europe, 
in 1872. The mother is still living and enjoys 
a pleasant home with her son, Samuel, in Cairo. 
She is the mother of seven children, three 
of whom are deceased, and of the four sur- 
viving ones, two are in Europe, one in Sikes- 
ton, Missouri, and one in Cairo, 111. Samuel 
was educated in his native place, and when 
twenty years old came to the United States, 
and, being possessed of limited means, he be- 
gan business as a peddler at Cleveland, Ohio. 
He pursued this business in Ohio for three 
3'ears, and also for a few mouths after coming 
to Cairo, which he did in 1863. During this 
time he had so multiplied his twenty-dollar 
gold coin (which was the amount of his cash 
account on landing in this county) as to be able 
to locate in regular stjde ; accordingly, in the 
early part of 1854, he formed a partnership 
with J. A. Goldstine in the dr}' goods and 
clothing trade, and has been in active, success- 
ful business ever since. They are located on 
Commercial avenue and have three well stocked 
rooms. He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., the 
I. 0. B. B. and the Hungarian Aid Societ3^ 
Politics, Republican. He was married in Cai- 
ro, III. August 81, 1868, to Miss Fannie Black, 
daughter of Adolph Black. She was born De- 
cember 31, 1850. Their family comprises three 
children— Eddie L., born June 5, 1869 ; Ernes- 



CAIRO. 



41 



tine B., born August 23, 1870, and Vintie Ro- 
senvvater, born December 31, 1881. Familj- 
residence on Eighth street, between Washing- 
ton avenue and Cedar street, Cairo. 

JAMES ROSS, gi-oeer, on the corner of 
Tenth street and Commercial avenue, is a native 
of Ii'eland, County of Cork. His parents, James 
Ross and Margaret McCarty, were both natives 
of Ireland, where they were reared and married, 
and where they died, leaving the subject, a lad 
of tender age. When he was about fifteen 
years old he came, unaccompanied by an}^ rela- 
tives, to the United States and located in the 
city of " Brotherly Love," where he managed 
to avail himself of the privilege of going to 
school for a brief period. He soon obtained 
regular employment in a hat manufactor}-, and 
remained thus employed in Philadelphia, until 
1858, when he came to Cairo, 111., where for about 
three years he was in the emplo}' of W. Gra- 
ham. He was thus enabled to provide himself 
with a horse and di"ay, which, during the war, 
produced a verj- handsome income. He also 
established a retail coal business, which he 
conducted with profit until 1875. when he em- 
barked in mercantile business, and that year 
established his grocery store, where he is now 
located. He was married in Cairo, 111., on 
the 24th of November, 1863, to Miss Ellen 
Farrell, who was born in Ireland in 184-4. Their 
marriage has been blest with a family of ten 
children, viz.: James Ross, born April 19, 1865; 
John Ross, August 17, 1866 ; William Ross, 
April 12, 1868, died on the 14th August, of same 
year ; Margaret Ross, born April 29, 1869 ; 
George Ross, January 16, 1871 ; Anna Ross, 
November 27, 1874 , Mar}- E. Ross, September 
2, 1876 ; Katie Ro.ss, October 15, 1878, and 
Henriettie and Antenettie Ross, November 2, 
1880. Henriettie died May 18, 1881, and An- 
tenettie, died June 21, 1881. The family are 
members of the Catholic Church of Cairo. 
Mr. Ross owns four lots including the residence 
houses on Walnut street. 



HERMAN SANDER, dealer in groceries 
and provisions. No. 113 Commercial avenue, is 
a native of Hanover, German}', and was born 
on the 19th of February, 1826. His father, 
Gerhardt Sander, was born in Hanover in 1795; 
served as a soldier in the German army, after 
which, in 1825, he mxrried Miss Rebecca M. 
Wessel, of Germany ; she was born in 1806, and 
is now living with her son, John H. Sander, in 
Missouri. The father died in the old country, 
in 1843. They reared a family, consisting of 
seven sons — Herman, John H., Casper, Conrad, 
Gerhardt H., George H. and George Herman 
Sander. Casper, Gerhardt H. and George 
Herman are deceased. Herman Sander, our 
subject, came to the United States in 1847, and 
was for fifteen years a resident of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, where he adopted the trade of machinist, 
and where, on the 8th of January, 1850, he 
married Miss Maria Horstmann. She was 
born in Germany on the 19th of January, 1826, 
and came to this country in the same year and 
in the same vessel in which Mr. Sander sailed. 
She died in 1861, leaving but one child, John D. 
Sandei-,the junior partner of the firm of Sander 
& Son ; he was born December 8, 1859. Mr. 
Sander came to Cairo in 1869, and for ten years 
was employed as salesman in the business 
house of William Kluge. He opened a store 
in 1879, on the corner of Tenth street and 
Washington avenue, where he remained about a 
year, when, in 1880, in connection with his son, 
John D. Sander, he purchased the stock of L. 
H. Meyers and then removed to Commercial 
avenue, No. 113, where they now have a full 
and complete line of groceries and provisions. 
In January, 1864, he was married to his present 
wife, Mary K. Cohn, who was born in Hanover, 
on the 2d of July, 1846. Their marriage has been 
blest with six children, viz.: Marie E., born No- 
vember 21, 1865 ; Casper L., born June 25, 
1868 ; George W., born March 4, 1870 ; Her- 
man, born December 10, 1872, died in infancy; 
Herman, Jr., born October 25, 1874, and died 



42 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



in May, 1877 ; Carolas B. Sander, born Febru- 
ar}^ 28, 1881. The ftunilj are members of the 
Catholic Church and have a city residence on 
Cedar street, between Seventh and Eighth 
streets, Cairo. III. 

WILLIAM G. SANDUSKY, Captain of the 
Iron Mountain Railway Transfer (Julius Mor- 
gan), is a native of Fayette County, Penn. He 
is the oldest of a family of seven children of 
Albert G. Sandusky and Martha McClain, and 
was born August 4, 1846. The parents were 
both natives of Pennsylvania, the father of 
Scotch and English ancestrj-, and the mother 
of Irish origin. The former is now living in 
his native State, at an advanced age. The 
mother was born in 1827, and died in 1865, at 
the old homestead in Fayette County. The 
father served as a soldier through the late war, 
being a member of a Pennsylvania cavahy 
regiment, with which he took part in several of 
the most decisive and hard-fought battles of 
the war, I and during his service received but 
one wound. William G., when a mere child, 
manifested a strong inclination for a life on the 
water, which was as strongly discouraged by his 
father, resulting, as is often the case, in a radical 
move on the part of the boy. He left home 
when eleven years old, and was that year (1857) 
in Cairo, but not to remain, and his experience 
for several years was a varied one, although he 
demonstrated his ability to take care of him- 
self, which is an exception to the rule, with boys 
under similar circumstances. He spent con- 
siderable time in traveling in difterent parts of 
the South and West, thus gaining a practical 
idea of life while a mere boy. His first expe- 
rience in boating was on the Allegheny and 
Monongahela Rivers, and on the Ohio, as far 
south as the city of Cincinnati. He was a reg- 
ularly licensed pilot on those rivers before he 
had become of age, and has been thus em- 
ploj'ed ever since with slight exception. Dur- 
ing the war, he was in G ment employ as 
pilot, principally on the Mississippi River. From 



1868 to 1877, he was Captain of the steam 
ferry boats " Missionary," '• Cairo " and the 
" Three States," but in July of the latter year, 
was appointed to the position of Master of 
Iron Mountain Transfer " Julius Morgan," which 
he still retains. He was married in Dubuque, 
Iowa, to Miss Mary E. Deveren, of Tuscaloosa, 
Ala. Their residence is Walnut street, between 
Eleventh and Twelfth. 

PETER SAUP, Cairo, 111., was born in Dun- 
kirk, N. Y., on the 18th of August, 1839. His 
father was a native of France, and came to the 
United States in 1816, being then sixteen years 
old. In 1833, he married Miss Elizabeth Smith, 
who was born in France in 1815. Her ances- 
tors are characterized for longevity', the parents 
celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary^ of their 
wedding, in Mansfield, Ohio, where they died, 
the father at the advanced age of one hundred 
and thirteen years, and the mother at the age 
of ninety-nine years. Mr. Saup's father died 
in February, 1860, at Zanesville, Ohio, where 
the mother is still living. Peter is the third of 
their family of ten children, three of whom are 
dead. He was educated in Zanesville, Ohio, 
and learned the trade of cabinet-maker and 
wood-turner, which he followed for some j-ears. 
He came from Zanesville, Ohio, to Cairo, 111., 
in 1860, where, for some time, he was employed 
in a planing mill. In 1864, he enlisted in 
Company B of the One Hundred and Forty- 
third Regiment, in which he served until they 
were mustered out. He then became a mem- 
ber of Company Gr, of the One Hundred and 
Ninety-third Ohio Regiment, from which he 
was discharged at the close of the war. In each 
of these organizations he held the oflSce of Ser- 
geant. In the winter of 1865, he returned to 
Cairo, 111., which has been his home since. He 
has served the county as Sherifl" one term, the 
cit}' in the office of Councilman for several years, 
and is now one of the Board of County Commis- 
sioners. He was married in Cairo on the 17th of 
November, 1872, to Miss Philoraena Botto, a 



CAIRO. 



43 



native of Ital}-, where she was born in 
18-10. 

SOL. A. SILVER, Passenger Agent for the 
Anchor Line Steamers at Carlo, 111., is a native 
of Baltimore, born Jul}' 26, 1830. His parents 
were Lewis Silver and Leah (Abrams) Silver ; 
his father was born in Maryland, in 1798, and 
was married to Miss Leah Abrams, in New 
York City, about 1827, by which union there 
were ten children, Sol A. being the second. 
The father followed merchandising in New 
York and Baltimore, and died in Mew York 
City in 1846. The mother is still living, 
and though seventy-flve years old, retains much 
of her youthful vigor. She is still a resident 
of New York Cit}'. Sol A. Avas educated in 
Baltimore, Md., where he was reared until fif- 
teen years old. His parents then removed to 
New York City, and three years after the death 
of liis father, in 1846, he went to California, 
where he remained until 1853, engaged in mer- 
chandising and mining, which proved success- 
ful. The two 3'ears intervening from 1853 to 
1855 were spent in traveling in South America 
and Australia, returning to New York in 1856, 
by way of California. In 1857, he located at 
Centralia, 111., where he was appointed to the 
oflfice of Postmaster, by President Buchanan, 
in connection with which duties he conducted a 
book store. He remained there until coming 
to Cairo, 111., in the fall of 1859, since which 
time the latter city has been his permanent 
home. During the war he was engaged in a 
general auction business, together with a news 
stand, continuing this business until 1869. In 
1870, he was employed by the St. Louis Anchor 
Line Company, and has remained in their con- 
stant employ since. He was married in Cairo, 
111. on the 8th of September, 1874, to Miss 
Lizzie Wallace, daughter of Bertrand Wallace, 
of Pulaski County, 111. She was born at Villa 
Ridge, in Pulaski County, on the 22d of Janu- 
ary, 1853, and is a second of a family of six 
children, the parents of whom are still living 



in Pulaski County ; her mother was originally 
Miss Mary Robinson. Mr. Silver is a Demo- 
crat in politics, and a member of the Knights 
of Golden Rule. Ownes a fruit farm in Villa 
Ridge of fifty acres in Section 24, of Town 15, 
Range 1 west, including a dwelling house and 
other improvements. 

PAUL G. SCHUH, one of the leading mer- 
chants and a prominent druggist of Cairo, is a 
native of the kingdom of Wurtemberg, Ger- 
many, where he was born on the 8th of Janu- 
ary, 1838, and where, until fifteen years old, he 
was reared and educated. His father. Chris- 
tian M. Schuh, was a native of Germany, and 
a Lutheran minister of some note. His mother 
was Augusta Geysel, also a native of Germany, 
where both parents died. Mr. Schuh received 
his early mercantile training with his brother, 
Herman Schuh, of St. Louis, who died several 
years ago. He was engaged in mercantile labor 
in St. Louis, Paducah, Ky. and Alton, 111., until 
April, 1861, when he responded to the Presi 
dent's call for troops and became a member of 
Company K, of the Ninth Illinois Regiment, 
enlisting for three months, but before the ex- 
piration of this time, he was detached to take 
the position of assistant, in the office of Med- 
ical Purveyor, under Dr. John P. Taggait. Mr. 
Schuh filled this position to acceptance until the 
time of his final discharge, January, 1863. Since 
that time he has been engaged in the drug 
business in the cit}^ of Cairo, in which he has 
been eminently successful. Being an able 
pharmacist, as well as an energetic and aggress- 
ive business man, he has been able to surmount 
all opposing obstacles, and while carving for 
himself the reputation of an eminent man of 
business, he has not stooped to any of the 
gi'oveling customs so frequently resorted to by 
tradesmen. In 1863, Mr. Schuh commenced 
business in a frame building on Commercial 
avenue, between Fifth and Sixth streets, pay- 
ing the first year a rent of $40 per month and 
double that amount the following year, at the 



44 



BIOGEAPHICAL 



close of which he purchased the property at a 
cost of $5,000. He built a brick addition to 
this building and still owns it. In 1879 he 
erected a large brick l)U3iness house, No. 106 
Commercial avenue, where, two years later, he 
sustained quite a loss to building and stock 
by fire. He was married in Cairo 1886, to 
Miss Julia Korsmeyer, who died in 1869, 
leaving one son, Julius P, born November 10, 
1867, Miss E valine Clotter, his present wife, to 
whom he was married in October, 1872, was 
born July 21, 1854, in the city of St. Louis, 
Mo. They have two children — Carl and Alma, 
the former born October, 1873 and the latter 
November, 1877. 

JA3IES R. SMITH, merchant, Cairo 111., of 
the firm of Smith Brothers, on Washington 
avenue, was born in the Dominion of Canada on 
the 3d day of August, 1854. His father, 
George Smith, who died in Cairo October 24, 
1864, was born in England, in 1809, where 
he was married to Annie Groves, who died, 
leaving a family of six children. George Smith, 
with his children, emigrated to Canada about 
1839 or 1840, and was there married to Cath- 
erine Turner, and to these parents were born 
seven children : Cyrus Smith, now of Denver, 
Col.; Arthur W. Smith, deceased b}' drowning; 
James R. and Egbert A. Smith, of Cairo; be- 
side whom there were three daughters — Clara, 
Mary E. and Carrie F. Smith. The two older 
are deceased, and the latter of Cairo, 111. This 
family came to Cairo in 1859, and the father, 
the year following, engaged in the mercantile 
business which he continued with varied suc- 
cess until his death, after which a son by first 
marriage, William H. Smith, continued the 
business until 1869, when it was closed out. 
The mother having married Mr. Lewis Lin- 
coln, of Carbondale, the family removed to the 
latter town in 1869. In the fall of 1870, the 
members of the present firm of Smith Brothers 
returned to Caii'o, and in 1872, having less than 
$100, laid the foundation of their immense bus- 



iness by opening a small store, fronting on Pop- 
lar street, which is now a portion of their busi- 
ness house. Owing to their business energy 
and ability, their success has been very marked, 
and the}' now occup}' a store room over fort}' 
feet in width, and extending from Poplar street 
to Washington avenue, in which they employ a 
large number of regular salesmen, and in addi- 
tion to their extensive stock of merchandise, 
they own a large quantity of valuable city real 
estate. James R. Smith, the senior partner, 
was married in Milan, Tenn., on the 8th of Jan- 
uary, 1882, to Miss Emma McDonald, who was 
born in Tennessee April 21, 1862. They have 
one child, James A., born in Milan, Tenn., Oc- 
tober 6, 1882. They are members of the Epis- 
copalian Church, and Mr. Smith- is a member 
of the Knights of Honor, and of the American 
Legion of Honor. Egbert A. Smith, junior part- 
ner of the firm of Smith Bros , was born in Can- 
ada June 18,1856. He is a man of pronounced 
business ability and sober habits, enjoying 
the confidence of an extensive circle of friends, 
and is now representing the Third Ward in the 
City Council for the second term. He is a 
member of the A. L. of H. Too much cred- 
it cannot be given to these sterling young 
men for their enterprise and material aid ren- 
dered to the city of Cairo. They have bravely 
fought for success, which has been won fairly 
and honorably, and their experience affords a 
valuable example to other young men, proving 
what may be achieved in a few years, by per- 
sistent and honest industry. 

ROBERT SMYTH, merchant, Cairo, is the 
youngest of a family of six children of Dennis 
and Mary (Healey) Smyth, being the only sur- 
viving member. The family was first repre- 
sented in Cairo by Thomas Smith, who came to 
the United States in 1850, and to Cairo in 
1855. His first business connection with the 
city was in the capacity of book-keeper for the 
Old Taylor House, which burned in 1859. He 
was afterward book keeper for the wholesale 



CAIRO. 



45 



firm of William Stephens & Co. His brother 
Bernard having come to Cairo in 1858, the}' 
began business together on corner of Sixth and 
Commercial avenue, but soon after moved to 
the building now occupied by Robert Smyth. 
In 1862 Thomas Smith died, leaving a wife and 
three children, of whom but one is now living. 
The business was conducted by Bernard Smyth 
until 1870, when the entire business fell into 
the hands of our subject, Robert. He was born 
in County Galway, Ireland, in 1843. He was 
reared in Ireland, where he received a fair bus- 
iness education. He came to Cairo in 1863. 
He owns the building known as the Stephens 
Block, including two large store rooms, one of 
which he rents. It was erected in 1855, and is 
the oldest brick building in Cairo. Mr. Smyth 
is a member of the A. 0. H. and the Hibernian 
Fire Department, also of the Catholic Church. 
Politics, Democratic. Bernard Smyth, who 
was highly respected by the people of Cairo 
for his social and genial nature, as well as 
many other excellent qualities, died at his res- 
idence in Cairo on the 14th of June, 1883. 

GEOROE W. STRODE, Cairo, III., was born 
in Galena, 111., and is a son of Col. James M. 
Strode and Marj' B. Parish. The father was 
born in Fleming County, Ky., about 1798, 
where he grew to manhood, receiving a 
liberal education and where he prepared for 
the profession of law. He was married in 
Elkton, Todd Co., Ky., in 1818 ; shortly af- 
terward moved to Sangamon County, 111., and 
while there was a conteraporar}' lawyer with 
A. Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, and was 
a warm friend of Judge Sidney Breese. In 
1827, having removed to the north part of the 
State, he was enrolled as Captain of company 
known as the Galena Mounted Volunteers, and 
served in the Black Hawk war. He was after- 
ward appointed to the position of Registrar of 
the laud office in Chicago. While on a busi- 
ness trip to his native State in 1862, he died, 
near Flemingsburg. Mary A. Parish was a 



daughter of Benjamin Parish, an extensive 
land-owner, planter and tanner of Elkton, Ky. 
She was born in 1800, and died in Denver, Colo., 
in 1879. The}- reared a family of seven 
children — Eugene Strode, deceased ; William 
Strode, deceased ; Mary E., deceased wife of 
Dr. Banks of St. Louis ; James A. Strode, a 
lawyer and planter of Huntsville, Ala. ; Fannie, 
wife of Hon. J. Q. Charles of Denver, Col. ; 
George W. Strode, of Cairo, and Dr. E. C. 
Strode, who was a surgeon in the late war, and 
a young man who had acquired an enviable 
distinction. He died in Denver, Col., in 1871. 
George W. was educated at Galena, Crystal 
Lake and Woodstock, and his first business 
experience was in the capacity of druggist 
clerk ; then for several years was the business 
manager of the forwarding and commission 
business of H. F. McClasky, of Galena, 111. In 
1859, he went to the city of Memphis, Tenn., 
when he obtained a position as Cashier for the 
firm of J. D. Morton & Co., remaining in this 
connection for three years, when he became 
the successor of W. D. Love, a former member 
of the firm. In 1866, he took a clerkship with 
the firm of Halliday & Co. in Columbus, Ky., 
and continued with them four years. He then 
established an implement store in Nashville, 
Tenn., which, owing to unfortunate business 
association, proved unsuccessful. He then re- 
turned to the employ of Halliday & Co., at 
Columbus, where from 1871 to 1877, he had 
chief control of their banking and stock yard 
business. At the latter date he came to Cairo, 
111., since which time he has been correspond- 
ing secretary for the Halliday Brothers. Mr. 
Strode was married in Gainsville, Ala. Novem- 
ber 14, 1865, to Miss 3Iary P. Stuart. She 
was born in Greene County, Ala., September 
24, 1845, and is a daughter of Dr. R. F. Stu- 
art, a planter and physician of Alabama. He 
was a man who was characterized for broad 
and liberal views, and possessed of benevolent 
heart, with an open hand to relieve any who 



46 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



needed sympathy. He was a devoted member 
of the Baptist Church in which he was a 
pillar. He died on the 25th day of December, 
1867, leaving the indelible impress of his ex- 
emplary life written upon the memories and 
hearts of an extensive circle of ardent friends. 
His wife, Martha A. Wilkes, was a remarkable 
adaptation to a remarkable husband. She also 
was a native of Greene County, Ala., born 
September 19, 1821, and for many years was 
devotedly attached to the Baptist Church in 
which she was an active member. She died 
March 10, 1863. They had but two children — 
Mrs. Strode and a brother, Emmett Stuart, 
who died September 27, 1853. Mr. and Mrs. 
Strode are members of the Baptist Church, in 
which he sustains the relation of a Deacon; he 
is also an ardent Sunday school worker, and 
the President of the Alexander County Bible 
Society. They have had but one child — Mary 
Strode. She was born in Edgefield, Tenn., in 
1870, and died in Cairo, 111., September 13, 
1880. 

FRANK W. STOPHLET, grocer, Commer- 
cial avenue, between Twentj'-eighth and Twen- 
t3'-ninth streets, Cairo, was born in Pulaski 
County, 111., February 9, 1858. He is the 
eighth member of a family of nine children 
born to Preserved and Sophia (Hurd) Stophlet, 
who were among the pioneers of Southern Illi- 
nois. Frank W. received the advantages of a 
common school education, and in 1872 came to 
Cairo, where he became a salesman for the firm 
of C. 0. Patier & Co., with whom he continued 
about eight j'ears, thus laying the foundation of 
a practical knowledge of business. He estab- 
lished his business house at the present loca- 
tion, on the 5th of Jul}-, 1882, and has thus far 
met with satisfactory success. He was mar- 
ried in Mound City, 111., April 23, 1879, to 
Miss May Hawle}', daughter of Robert and 
Mary Hawley, of Mound City, where the father 
still lives. The mother is deceased. Mrs. 
Stophlet was born in Cincinnati in 1802, and is 



a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
of Cairo. They have two children — Rose Stella 
and Elmer Stophlet, the former born February 
13, 1880, and the latter April 28, 1882. Mr. 
Stophlet is a member of the American Legion 
of Honor. 

SIMPSON H. TABER, dealer in watches, 
jewelry, etc., at No. 128 Commercial avenue, 
and also on corner of Seventh street and Wash- 
ington avenue, Cairo, III, is a native of Knox 
County, 111., and was born on the 21st day of 
June, 1843. He is the fourth of a family of 
six children of Benjamin and Caroline Taber. 
The parents are both natives of New Bedford, 
Mass., where they grew to maturity and married. 
The father was born on Januar}' 21, 1814, and 
after the usual school training, entered the Med- 
ical College of Providence, R. I., and from 
which he graduated. The mother was born in 
1807, and is still living. About 1834, the}' 
came West and located in Knox County, 111., 
where the father began his long career as a 
practicing physician. He is still actively en- 
gaged in practice, and resident at Mound City, 
111., being among the oldest practitioners in the 
State. Caroline, mother of S. H. Taber, is the 
second of a family of four children of the Rev. 
John Briggs, of New Bedford, Mass. Simpson 
H. was educated in Springfield, Mass., and in 
1861 came to Cairo, III, and began the trade of 
watch-maker, under the instruction of an older 
brother — John C. B. Taber, now of St. Louis. 
The firm of Taber Brothers was established in 
1869. and continued thus until 1880, since 
which date S. H. Taber has conducted the busi- 
ness alone, the older brother that year retiring 
from the firm. Mr. Taber was married in 
Brantford, Canada, to a native of that place — 
Miss Mary E. Workman, born January 28, 1848. 
They were manned on the 28th of June, 1872. 
She is a daughter of Hugh Workman and 
Elizabeth Turner, the former born in Januarv, 
1818, and the latter on the 15th day of July, 
1825. They were married on the 18th of Jan- 



CAIRO. 



47 



uar^', 1844, and had a family of seven children, 
viz.: Robert Workman, born December 23, 
1844, and died on his birthday in 1873 ; John 
Workman was born on the 16th of December, 
1846. and was married to Mar}' J. Burton, 
April 25, 1871 ; the}^ have one daughter — Ethel 
May Workman, born March 15, 1872; Mary E. 
(^Workman) Taber ; Lizzie S. Workman, born 
October 15, 1851 ; Sarah J., born September 8, 
1853 ; Jennie A., born October 14, 1855, and 
James Workman, born December 1, 1857. Mr. 
Taber has a famil}' of eight children — Hugh 
Taber, born September 23, 1873 ; Eugene Ta- 
ber was born October 12, 1875 ; Jaunita and 
Anita were born August 12, 1877, and the latter 
died on the 2d of December, 1877 ; Orvil and 
Clyde Taber were born August 8, 1879 ; Eidola 
Taber, born July 20, 1881, and one unnamed, 
born June 2, 1883. 

JAMES M. TATTEN, Cairo, 111., Captain 
and pilot of the W. Butler Duncan, Cairo, III, 
was born November 19, 1840, in Crawford 
County, Ind. His father, John Tatten, was 
born in 1796, near Atlanta, G-a., and emigrated 
to Southern Indiana about 1820, where he mar- 
ried Miss Sarah Smith, who was born in Indi- 
ana in 1801. James M. is the seventh of a 
family of nine children born to these parents. 
His mother died in Indiana in 1844, and the 
father subsequently married a Mrs. Williams, 
Nancy, wife of James B. P^dgeman, of Missouri 
is the only child born to this union. The 
father died in Missouri on the 7th of October, 
1881. James M. early in life developed a 
fondness for the water, and at the age of fif- 
teen 3'ears went on the river to prepare him- 
self for the position of pilot, the duties of 
which he assumed in 1861. During the civil 
war, he was duly commissioned as pilot in the 
navy, and was one of the pilots who ran the 
blockade at Vicksburg on the night of the 23d 
of April, 1863. From the close of the war 
until 1870, he was on the Mississippi Biver be- 
tween St. Louis and New Orleans, the next 



four years in the employ of the Government, 
and from 1874 until 1880, was in the employ 
of the Illinois Central Railway Compan}- as 
pilot of their transfer boat at Cairo. In April, 
1881, he was made Captain of the Mobile and 
Ohio Companies transfer, which position he 
now holds. He was married in New Albany, 
Ind., September 2. 1863, to Miss Anna Z. Bar- 
nett, daughter of John S. and Sarah (Hale) 
Barnett. Mrs. Tatten was born in New Al- 
bany, Ind., June 8, 1844. Their family consists 
of George B., born August 15, 1865 ; Harry, 
deceased ; Blanche, deceased ; Addie C, born 
October 8, 1873; Ella, January 5, 1877 ; Josie, 
deceased ; and Nina B. Tatten, born November 
16, 1882. Mr. Tatten is a member of the 
Knights of Honor, and Mrs. T. of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. Family residence on 
Eighteenth street, Cairo, 111. 

FRANCIS VINCENT, Cairo, 111., and one 
of the pioneers of the Cairo peninsula, is a 
native of Southern France, and was born June 
4, 1814. His father, Andrew Vincent, was 
born about 1763, and during his life engaged 
in farming pursuits, with the exception of the 
time spent in military service, being a volun- 
teer in the French revolution of 1789. He 
died in France at the age of eighty-two years. 
The mother of Francis Vincent, whose maiden 
name was Louisa Bertram, died when he was 
but three 3-ears old. He was educated in 
France, and at the age of sixteen went to 
Paris, and there learned the trade of baker. 
In 1836, he set sail for the United States, com- 
ing by way of New York. His aim was to 
reach the city of Louisville, Ky., but before 
reaching that point his means were exhausted, 
he was accommodated b}- a fellow -traveler 
to a small loan, with which to complete 
the trip. Arriving at Louisville, he had 
a solitar}- 5 cents with which he procured a 
shave and started in pursuit of work. This 
was finally secured on a snag boat that was 
about to start on an extended trip from that 



48 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



point to the mouth of the Red River. By this 
means he obtained a start in the new world, 
and since that time has never laclfed employ- 
ment. He next obtained work on a steam 
boat, and soon after, in connection with a 
German, fitted up a store boat at Paducah, Ky., 
and started on a mercantile trip ^lown the 
river ; this partner abandoned him at Vicks- 
burg, but he continued the trip to New 
Orleans, returning to Vicksburg where he es- 
tablished a grocery store, remaining until the 
spring of 1845. He next went to Yazoo City 
where he was for twelve years engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits. In the month of April, 1848, 
he returned to his native country, where, in 
February, 1849, he married Miss Virginia 
Veirura. who was born in France in 1830. 
They came to Cairo, 111., for permanent resi- 
dence in 1857, and have taken an active part 
in the interests of the cit}' ever since. While 
in the main he has been very successful, he 
has met with some severe financial losses from 
fire and other sources. They own the property 
fronting on Eighth street, between Commercial 
avenue and Old Railroad street, which they 
have improved. He also built the residence 
owned by James Reardon at a cost of $10,000, 
and his present family residence on Ninth 
street, between Washington and Commercial 
avenues. Their faraih' consists of Heniy E., 
Louisa A., Meiraban, and Tillie E. Vincent. 
Mr. Vincent is now engaged in wholesale and 
retail trade in lime and cements, located on 
Eighth street. He has been a member of the 
Masonic fraternity since 1848. 

HARRY WALKER, Alderman in the First 
Ward, Cairo, 111., was born on the 3d of No- 
vember, 1842, in Clinton County, 111. His 
parents, Herman and Annie Walker, were 
natives of Prussia, from where they came to 
the city of New Orleans. They were married 
in Prussia, and two children were born to them 
before coming to the United States, Mary and 
Geoi'ge Walker, the former a resident of Indi- 



ana, and the latter an entensive stock dealer 
in Kansas. Coming to the United States in 
1840, they located for a short time in New 
Orleans, soon removed to St. Louis, and thence 
to Hanover, Clinton County, 111.; there they 
died about the same time, having had four 
children born in this countr}', Harry being 
the first ; he left home at the age of thirteen 
years, and for a time made his home in St. 
Louis, where he attended the Jones College. 
In August, 1862, he came to Cairo, 111., and 
has made it his permanent residence since. 
He has been employed much of the time as a 
salesman in different business houses of Cairo, 
and in 1868 he formed a partnership with a 
Mr. Sisson, in the hotel business, under the 
firm name of Walker & Sisson. In 1871, thej' 
were burned out, sustaining a loss of several 
thousand dollars. Since 1879, he has been 
conducting a house of amusement, known as 
the Theater Comique, in his own building, 
fronting on Commercial avenue and Fifth 
street. He was married in Cairo, in 1865, to 
Miss Maggie O'Connel, a sister of John W. 
O'Connel, of St. Louis. She was born in Ireland 
in 1845, and came to the United States when a 
child. They have four children, viz.: Maggie, 
Harry, Allie and Nettie Walker. Mr. Walker 
is independent in politics, a member of the K. 
G. R., the K. C. C, and of the fire depai-tment. 
JACOB WALTER, meat market at Nos. 38 
and 39 Eighth street, is a native of Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, where he was born December 
25, 1837. He is a son of Andrew and Cathe- 
rine (Hag) Walter, both of whom were born in 
Germany, the father born in 1798, and the mother 
in 1804. They had a family of six children, 
of whom Jacob is the fourth. He was edu- 
cated in Germany, and came to the United 
States in 1852, locating first at New York, 
where he began the trade of butcher, and after- 
ward worked in many different cities of the 
United States. He went to St. Louis in 1857, 
where he worked for four vears, enlisting in the 



CAIRO. 



49 



Fourth Missoiu'i Cavalry in the fall of 1861, 
and served three years, and was mustered out 
at St. Louis in 1864. Participated in the bat- 
tles of Pea Ridge and others incident to the 
campaign of the West. Soon after the war, he 
settled in Cairo, 111., where he has followed his 
trade since, opening a shop in 1867. In 1868, 
November 29, he was married to Miss Wilhel- 
mina Lemm. She was born in Prussia Sep- 
tember 16, 1846, and came to the city of Cairo 
in 1867. They have a famil}- consisting of 
John J., born in Cairo August 19, 1869 ; Wil- 
helmina, born Februar}^ 24, 1872, and died in 
infancy ; Albert, born March 6, 1873, and 
died January 6, 1875; Rosa L., born Septem- 
ber 2, 1878 ; Frank J., born September 4, 1880, 
and Grustav Walter, born February 24, 1883. 
He is a member of the Cairo Casino Society, 
and the famil}^ of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. 
Walter is a daughter of John and Doretta 
Lemm, the mother deceased, and the father 
living at an advanced age in the old country. 
HENRY WELLS, banker, Cairo, was born 
in Rising Sun, Ind.,onthe 12th of March, 1850. 
Jacob Wells, father of Henry Wells, was a 
native of Corinth, Vt., but principally reared 
and educated in the State of New York ; he 
was born in 1815. Having arrived at man- 
hood, he went to Indiana, where, in 1837, he 
married Miss Fannie S. Shaw, a daughter of 
Lloyd and Ellen Shaw, and a native of Taunton, 
Mass., where, in 1813, she was born. Henry 
Wells is the fifth of a family of six children 
born to these parents ; but two of whom are 
now living, there being one daughter, Emily, 
who is the wife of Charles J. Noyes, a states- 
man of Massachusetts. Mr. Wells pursued 
the ordinary common school course at Rising 
Sun, Ind., after which he continued his studies 
at the Haverhill High School, of Massachu- 
setts, and in the Brown Universit}^ of Provi- 
dence, R. I., and in 1866 entered the Harvard 
University, taking the complete classical course, 
receiving the degree conferred by that institu- 



tion in 1870. The two years following his 
graduation, he was .associated with his father 
in a general mercantile business in Rising Sun, 
at which time he assisted in the organizing of 
the National Bank of that place, becoming one 
of its Directors. After the death of his father, 
which occurred on July 5, 1872, he decided to 
close up the business interests in Rising Sun, 
and seek a banking location, and for this pur- 
pose, in 1875, started to Florida. He, however, 
located in Cairo, 111., where he assisted in the 
organization of the Alexander County Bank, 
and under the first organization was made Vice 
President. It was re-organized in the same 
year, and Mr. Wells was made the Cashier, 
which position he still occupies. He was mar- 
ried in Rising Sun on May 25, 1872, to Miss 
Emma C. Morse, daughter of George W. and 
Mary Morse — the father a native of Ohio, born 
March 19, 1821, and at present a resident of 
Cairo ; the mother was born Julj^ 5, 1823, in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and died in Caii*o on the 24th 
of October, 1880. Mrs. Wells was born in 
Rising Sun, Ind. Their family consists of two 
sons — James C. and Harry M. Wells. Mr. 
Wells is a member of the Masonic order, and of 
the I. 0. 0. F. Family residence on the corner 
of West Twenty -fourth street and Holbrook 
avenue, Cairo, 111. 

SAMUEL P. WHEELER, lawyer, Cairo, 111., 
was born at Bingham ton, Broome Co., N. Y., 
on the 13th of January, 1839. His father, 
Alvan Wheeler, was born in Massachusetts in 
1797. He was an eminent educator and ph}'- 
sician of Massachusetts from 1820 to 1832, 
when, on account of failing health, he removed 
to Binghamton, N. Y., where he purchased a 
farm, and spent the remainder of his life. He 
died October 12, 1869. The mother of Samuel 
Wheeler, Harriet A. Bnlkle}', was a descendant 
from an English family which was first repre- 
sented in the United States b}' the Rev. Peter 
Bulkle}', who came from England to 3Iassachu- 
setts in 1635. She died in Williamstown, Mass., 



50 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



in 1875, having reared a family of six children, 
of whom Samuel was the fourth. He was edu- 
cated liberally in New York. He was admitted 
to the bar in 1859, and the same year located 
at Mound City, 111., where he remained until 
coming to Cairo in 1865. Though his influence 
has been chiefly with the Democratic party, he 
has studiously avoided the political arena, and 
adhered strictly to his profession with commend- 
able zeal. In 1875, he was appointed General 
Solicitor for the Cairo & Vincennes Railroad 
Company, which position he held until that 
company was consolidated with the St. Louis & 
Pacific Railway, and is now G-eneral Solicitor 
for the Cairo Division of the latter company. 
He was married on the 11th of January, 1860, 
to Miss Kate F. E. Gross, daughter of Milo 
J. Gross, of Kalamazoo, Mich. 

CHARLES W. WHEELER, of Cairo, 111., 
was born in Stratford, Fairfield Co., Conn., on 
the 10th of October, 1840. His parents, Levi 
Wheeler and Elvina Booth, were both natives 
of Connecticut, though of English origin. They 
reared a family of six children, of whom Charles 
W. is the fifth. Levi Wheeler died in Con- 
necticut in 1873, and his wife in the same 
State in 1882, both in advanced age. Charles 
W. was educated in his native county, and at 
the age of eighteen left the parental home, 
coming West. He located at Olney, Richland 
Co., 111., where, until 1861, he was in the em- 
ploy of the Ohio & Mississippi Railway Com- 
pany. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the thirty 
days' service, and at the expiration of that 
time re-enlisted for three years, but on ac- 
count of physical disability was discharged in 
June of the following year. In the fall of 

1862, having sufficiently regained his health, 
he again engaged with the Ohio & Mississippi 
Railway Company at Olney, 111. Early in 

1863, he was employed by the Adams Express 
Company as messenger on the road between 
Olney and Cairo, 111., continuing, however, but 
about six months, when he was placed in their 



office at the last-named place. He remained 
in this office until the fall of 1866. For six 
3'ears subsequent to this date, he was in the 
employ of Cairo City Coal Company, in the 
management of their business. In 1873, in 
connection with J. C. Stiers, he established a 
retail wood and coal yard, from which is sup- 
plied a large portion of the fuel of the city of 
Cairo. Their partnership continued until Oc- 
tober, 1879, when it terminated by the retire- 
ment of Mr. Stiers. Mr. Wheeler still con- 
ducts the business in his own interest, and 
besides owns and operates a farm of 160 
acres in Pulaski Count}', 111. In June, 1863, 
in Wisconsin, he was married to Miss Amanda 
Bragg, daughter of Samuel G. and Lorinda 
Bragg, of Wisconsin, where they are now living, 
and where Mrs. Wheeler was born on the 6th 
of December, 1840. Their famil}' consists of 
Sarah A., Ella, Josie and Charles F. Wheeler. 
SCOTT WHITE. We glean from the col- 
umns of the Cairo city papers the following facts 
concerning Mr. Scott White, one of the pros- 
perous and most respected men in Cairo's his- 
tory. Scott White was born in Ireland in 1813, 
and grew to manhood in his native country, 
coming to the United States in 1832. He took 
this step as the result of a determination to 
make his mark in the world. From the time 
of his arrival in this country until he came to 
Cairo in 1855, we have learned but little of his 
experiences ; but perhaps the time was princi- 
pally passed in Pennsylvania, where, in No- 
vember, 1856, he was married to Miss Rosy 
Hunter, who was born in 1 828, in the immedi- 
ate locality of the birthplace of Mr. White. 
He was a man who was possessed of a strong 
will power and a kind and generous nature, 
which appeared to develop more fully as he in- 
creased in years. These characteristics, coup- 
led with his native business ability, insured 
his success. In 1855, he came to Cairo, 111., 
and formed a partnership with R. H. Cunning- 
ham, which existed for about ten years. The 



CAIRO. 



51 



first business house on the Ohio levee was 
erected for this firm. In his composition, 
there was nothing assumed, and he had no 
compromise to make with a dishonorable trans- 
action, alwaj'S able to say " No," when his judg- 
ment dictated that answer, regardless of con- 
sequences. In his earlier business life in 
Cairo, this straightforward, outspoken style 
sometimes amounted almost to sternness, but 
was always the result of honest promptings. 
Later in life, he lost, to some extent, his busi- 
ness enthusiasm, and having amassed a hand- 
some fortune, his business activity, in a great 
degree, gave place to the more kindly influences 
of social life. He laid aside, so to speak, much 
of his business care, and looked more to the 
encouragement of efforts to improve the moral 
and social condition of Cairo. But in the 
hour of his greatest usefulness, after having 
successfully fought the battle of life, just at the 
moment when his ample hand was being 
stretched out in the work of making the world 
happier, thereby making it better, he was taken 
away. In all the relations of husband, father, 
and citizen, he was a model of uprightness, 
justice and true manliness. He honored the 
position he occupied in the estimation of his 
large circle of friends. He died at his resi- 
dence in Cairo on the 19th of April, 1871, leav- 
ing his wife and three children — Maragret A., 
Scott A. and William White — who still survive 
him. Resolutions of respect were adopted by 
the officers of the City National Bank, of which 
he was a director, and b}- the Delta Social 
Club, of which he was an honored member. 

DB. E. W. WHITLOCK, dental surgeon 
No. 136 Commercial avenue, Cairo, was born 
on the 22d day of June, 1855, in Jefferson 
County, 111. His father, George Whitlock, was 
born in 1818, in Virginia, where he grew to 
maturity and from where he came to Illinois. 
He was rnarried. in Illinois, to Miss Angeline 
Caldwell. She is a daughter of Wallace Cald- 
well, a lineal descendant of Dr. Charles Cald- 



well, formerl}^ of Louisville, Ky., and the ac- 
knowledged father of phrenology- in this coun- 
try. A.ngeline was born in Illinois in 1828, 
and is now a resident of the city of Cairo, 111, 
To these parents were born five children, of 
whom the Doctor is the youngest, the three 
older children being deceased. The names are 
Abigail, Isabelle, Charles R., George T. and 
Edward W. Whitlock. George T. is married 
to Miss Ada F. Hambleton, of Mound City, 111., 
and at present a resident of Marshall, 111. Ed- 
ward W. Whitlock was reared and educated in 
Jonesboro and Cairo, coming to thi latter 
place with his parents in 1866. Lxx'k.riG, he 
became a student of the Philadelphia Dental 
College, from which he graduated in 1877, 
when he immediatelj' opened rooms in Cairo 
for the practice of dental surgery. His pro- 
fessional skill, together with the principles of 
thorough gentleman have secured for him 
a large and lucrative practice. He is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity and a member of 
the Episcopal Church, as is also his mother. 
George Whitlock, father of E. W., died in 
Cairo, 111., in April, 1881, having been engaged 
in mercantile business since 1866. 

WILLIAM M. WILLIAMS is a member of 
one of the old families of the early settlers in 
Cairo, the members of which were among the 
most prominent and best people of the town. 
The brothers, Capt. Abram and Isaac Will- 
iams, for many years well known as among the 
best business men of the place, and in their 
active lives here made a wide acquaintance 
and a strong and deep friendship with all who 
came in contact with them. They were exem- 
plary citizens, honorable men and most genial 
and pleasant companions. They came from Vir- 
giiiia here, and especially Capt. Abe was pos- 
sessed of all those better qualities of that peo- 
ple without the sometimes glaring faults in 
social life that characterize too many men of 
that State. They built and for many years 
carried on a saw mill in the northern part of 



52 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



the city, and during their long residence here 
were engaged in several successful enterprises 
of different kinds. In the hearts of those who 
knew these brothers is a sufficient and endur- 
ing monument, but this mention is due the 
good name of two men whom the coming gen- 
erations should learn to respect and venerate. 
William M. Williams was born in Kanawha 
County, Va., May 4, 1831 ; his parents were 
Isaac and Mary (Torrence) Williams. The 
father, a Pennsylvauian, born in 1802, and was 
a farmer and steamboatman in the early da^^s 
of steam navigation, and William is the 
younger of two children ; his sister Anna J. 
married Dr. Wilson, of Baltimore, and died 
some years ago. His mother died in 1844, in 
Ohio and his father died in Kentucky in 1857. 
William resided in Virginia until he attained 
his majority and had learned the printer's 
trade, and had also engaged in the salt manu- 
facturing in West Columbia, Va. He came to 
Cairo in 1855, in company with his cousin, 
Capt. Abram Williams, and at once engaged 
in a general mercantile business, pork packing, 
wharf-boat interests, etc., during a period of 
four years. He was one of a company that 
organized the St. Louis Silver Mining Com- 
pany of Arizona, and in the year 1860 took 
the first mining engine that was ever taken to 
that Territory. He continued in the mining 
business until every member of the company, 
except himself, had been massacred by the 
Mexicans. He escaped the fate of his com- 
panions by almost a miracle. He then became 
a Grovernment contractor in the Territoiy, his 
partner being William S. Grant During the 
war, he was steam boating and carried on a 
wharf-boat at Vicksburg, and he made his 
home in the latter place until 1870, when he 
returned to his old Illinois home, Cairo, where 
he came to carry out and complete an enter- 
prise that had been inaugurated by his cousin 
Abram. Of late years, he has been actively 
connected with the Cairo press, and also in the 



employment of different railroads and is now 
the efficient and popular Cairo agent of the 
Cairo & St. Louis Railroad. At the early age 
of eighteen ^-ears he was the publisher of a 
daily paper in Wheeling, Va. He was married 
in Kentucky, in 1865, to Miss Rachel Williams, 
daughter of George and Mary Williams. He 
has long been an honored and exemplary 
member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the 
Knights of Honor, and also of the Knights of 
the Golden Rule. He has one child, Mary L., 
living, born in Vicksburg, February 5, 1868, 
and has buried one other child, Caroline Or' 
Lea, born in Cairo, December 5, 1871, and 
died in May, 1881. 

GEORGE D. WILLIAMSON, merchant, 
Cairo, is a native of Hunterdon Count}', N. 
J., and is the fourth of a family of twelve 
children of Samuel Williamson and Maragret 
Giltz, both .of whom descend from German 
parentage, and both natives of New Jersey. 
George D. was born on the 30th of Ma}', 1815. 
He was principally reared and educated in his 
native county, but at the age of sixteen began 
his business career as a grocer clerk in New 
York City, where he remained about one year. 
In the fall of 1832, he went to Philadelphia, 
where, for six years, he engaged as clerk in a 
hotel, and for five years of this time was a 
member of the fire department of that city. 
From Philadelphia he came to Smithland, Ky., 
in 1838, and the following year to Cairo, 111., 
where he took business control of the old Cairo 
Hotel, under the direction of D. Bt Holbx-ook. 
A change in the administration of the hotel, 
which was owned by a company, caused him to 
sever his connection therewith, and he returned 
to Smithland, where, until 1859. he was suc- 
cessfully engaged in mercantile business. At 
the last-named place, he constructed a wharf- 
boat, which was the first on the Ohio River 
provided with staging for the passage of teams 
in landing freight. In 1859, he landed this 
boat at Cairo, and owned until 1863, when he 



CAIRO. 



dS 



sold it for $25,000. He then engaged in mer- 
cantile trade, where he is now located, having 
previously formed a partnership with G. W. 
Hagy. This partnership terminated about 
1875. He now conducts the business alone, 
and does an extensive grocery business, both 
wholesale and retail. Mr. Williamson was mar- 
ried in Kentucky in 1850, to Miss Nina Mc- 
Cauley, daughter of James McCauley. The 
result of this marriage was three children, but 
one of whom is living — Mattie, wife of W. W. 
Wright. Her mother died about 1857. Mr. 
Williamson's present wife was Mrs. Harriet P. 
Smith, widow of John H. Smith, and daughter 
of John H. Wood. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, and has been several years 
a member of the City Council. 

THOMAS WILSON, ex-Mayor of the city 
of Cairo, and one of its oldest living residents, 
is a native of Northumberland, England. He 
was born on the 23d day of July, 1823, and 
came to the United States with his parents, 
Andrew and Mary Wilson, in 1835. The family 
settled in New York Cit}^, where they remained 
until 1838, in which j-ear the}' removed to 
Illinois and located at Fairfield, in Wayne 
County, where the parents died. Thomas was 
educated in England and in New York City, 
and married in Shawneetown, 111., to Miss 
Sarah Marshall, daughter of Samuel Mar- 
shall of that city. For several years 
following, Mr. Wilson had his residence at 
Shawneetown, a portion of the time engaged in 
boating interests, and for a time was Sheriff of 
this county. In 1854, prompted b}- the flatter- 
ing prospects for the future greatness of the 
town of Cairo, which, besides its manifest 
river advantages, gave an omen of coming re- 
nown, in that year being united with the 
north by the Illinois Central Railroad, he 
came to this place, where he engaged 
in the wharf-boat and commission busi- 
ness. Notwithstanding his attention has been 
largely absorbed in his private business, he has 



frequently been called to positions of public 
trust, having a decided ability in matters per- 
taining to the public good. He was a member 
of the first Board of Trustees ever elected to 
preside over the business affairs of the town of 
Cairo, since which time he has served the city 
for three terms as Mayor, and from 1868 to 
1872, was a member of the State Board of 
Equalization. His first wife died in 1872, leav- 
ing two children — Mar}' E., wife of George 
Dougherty, of Jonesboro, 111., and Amy M. 
Wilson. In 1877, he was married to Mrs. 
Wicker, widow of P. J. Wicker, and daughter 
of John Hodges, one of the pioneers of South- 
ern Illinois. She was born in Thebes, Alexander 
Co., 111. Their union has been blessed with 
two children — Margaret and Thomas Wilson. 
Mr. Wilson, at present is the corresponding 
secretary for the firm of Halliday Bros. Poli- 
tics, Democrat. 

HENRY WINTER, ex-Mayor of the city of 
Cairo, was born in Portsmouth, England, Au- 
gust 15, 1829, being the thirteenth of a family, 
of sixteen children of Robert and Jane Winter. 
The family emigrated to the United States in 
the summer of 1837, and located in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, where Henr}^ remained until 1849, re- 
ceiving in the meantime the advantage of an 
ordinary common school education. After the 
death of his mother, he was bound as appren- 
tice to the trade of tinner, but in consequence 
of ill treatment, at the end of four years, he 
left his employer, and under the instructions of 
another party completed his trade, becoming a 
first-class tinner. During eight years of his 
residence in Cincinnati, he was an active mem- 
ber of the fire department. He left Cincinnati 
in 1849, to take a position in Cannelton, Ind., 
where he won the esteem of man}- warm friends, 
among whom was the Hon. Jacob Maynard, 
who advanced him the mone}' to establish a 
small business, which proved verj- prosperous, 
and by which he was soon able to branch out 
largely, but in consequence of an unfortunate 



54 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



partnership alliance, his business was com- 
pleteh" broken up. Daring his residence of 
seven years at Cannelton, he organized two fire 
companies, and was for five j-ears the President 
of one of them. On the 20th ot August, 1856, 
he came to Cairo, and soon had started a tin 
shop on a pa3ing basis, and for several years, 
so marked was his success that in the years 
1867-68 he was the largest tax-payer in Alex- 
ander County. It is said that previous to this 
date, he had Jbmlt over $180,000 worth of brick 
buildings, besides several frame houses, and 
was the owner of three flourishing business 
houses in Cairo, two in Paducah, Ky., and one 
at Omaha, Neb. In many instances the city 
of Cairo to-day bears the impress of his mold- 
ing hand. During the war, and from its begin, 
uing, he was a stanch supporter of the Union 
at a time and place where to be lo3'al meant a 
great deal. He acted with the Republican 
party until 1872, when he supported the nomi- 
nation of Horace Greeley to the Presidency, and 
was a delegate to the Cincinnati Convention 
which nominated him. In local affairs, he 
takes a liberal view, alwa3'S acting according 
to his best judgment in the best interests of 
the people. He has been twice elected Mayor 
of the city, and has proven himself an able and 
wise leader. Since his residence in Cairo, he 
has been intimately connected with the fire de- 
partment ; was President of the Arab Fire 
Company' for ten years. He is noted for his 
unselfish, generous spirit, having given manj- 
thousands of dollars to benevolent institutions, 
in fact while he has accumulated an untold 
amount of mone}', it has mostly gone to bless 
others, and to-day he is possessed of only a 
moderate subsistence. He was married on the 
13th of August, 1851, to Miss Margaret Mur- 
dock, of New Yoi-k. 

MAJ. WILLIAM WOLFE, deceased. In 
the histor}' of the cit}- of Cairo, no event, per- 
haps has occurred which caused such universal 
gloom and sorrow as did the sudden and wholly 



unexpected death of Maj. William Wolfe, which 
took place Thursday, January 4, 1883. The 
Major was born on the 24th of January, 1832, 
near Williamsport, Penn., where he spent his 
childhood. His parents removing to Williams- 
port, he there grew to manhood ; at this place 
was formed the friendship between himself and 
Charles 0. Patier, which ripened into a mutual 
attachment, and continued until his death. In 
1855, Maj. Wolfe went to St. Louis, where he 
became the general manager in the house of 
Baker, Mills & Co. This position he held 
until the civil war broke out, when, with the 
assistance of-Mr. Patier, he organized a com- 
pany for the Sixth Missouri Volunteers, in 
which he was Second and Mr. Patier First 
Lieutenant. With this command he served 
with credit three years, when, he was mustered 
out on his march to Atlanta, just after the fight 
of Resaca. He remained with the army, how- 
ever, and was detailed as aid-de-camp to Gen. 
Jones, First Brigade, Second Division, Fif- 
teenth Army Corps, and went through to the sea. 
After the war, he returned to St. Louis, and was 
there appointed Major in Adjutant General's 
office, by Gov. Thomas C. Fletcher. After this 
and until 1866, he was engaged as clerk in the 
court house. In the last-named year, he came 
to Cairo at the solicitation of Mr. Patier, and 
accepted the position of book-keeper in the 
general business house of Messrs. G. H. Greeley 
& Co., whose house was then known as the New 
York Store, and located on Commercial avenue, 
corner of Nineteenth street. A year later, this 
firm changed to Greeley & Patier, and in 1872 
Mr. Wolfe took the place of Mr. Greeley, under 
the firm name now emplo3'ed of C. 0. Patier & 
Co., which is one of the strongest and most 
respected in the country. In 1872, Maj. 
Wolfe married Miss Dulcina, daughter of 
Justice Otis A. Osborn, who, together with 
three sisters and one brother, survives him. 
Maj. Wolfe was a director of the Alexander 
County Bank, and an honorar}- member of the 



CAIRO. 



55 



Delta Fire Company. In his death the business 
interests of Cairo suffer an irreparable loss, and 
society loses one of its brightest ornaments, 
and his wife, a devoted husband. 

WILLIAM WOOD, M. D., was born on the 
8th of February, 1822, in Bethlehem, N. H. 
He is the oldest of a family of three children 
of David Wood and Abigail Hosmer. The 
father was of English birth, and the mother a 
relative of the famous sculptor (Hosmer) of 
Massachusetts, and also of Lieut. Abner Hos- 
mer, who, as history tells us, was the first to sac- 
rifice his life in the cause of American inde- 
pendence, being killed in the battle of Lexing- 
ton, Mass. Of the other two members of the 
Wood family, one is deceased. Charles Wood, 
who for several years was engaged in the 
wholesale mercantile business at St. Louis. 
The third is Clara A. Clark, a resident of 
Bloomington, 111. William Wood, on arriving 
at manhood, decided to learn the blacksmith 
trade, having two objects in view, namely, 
ph}' sical development, but more especiall}- that 
he might obtain the means with which to defray 
the expense of a course in college, for which 
he was preparing. He afterward became a 
student in the Burlington College, where he 
continued his studies one year. Later, he 
entered the Dartmouth College, where he grad- 
uated in the year 1850. He then entered the 
Castleton Medical College of Vermont, and 
received the degree conferred by that institu- 
tion in 1852. In the fall of the same ^ear he 
came to Cairo, 111., and immediately entered on 
what has proven a long and prosperous prac- 
tice. Though he may not compare favorably 
with many others of his profession as a col- 
lector, he has, by good investment and strictlj^ 
temperate habits, succeeded in acquiring a hand- 
some income for his old age. He is the maker 
and proprietor of the Wood's fever and ague 
pills. Subject was married, at Cairo, 111., on 
the 3d of April, 1863, to Miss Ann E. Spiller, 
daughter of W. H. Spiller, one of the pioneers 



of Southern Illinois, who died in Cairo in 
1882. Mrs. Wood was born in Union County 
February 5, 1844. Their family consists of 
five children — Kate C, born August 12, 1868 ; 
David C, born September 28, 1870 ; William 
H., born March 16, 1875 ; Flora, born August 
2, 1880, and Henry F., born September 24, 
1882. Family residence and oflSce on the cor- 
ner of Third street and Washington avenua 

JOHN WOOD, mill, and grain dealer, of 
the firm of Wood & Bennett, Cairo, 111., is 
a son of John Wood and Ann (Stephenson) 
Wood, of Scotland, where he was born Jan- 
uary 8, 1833, being the fourth of a family 
of nine children. John Wood, Jr., and sub- 
ject of these lines, came to the United States 
in 1850, and located at Milwaukee, Wis., the 
family coming the year following, locating also 
in Wisconsin, where the father died in 1861. 
The mother died in Wisconsin in 1876. In 
Milwaukee he learned the trade of brick-layer, 
working at this business there until the spring 
of 1852, at which time he went to Chicago, where 
he was employed in building until 1862. In 
the early part of that year, he enlisted in the 
service, and was mustered in as First Lieuten- 
ant of Company A, of the Sixty-fifth Illinois 
Infantry Kegiment ; he was soon promoted to 
the commission of Captain, and later in the 
same jear received a promotion to Major of 
his regiment, which office he held until mus- 
tered out in May of 1864. He participated in 
several earnest engagements, and was made a 
prisoner at Harper's Ferry. In June, 1864, he 
came to Cairo, 111., where he associated himself 
with J. C. Rankin, under the firm name of Ran- 
kin & Wood, engaged in merchandising, also 
contracting and building. This partnership, by 
mutual agreement, terminated in 1868. Mr. 
Wood continued to work at building until 1872, 
and for three years was one of the committee 
to construct the Asylum for Feeble-Minded at 
Anna, 111., and the State Normal Institute at 
Carbondale, III. From 1872 to 1878, he was 



5d 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



engaged in the commission grain business in 
the firm of Green & Wood, later Green, Wood 
& Bennett, and now as Wood & Bennett, Mr. 
Green having retired from the firm in 1882. 
Mr. Wood was married, in Chicago, 111., No- 
vember 16, 1857, to Miss Mary L. Young, 
daughter of Peter and Lizzie (Dougan) Young. 
Mrs. Wood was born in Scotland Septeml^er 1, 
1835, and came with her parents to the United 
States in 1855. Both are members of the 
Presbyterian Church of Cairo, and Mr. Wood 
of the Masonic order. Their family comprises 
nine children, three of whom are deceased. 
Those living are John H., Elizabeth D., James 
C. K, Walter H., Lillian D. and Mary L. 

C. K WOODWARD, wholesale and retail 
hardware merchant of Cairo, 111., was born in 
Lockport, N. Y., on the 12th of July 1831, son 
of Warsham M. Woodward, who is a native of 
Connecticut, but for over sixty years a resident 
of Lockport, N. Y., where he still lives, being in 
his eighty-third year. He was married in Lock- 
port to Miss Abigail Richardson, a native of 
New York, but of English parentage. She died, 
a few years after marriage, leaving one son, 
Gorodon R., who, at the time of the mother's 
death, was but a few months old. The father 
was subsequently married and reared two chil- 
dren, viz. : Chauncey (deceased), and Mary S., 
widow of James Gash, formerly of Lockport. 
and later of Cairo, where he died. C. R. 
Woodward was reared in Lockport, N. Y., and 
at the age of seventeen came to St. Louis, Mo., 



where he afterward took a thorough course in 
business training in a commercial school of 
St. Louis, attending the school through the 
winter term and engaging as pilot on the river 
the remainder of the year. He was for five 
years a pilot and five years a Captain of a steam - 
boat on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Dur- 
ing the 3'ear 1859 and 1860, he was in the em- 
ploy of a hardware firm in the city of St. Louis. 
In 1861, having embarked in the iron business 
on his own responsibility, and having taken a 
sub-contract of Capt. Eads to furnish boat sup- 
plies for Com. Foote's gunboats, he came to Cai- 
ro, as it afforded better facilities than at that 
time were to be had at St. Louis. Thus the 
city of Cairo obtained one of its most enter- 
prising and energetic business men. He was 
married in 1852, at St. Louis, to Miss Christina, 
daughter of William and Celeste Christman, the 
former of German and the latter of French an- 
cestry. She was born in East St. Louis on the 
25th day of December, 1828. Her parents 
having died when she was a child, she was 
reared by a relative in St. Louis. They have 
four children — Agatha L., the wife of Alexan- 
der G. Boyse, Jabish H., Robert K. and Chris- 
tina A. Woodward. Mr. Woodward is just com- 
pleting a family residence on the corner of 
Tenth and Walnut streets, which, in architect- 
ural design, is a marvel of beauty, and which 
for durability perhaps surpasses any building 
in the city of Cairo. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternitv and of the I. 0. 0. F. 




CAIRO. 



56 a 



CAIRO EXTRA. 



[BIOGRAPHIES RECEIVED TOO LATE FOR INSERTION IN 
ALPHABETICAL ORDER.] 



ALFRED BOARDMAN SAFFORD, de- 
ceased, whose portrait appears in this work, 
was born in Hyde Park, Vt., January 22, 1822. 
When fifteen years of age, his parents removed 
to the then so called far West — to Illinois, 
where they preempted a Government homestead 
in the primeval prairie, at Crete, thirty miles 
south of Chicago. That year, 1837, Chicago 
became a cit}' with a population of between 
three and four thousand. Who to have looked 
upon the low, flat, muddy surface of the Chi- 
cago of that time, would not have been hooted 
at as a false prophet, had he foreshadowed the 
wonderful growth and business capacity of the 
Chicago of to-day. With the exception of a 
small hotel located at Blue Island, twelve miles 
from Chicago, there was scarcely a house, as a 
waj'mark, the entire distance to Crete, where 
one or two New England families had previously 
located. There was a public thoroughfare lead- 
ing from Chicago to Southern Illinois. The 
sparse settlers along it, remote from each other, 
received their meager supplies from what were 
called the " Hoosiers," who, making Chicago an 
objective point for the sale of their products, 
peddled them out on the way to those who 
sought after them. These " Hoosiers " seemed 
a curious folk to the New Englanders. They 
traveled in covered wagons, often as many as 



fifteen and twenty in file, and a distance of from 
one to two hundred miles. They made camp- 
fires out of what, it now seems a mystery, since 
the prairies were almost destitute of trees. 
They cooked their own food and usually slept 
in their wagons. The supplies they brought 
were smoked bacon, corn meal, flour, potatoes, 
and, in their season, apples and peaches. 
There was great advantage in several teams 
traveling in company. Iii seasons of heavy 
rains, the roads were almost impassable, and it 
often required a frequent doubling up of teams 
to extricate the wagons from a slough, into 
whose black, heavy mud they bad settled to 
the hub. Then the tediousness of a long, slow 
journey was greatly ameliorated b}' the social 
evenings the teamsters would spend around the 
camp-fire, and their frugal meal, composed of 
fried bacon, corn dodgers, and black coflee. 
They all wore homespun, and made clothes 
of blue or butternut colored jeans. With all 
of their uncouthness and illiterac}-, they were 
an honest people, and they were certainly bene- 
factors to the new settlers who had to build 
their log cabins, plow, sow and reap before they 
could become self-supporting. These eflbrts 
were often retarded months by prostrating 
fevers, which not unfrequently incapacitated, 
in turn, or at the same time, every member of 



56b 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



a family. The habits of industry and of fru- 
gality that were prominent factors in the boy- 
hood training of Mr. Saflford, shaped his useful 
and successful career as a man. His opportu- 
nities for an early education were limited to a 
public country school, which was a crude af- 
fair as compared with the country schools of the 
present time. Mr. Safford's mother had a great 
desire that her children should be well edu- 
cated, and there was no sacrifice among the 
many she was called upon to make which she 
made more cheerfully than when she could 
provide good books for them, or give them op- 
portunities for study. She used to stimulate 
them to read, by reading to and with them^ 
and she used to talk with them about the lives 
of the great and good benefactors of the world. 
And in every way she strove to incite them to 
seek after such knowledge as would enable 
them to do more for themselves and for others. 
When Mr. Safford was about eighteen years of 
age, he expressd a desire to study law, and the 
noble mother, ever on the alert to gratify every 
worthy aspiration of her children, made the 
way clear for him to follow out his inclination. 
He went to Joliet, 111., and studied in the office 
of his cousin, William A. Boardman, Esq., at 
that time a prominent lawyer of that town. 
He proved a very apt student and gave promise 
of a brilliant career in the profession. But 
when he put the knowledge he acquired to a 
test, he found the practical application of it 
very distasteful to him, and he very soon 
abandoned the practice of law to enter upon 
mercantile pursuits. In this line of business 
he was very successful. First, because he gave 
to it his undivided attention, and second, be- 
cause he was sincere and truthful; and third 
because he was genial and courteous to all 
with whom he came in contact. After doing 
business for several years in Joliet, he went to 
St. Louis, Mo., where he continued in trade for 
five or six years. While living in St. Louis, a 
very severe scourge of cholera was visited upon 



the city. While some of his associates in busi- 
ness were carried oflf by it, he did not abandon 
his post, nor shrink from giving aid to those 
who were attacked by it. He always felt that his 
immunity from the disease was largely due to 
the fact that he had no fear of it ; he did not 
deviate from his regular habits and kept his 
mind constantly occupied. But during his resi- 
dence in St. Louis, he was brought to the verge 
of death by an attack of small -pox ; he attrib- 
uted his recover^' to the considerate, tender 
care that was given him by friends. In 1854, 
a bank was established in Shawneetown, 111., 
and he was appointed cashier of it. The only 
communication that Shawneetown had with the 
outside world, at that time, was by boats that 
ran upon the Ohio River. It not unfrequentl}' 
happened that runs were made upon the bank, 
and at most unpropitious times, when the Ohio 
was at low water, and communication in conse- 
quence obstructed for days and sometimes even 
for weeks, by boats getting stranded on sand 
bars. It was upon such an occasion as this 
that a carpet-bagger made his appearance, and 
demanded the redemption of several thousand 
dollars of the bank's paper. 

Specie had been sent for and was expected 
on a boat that was stranded, and in order to 
gain as much time as possible, the money was 
counted out in the smallest coin, from 10 cents 
upward, that the bank had on deposit. So 
much time was consumed in the counting of it 
that before the man left with his weighty load 
the boat ai'rived with re-enforcements that 
made the bank secure against a repeated run 
on it. There were some very primitive expe- 
riences connected with banking in that section 
of the country at that time. There was a man 
in the neighborhood who had accumulated 
something of a competenc}'. He could not 
read nor write, and he had great distrust of 
those who could. He said he did not want his 
sons to go to school, for if thej' were educated 
the}' might become great rascals. He kept his 



CAIRO. 



56c 



mone}' buried, but he lived in constant fear lest 
some one would find it. One day he came to 
the bank and asked to see Mr. Safford, and with 
great secresy divulged to him the nature of his 
errand. He wanted to know if he might, after 
unearthing his money, bring it and deposit it in 
the safe. He came and deposited it in install- 
ments, slung in bags across his saddle. He want- 
ed it all counted, but he did not want any writ- 
ing to show the amount on deposit. Shawnee- 
town was a border town between the North and 
South. The inhabitants were largely composed 
of Kentuckians, Tennesseans and Missouri- 
ans. Although there was a public school fund, 
there had never been a public school in the 
town. The one log schoolhouse it once had 
was burned to celebrate the victory of Gen. 
Jackson in New Orleans, and none had ever been 
built to replace it. Mr. Safford immediately 
went to work to get the public school funds in 
available shape. A public school was opened 
by Mr. Safford's sister in the Presbyterian 
Church. There was considerable opposition to 
it, and it was called the " Safford Ragged 
School." But it increased from six pupils the 
first week, to fifty the first month, and to the 
ingathering of all the children within a few 
months. Mr. Safford advanced the money to 
build a schoolhouse, and from that time to this 
Shawneetown has had as good public schools 
as are to be found elsewhere in the State. In 
1858, the bank was removed from Shawneetown 
to Cairo, 111., and Mr. Safford was still retained 
as its Cashier. When the civil war was inau- 
gurated, Cairo sprang at once into importance ; 
soldiers poured in from East and West ; evei-y 
available building was seized upon for military 
purposes. Hospitals increased from one to 
many, and the din of battle was soon heard. 
The first engagement occurred at Bel«iont, 
twelve miles distant. All day cannonading 
was heard, and the excitement and anxiety was 
intense among those who watched and waited. 
Gen. Grant was stationed at Cairo at this time. 



and commanded at the attack upon Belmont. 
A confidence and friendship sprang up between 
Gen. Grant and Mr. Safford that lasted until 
the latter's death. He was one of the first to 
appreciate the skill and predict the future brill- 
iant career of Gen. Grant. Even before the 
battle of Belmont, he wrote to his brother, then 
living on the Pacific coast, that if such a man 
as Grant could be put at the head of the army 
the success of the Union arms would be se- 
cured. While Mr. Safford did not take an act- 
ive part in the war, the great and innumerable 
services he rendered those who did will never 
be forgotten as long as memor}^ lasts in regard 
to those trying and eventful times. Mr. Saf- 
ford was possessed of a judgment so candid, 
and of a mind so comprehensive, that his coun- 
sel was often sought after by those in respons- 
ible official positions, and his pecuniar}' aid was 
called into requisition from the highest to the 
lowest in command and service. Mr. SaflTord 
always responded so readily and generously, 
and withal so quietly, to calls for help that 
those most closely associated with him knew 
nothing of the amounts in money that he gave 
and advanced to soldiers. And it was not un- 
til after his death that unpaid notes revealed 
all that he had advanced to them and their 
families. It was said of Mr. Saflbrd, that if 
any one asked a favor of him that he could not 
grant, that his refusal was so courteous that the 
man went away feeling almost as happ}- as if 
his request had been granted. As the war ad- 
vanced, the opportunities were often very great 
to take advantage of some speculation that had 
the prospect of great gain in it. But Mr. Saf- 
ford, when approached bj' those who were eager 
to have his clear-sighted business judgment 
brought to bear upon a scheme of such prom- 
ise, was often heard to sa}-, " No, it shall never 
be said of me, whether my country wins or 
loses, that I speculated upon her misfortunes. 
What I make shall be done upon an open- 
handed, unswerving business basis." It will 



a 



56d 



BIOGRAPHICAL . 



never be known, except by those who drew up- 
on his bounties, how Mr. Safford upheld and 
strengthened the endeavors of those who 
worked in the hospitals and cared on the battle 
fields for the dead and the d^'ing. He could 
not go into the midst of suffering himself. 
The writer well remembers taking him into a 
hospital, but before he had passed through one 
ward he became deathl}' pale and sick, and had 
to be helped out. But he was in the closest 
sympathy with those who did devote them- 
selves to the work, and he gave unsparingly to 
help carry it on. Mr. Safford always identified 
himself with the best interests of the com- 
munity in which he lived. As soon as the 
countr}' was restored to peace, and life and 
business moved on in its usual channels, he 
bent his efforts towax'd building up first-class 
public schools in Cairo. The best of teachers 
were selected, schoolhouses were built, and the 
public schools of Cairo became the pride and 
boast of its inhabitants. 

The poor widows and orphans found in him 
an abiding friend, they came to him for advice, 
and if the}' had a pittance to be cared for he 
was tlie one to whose keeping it was intrusted. 
He was the first to establish a Savings Bank 
in Cairo, into which the mites of the working 
people could be put with safety, and thus help 
to encourage them to save, rather than to squan- 
der their earnings. When festal days occurred, 
it was Mr. Safford's custom to see to it that 
there was none so poor and friendless in the 
community as to be forgotten. He gave often 
without the recipients knowing the source from 
whence it came. He was one of those rare char- 
acters who lived to do good and to make others 
better and happier tor his having lived, but so 
modest and unselfish was he that he wanted no 
praise for what he did, and his only reward was 
the consciousness that he had done good. Mr. 
Safford's position led him in close contact with 
young men, and his living example was an in- 
spiration to them. He was the soul of indus- 



try; he never delegated to othei-s duties that 
belonged to him. He never was in debt; when 
his means were limited, he lived within them. 
He never used intoxicating drinks in any form. 
He never indulged in the use of tobacco in any 
shape. He was terapei'ate in all things, and his 
habits and tastes were all simple. He was 
never happier than when he saw others pros- 
perous, and he contributed to the success of a 
great many young men by encouraging them, 
and by helping them into good business habits*. 
Mr. Safford was very jovial and fond of play- 
ing jokes upon others, but he could take a joke 
as good-humoredly as he gave it. He abhorred 
shams and pretensions. The writer was with him 
once at a hotel where there was a family who 
put on a great deal of style and made them- 
selves rather conspicuous in many ways. He 
remarked in regard to them : " They can afford 
to put on airs; the man has recenth' gone into 
bankruptcy, but we who pay our debts as we 
go along, need to move on quietly." Mr. Saf- 
ford's love for children and the ready confi- 
dence they gave him, spoke volumes for the 
beauty and tenderness of his nature. When 
quite a .young man, his greatest pleasure in 
winter was to get a spacious sleigh and fill it 
with children unable to indulge in such pleas- 
ures, for a merry ride, and all his life he was 
ever mindful of ways to make children happy. 
Although married twice, he was never blessed 
with children of his own. He cared very little 
for society, but his home was ever^^thing to 
him, and was the center of genuine hospitalit}-. 
Mr. Safford took no interest in part}- strifes, 
but was devoted to his country and its welfare, 
and he was always firm in his support of such 
men for office as he believed would best 
serve the public weal. Mr. Safford left his 
home in July, 1877, for a rest of a few weeks 
in New England. He spent a week at the sea- 
shoi'e with an enjoyment of old ocean that was 
refreshing to witness. He was very fond of 
nature, and seemed a boy again in the buoyancy 



CAIRO. 



56 1-: 



and freshness of his spirit, when in close com- 
munion with her. His face was so expressive 
of geniality, that strangers were invariably at- 
tracted to him. He had the tender, shrinking 
nature of a woman, with all of the finest, no- 
blest traits of a man. He was most loyal in 
his friendships, and it can be truly said, that 
he had no enemies, but a host of friends ; he 
was so just and true in his dealings with men? 
that the}' could afford to differ from him in 
opinions, and yet harbor no feelings of ill will 
or distrust toward him. After leaving the sea- 
shore, Mr. Safford went on a visit to his native 
State. He seemed in perfect health. Along 
the journey he called the frequent attention of 
those traveling with him to the beauty of the 
scener}-. his soul seemed attuned to all beauty 
in nature, and to all goodness in mankind. The 
da3' after his arrival, he was constantly occu- 
pied in rendering kindh' services to those about 
him. He drove with an aged relative to the 
beautiful cemeter^' in Burlington. She said to 
him while driving, do you not have a dread of 
death ? No, he replied, it is inevitable, and 
comes in the order of nature, and when it calls 
me, I shall be read\' and willing to meet it. 
This remark was made in the forenoon, and at 
10 o'clock in the evening, he had -passed on to 
that bourn from whence none return. He 
went for a stroll in the evening, accompanied 
by his cousin, and fell insensible on the street 
in a fit of apoplexy. He was taken to the 
home of his cousin, where he was visiting in 
Burlington, Vt., and regained consciousness so 
as to speak to those about him, but soon sank 
into a swoon, and passed away as calmly as if 
falling into a peaceful sleep. He had often re- 
marked that it would be his desire to die in 
harness, and so it was; up to the last hour, he 
was useful and happy in conducing to the hap- 
piness of others. Not alone did those who 
were nearest and dearest to him, feel that his 
loss was irrepai'able, but in business circles, in 
the Odd Fellows Lodge, to which he was at- 



tached, in the public schools, and in all places 
where there was need of aid to further noble 
eflTort, he was missed and mourned. 

"So calm, so constant was his rectitude, 
That by his loss alone we knew its worth, 
And feel how true a man has walked with us on earth." 

HENRY HINSDALE CANDEE, Cairo, was 
born at Harwinton, Litchfield Co., Conn , on 
the 6th day of December, A. D. 1833. At the 
age of three years, his parents moved to Illi- 
nois and settled in the old town of Kaskaskia, 
where they resided till December, 184-1, when, 
having been rendered homeless b}' the unprece- 
dented floods of that year, they removed to 
Cairo, 111. At that date, the facilities for obtain- 
ing an education in Cairo were very meager. 
Mr. Candee's parents being anxious that their 
boj' should receive an education, sent him, at 
an early age, to Jubilee College, a promising 
institution then just established by Bishop 
Chase at Robin's Nest, Peoria Co., 111. ; but, be- 
fore finishing his education, 3'oung Mr. Candee 
was called home by the death of his father, and 
was compelled to seek emploj^ment and assist 
his mother in the support of herself and three 
children. He engaged in various occupations, 
learning telegraphy, etc., till finally, by the as- 
sistance of friends, he was enabled to purchase 
a grocery stock. He continued in this business 
till the outbreaking of the rebellion, when he 
entered the United States Navy, first as a Clerk 
in one of the departments at Cairo, and later 
receiving an appointment as Assistant Pay- 
master. He served on the Ignited States Re- 
ceiving Ships " Maria Denning " and " Clara 
Dolsen," stationed at Cairo, and in the oflSce of 
the Fleet Paymaster. At the close of the war, 
he accepted a position in the Cit}' National 
Bank of Cairo, and was appointed Assistant 
Cashier. He remained in the bank about a 
year and a half, when he left that institution to 
engage in his present business, that of insur- 
ance. Mr. Candee ranks among the oldest res- 
idents of the city of Cairo. He was its first 



50 K 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



City Treasurer, and has held other oflaces at the 
hands of its people. He is now a Notar}' Pub- 
lic and United States Commissioner, and holds 
other responsible positions, being the President 
of the Enterprise Savings Bank and a Di- 
rector of the City National Bank. In religion, 
Mr. Candee is an Episcopalian, and is a zealous 
member of the church. He is held in high es- 
teem in the councils of his church ; among 



other positions, he is the Treasurer of the En- 
dowment Fund and the Secretary of the Prov- 
ince of Illinois — the first Province established 
by the American Church. On the 20th of Feb- 
ruary, 1868, Mr. Candee married Miss Isabella 
Shepard Laning, daughter of Capt. James Lan- 
ing (late of the United States Navy), at La 
Salle, 111. One son — Henry Safford Candee — 
has been the fruit of this marriage. 




ANNA PRECINCT. 



57 



UNION COUNTY. 



ANl^A PEEOIl^OT 

OLIVER ALDEN, merchant, Anna, is a na- 
tive of Plympton, Mass., born August 7, 1828. 
His father, John Alden, was a farmer, a native 
of Massachusetts. He was a soldier in the war 
of 1812. His wife and mother of our subject 
was born in Massachusetts, and died in her na- 
tive State. They were the parents of two chil- 
dren, of whom Oliver was the oldest child. He 
was raised on a farm, and educated in the com- 
mon schools. At twelve years of age, he left 
his home and apprenticed himself at the shoe- 
maker's trade. When he was sixteen years of 
age, he gave up the shoemaker's trade and be- 
gan learning the blacksmith's trade, and 
worked at the same in Massachusetts until he 
was twent3'-two 3'ears of age. In the winter 
of 1850, he came to Illinois, and again worked 
at his trade until 1859. He first came to Jones- 
boro. Union County*, in 1856, and three years 
later engaged as clerk with John E. Nail, in a 
general merchandising store. He continued 
with this gentleman until 1862, when he engaged 
with C. M. Willard & Co. in the same business. 
In 1863, he bought the stock of goods of his 
former employer, John E. Nail, and engaged in 
business for himself In 1879, he removed his 
stock of goods to Anna, where he is now doing 
a large and lucrative business. Mr. Alden was 
united in matrimony in 1853 to Miss Sarah 
Tripp, a native of Union County. She is a 
daughter of William and Frankie (Grammer) 
Tripp, who were among the first settlers of 
Union County. The}^ were from Tennessee, 
but natives of Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Alden 



have the following children, viz.: Abby, wife of 
L. T. Cook ; Alice, wife of H. C. Bouton ; Ern- 
est (John and Thomas — twins) Oliver, Betsey, 
Robert, Everett and Mary. Mr. Alden votes 
with the Democratic part}'. 

F. P. ANDERSON, jeweler, Anna, was born 
in St. Paul, Minn., September 1, 1858, and is a 
son of Dennis and Mar}' (CuUen) Anderson, 
and one of a family of ten children — nine of 
whom are still living. He was educated in the 
High School at Shelby ville. 111., whither his par- 
ents had removed in 1868. At the age of 
thirteen years, he apprenticed himself to the 
jeweler's trade with Mr. R. N. Mitchell, with 
whom he worked nearly eleven years, becoming 
a thorough and practical workman in ever}' de- 
partment of the business he has chosen. In 
June, 1880, he came to Anna, III., and opened 
a jewelry store, a business he has successfully 
conducted ever since. He carries a large and 
well-selected stock of his line of goods, con- 
sisting of a full assortment of clocks, watches, 
jewelry of all kinds, together with a complete 
stock of picture frames, stationery, etc. His 
square dealing, gentlemanly manners toward 
his customers, and uniform courtesy, has won 
for him a large and profitable trade and hosts 
of friends throughout the county. Mr. Ander- 
son was married in 1881 to Miss Anna M. 
Dennis, of Pana, 111., a daughter of Frank and 
Hannah (Colby) Dennis. They have one 
child— Ora, born October 28, 1881. 

CAPT. HUGH ANDREWS, the second 
child of Samuel A. and Margaret (Ramsey) An- 



58 



BIOGRAPHICAJL. 



drews, was born in Dayton, Ohio, March 16, 
1 834. Samuel Andrews was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, born in 1802, and with his parents re- 
moved to Dayton in the year 1804. In this 
place he was reared and became a farmer. His 
father, Hu^h Andrews, was a native of Ireland, 
who came to America in company with two 
brothers, and located in Pennsylvania. He was 
married in December, 1831. His consort 
was born in Hanover, Penn., December, 
1811. The}' were both exemplary members of 
the Presbj'terian Church. The issue of this mar- 
riage was eleven children, nine of whom, four 
sons and five daughters, survive to light with 
love and joy the evening of life of the venera- 
ble father. The mother passed away October 
19, 1868. Capt. Hugh Andrews was reared in 
Dayton, and attended the common schools of 
that place, and afterward studied at Wittenburg, 
and graduated in law department of Ann Ai'bor 
Universit}' in 1864. In 1855, he came to Union 
County and taught school. In 1859, he went 
to California, and for three years was a travel- 
ler and miner in that wild, rough countr3^ He 
returned to Union County in 1862, and entered 
the service of his country as a Captain of Com- 
pany D, One Hundred and Ninth Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers, and continued in this serv- 
ice for nine months. He had studied law 
with Judge James Baggott, of Ohio, and with 
Col. Dougherty, of Jonesboro, and in 1864) 
he entered upon the practice of the law, open- 
ing his office at Anna, where he is still in the 
active practice of his profession, and conduct- 
ing his fruit farm. In 1865, he was elected 
County School Superintendent, which position 
he filled with signal ability for four years. He 
entered into his office, finding it simply unor- 
ganized chaos. From this he brought order 
and placed the entire sj'stem of schools in Un- 
ion County upon their present successful career 
of usefulness. He organized teachers' insti- 
tutes, brought the teachers together and trained 
them to their work in a systematic way. 



and thus created a high order of graded schools. 
He built the most of the schoolhouses that 
now ornamented the school districts of the 
county, and has here erected a monument that 
will stand for man}' years as a fitting tribute to 
his intelligence, his energy and fine executive 
abilities. Capt. Andrews was married to 
Miss Kate E. Groff, October 8, 1867. She is 
a native of Lawrenceburg, Ind. Of this issue 
there have been eight children, of whom four, 
all girls, are now living, as follows : Christie 
L., Maggie, Mary and Sarah Belle. Capt. 
Andrews has had a busy life in Union County, 
practicing law, farming, and widely influencing 
the politics of the county, and filling important 
official positions. He has long been a member 
of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Knights of 
Honor societies, and has frequently repre- 
sented the first two in the Grand Lodges. He 
is a young man yet, hardly reached the prime 
of his mental life, and is well justified in look- 
ing forward to a most promising future, and 
being a man of noted integrity, a high sense 
of honor, and a genial, warm heart, with the 
best of social qualities, there is around him 
and among his extended acquaintance a host 
of friends who will rejoice at any and all suc- 
cess that may await him. 

JOSIAH BEAN, farmer. P. 0. Anna, is a 
native of Union County, 111., born in December, 
1835. His father George Bean, was born in 
Virginia in 1806, and was there raised and 
educated; arriving at his majority, he removed 
to Tennessee, and there married. In 1831, he 
removed to Union County, 111., and settled in 
Jonesboro Precinct. He was a farmer by oc- 
cupation. He died in the fall of 1856. Eliza- 
beth (Taylor) Bean, subject's mother, was born 
in Tennessee, in 1807, and died in Union 
County, 111., December 25, 1880. She was the 
mother of eight children, of whom the following 
are living : Thomas, Josiah, Amanda, wife of 
Henry Hess, Emma, wife of Marshall Rendle- 
man. Josiah, our subject, was raised on the 



ANNA PEECINCT. 



59 



farm and educated in the subscription schools 
common in his day. At twenty-three years of 
age, he left home and engaged in farming on 
his own account. He commenced life in very 
limited circumstances, and has succeeded in 
, accumulating good property, and is the owner 
of about 1,000 acres of good land. In May, 
1858, he married Miss Cai-oline Hileman, a 
native of the county. They have the following 
children : George C, Monroe, Nancy, Emma 
and Carrie. Mr. and Mrs. Bean are members 
of the United Baptist Church of Anna. Polit- 
ically, he is a Democrat. He was at one time 
President of the Union County Agricultural 
Association for two years. 

HARVEY CADY BOUTON, proprietor 
Farmer and Fruit-Grower^ Anna, 111. Some 
individuals spend a life-time in the endeavor 
to discover the avocation for which nature has 
best fitted them, and to which their talents 
■can most profitabl}' and usefully be directed, 
xsot so with the subject of this sketch. Mr. 
Bouton was born to his business, his father and 
his uncle being old in experience in printing, 
publishing and general newspaper enterprise 
before him. His birth occurred on June 28, 
1856, in Centreville, St. Joseph Co., Mich. 
From his infancy, he was accustomed to watch 
the manipulations of type and press, and while 
yet in his early boj^hood handled the composing 
stick and rule. His education was received at 
good home schools, and at Notre Dame Uni- 
versity, Ind. After serving several years with 
his father in publishing the Jonesboro Gazette^ 
he in March, 1877, struck out for himself, and 
began issuing the Farmer and Fruit- Grower in 
Anna, at first as a semi-monthly. In Decem- 
ber, 1877, it was made an eight-page weekly 
journal. In 1882, it was again enlarged, and 
has remained thus to the present time. On 
October 10, 1877, he was married to Alice Al- 
den, by whom he had one child, Susie S., born 
March 9, 1880. 

S. D. CASPER, farmer, P. 0. Anna, is a 



native of Union Countj', 111., born June 25, 
1858, to Peter H. and Elizabeth (Henderson) 
Casper. He was born in Union Count}' in 1822, 
and was here raised on a farm and educated in 
the subscription schools of his day. He first 
left his home to enter the Mexican war, and 
served in it to its close, when he returned to 
Union and engaged in farming and fruit grow- 
ing to the time of his death, which occurred 
December 2, 1878. His wife (subject's mother), 
was born in Tennessee December 29, 1828, and 
was brought to Union County by her parents 
in 1837. She is the mother of the following 
children : Walter J., America J., S. D., Addie 
L., Lincoln L., John R. and Oscar. Our sub- 
ject spent his earl}' life at home, assisting to 
till the soil of his father's farm, and receiving 
such an education as could be obtained in the 
common schools. At nineteen years of age, he 
took the management of his father's farm, and 
is now the owner of about ninety acres of good 
land. His farm and its general surroundings 
show the marks of a good agriculturist and an 
enterprising man. 

H. M. DETRICH, Steward of the South Illi- 
nois Insane Asylum, Anna, is a native of 
Sparta, Randolph Co., 111. He was born April 
29, 1856, to J. E. and Lydia (Wise) Detrich. 
He was born in Pennsylvania, where he re- 
ceived a common school education and a 
knowledge of the German language ; he learned 
the printer's trade in Pennsylvania in 1832- 
He came to Illinois and located in Randolph 
County, where he worked at his trade for some 
time, and later became the editor and proprietor 
of the Columbus Herald. After two years, he 
engaged in the mercantile business, at Sparta 
(formally Columbus). He was elected Repre- 
sentative of Randolph County, and afterward 
was elected Senator of his district. After the 
expiration of his Senatorial term, he again en- 
gaged in the mercantile business, and while 
thus engaged was appointed Internal Revenue 
Collector. At the breaking-out of the late rebell- 



60 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



ion, he raised a compan}' of men, known as Com- 
pany K, of the Twentj^-second Illinois Regi- 
ment Volunteers, and was appointed Captain of 
the company. He served three years and was 
engaged in many battles. He was mustered 
out of the service on account of poor health ; 
he returned to Randolph Count}' and again en- 
gaged in mercantile pursuits. Under Gen. 
Grant's first administration, he was again ap- 
pointed Internal Revenue Collector, which posi- 
tion he held for several years, and in connection 
with his official duties engaged in real estate. 
He was appointed Trustee of the Southern Illi- 
nois Insane Asj'lum, ^id elected President of 
the board. In 1882, he was appointed to a 
position in the Pension Department at Wash- 
ington, D. C, in which he is now engaged. He 
has been married three times ; his first wife was 
a Miss Shannon, who bore him two children — 
Robert and Fred ; the former is now Deputy 
Clerk of Randolph County, and the latter a 
druggist of Alton, 111. His second wife was 
Lydia Wise, the mother of our subject, and 
Don E., who is State's Attorney of Randolph 
County, 111. He was married a third time to 
Mrs. S. A. Jacobs. Harry M. Detrich was edu- 
cated in the high schools of Sparta, 111., and in 
earl}' life learned the printing and newspaper 
business ; he worked at the same in this State, 
also in Colorado. In the spring of 1878, he 
was appointed Clerk of the Southern Illinois 
Insane Asylum, and after one year was promoted 
to the position of Steward by Dr. H. Wardnerj 
which office he now holds. Mr. Detrich was 
married at Anna, 111., October 19, 1881, to Miss 
Anna M. Hay, a native of Illinois. They have 
been blessed with one child, Burke H., born 
July 7, 1882. Mi\ Detrich is an active mem- 
ber of the order K. of H., Anna Lodge, No. 
1892. In politics, he is a Republican, and in 
1880 he stumped this Congressional District 
for James A. Garfield. 

JAMES DEWITT, blacksmith, Anna. 
This gentleman is a native of Union Count}', 



born November 9, 1844. His father, John 
Dewitt, was born in Virginia, where he was 
only partly raised, when he was removed to 
Kentucky by his parents. He was a farmer 
by occupation, and engaged in the same until 
the breaking-out of the late war, when he en- 
tered it ; was wounded at Fort Donelson, and 
died at the St. Louis Hospital from its effects ; 
also sunstroke ; it occurred in June, 1863. 
His parents were natives of Virginia, and of 
French descent. Margaret (Cruse) Dewitt, 
(subject's mother), was born in North Carolina, 
and came to Union County with her parents 
who settled south of Jonesboro. She died 
in 1873, aged forty-six years. She was the 
mother of six children, of whom the following 
four are now living : Martha, wife of Henry 
Douglass, a farmer of Jonesboro Precinct ; 
Mary, wife of Eli Douglass, a blacksmith of 
Alexander County; Laura, wife of E. C. 
English, a cooper of Jonesboro, and James, 
our subject, who was the fourth child ; he was 
raised on the farm, and educated in the com- 
mon schools ; at twenty-one years of age, he 
left his home and apprenticed himself to Eli 
Douglass to learn the blacksmith's trade, and 
remained with him for about three years; when 
he came to Anna, and opened a shop on his own 
account. He is now engaged in the same 
business in partnership with William W. 
Stokes, and besides doing a general blacksmith- 
ing business, they carry a large and complete 
stock of farm wagons, road buggies, also a 
large assortment of plows, cultivators, harrows, 
and in fact a general ling of agricultural imple- 
ments. Mr. Dewitt was married in 1869, to 
Miss Laura A. Walker, a native of Union 
County, and a daughter of Hiram Jay and 
Nancy (Hargrave) Walker. This union' has 
been blessed with the following children : Es- 
tella and Mamie. Mr. Dewitt is a Democrat 
in politics, and a member of the Knights and 
Ladies of Honor, and the I. 0. 0. F. 

PETER DILLOW, farmer, P. 0. Anna. The 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



61 



subject of the following sketch descended from 
a long line of ancestors, all tillers of the soil, 
and has spent nearly the whole of his active 
life as a farmer, and now enjoys that respect, 
confidence and affection of his fellow-citizens 
which a useful and upright life can permanently 
secure. He was born February 28, 1820, in 
Union County, 111., and is the son of Samuel 
and Margai'et (Lingle) Dillow, natives of North 
Carolina and residents of this county. While 
yet single, the father settled with his father, 
Jacob Dillow, near Cobden. He is deceased. 
The mother of our subject survives, with him, 
at the ripe old age of ninetj^ years. She is the 
mother of five children ; the subject only sur- 
vives. Peter's educational advantages were such 
as only a district school afforded, and were lim- 
ited at that, the entire amount not being more 
than one year. He was subjected to the com- 
mand of his father to attend the duties of 
farmer life until having reached his majority, 
when he set out for himself, marr3ang at that 
age Mahulda Treece, a daughter of Alexander 
Treece, the result of which union is ten chil- 
dren, all of whom survive, viz., Calvin, Wal- 
ter, James, Nelson, Columbus, Sydney, Mansena, 
Alice, Frances, Dora. Immediately after his mar- 
riage, he located on a tract" of land yet in his pos- 
session, and in real earnest set about the busi- 
ness of taming the wilderness, which, under his 
strong hand, guided by his consummate skill and 
taste, has long since been made to '' rejoice and 
blossom as the rose ;" he is one of the most 
successful and dexterous farmers in his neigh- 
borhood, and is the artificer of his own fortune 
of 400 acres of finely improved land. He has 
long since laid aside the wooden mold-board 
plow, and has at his command the modern im- 
plements for tilling the soil. Although he had 
but little change for education, yet he has given 
his family of children every advantage he rea- 
sonably could. He votes the Democratic ticket. 
The family attend the Presbyterian Church. 
HORACE T. EASTMAN, farmer and dairy- 



man, P. 0. Anna, Anna Township. The sub- 
ject of this sketch stands prominent among 
the leading farmers of Union County, and 
justl}' merits a most honorable mention. He 
was born in Orleans Count}', N. Y., October 27, 
1820, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth 
(Tanner) Eastman. The former was born in 
Vermont in 1793, and was there brought up on 
a farm and educated. At the age of nineteen 
years, he enlisted in the war of 1812, partici- 
pating in the battles of Plattsburg and Bur- 
lington, under Gen. Dearborn, serving his coun- 
try about two 3'ears. After the war was over, 
he learned the carpenter's trade, which he fol- 
lowed during his life. In 1819, he removed to 
Orleans County, N. Y., and in 1835 to Ohio, lo- 
cating at Sandusky. He came to Illinois in 
1857, and settled in Union County, and died 
in Anna in 1858. He was of English descent, 
and a son of Samuel H. Eastman, who was a 
native of Rhode Island, a soldier of the Rev- 
olutionary war, and who died at Sandusk}-, Ohio. 
He was a son of Ichabod Eastman, of Rhode 
Island, and also a soldier in the war of the Rev- 
olution. The mother of our subject was born 
in Vermont in 1799, and died in Michigan in 
1826. She was a daughter of Josiah Tanner, 
a native of Massachusetts. His father, with 
his seven brothers, were in the United States 
service during the Revolutionary war. The 
parents of our subject had two children, he be- 
ing the eldest, and the only one surviving. He 
was raised mostly in Ohio, and was educated 
in the common schools of that State. At the 
age of seventeen years, he left his home and 
commenced business for himself He worked 
for other parties and also with his father at 
the carpenter's trade, becoming an eflScient 
mechanic. In 1845, he engaged with the San- 
dusk}', Dayton & Cincinnati Railroad Company, 
and remained with them for eleven years, five 
3'ears as a journe3^man carpenter, and car 
builder, and nearl}' six years as master car- 
j penter. Upon leaving the employ of the 



62 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



company, he was presented by the President 
and other officials with complimentary recom- 
mendations as to his ability as a workman, 
and his industr}^ and business habits. At the 
time, and in connection with his duties in the 
railroad company, he was interested in a sash 
and blind factory, at Sandusky, in partnership 
with Samuel J. Catherman, under the firm 
name of Eastman & Catherman. Mr. Eastman 
came to Union County in December, 1856, 
and located at Anna, where he worked at his 
trade for several years. He built many of the 
residences and business houses of that place, 
including the brick mill, recently burned, also 
man}' of the finest residences and barns through- 
out the county. In 1861, he removed to his 
present farm, which he managed in connection 
with his trade, until 1880, when he gave up 
carpentering for the purpose of devoting his 
entire attention to his farm. He has 120 acres 
in a fine state of cultivation and well-improved. 
Formerly he was largely engaged in fruit-grow- 
ing, but is at present giving his attention al- 
most wholly to the dairy business, and is sup- 
plying with milk some of the largest hotels in 
Southern Illinois, among which are the Euro- 
pean at Anna, and the Halliday at Cairo — fur- 
nishing to the latter over S200 worth of milk 
per month. He keeps now about thirty cows. 
Mr. Eastman was married in 1849 to Miss 
Hannah L. Snow, a native of Genesee County, 
N. Y. She was born in February, 1828, and is 
a daughter of Libeas and Mercy (Smith) Snow ; 
her father was a native of Vermont and a 
marine in the war of 1812, with Com. Mc- 
Donough, in the battles of Plattsburg and Lake 
Champlain. He lived to be eighty -four years 
of age, and died in Michigan about the year 
1865. His wife died in Holmes County, Ohio, 
October 18, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman have 
eight children living — Julia, wife of Henry A. 
Walls, a farmer of Morgan County, 111. ; Fan- 
ny, wife of L. N. Davis, a farmer of this coun- 
ty, Elmer B., Nora, Harmon, Horace Gr., 



Kittle and Samuel. Mr. Eastman is a Repub- 
lican in politics ; he is probably the largest 
bee-raiser in the county, and has made many 
impi'ovements in hives and in bee-culture 
generally. On the 19th day of September, 
1830, the subject of this sketch was with his 
father and brother on board of steamer Peacock, 
and when off Cattaraugus Creek, N. Y., she 
blew up, blowing off her forward upper works, 
killing, scalding and drowning over seventy 
people, but he escaped with a few slight burns. 
M. V. EAVES, merchant, Anna, is a native 
of Union County, 111., and was born five miles 
east of Anna, August 28, 1845, and is a son of 
Judge William and Martha (Williams) Eaves. 
They had five children, of whom our subject 
was the youngest. He was brought up on the 
farm and educated in the common schools of 
the county. At the age of twenty-two years, 
he left home and commenced the battle of life 
for himself; he engaged in clerking in the store 
of C. M. Willard, at Anna, remaining with him 
for about two years, when he commenced mer- 
chandising on his own account, but after two 
years went back to his former employer, and 
after two years more engaged in trading in 
live stock and grain, and in April, 1878, en- 
gaged in his present business in partnership 
with Mr. Goodman. In 1866, he married Miss 
Fanny Braiznell, a native of Union County and 
of English parentage, a daughter of Andrew 
Braiznell, a native of England. They have one 
child living — Eva, born in Anna, July 22, 1867, 
and two children dead. He is a Democrat, a 
member of the Masonic order, and he and his 
wife are members of the Baptist Church. 

WILLIAM MICHAEL EDDLEMAN, phy- 
sician, Anna. One of the old and prominent 
families of Union County is that of Eddleman. 
The grandfather of our subject, Joseph Eddle- 
man, was born in North Carolina in 1802, and 
was a son of John Eddleman, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, who emigrated to North Carolina at 
an early da}'. The wife of Joseph Eddlemaa 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



63 



was Sarah Hess, a native of Illinois, and who 
was born in Union County in 1806. She is still 
living, and is the mother of thirteen children — 
ten boys and three girls — all of whom lived to 
the years of maturity. Joseph Eddleman was 
a prosperous farmer and died in 1856. Eli 
Eddleman, father of our subject, was born 
February 21, 1831, in Union County, and is 
now the owner of over 500 acres of excellent 
land. He was for a time engaged in milling 
and merchandising, but gave up the former for 
a number of years, and afterward engaged in 
the mercantile business. He was married in 
1852, in this county, to Miss Mary L. Halter- 
man, a native of North Carolina, born Septem- 
ber 24, 1829, and came to Union County with 
her parents in 1850. She has nine children, 
viz.: Henry E., born September 1, 1853 ; Sarah 
J., born June 8, 1855, and the wife of William 
N. Jenkins ; John Wesley, born December 14, 
1856 ; William Michael (subject), born March 
22, 1858 ; Walter Allen, born January 10, 1860, 
deceased ; George, born September 18, 1861, 
deceased ; Daniel T., born February 3, 1863, 
deceased ; Mary Ellen, born August 26, 1865, 
and the wife of D. Penninger ; James Cyrus, 
born November 14, 1867. Mrs. Eddleman's 
father was Abraham Halterman, a native of 
North Carolina, and born in 1800. He was a 
farmer and carpenter, and in 1823 built the 
County Court House at Concord, N. C, and in 
1850 came to Union County, 111. He was a 
large land holder, owning some 2,500 acres of 
land ; he died in 1853. His father was Chris- 
tian Halterman, a native of Pennsylvania, but 
an early emigrant to North Carolina. Our sub- 
ject was raised on the farm until he was nine- 
teen years of age, and receiving during the time, 
the benefits of the common schools. Small 
events sometimes change the whole current of 
our lives, as the following incident in the life of 
Dr. Eddleman will show : In his boyhood, he 
took great interest in domestic matters, and 
particularly in the raising of poultry, so much 



so that he soon relieved his mother of all care 
of her chickens and other fowls. So great was 
his devotion to his feathered charges, that if one 
met with the slightest accident, he nursed it, 
and cared for it to such an extent that the fam- 
ily in derision applied to him the title of " Doc- 
tor." This was at first somewhat embarrassing, 
but as he grew older the idea of making a phy 
sician of himself was conceived. At the age of 
nineteen, he entered Ewing College, at Ewing, 
111., where he remained for about five months 
and then returned home. In the fall of 1878 
he went to Valparaiso, Ind., and there attended 
the Indiana Normal School, graduating from 
that institution in June, 1880. He had, how- 
ever, taken lectures at the Kentucky School of 
Medicine, and the Hospital College at Louis- 
ville, and in the fall of 1881 entered the Med- 
ical Departmert of the Universit}'^ of Tennessee, 
at Nashville, and after seven months, graduated, 
receiving his diploma February 23, 1882. In 
*June following, he located at Anna, 111., and en- 
tered upon the practice of medicine. His nat- 
ural ability, education, and a strong sympathy 
for the woes of suffering humanity, qualify him 
in an eminent degree for the profession he has 
chosen. Although he has not 3'et been in 
practice a year, he has professional charge of 
the County Almshouse. Dr. Eddleman is a 
Democrat in politics, is connected with the 
Lutheran Church, and is a member of the 
Southern Illinois Medical Association. 

REV. JOHN M. FARIS, farmer, P. 0. Anna, 
was born in Ohio County, Va., May 23, 1818, to 
William and Elizabeth (McDonald) Faris. The 
elder Faris was a native of the same county, 
born in 1793 and died in 1873. He was a farmer, 
a soldier of the war of 1812, and home guard of 
the late civil war. He was a son of John 
Faris, a native of Ireland, who, with his father, 
William Faris, came to America in 1850. John 
served in the Revolutionaiy war three years. 
Our subject's mother was a native of Wash- 
ington County, Penn., born in 1797. She re- 



64 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



moved to Ohio County with her parents in 
1812, and was married to William Paris (sub- 
ject's father) in 1817, and died in 1876. She 
was a daughter of Archy McDonald, a native 
of Scotland, who came to America at the 
age of twelve He was seven j-ears in the 
Revolutionary war as a fifer, and played at 
the battle of Yorktown. Subject's parents had 
twelve children, of whom four are now living, 
viz.: Margaret, wife of Richard Carter, residing 
in Virginia ; Sarah J., wife of David Flock, 
residing in Atchison County, Mo.; Mary Ann, 
wife of Joseph E. Stewart, residing in Topeka, 
Kan., and John M., our subject, who was the 
oldest child. He was raised on the farm ; taught 
school at fourteen years of age, and at six- 
teen entered the Washington (Penn.) Col- 
lege ; graduated in 1837, and from the West- 
ern Presbyterian Theological Seminary at 
Allegheny City in 1840. He immediately 
commenced preaching at Barlow, Washington 
Co., Ohio. In 1844, he removed to Frederick- 
town, Knox Co., Ohio, and remained until 1855, 
when he became financial agent, raising funds 
for the Washington College. In January, 1858, 
he was called to first Church of Rockford, 111., 
and held the same for five years, when he 
took the financial agency of the Presbyterian 
Theological Seminary of Chicago, and resigned 
the same in November, 1866, when he came 
to Union County and engaged in farming on 
his present farm. He has spent fifteen or 
sixteen years in the church financial work 
with notable success. He resigned all of 
his positions in the spring of 1883. In 1840, 
at Allegheny City, he married Miss Anna E. 
Wallace, a native of Pennsylvania who has 
borne five children, two of whom are now liv- 
ing, viz.: William W., whose biography ap- 
pears in this work, and Sarah Anna, wife of 
E. R. Jennette, of Anna, 111. Mr. Paris is a man 
well worthy of the high esteem in which he is 
held by the community in which he lives ; he 
has given up active life and is now residing 



on his farm, enjoying the fruits of his past 
labors. 

REV. WILLIAM W. PARIS, editor of Anna 
Talk, minister of Presbyterian Church, was 
born in Barlow, Washington Co., Ohio, 
August 25, 1843 ; passed through the high 
school of Fredericktown, Knox Co., Ohio, in 
1855-56 ; spent the winter of 1856-57 on the 
farm of his grandparents in Ohio County (now 
West), Va. ; was at Miller Academy, 
Washington, Guernsey Co., Ohio, during the 
summer of 1857, and immediately thereafter 
took the freshman and sophomore years at 
Washington College, Pennsylvania ; taught 
school in Winnebago County, 111., during the 
wintei's of 1859-61, spending the one summer 
mostly as a farm laborer, and the other as a 
book-keeper in N. C. Thompson's bank, Rock- 
ford ; went to California in August, 1861; 
spending most of the time until September, 
1864, in teaching ; enlisted in the First Nevada 
Cavalry in September, 1864, and received his 
commission as Second Lieutenant of the same 
in 1865; owing to the close of the war, he was 
not mustered in as such. Returning East, he 
graduated from Chicago Universit}' in 1866, 
and from the Presb^'terian Theological Semin- 
ary of the Northwest at Chicago in 1869. He 
was licensed in April, 1867, and ordained to the 
ministrj- of the Presbj'terian Church in June, 
1868. He served the church of Vermont, 111., 
from 1867 to 1869, and again from 1871 to 
1874, spending a few months in 1869 in charge 
of the Twenty-eighth Street Church, Chicago, 
and the interval till 1871 as pastor in Cape 
Girardeau, Mo. He was pastor of Grace Mis- 
sion Church, Peoria, from 1874 to 1876; of the 
church in Clinton, from 1876 to 1881, and the 
church in Carlinville, from 1881 to 1883 ; when, 
finding a large family on his bands inadequate- 
ly provided for by strictly ministerial income^ 
he removed. May, 1883, to Anna, under call to 
the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in 
that place, and also to the Principalship (with 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



65 



the Rev. C. W. SiflFerd as his associate) of the 
Union Academy, originated by the citizens of 
that place, and announced to be opened in Sep- 
tember, 1883. With this work, he has also 
undertaken the conduct of a local newspaper 
with religious and literary features, known as 
The Talk, the first number of which was issued 
May 11, 1883. On June 22, 1868, he was mar- 
ried in Chicago to Isabelle Hardie Thomson, 
daughter of the late Thomas and Marion 
(Somerville) Thomson, who was born in Lin- 
lithgow, Scotland, in 1843. To them have been 
born nine children, eight of whom survive, one 
having died in infanc}'. In 1876, he was 
awarded by the Trustees of Dartmouth College 
the Fletcher prize ($500) for the best essay on 
worldliness among Christians, and the book was 
published in 1877 by Roberts Bros., Boston, 
under the title " The Children of Light." 
Further than this his literary productions have 
so far been confined to pamphlets and fugitive 
articles in Scribner's Monthli/, the Independent, 
and other secular and religious periodicals. His 
political sympathies have always been with the 
conservative wing of the Republican party. 

E. H. FINCH, livery, Anna. The subject of 
this sketch was born in Wayne Count}-, N. Y., 
on the 14th of December, 1818. He was the 
son of Andrew Finch, a carpenter and builder, 
and a native of Connecticut, born May 27, 1781. 
He built some of the first houses in Lyons, N. 
Y. In 1834, he removed to Ridgewa}-, Orleans 
Co.,N. Y., and subsequently to Medina County, 
Ohio, where he died on the 22d of August, 
1863. His wife was Catherine Crandall, of 
Kinderhook, N. Y., and was born November 
24, 1787, and died in Medina Count}', Ohio, 
July 20, 1869. She was the mother of twelve 
children, six of whom are now living. E. H. 
Finch, our subject, was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native county, and at the 
age of fourteen years was apprenticed to the 
trade of blacksmith. He worked at the forge 
until 1850, and during the time was engaged 



in New York, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, and 
in 1850 he came to the latter State, where he 
was employed on the Chicago, Alton & St. 
St. Louis and the Illinois Central Railroads, 
grading under contracts from the companies. 
He came to Anna in 1855, and engaged in the 
lime business with Mr. Cyrus Shick, an industry 
in which they are still engaged. In addition 
to this business, Mr. Finch owns an extensive 
livery stable, which he has very successfully 
carried on for about eighteen years ; was for a 
time employed in operating the People's Mills. 
Mr. Finch ranks among the solid, enterprising 
business men of the count}', and one of its most 
honorable and respected citizens. In politics, 
he is a Republican, is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, also of the Board of Trustees of 
Southern Illinois Insane Asylum, and is Pi'esi- 
dent of the board. He was married in 1840 in 
Gaines, Orleans Co., N. Y., to Miss Ange- 
line Gregory, a native of Greene County, N. Y. 
She died in 1851, leaving one child, Edgar A., 
now clerk at the Insane Asylum. Mr. Finch 
was married a second time, December 21, 1853, 
to Miss Sarah A. Philips, of Belleville, 111. 

A. D. FINCH, dentist, Anna, was born in 
Hinckley, Medina Co., Ohio, October 13, 1838, 
and is a son of William and Louisa Ann (Mar- 
quitt) Finch, natives of New York State. He 
was born in 1806, and was brought up on his 
father's farm, where his education was con- 
fined to the subscription schools of the period. 
When he reached manhood, he became a car- 
penter and builder, and in 1836 emigrated to 
Hinckley, Ohio, where he died in 1849. He 
was a son of Andrew Finch, a native of New 
York, of German descent, and a farmer and 
carpenter. The mother of subject was born in 
1806, and died at Hinckley, Ohio, May 6, 
1880. She was the mother of seven children, 
of whom our subject was the fifth, and is the 
oldest of the three now surviving, the other 
two being Mrs. Ellen Wait, the widow of 
Henry Wait, a farmer of Hinckley, Ohio, and 



66 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



Mrs. Kate, wife of William Kratzinger, a farm- 
er of Anna Precinct ; he also attends to the 
pumping of water for the tank of the Illinois 
Central Railroad at Anna, and is one of the 
oldest men in the employ of the road. Dr. 
Finch was educated at the common schools, 
and at Hillsdale College of Michigan, and 
afterward studied dentistry. He enlisted 
April 23, 1861, in Battery A of the First Ohio 
Volunteers, under the first call for troops. He 
re-enlisted for three years, and in 1864 veter- 
anized, serving until the close of the war in 
1865. He participated in the battles of Shiloh; 
Stone River, Chickamauga, the Atlanta cam- 
paign, Nashville and many others. He was 
taken prisoner at Stone River, and spent a 
time in Libby Prison, but was soon paroled 
at Annapolis, and with four others walked 
from there to Cleveland, Ohio, in sixteen days, 
in the month of March. Upon his return home 
after the close of the war, he commenced the 
practice of dentistry in Medina, Ohio, and re- 
mained there until April, 1867, when he came 
to Illinois, and located at Anna, where he has 
practiced his profession ever since. He owns 
a good farm within the corporate limits of the 
town, which he operates for his amusement and 
recreation of mornings and evenings, and not 
allowing it to interfere with the practice of his 
profession. He was married in 1857 to Miss 
Ruth Damon, a sister of Rev. J. H. Damon, of 
Medina, Ohio ; she died in July, 1866, leaving 
two children, viz.: Addie B., wife of D. W. 
Goodman, a merchant of Anna, and Nettie R. 
He was married a second time, in 1868, to Miss 
Mary Bowman, a native of Medina County 
Ohio. The result of this union is five chil- 
dren — Carrie L., George L., Nannie L., Flora 
E. and Andrew M. He is a Republican in 
politics, and a member of the Knights of 
Honor. 

E. A. FINCH, clerk at Insane Hospital, An- 
na, was born April 27, 1841, in Orleans Coun- 
ty, N. Y., and is a son of Mr. E. H. Finch, the 



President of the Board of Trustees of the South- 
ern Illinois Insane Asylum.^ He was educated 
principally at Adrian, Mich., and in Ma}', 1855, 
came to Anna, 111., where his parents were liv- 
ing. In 1861, on the 4th of Maj', he enlisted 
in Company I, of the Eighteenth Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry. After six months' service, 
he was transferred to Company M, Sixth Illi- 
nois Cavalry, commanded by Col. Grierson, 
afterward Major General. Subject served in 
the army about twenty-three months, mostly 
on detached duty. It was his regiment that 
made the famous raid from Memphis to Baton 
Rouge. He was a private while in the infan- 
try service, but was Second Lieutenant in the 
Cavalry. After his discharge from the arm}^, 
he returned to this county, where he was ap- 
pointed Provost Marshal for Union and Palaski 
Counties. After this he was appointed agent 
of the Adams Express Company at Anna, and 
held the position almost five years. In 1869, 
he entered the Anna Cit}^ Mills as a partner, 
in which he remained until 1872, when he 
sold out and went to Kansas. After remaining 
there engaged in farming for a year and a half, 
he returned to Anna in the fall of 1873, and 
took charge of the express office until 1877, 
when he farmed for one 3'ear, and was then 
appointed b}- Superintendent Wardner to the 
clerkship of the insane hospital, which posi- 
tion he still holds. He was married, March 29, 
1863, in Anna, to Miss Rebecca Dresser, born 
November 21, 1842, near Springfield, 111. She 
is the motlier of seven children — Leod G. 
Nathan D., Eleazer C, Kate, Charles E., Re- 
becca and Ford S. Mr. Finch is a member of 
the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Honor, Knights 
and Ladies of Honor, and is a Republican in 
politics. 

JAMES W. FULLER, farmer, P. 0. Anna. 
This gentleman is a native of Cayuga County, 
N. Y., born February 6, 1832. His ftither, Levi 
Fuller, was a native of one of the New England 
States, and was born in 1788. He was brought 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



67 



to New York State by his parents when a bo}-, 
and there learned the blacksmith's trade, but 
worked at the same only for a short time. He 
went to New Jersey after he became of age, 
and while there married and soon after removed 
to Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently to Jeffer- 
son Count}', 111., in 1843-44. Here he remained 
actively engaged in farming to the time of 
his death, which occurred in 1875 ; he was a 
soldier in the war of 1812, and was at Buffalo, N. 
Y., at the time the city was taken. His wife, 
Elizabeth (Wescott) Fuller (subject's mother), 
was born in New Jersey in 1808, and died in Jef- 
ferson County, III., in 1872. She was the mother 
of nine children, of whom the following are now 
living : Maria, widow of Michael Bond, John W., 
William, Robert, George and James W., who was 
the second child. John, William and Robert 
served through the late war;Wi]liam was wound- 
ed in the head by a shell at the charge on Tunnel 
Hill. James W. Fuller remained at home with 
his parents until he was twenty-one years of age 
and in the meantime received the benefit of the 
common schools. For eighteen years he was 
in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad 
Company, as track-la3'er. In the winter of 
1852, he came to Union County and located at 
Anna. He engaged in farming and working at 
his trade, that of carpentering, which he had 
learned when a young man. In 1882, he gave 
up working at his trade, and is now devoting his 
whole time and attention to his farm which 
contains 130 acres of good land. On the 30th 
of July, 1856, he married Miss Emily Mangold, 
a native of Pennsylvania, who was born July 2, 
1835. Her father, Henry Mangold, was born 
in G-ermau}' in 1804, and when he was four 
years of age he came to America with his pa- 
rents, who located in Penns3lvania. He was a 
farmer, carpenter and cooper. He died in 187G. 
Her mother, Catherine (Gunnold) Mangold, was 
born in Virginia in 1800 and died in 1849. Mr. 
and Mrs. Fuller have been blessed with the 
following children : Laura, wife of I. C. Piercol; 



Kittie, wife of H. J. Hileman ; Harr^-, James 
L., Franklin and Fred, at home. 

D. WEBSTER GOODMAN, merchant. Anna, 
was born in Union County, 111., January 8, 
1855, and is a son of Moses and Amanda C. 
(Peeler) Goodman. He was born in Rowan 
County, N. C, September 27, 1806, and brought 
up on a farm, and educated in the common 
schools of the time. When he attained his 
manhood, he engaged in farming and teaming, 
in the latter business otten making trips from 
his own county to Charlestown, S. C, and to 
other distant points. In 1852, he with two 
sons came to Union County, 111., and settled at 
Peru, or the cross roads in Dongola Precinct, 
where he engaged in merchandising. He re- 
mained there until about 1868, when he retired 
from active business, giving his attention only 
to his farm interests. He is now the owner of 
100 acres, mostlj' in grain and fruit. In 1827, 
he was married, but his wife died in North 
Carolina, leaving two children, viz.: Dr. M. M. 
Goodman, of Jonesboro, and J. V.. who died in 
California about 1878. In 1854, he married in 
this county Miss Amanda C. Peeler. The i-e- 
sult of this union is five children, of whom are 
living D. W. (subject), Thomas B., Nettie E., 
Charles H. and William W., who died in 1879, 
aged nineteen years. The mother of subject 
was born in Union County, September 22, 1836. 
She is a daughter of John C. Peeler, a native 
of North Carolina, and residing now in Anna. 
Our subject received the benefits of a common 
school education, and as soon as he was old 
enough, he worked with his father in the store 
until he closed out his business, and in 1869 
he entered the employ of C. M. Willard, with 
whom he remained until 1878, when he entered 
into partnei'ship with Mr. Eaves in his present 
business. He was married, September 6, 1882, 
in Anna, to Miss Addie B. Finch, a daughter 
of Dr. A. D. Finch. Mr. Goodman is identified 
with the Democratic party. 



68 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



HALL FAMILY. — Benjamin Hall was 
born in Maryland, on the coast, and was drowned 
in the Mississippi River, while engaged in trad- 
ing by flat-boat on the river. His parents were 
natives of Charleston, S. C. 

Green W. Hall, a son of Benjamin Hall, 
was born in Tennessee, and was educated prin- 
cipally at Baltimore, Md., where his parents 
had sent him, and where his education was 
liberal. At the age of twenty-one years, he 
left home, and commenced his own business 
career as a carpenter, a business he had learned 
from his father, who was a ship builder. He 
was about six years old when his parents 
moved from Tennessee to Union County, 111. 
Here he has remained ever since, with the ex- 
ception of about three years he was engaged 
at the Ferry at Commerce, Mo. He is now en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits, which he has 
followed since 1860. He owns a fruit farm of 
forty acres, in a fine state of culture. He is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and is identified with the Republican party. In 
1834, he was married to Miss Minerva Doug- 
lass, a native of Tennessee, and a daughter of 
Henry and Nancy (Armstrong) Douglass, both 
nati\^es of Virginia. Henry Douglass served 
in the war of 1812 and in the Black-Hawk war. 
They had twelve children, of whom seven are 
now living, viz. : Frank H., the oldest ; John 
W. D., tin and slate business at St. Joe, Mo.; 
Margaret, wife of Thomas Crews, a bricklayer at 
Duquoin, 111.; Eliza J., wife of James R, 
Kiger, a bricklayer of Jonesboro ; Thomas W. 
C.; Emma C, at home, and Athena A., wife of 
Alonzo King. 

Frank H. Hall, a son of Green W. Hall, 
was born in Commerce, Mo., February 4, 1840. 
He was educated in the common schools, and 
learned more from his father and by observa- 
tion and experience in business, than in any 
other wa}'. He was raised mostly in Jones- 
boro. whence his father removed when he was 
but four vears of age. When he was eleven 



3'ears of age, he was apprenticed to A. C. Cald- 
well, a tin-smith of that town, and remained 
with him for four years, after which he worked 
for different individuals in Jonesboro and 
Anna until the 3'ear 1861, when he removed to 
Cairo, and worked for the Government on 
gunboats until Fremont had the Mississippi 
fleet read}' to sail. He then returned to Vienna, 
and enlisted in Compan}^ A, of the One Hun- 
dred and Forty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
under command of Col. Lackey, serving for 
about four and a half years, and until the close 
of the war. He was at the siege of Vicksburg, 
and with the Army of the Cumberland. After 
his discharge from the army, he returned to 
Vienna, and engaged in business for himself — 
tin and general merchandise. In the fall of 
1868, he was burned out, sustaining a loss of 
all his goods, and was compelled to again go to 
work, which he did, with his brother at Cin- 
cinnati, in the tin and slate roofing. In 1874, 
the year after the panic, he returned to Anna, 
and has since been here, working at his trade. 
In the fall of 1866, he was married to Miss 
Flora A. Elkins, a native of Johnson County, 
111. They have five children — Flora A., Mary 

C, Adaline, Maggie and Frank. Politicall}-, 
he is a Republican ; he is a member of the 
Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities. 

T. W. C. Hall, a brother to Frank H. Hall, 
whose sketch precedes this, is a native of 
Union County, and was born April 1, 1850, a 
son of Green W. and Minerva (Douglass) Hall. 
His early life was spent on his father's farm, 
receiving the benefits of a common school edu- 
cation. At the age of twenty -two years, he 
went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and engaged in part- 
nership with his brothers, Frank H. and J. W. 

D. Hall, in the roofing business. He remained 
there until 1878, when he returned to Anna, 
and engaged in the stove, tin and furniture 
business, in which he has been successful. He 
was married in Jonesboro, in September, 1875, 
to Miss Emma A. Hileman, a daughter of 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



69 



Daniel and Sarah J. (Hargraves) Hileman. They 
have only one child — Stella, born in Cincinnati 
June 29, 1876. Mr. Hall is a Republican, but 
does not take much interest in the political 
questions of the day. 

J. I. HALE, physician, Anna. Among the 
rising medical practitioners of Anna, and her 
influential and self-made citizens, is the subject 
of this sketch, who was born in Union County 
on the 16th of April, 1841. He is a son of 
James V. and Susan Hale, who were natives of 
Kentucky and early settlers in Southern Illi- 
nois. Mrs. Hale is still living and resides with 
our subject. She is the mother of three chil- 
dren, of whom he is the second. When he was 
six years of age, he was apprenticed to Adam 
Lentz, a farmer in Saratoga Precinct, and while 
with him received the benefits of the common 
schools at such times as the work of the farm 
would permit, which, to say the least, was very 
limited. He remained with Mr. Lentz until he 
was eighteen years of age, when he enlisted in 
the late civil war, and served in Company C, 
One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry. He was principally engaged in hos- 
pital duty, first as nurse and afterward as hos- 
pital warden and steward. He was wounded 
at the siege of Vicksburg, and as a proof of his 
patriotism now carries the ball in his arm. 
July 21, 1865, he was mustered out of the 
service, and immediately returned to his native 
county, and soon after entered the Southern 
Illinois College at Carbondale, where he re- 
mamed until the summer of 1867, when he be- 
gan the study of medicine with Dr. S. S. Con- 
don, of Anna. In the fall of 1868, he entered 
the Chicago Medical College, and after attend- 
ing a course of lectures he in the spring of 
1869 began the practice of his chosen profes- 
sion at Sai'atoga, and in the spring of 1870 re- 
moved to Penninger ; but, in the fall of 1873, he 
returned to Chicago, and in the same college 
he had alread}^ attended he completed his med- 
ical studies and graduated in the spring of 



1874. Since then he has resided in Anna, 
where he has, by a faithful attendance to duty, 
acquired a large and lucrative practice. It be- 
came so extensive that recently (in the spring 
of 1883) he took into partnership Dr. Martin, 
a gentleman of fine ability and an ornament 
to the medical profession. Dr. Hale was mar- 
ried in Caledonia, 111., in 1868, to Miss Mary 
J. Wilson, a native of Union County. Three 
children have blessed their union — John Adam, 
Esculapius ,V. and Flora Ann. Religiously, 
they are connected with the Presbyterian 
Church of Anna,, of which he is one of the Eld- 
ers. Dr. Hale is a member of the American 
Medical Association, the State Medical Associ- 
ation and of the Southern Illiijois Medical So- 
ciety ; of the latter body he is Secretary. He 
is also a member of the Masonic, Odd Fellows 
and K. of H. orders. He was State Grand 
Master of the order of Knights of Trinit}', an 
order that is still flourishing in some locations. 
He has served two 3"ears as Postmaster at Pen- 
ninger, this count}'. Is now holding his second 
term as a member of the City Council, and is 
Coroner of Union County. Politically, he is a 
Democrat. 

, REV. ASA HARMON, farmer, P. 0. Anna, 
was born in the town of Rupert, Bennington 
Co., Vt, July 9, 1830, and is a son of Elijah 
and Martha (Lamphear) Harmon, both natives of 
Vermont ; he was a farmer by occupation ; she 
was born in 1795, and died in Missouri in 1877, 
and was the mother of six children, five of whom 
are living. Mr. Harmon, our subject, was raised 
on the farm, and received but a limited educa- 
tion in the common schools of the time. When 
he was six years of age, he removed to New 
York with his mother, and at seventeen came 
with her to Michigan, and there lived with and 
cared for her until he married. In 1856, he 
was ordained a minister of the Christian 
Church, and was pastor of a church near Paw- 
paw, Mich., for five j'ears. In 1861, he en- 
listed in the Second Michigan Cavalrv, and 



70 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



stood guard one night, after which he was pro- 
moted and transferred to Hospital Steward of 
the Third Regiment. The command went to 
St. Louis, and he remained in the army until 
May, 1862, when, owing to failing health, and 
at the advice of his physician, he was dis- 
charged and taken to his home by the attend- 
ing phj'sician. In the fall of the same 3'ear, 
having somewhat recovered his health, he was 
elected Chaplain of his old regiment, and in 
February following was commissioned to that 
office by Gov. Blair. He remained with the 
regiment until the close of the war, and was 
mustered out of the service in February, 1866. 
He then removed to his present residence, 
bought a farm of forty acres, and since has ad- 
ded sixty-three acres to it. His success has 
been good, and his farm which is highly im- 
proved, shows the care he has bestowed upon 
it, and his superior judgment as an agricultur- 
ist. In 1854, he married Miss Lucy Courtright, 
a native of Ohio. They have had five children, 
but two of whom are now living — 0. E. Har- 
mon, a law3-er at Chehalis, Lewis Co., W. T.; he 
married Miss Viola Noyes, a daughter of James 
A. Noyes, of Missouri, and is doing well; Ulysses 
who is farming with his father. Mr. Harmon 
and his family are members of the Christian 
Church, and he often occupies the pulpits of 
different churches as his health will permit. 
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity-, and 
of the K. of H. Politically, he is a Republican. 
He has served one year as President of the 
Union Count}' Agricultural Fair Association. 
JOHN HESS, farmer, P. 0. Anna, was born 
in Union Count}', 111., near his present resi- 
dence, November 21, 1821. His father, Joseph 
Hess, was among the first settlers of the 
county ; he was born in Rowan County, N. C, 
in 1800, and came to Union County, 111., in 
1818, where he entered eighty acres of land, 
and later eighty acres additional. He is now 
residing near our subject, enjoying in his latter 
3'ears, a life of ease and influence. He is a 



son of John Hess, a native of North Carolina, 
he came to Union County with Joseph in 1818, 
and lived but a few years afterward. He was 
of German descent. Mary (Hartline) Hess 
(subject's mother) was born in Rowan County, 
N. C, in 1798, and is still living. She is the 
mother of the following children : John, Mrs. 
Rendleman, Silas, Elijah, Isaac J. and Nanc}'. 
Our subject spent his earl}' life at home assist- 
ing till the soil of his father's farm and receiv- 
ing a limited education in the subscription 
schools common in his day. At twenty-three 
years of age, left his home and embarked on 
life's rugged pathway as a farmer. He com- 
menced on a forty acre farm and has added to 
it since, and now is the owner of 265 acres. 
In 1844, he married Miss Soloma Craver, a 
native of North Carolina, born August 16, 
1824. They are the parents of the following 
children, James C, Emaline M., wife of Jerry 
Boyds ; Malinda, wife of Thomas Manees ; 
Soloma M., wife of John Hileman ; John, Allen 
v., Dennis and Mollie at home. 

JASPER L. HESS, farmer, P. 0. Anna, was 
born in Union County, 111., four miles southeast 
of Anna, August 12, 1849. He is a son of 
Silas and Mary (Hileman) Hess ; he was born 
in Union County in 1826 ; was raised on a 
farm and educated in the subscription schools 
of the county ; he is now engaged in farming 
and is the owner of 249 acres of land ; he is 
a son of Joseph Hess (subject's grandfather), 
a native of North Carolina, born in 1798 ; he 
came to Union County in 1820, and still living, 
residing in Anna Precinct. The mother of our 
subject was born in Union County, 111., in 1826; 
she is the mother of the following children : 
Henry L., Jasper L., Mary E., the wife of Will- 
iam Boswell, George W., Silas F., Nancy C, 
John W. and Frances I. Jasper L. Hess was 
raised on the farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native county ; he remained 
with his parents on the farm until 1877, when 
he married and embarked on his career in life 



ANNA PRECINCT: 



71 



as a farmer, upon his present farm, now con- 
taining 151^ acres of the best land in Union 
County. In 1847, on the 2d of October, he 
married Miss Clemmie Eaves, a native of the 
county, born March 8, 1854. Mr. Hess is for 
the second year President of the Union Count}' 
Agricultural Fair Association. Politically, he 
is a Democrat. 

JACOB HILEMAN, farmer, P. 0. Anna, 
Anna Township. To mark the progress in the 
history of Union County during the last half 
century, one need only compare the condition 
of the country at the present time with its 
flourishing villages and growing cities ; its 
farms, with their waving crops, their blooming 
orchards, groves and hedges, and substantial 
dwellings ; its system of schools ; its railroads 
and its net-work of telegraphic wires, to its con- 
dition over fifty years ago, when its soil was un- 
broken b}^ the hand of husbandry, and the still- 
ness of its forests was undisturbed, save by the 
noise of the hunter's tread, and the crack of 
the Indian's rifle. It was at this earl}^ day, in 
1819, that the Hileman family moved from 
North Carolina to Union County. Jacob Hile- 
man, the subject of this sketch, was born in 
Union County, 111., on the 21st day of Decem- 
ber, 1823, and is of German descent. His 
father, Christian Hileman, was born in North 
Carolina in 1797, and was brought up on a 
farm, an occupation he followed during life. In 
1819, he came to Union County with his father's 
family, and settled near St. John's Church, 
south of Jonesboro. In 1823, he married and 
settled in Anna Precinct, near where the South- 
ern Illinois Insane Asjdum now stands. He 
became the owner of about 500 acres of land, 
and was an excellent farmer. Both he and his 
wife were members of the Reformed Church ; 
he died October 18, 1857. His father-, Jacob 
Hileman, was a native of Pennsylvania, but his 
parents came from Germany prior to the Re- 
volutionary war, and settled in Pennsylvania. 
Subject's mother, Nancy (Davis) Hileman was 



born in Rowan County, N. C, in 1805, and 
came with her parents to Illinois in 1817, set- 
tling about three miles south of Jonesboro; she 
is still living, and resides in Anna. She was a 
daughter of George and Catherine (Trexler) 
Davis, both natives of North Carolina — -the 
former a farmer and tailor, and the first tailor 
in Union County, having his shop on his farm. 
The parents of our subject had nine children, 
of whom he is the oldest ; Mary, wife of 
Charles Barringer, grocer of Jonesboro ; 
George, a farmer near Duquoin, 111. ; Thomas, 
who died from disease contracted while in the 
late war, his death occurring at home in 1863 or 
1864 ; Levi, a farmer of Anna Precinct ; Lavina, 
wife of John Barringer, a farmer of Anna Pre- 
cinct ; Caroline, wife of Josiah Bean, a farmer 
of Anna Precinct ; Christian M., a farmer of 
Anna Precinct. Subject spent his early life at 
home, assisting to till the soil of his father's 
farm, and receiving such an education as could 
be obtained in the subscription schools of the 
pioneer period, taught in log-cabin school- 
houses, with their slab seats, writing desks, etc. 
He remained at home until he was twenty- 
three years of age, when he married and went 
to farming on his own account. He at once 
located on his present farm, which then com- 
prised but eighty acres, with only ten acres in 
cultivation. It now contains 120 acres, with 
about eighty-five acres in a high state of culti- 
vation. He erected, in 1870, a handsome brick 
residence, which he has well and elegantly 
furnished. Mr. Hileman has been quite suc- 
cessful in raising sweet potatoes and small 
fruits, but makes wheat a specialty. In Febru- 
ary, 1846, he was married to Miss Tena Sif- 
ford, a native of this county, born in October, 
1825, and a daughter of Peter and Leah 
(Mull) Siffbrd, natives of North Carolina. They 
came to Union County in 1819, the Mull fam- 
ily settling north of Anna, and the Sifl?ord 
family south of Cobden. Mr. and Mrs. Hile- 
man have been blessed with eight children. 



73 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



viz. : Phillip W., John L., James N., Ellen D., 
Hamilton J., George T., Charles C. and William 
W. Both Mr. Hileman and his wife are mem- 
bers of the Reformed Church ; he is an Elder 
in the same ; is also a member of the Odd 
Fellows Lodge at Anna. He is a Democrat, 
and, though not an office seeker, was Sheriff of 
Union County from 1870 to 1874. 

HON. MATTHEW J. INSCORE, attorney 
at law, Anna, was born at Springfield, Tenn., 
February 2, 1841. His great-grandfather came 
from Germany, and settled in North Carolina, 
where his son William was born. The latter 
was a farmer, married there, and was the father 
of five children^Louis, Matilda, William W., 
Louisa and Joseph, the brother of subject, who 
was born 1811, in North Carolina. He went 
to Tennessee with his parents, and there learned 
the cabinet-maker's trade in Nashville. He 
came to this county in • 1850, and died there 
in 1854. He was married at Springfield, 
Tenn., to Mrs. Eliza J. Fyke, who was 
born in South Carolina, and died at Spring- 
field, Tenn., in 1846. She was the daugh- 
ter of William C. and Eliza Powell, whose par- 
ents came from England. She was the mother 
of seven children — Matilda, Oliver C, William 
W., Mary J., Matthew J., Martha A. and John 
L. Our subject received the full benefit of 
about thirty days' schooling during a three- 
months term in a district school in Union 
County. At the age of fourteen, he commenced 
to work as an apprentice for Klutts & O'Neal, 
saddlers and hai'ness-makers at Jonesboro for 
a three-year term. After the shop had changed 
to Samuel Flagler, who had bought it and 
moved it to Anna, our subject continued to 
work for him. After working two years and 
seven months, as an apprentice, in 1863 he 
commenced working for himself, and continued 
in that until 1869, when he was admitted to the 
bar. Our subject is a self-educated man, in his 
youth his books being his dearest companions, 
and while working at his trade he would have 



a law book before him, and thus through his 
own exertions he rose from the harness shop to 
the bar. Mr. Inscore has devoted most of his 
attention to the criminal law, that being his 
favorite department. He has filled the offices 
of Town Clerk, Treasurer and Police Magistrate 
of Anna, 111. In 1872, he was elected by the 
Republican party, as Representative for the 
Fiftieth Senatorial District of Illinois. He was 
re-elected in 1874, and since then has followed 
his profession. Our subject has been mairied 
twice. The first time in Xenia, 111., to Amanda 
J. Haskins, who died June 26, 1876, at Anna, 
111. She was the mother of four children, now 
living — Frances E., Stella B., Leet and Henry 
W. Mr. Inscore was married the second time 
to Miss Mary E. Brown, born April 17, 1841, 
in Pulaski, 111. Subject is a member of the 
Hiawatha Lodge, No. 291, L 0. 0. F., and in 
politics is identified with the Republican party. 
C. KIRKPATRICK, Anna Pottery, Anna, 
was born in Fredericktown, Ohio, December 
23, 1814, and is a son of Andrew and Anna 
(Lafever) Kirkpatriek. His great-grandfather 
was a native of Scotland ; his grandfather, Al- 
exander Kirkpatriek, was a native of New 
Jersey, and his father, Andrew, was born in 
Washington, Penn., in 1788. He learned the 
trade of potter in that State, and came to Anna, 
111., with subject in 1859, where he died April 
5, 1865 ; he was a soldier in the war of 1812. 
His wife, subject's mother, was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and died at Vermillionville, La 
Salle Co., 111. She was a daughter of Minor 
Lafever, a Revolutionary soldier, also of the 
war of 1812, and of French descent. Subject 
is one of a family of thirteen children, ten boys 
and three girls, five of whom are now living. 
His education was limited to the common 
schools, and at twelve years of age he left home 
and commenced clerking in a store and keeping 
books, where he remained for seven years. He 
then returned home and learned the trade of 
potter with his father, remaining about one 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



73 



year, and mastering the business before the 
year expired. After this he went to Cincinnati, 
and then to New Orleans on a flat-boat, for the 
purpose of seeing the country, and though re- 
ceiving but $10 per month, felt well repaid in 
the strange sights which met his view. This 
was in Februar}^, 1837. Being taken sick on 
the wa^', he returned home to Cincinnati, and 
in Maj of the same year he went to Urbana, 
Ohio, and engaged in the pottery business for 
himself, but after two years there went back to 
Cincinnati, married, and built a shop at Cov- 
ington, K}'., where he remained for about nine 
years. In 1848, he sold out and removed to 
Point Pleasant, Ohio, where he bought the La- 
con Potter^' and the house in which Gen. Grant 
was born, and two of his own children were born 
there. In 1853, he returned again to Cincin- 
nati, and in 1857 came to Illinois, locating at 
Mound City, in Pulaski County, where he built 
a pottery. In 1859, he came to Anna, and 
built the pottery where he is now engaged, and 
where he has since resided. He was married 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1839, to Miss Kebecca 
Vance, eldest daughter of Capt. Alex. Vance, 
who died in 1847, leaving two children — Sarah 
and Alexander — both now dead. In 1849, he 
again married, Miss Amy Vance. She is the 
mother of six children, five of whom are living, 
viz.: William, Cornwall,. A.nna, Amy and Ed- 
ward. Harriet is dead. Of his daughters. 
Am}- is quite an artist. Of her talent, the Chi- 
cago Tribune, of Msivch 4, 1883, says: "Miss 
Kirkpatrick, of the Vincennes Gallery of Fine 
Arts, a pupil under Messrs. Bromley & Green, 
has just finished a painting, a scene at Conway 
M'eadows, with the White Mountains in the far 
distance, which reflects very great credit upon 
her ; also a farm scene, being a composition 
characteristic of Southern Illinois rural life, 
etc. These paintings possess unusual merit 
for one so young, and her teachers and friends 
are enthusiastic in predicting for her a future." 
Mr. Kirkpatrick has never aspired to any polit- 



ical office that would materially interfere with 
his private business. He was a Whig in poli- 
tics, and afterward a Republican. He relates 
an incident which occurred when he lived in 
Covington, Ky. He was a candidate for Coun- 
cilman against a preacher, and defeated him by 
one vote. When the result was known, the de- 
feated parson took Mr. K. on his shoulder, and 
carried him through the streets in front of the 
polls. He is now Mayor of Anna, an oflSce he 
has fllled for five years previous to this term. 
A charter member of the Masonic and Odd 
Fellow Lodges of Anna; he holds the following 
oflflcial positions in the same ; Secretary of 
Anna Lodge, No. 520, A., F. «fe A. M.; Secretary 
of Anna Encampment, No. 59, 1. 0. 0. F.; Treas- 
urer and Conductor of Hiawatha Lodge, No.291, 
I. 0. 0. F.; Secretary of Board of Trustees of 
Southern Illinois Insane Asylum ; Director of 
Southern Illinois Fair Association ; Chairman 
of Committee on Chartered Lodges in Masonic 
Grand Lodge of Illinois, and King of Egyptian 
Chapter, No 45, R. A. M. 

W. W. KIRKPATRICK, Anna Pottery, 
Anna, was born at Urbana, Ohio, September 
23, 1828, and is a younger brother of C. Kirk- 
patrick, whose sketch appears in this volume. 
He was the twelfth in a family of thirteen 
children. When nine years of age, his parents 
removed to Illinois, in 1837, and settled at 
Vemillionville, in La Salle County. Here his 
father carried on a pottery, and subject re- 
ceived a limited education in the common 
schools. When he was twenty years of age, he 
went to Point Pleasant, Ohio, and learned the 
trade of potter with his brother, remaining 
with him about two yeai's, and about the year 
1850 went to California, where he engaged in 
mining for some two years, and then returned 
to Cincinnati, working in a pottery for a year. 
He then removed to La Salle County, 111., 
where he carried on a pottery for himself. 
Two years later, he removed to Mound City, 
111., and was engaged as the General Supervisor 



74 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



of the Mound Cit}' Building Company on all 
out-door work. He remained there two years, 
and in 1859 came to Anna, 111., where he has 
since remained, in partnership with his brother 
in the Anna Potterj-. He was married, in 1854, 
to Miss Martha Vance, of Cincinnati. A fam- 
ily of seven children have been born to them, 
of Avhom one is living, Wallace, born in 1865. 
Politically, Mr. K. is a Republican. He is a 
member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows 
fraternities; is Warden of the I. O. 0. F. 
Lodge and Encampment. 

C. E. KIRKPATRICK, photographer and 
Amercian Express agent, is a native of Point 
Pleasant, Ohio, born January 15, 1852, to C. 
and Amy (Vance) Kirkpatrick, whose history 
appears in another part of this volume. Our 
subject was educated in the common schools ; 
he came to Anna with his parents in 1859 ; he 
worked with his father in the pottery until he 
was eighteen years of age, when he appren- 
ticed himself to Mr. McGahey, of Anna, and 
learned the photographer's trade. In 1876, he 
engaged in the drug business at Anna, on his 
own account, and continued the same until 1878, 
when he sold his business and took the ageuc}"" 
of the American Express Company, at Anna, 
a position he still holds. In 1883, he opened 
a photograph gallery, which he controls, in 
connection with the duties of the Express Com- 
pany. He is also agent for eight diflferent fire 
insurance companies. He was married at Pana, 
in 1878, to Miss Frances Hubbard, a native of 
Indiana ; she has borne him three children, 
viz.: Harlow B., Olive M. and Harriet V. He 
is a member of the I. 0. 0. F. and K. of H., 
and is a Republican in politics. 

WILLIAM KRATZINGER, employe of the 
Illinois Central Railroad and farmer, P. 0. 
Anna, born December 17, 1832, in Darmstadt, 
Germany. His father, Johann H. Kratzinger, 
was born in 1797 in Germany ; he died in 
1849 in Chicago, 111. He married Elizabeth 
Dietrich, born in German}-, where she died in 



1845. She was the mother of William and 
Eva. Our subject was educated in Germany, 
and in 1847, he came to the United States 
with his father and sister, and settled in Chi- 
cago. In 1848, he went to Michigan City, 
where he clerked in a general store till 1851, 
when he returned to Chicago, where he com- 
menced to work for the Illinois Central Rail- 
road Compan}', as messenger, till the road was 
completed in 1855 ; then he was appointed 
conductor on the Southern Division, running 
till 1863, when he quit the road and went to 
farming in this county, near Anna. He also 
runs the steam pump on the Illinois Central 
Railroad. He has 125 acres of land on which 
he has a dairy. His residence is close to the 
noted Cave Spring. Mr. Kratzinger was mar- 
ried in 1855, in Jonesboro, to Mar}- C. Condon, 
of Jonesboro, she died in 1873, on Cave Spring 
farm. She was the mother of four children 
now living, viz.: Augusta, Harr}, Richard and 
Mamie. Our subject was married a second 
time, August 28, 1878, in Hinckley, Ohio, to 
Mrs. Kate Griffin, born October 13, 1846, in 
Hinckley, Ohio. She was a daughter of 
William and Louisa (Marquette) Finch. She 
is the mother of Bert Griffln. Mrs. Kratzinger 
is a member of the M. E. Church. Mr. Krat- 
zinger is a Knight of Honor and member of I. 
0. 0. F. In politics, he is identified with the 
Democratic party. 

PHILLIP H. KROH. Much of the real 
history of a new country is generally con- 
tained in the accounts of a few families that 
became members of the young society and 
whose force of character impresses itself upon 
the development of the community, and directs 
and shapes the destiny of affairs about them. 
Often a close study of such men is necessary 
in order to comprehend the commanding forces 
they have exercised, and while the individual 
may pass away, the effects of which he has 
been the cause may go on perpetually. And 
often such men may not gain great local noto- 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



riety. The individual may not be self-assert- 
ing, the best thoughts of the best men are 
generally retiring, and yet the}' will give the 
world the benefits that may come of strong and 
active minds. It is impossible to estimate in 
money value the worth of such men to a com- 
munity, and there is but one way that a people 
who reap the benefits of their lives can mani- 
fest their appreciation of such men, and that 
is by gratefully cherishing their memories, and 
passing them to posterity as a legacy to be 
guarded, loved and admired, and placed before 
their children as models for their guidance 
and controj. History, some time in the future, 
will consist of the biographies of good men, 
the true soldiers in the cause of civilization 
and morality, whose lives have tended to ad- 
vance mankind and beat back ignorance, pro- 
mote the happiness of their fellow-men, and 
ameliorate the pains and penalties of ignorance 
and vice. In other words, it will cause to be 
known some time that the best history consists 
of the best biographies of the best men and 
that hei*e the coming generations ma}^ find 
those lessons that constitute the highest and 
best type of knowledge. The world's histor}^ 
cannot now be written because the biographies 
of the true men who have humblj' toiled, and 
thought, and worked, and died, sometimes of 
want in a garret, and then again of fire and fagot 
at the stake,has not been preserved, and it is onl}' 
a modern conception that begins to place the 
writers of true biographies among the ablest 
and best of all interpreters of philosoph3^ The 
study of the human mind is the source of the best 
possible education, and the study of the better 
minds the world has produced is the fountain of 
the highest wisdom that is given to man to have. 
All else called history is generally mere chro- 
nology, a skeleton of dates and important 
events that have been most temporarj^ in their 
effects, and that bear no lesson in their story 
of which can come the ripened fruit of civili- 
zation. In local histories, then, the real eras 



that are eventful to the young communities 
are the coming of certain families, who thus 
cast their fortune among the few simple 
pioneer settlers in a new country and aid and 
assist them in developing and building up the 
blessing of a good government and a ripened 
and just public and moral sentiment. 
Rev. Phillip H. Kroh was born in Fred- 
erick County, Va., February 10, 1824, and 
in company- with his parents, Henry and Mary 
(Stough) Kroh, came to Union County in Feb- 
ruary, 1842, and settled one and one-half miles 
south of Jonesboro. The father, Henry Kroh, 
was a minister of the German Reformed Church; 
had studied theology in Mercersburg College, 
Penn., and was engaged in the active service of 
the church during his life. In 1832, he came 
with his family to Wabash County, III., and 
ten years thereafter, as stated above, came to 
Union Count}'. In the year 1847, he removed 
to Cincinnati, and in 1849 he joined the Argo- 
nauts in their overland search for the Golden 
Fleece in California. Something of the character 
and intellectual force of the man may be gleaned 
from the circumstances on this trip. He stopped 
to rest awhile in Salt Lake City, and while there, 
at the request of Brigham Young, preached to 
the Mormons from the text, " Behold, I bring 
you glad tidings of good things." The sermon 
came like a revelation indeed to the benighted 
followers of Joe Smith. While this man of 
God told the story of the true God and His only 
begotten Sou in his simple, touching and elo- 
quent way, the vast audience became entranced, 
and when the discourse was ended the people 
were so deepl}^ moved that tears and sighs per- 
vaded the entire congregation, and Brigham 
Young had become so impatient that he could 
hardly restrain himself until Mr. Kroh had 
taken his seat, after which he commenced an 
excited harangue against the President of the 
United States and the constitution and laws of 
the land. The cunning old fox saw the mar- 
velous effect the true word of God had pro- 



76 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



duced among his people, and he knew he could 
not directly oppose the fervid eloquence and 
the sublime simplicity with which the truth 
had been presented, and so he commenced by 
complimenting Mr. Kroh very highly upon his 
great sermon, and the moment he had done 
this and thus gained the close attention of the 
audience he commenced to launch his fierce 
epithets at the United States Government, and 
thus destro}' the effects the word might other- 
wise produce upon the people. Rev. Henry 
Kroh died in Stockton, Cal., in 1877, his widow 
having died in that city in the year 1876. 
He was the son of Simon Kroh, of Virginia, and 
his wife was a native of Berks County, Penn., 
born in 1802. She was of German descent, 
and the daughter of Conrad Stough, a native 
of Wittenburg, Germany, who came to America 
and took an active part in the American Revo- 
lution. After the war, he was for many years 
the cashier of the bank of Wormendorf, Penn., 
They had nine children, of whom eight are now 
living, as follows : Elizabeth, wife of Clark 
Flagler, of Evansville, Ind.; Phillip H. Kroh, 
the subject of this sketch ; Matilda, who mar- 
ried William Trembly, of California, both of 
whom died in the latter State ; she was for 
some years principal of the high school in 
Stockton ; Jane, wife of William Knight, the 
efficient agent of the Adams Express in Oak- 
land, Cal.; Sarah, wife of William Harrold, a 
prominent merchant of California ; Margaret, 
wife of Engineer Alivison, of San Francisco ; 
George, who is at present a mechanic in 
Stockton ; Loretto, wife of Mr. Zimmerman, a 
farmer near Stockton, and Olevianus, who is at 
the present time a farmer and cattle-dealer of 
California. Phillip H. Kroh has spent more than 
an average life-time among the people of Union 
County. In farming, preaching and in active 
political life, he has been a leader among men, 
he has been a conspicuous figure in the coun- 
ty's history for many years. His life has been 
a busy and useful one, and his versatility of tal- 



ents are well illustrated by his various occupa- 
tions and his triumphs in them all. In the pul- 
pit to-day, telling the pathetic and sublime 
story of the Cross and calling sinners to repent- 
ance ; in the political rostrum the next day , 
exposing shams and holding up to the scorn of 
the people the frauds and demagogues who 
would cheat and rob the people of their 
birthright ; on his farm the next da}', 
directing, commanding, and with his own 
hands doing deftly the work of the trained 
laborer ; then in the school room, the lyeeum, 
the debating club, or last and best of all, in his 
family circle, and everywhere aiding, counsel- 
ing and directing to the pleasure and weal of 
all, is the work of no laggard, but ' constitutes 
one of those true soldiers of life that make of 
this a pleasant and wholesome world. Amid 
all these many self-imposed labors, he has 
found time to pursue a large and varied course 
of literary and scientific reading that has kept 
his growth of knowledge on an even pace with 
the great thinkers who have in the past quarter 
of a century fairly startled a slumberous world 
with their bold and brilliant thoughts and inves- 
tigations. A mind thus trained and cultivated 
will produce a liberal, broad and generous relig- 
ion, a pure and elevating political sentiment, and 
a warm, generous and noble social life, whose 
genial effects will remain in the world long after 
their author has gone to sleep with his fathers. 
Judge Kroh was educated in Wood College, 
Indiana, and at the Theological College of Co- 
lumbus, Ohio, graduating at the latter in the 
class of 1850. He returned to Union County 
and had ministerial charge of the Reform 
Church of Jonesboro, and filled this position 
until 1854, when he went to California, where 
he dug for gold and preached for God until 
1858, when he returned to his old home in Un- 
ion County, and resumed the pastorate of his 
church, at this time making his home in Anna. 
In 1862, he accepted the chaplaincy of the 
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment of Illinois 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



77 



Volunteers, and continued in this position for 
eighteen months, when, receiving a serious in- 
jury at Bolivar, Tenn., he resigned and returned 
home. In 1879, he was elected Superintendent 
of Schools of Union Count}-, and for four years 
discharged the difficult duties of this position 
to the entire satisfaction of the people. When 
he retired from the position, he gave his en- 
tire time, except when forced out to stump the 
district in the interest of some candidate who 
i'couldn't speak," to raising improved stock 
and farming. He was elected Police Magis- 
trate for the city of Anna, at the last city elec- 
tion, and his friends are well satisfied that for 
the next four years, he will continue to hold aloft 
the scales of justice with the same signal 
ability and integrity that has marked all his 
past life. In 1851, he married Miss Diana 
Bowman Perry, of Pulaski County, 111., a 
daughter of Capt. EUery Perry, the popular 
commander of the steamer Diana, of the Ohio 
and Mississippi River trade. Of this marriage 
are four children — Nellie, Jennie, Frank and 
Lulu. 

JESSE E. LENTZ, agricultural implements, 
Anna, was born in North Carolina in 1831, 
to Charles and Susan (Simmons) Lentz. 
He was raised on a farm in North Carolina, and 
educated in the subscinption schools of the 
period. He died in 1855 ; was of German 
descent. She was born in North Carolina and 
died in Georgia, where the famil}' had removed. 
The}- had twelve children, of whom nine are 
now living, our subject was brought up on the 
farm, and early learned the trade of blacksmith. 
He came to Anna in 1851, then scarcely twenty 
years of age, and when he arrived had but 
25 cents and the clothes he wore. He worked 
with Adam Cruse, of Jonesboro, for two years, 
and in 1854 went to California. In 1855, he re- 
turned to Union County, and resumed his trade 
and opened a shop of his own, in which he 
continued until 1879, when he engaged in the 
agricultural implement business. He is the 



owner of 126 acres of land. He has been in- 
strumental in building up the town, having 
erected a number of the fine brick buildings. 
He was married, in December, 1859, to Miss 
Sarah Braiznell, a native of England. They 
have no children. Politically, Mr. Lentz is a 
Democrat. 

SAMUEL MARTIN, farmer, P. 0. Anna, 
is a native of Jackson County, Ala., and was 
born August 31, 1824. His father, Urias 
Martin, was born in Clinton Count)', K3'., in 
1796, and was there raised on a farm, and on 
account of its being a new settled country was 
deprived of the opportunit}' of receiving an 
education. In 1818, he married and engaged 
in farming, an occupation he followed during 
his life. In 1828, he removed from Kentucky 
to Jackson County, Ala., and thence to Ten- 
nessee, and after two years came to Union 
County, 111., and settled in Anna Precinct. 
In 1835, he removed to Greene County, 111., 
and subsequently to Texas, where he died in 
1856. He was of Irish descent. Keziah (Will- 
iams) Martin, subject's mother, was born in 
Clinton County, Ky., in 1800, and died in 
Texas in 1879. She was of Welsh descent, and 
the daughter of Hardin Williams, an old time 
Baptist Preacher. She was the mother of ten 
childi'en of whom nine are now living — James 
H., Urias, Benjamin F., Elizabeth, Jane, Mal- 
vina, Lucinda, Joseph, and our subject, who 
was the third child born. He was brought to 
Union County by his parents when he was six 
3-eai's of age, and was raised on a farm, and 
educated in the subscription schools. At 
twenty-one years of agre, he left home aud en- 
gaged in farming on his own account, and con- 
tinued the same for one year, when he enlisted 
in the Second Regiment of the Mexican war, 
and served under Col. William H. Bissel. His 
bi'other, Joseph Martin, also served in the same 
regiment and company. In 1847, our subject 
returned home to Union County and resumed 
the occupation of farming, and has since con- 



78 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



tinned the same on his farm of 145 acres. In 
1849, he married Miss Matilda McElhany, a 
native of the count}', born near Jonesboro in 
1828. She is the mother of the following 
children — Sidney C, M. D., Franklin P., 
Samuel, Hannibal H. and Anna H. Politically, 
Mr. M. is a Democrat ; he served as Assessor 
and Treasurer of the county from 1871 to 1875. 

MARIA JANE McKINNEY, proprietress 
of St. Nicholas Hotel, Anna, is a native of 
Union Count}-, 111., born November 5, 1844. 
Her father, James Hanners, was born in Rowan 
County, N. C; he was brought to Union 
County, 111., b}' his parents in about 1823 ; here 
he was reared and educated ; arriving at his 
majority, he engaged in farming, an occupation 
he followed during life. He died in 1872 ; his 
wife, Elizabeth Davis, was a native of Mont- 
gomery County, N. C, and the mother of two 
children, viz.: William S. Hanners, ex-Count}' 
Clerk of Union County, and Mrs. McKinney, 
our subject, who has been twice married, and 
the mother of the following children : Ida Mc- 
Lain, Albert McLain and W. Frank McLain. 
Mrs. McKinney is the proprietress of the St. 
Nicholas Hotel at Anna, and has been thus en- 
gaged for the past three years. 

ARCHIBALD McNAUGHTON, merchant 
tailor, Anna. Among the energetic, active 
and highly respected business men of Anna, 
who have carved out a successful career in life 
by their indomitable will and enterprise, is Mr. 
Archibald McNaughton, whose name stands at 
the head of this sketch. He is a native of 
Scotland, and was born May 6, 1849. He was 
educated in the schools of his native country, 
and when but twelve years of age, was appren- 
ticed to learn the trade of tailor. He came to 
America with his father and settled in Wash- 
ington County, Ohio, where he remained until 
1871, when he removed to Anna, and engaged 
in work at his trade as a journeyman. In 
1873, he opened a tailor shop on his own ac- 
count, and subsequently added a stock of 



clothing, etc., as his means would allow. By 
dint of close application to business, his uni- 
form courtesy and affability toward his cus- 
tomers, and strict economy, he has won a well- 
merited success, and has now the largest and 
best selected stock of goods of his line in the 
town. He carries a full and complete stock of 
clothing, hats, caps and gents' furnishing 
goods, and by his honor and business integrity 
has the confidence of all who deal with him. 
Mr. McNaughtons father was born in 1795, 
and died in Union County, 111., January 14, 
1883. His wife, Euphemia McNaughton (sub- 
ject's mother), was a native of Scotland, and 
died in that country ; she was the mother of 
eleven children, of whom only two are now 
living, viz.: William, a farmer in Washington 
County, Ohio, and our subject. The latter was 
married in Anna, in 1874, to Miss Anna 
Craver, a native of this county, and a daughter 
of Levi Craver. Mr. and Mrs. McNaughton 
have three children, two of whom are living — 
Elizabeth and Euphemia. They are connected 
with the M. E. Church, and he is a member of 
the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and a Re- 
publican in politics. 

JOHN B. MILLER, Postmaster, Anna, is a 
native of this county, and was born September 
3, 1829. He is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth 
(Biggs) Miller, the former born in North Caro- 
lina, March 5, 1802, and the latter born in 
South Carolina, May 8, 1795, and died in Ar- 
kansas, August 24, 1864 ; she was a daughter 
of John Biggs, a native of South Carolina, 
but a resident many years of Tennessee. The 
elder Miller was raised on a farm and educated 
in the common schools of the country. In 
1825, he emigrated with his wife to Illinois, 
and settled in Union County, north of Cobden, 
where he engaged in farming. His father, 
Joseph Miller, came with him and entered land, 
but left it soon after. In 1839, Mr. Miller re- 
turned to Tennessee, where he died June 5, 
1845. Our subject was the third child in a 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



79 



family of five, three of whom are now living, 
viz.: Joseph M., a farmer in Kansas ; Davis 
W., real estate, Chicago, and John B., Post- 
master at Anna. He was raised on a farm, 
and his 3'ears of boyhood and early manhood 
were not 3'ears of prosperity^ and ease, but of 
labor and toil. He and his two brothers 
worked and saved their mone}^, denying them- 
selves the luxuries of life, in order to educate 
themselves. Mr. Miller, when about twenty- 
six years of age, entered the Academy at 
Alton, having previousl}' enjoyed but a limited 
attendance at the public schools, and was the 
first representative student in the State Normal 
School at Bloom ington from Union Count}'. 
In 1839, he accompanied his parents to Ten- 
nessee and remained there until after the death 
of his father. He taught school while in 
Tennessee, and upon his return he still followed 
teaching. After completing his education, he 
made Union County his permanent home. In 
1864, he engaged in merchandising at Jones- 
boro, in copartnership with his brother Davis. 
May 1, 1870, he took charge of the post office 
at Anna, and in 1873 was appointed Post- 
master, and as evidence that he is " the right 
man in the right place," he has held the posi- 
tion ever since, having beien twice re-appointed. 
In connection with his office, he carries on a 
large store of books, stationery, etc. He was 
married October 16, 1870, in Jonesboro, to 
Miss Frances Meisenheimer, a native of Ten- 
nessee. She died Jul}' 29, 1878, leaving two 
boys, viz.: John B. and Francis Jeffery. Mr. 
Miller is a Republican in politics, a member of 
the Masonic fraternit}-, both of the Lodge and 
Chapter, also of the Methodist Church, of 
which he is Treasurer. 

JOHN B. MIf.LER, farmer, P. 0., Anna, 
was born in Union Count}', III, October 4, 
1826, to Abraham and Nancy (Murray) Miller. 
He, a native of Rowan County, N. C, was born 
in 1799. In 1816, with his parents, emigrated 
to Illinois, and located in Anna Township, 



Union County. Arriving at his majority, be 
engaged in farming, and continued the same to 
the time of his death, which occurred in Decem- 
ber, 1840. He was a son of Peter, also a na- 
tive of North Carolina, and a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, and participated in battles 
in North and South Carolina. Subject's mother 
was born in Burke County, N. C, in 1796, and 
was married ui 1818. She was brought to 
Illinois by her parents, who settled in Alexan- 
der County, on Clear Creek, in 1811. and sub- 
sequently in Anna Township, Union County, in 
about 1816 or 1818. They had previously set- 
tled in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., in 
about 1799. She was a daughter of John 
Murray, a soldier in the Revolution, first as a 
tory, and afterward a rebel. She died in 
Union County in 1882, and was the mother of 
nine children, of whom six are now living, viz.: 
Ezekiel M., Charles M., Jane, Nancy, Abraham 
and John B., our subject, who was the second 
child born. He was raised and educated in this 
county, and has been engaged principally in 
fruit-growing upon his farm, which is located 
in Anna Precinct, southeast of Anna. Polit- 
ically, Mr. Miller is a Republican. 

ALEXANDER J. NISBET, lawyer, Anna, 
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio ; lived during child- 
hood at that place, St. Louis, Alton, 111., Mad- 
ison, Ind., Louisville and Owensboro, Ky. ; was 
in Kentucky during war ; came to Jonesboro, 
111., 1866 ; resided there a year and a half with 
his father ; went to McKendree College at Leb- 
anon, Ind., State University, Bloomington, and 
Chicago University ; graduated from Law De- 
partment of latter school in 1870. Went to 
Duluth, Minn. ; was appointed County Judge 
and Court Commissioner. Elected to same 
office on ticket with Gen. Grant at his last elec- 
tion. Resigned on account of bad health ; set- 
tled at Fond du Lac, Wis. ; remained there until 
his father's death in 1876. Came to Jonesboro ; 
has been there and at Anna since, in the prac- 
tice of law. Latterly, also engaged in raising 



80 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



fine blooded stock, hogs and sheep. His father, 
William Nisbet, was born and educated in 
Edinboro, Scotland ; came to this country 
when he was about eighteen years old ; settled 
at Cincinnati, Ohio. Married Miss Amanda Lee, 
oldest daughter of Rodney J. Lee. She was first 
cousin to Admiral S. P. Lee, who commanded 
Mississippi and James River flotillas during 
the war, and Gen. Lee, who commanded Gen. 
Grant's cavalry at Vicksburg. Was in bus- 
iness at Cincinnati for some years ; came 
West, settled first in St. Louis, later at 
Alton. Came to Union County in 1854. 
Came out of Cairo on first train over 
Illinois Central Railroad ; resided six miles 
east of Cobden until 1860. Made, by request, 
farewell speech to the first company of Gen. 
Logan's regiment that left this count}- — Com- 
pany C Came to Jonesboro in 1860 ; resided 
there until his death, March 31, 1876. En- 
gaged in farm gardening ; was the first man to 
successfully introduce sweet potatoes North of 
Mason & Dixon's line in large quantities. Took 
an active part in all public enterprises. 

C. L. OTRICH, druggist, Anna, was born 
in Union County, seven miles east of Anna, 
September 16, 1849, and is a son of Henry W. 
and Caroline (Pinninger) Otrich, he born in 
Rowan County, N. C, in 1817, and died in this 
county. He was a carpenter and builder, arid 
also a farmer. In 1837. he emigrated to Illi- 
nois, and located in this county, becoming the 
owner of one of the best farms (of 200 acres) 
in it, now owued by his son, George W. Otrich. 
He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a stanch 
Democrat. His wife, subject's mother, was a 
native of Rowan County, N. C, where she was 
born in 1818, and is now residing in this count}' 
on the old homestead. She was the mother of 
ten children, five of whom are yet living. Our 
subject was raised on a farm, and when eight- 
een years old left home and entered the State 
Normal School at Bloomington, 111., having pre- 
viously attended Southern Illinois College at 



Carbondale. He read medicine with Dr. Black, 
of Jacksonville, for eighteen months. In 1869, 
he began teaching school in Union and Menard 
Counties, and in 1873 engaged in the drug bus- 
iness as successor to Dr. Dodds, the firm being 
Parks & Otrich. He soon after, however, 
bought out his partner's interest, and has since 
conducted the business alone. He was mar- 
ried, in March, 1878, to Miss Mary E. McClure, 
of Alexander County. She died March 11, 
1880, leaving one child, Thomas McClure 
Otrich. In addition to his drug store in Anna, 
he in 1879 opened a similar store in Cobden, 
which is now under charge of Dr. Wilson Brown. 
His store in Anna is full and complete in its 
lines, is in the Otrich House Block, and known 
as "Egypt's Pharmacy." He is also interested in 
farming in Alexander County, and is an owner 
of the Otrich House Block, one of the hand- 
somest blocks in the city of Anna. He and 
four others are directors and have procured 
the right-of-way for a railroad from Jones- 
boro to Cape Girardeau. 

CLARENCE K. PARKS, druggist, P. 0. 
Anna, was born in Jonesboro, August 29, 1851, 
and is a son of Luther K. and Amira (Clay) 
Parks. He was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., in 
1819, and brought up on the farm, receiving but 
a limited education. He made several trips 
" down the river" on flat-boats loaded with the 
produce of the country. Of studious turn, he 
finally decided to become a physician, and in 
the fall of 1839, he commenced reading med- 
icine with Dr. N. H. Torbet, of Wilmington, 
continuing with him until October, 1841. He 
attended a full course of lectures at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, and finally graduating at the St. Louis 
Medical College when under the management 
of Pope. He practiced his profession about 
twenty-five years, but for five years previous to 
his death, he only attended to ottace calls. He 
was not an active worker in politics but an 
ardent Republican. He was engaged in real 
estate for some ten years and made considera- 



ANNA PKECINCT. 



81 



ble money ; he was an active member of the 
Masonic fraternity. His fatlier, John Parks, 
was a native of Pennsylvania, but principally 
raised in Indiana, and was of Irish descent. 
Dr. Parks died in February, 1872, highly re- 
spected by all who knew him. The mother of 
subject was born in St. Charles County, Mo., in 
1828, but raised near St. Louis, and is still liv- 
ing. She is related to Henry Clay, the great 
statesman ; her father was George Clay, a na- 
tive of Kentucky, and a Captain and owner of 
steamboats on the Mississippi and Illinois 
Rivers. Subject's parents had six children, of 
whom he is the oldest now living, three of 
them being dead. He was raised in Union 
County and educated in the common schools, 
and at the age of seventeen years began clerk- 
ing: in a druof store. He continued at this oc- 
cupation until 1873, when he bought a half 
interest of Dr. Dodds, and since 1877 has been 
in business alone. In 1874, he was married to 
Miss Elizabeth Bugg, of Alabama, a daughter 
of James and Rebecca (Baker) Bugg, natives of 
Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Parks have two children 
— Svbil and Henry. Mr. Parks is a Repub- 
lican in politics, following the example of his 
father before him. He is one of the active and 
wide awake young business men of the city, 
and highly respected citizen. 

THOMAS H. PHILLIPS, attorney at law, 
Anna, was born in Belleville, St. Clair Co., 111., 
November 23, 1827, to John and Laura (Tippy) 
Phillips. His father was a native of Virginia, 
born in 1789. During his life, he engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. He was a Lieutenant in 
the war of 1812, and after its close removed 
from Virginia to Kentucky. In 1816, he came 
to Illinois and settled in Williamson County, 
and after a few years removed to St. Clair 
County, where he died in 1847. His father, 
(subject's grandfather) was one of three broth- 
ers who came to America and settled in Vir- 
ginia, previous to the Revolutionary war; they 
were natives of Wales. The mother of our 



subject was born in Tennessee, in 1797, and 
was married, in 1818. She died at Anna, 111., 
October 14, 1875. Her father was a native of 
German3^, who emigrated to America, and 
settled in New York State. He was a soldier 
in the war of the Revolution, and after its 
close he wandered away from his home and has 
not been heard from since. Thomas H. Phil- 
lips was of a family of thirteen children, 
of whom the following are now living : William, 
a carpenter of Springfield, 111. ; Mary, wife of 
Isaac Whiteside, a farmer of Madison County, 
111. ; Elizabeth, widow of William M. Howell, 
formally Marion County, 111. ; Capt. Isaac N., 
a farmer of Union County, who was Provost 
Marshal of this district during the war ; Nancy, 
widow of John W. Bundy, of Cobden ; Sarah, 
wife of E. H. Finch, of Anna : Thomas H., our 
subject ; and Margaret, wife of Capt. I. M. 
Spery, a farmer of Cobden. Thomas H. spent 
his early life at home on the farm, and there 
received the benefit of the subscription and 
common schools. When he was twenty-eight 
years of age, he entered the Shurtleff College 
of Illinois, and there remained two 3'ears. In 
1867, he began reading law with Hon. William 
H. Underwood, of Belleville, 111., and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in the fall of the same year. 
In 1868, he began the practice of law at Pana, 
111., where he remained two years. In 1870, he 
came to Anna, 111., where he has since re- 
mained. In September, 1882, he went to Wash- 
ington, D. C, and acted as Clerk in>^the De- 
partment of the Interior ; he resigned however 
on account of a disabilit}' in his I'ight arm, and 
returned to his home at Anna in Januar}', 
1883. In 1867, he married, at Belleville, 111., 
Miss Ellen A. Hughes, a native of the same 
place, and a daughter of Judge John D. 
Hughes and Rebecca W. (Shannon) Hughes. 
He was a native of Virginia, who emigrated to 
Illinois, in 1820, and died in 1869, Mr. and 
Mrs. Phillips have two children — Maurice H., 
born May 29, 1873. and Florence L., born 



82 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



October 19, 1877. He is a member of the 
Baptist Church, and she of the Presbyterian 
Church. He is a member of the A., F. & A. M., 
Blue Lodge and Chapter ; also of the K. of H. 
Politically, he is a Republican, and cast his 
first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He was twice 
nominated for the Legislature, and once for 
County Judge, but owing to the power of the 
Democratic party he was defeated. He is now 
City Attorney of Anna. During the war, he 
was Deput}'' Provost Marshal of this district, 
which included fifteen counties. He was 
Postmaster in 1872, and resigned after holding 
the office one year. 

ANNA POTTERY, Anna. One of the old 
and valuable industries of this city is the Anna 
Pottery. It was established in 1859 by C. & 
W. W. Kirkpatrick, men thoroughly experi- 
enced in this line of business, and who can 
make more articles, both useful and ornamental, 
out of mud than au}^ men in Illinois. Visitors 
to their extensive works, as they watch the 
busy hands molding the clay into hundreds of 
different shapes, find themselves unconsciously, 
as it were, repeating Longfellow's lines : 

"Turn, turn, my wheel! This earthen jar 
A touch can make, a touch can mar; 
And shall it to the potter say, 
What makest thou? " 

The establishment employs some twent^^ hands, 
and turns out annually a large amount of sewer 
pipe, jars of various sizes, fruit cans or jars, 
milk crocks and, in fact, almost ever}' species 
of stoneware, together with bull-dogs, owls, 
snakes, hogs and illustrated railroad maps, 
pipes by the thousand, bull-frogs, and a variety 
of other animals and things too tedious to 
mention. One of their greatest curiosities is 
the " Pioneer Farm," made wholly out of clay, 
and fully noticed in a chapter in the historical 
portion of this work. 

REV. WILLIAM RHODES, merchant, P. 0. 
Anna, was born January' 15, 1836, in Moultrie 
County, 111. His father, John Rhodes, was a 



native of North Carolina, and was born in Ran- 
dolph County. In 1816, when but seven years 
of age, he removed with his father's family to 
Lawrence Count}', Ind. There he grew to man- 
hood, and in 1831 removed to Moultrie County, 
ill. He married Rachel Senteney, born in 
Maj'sville, Ky., in 1813, and died of paral3'sis 
in 1881. He settled in his new home in Illinois, 
with no means for success, save a large en- 
dowment of industry, perseverance and hope, 
and with a companion whose power to perform 
well her part and sweeten the toils of pioneer 
life was his constant admiration. He is still 
living, and where he now sees well-improved 
farms he found an almost uninhabited wilder- 
ness. Eight children were born to him, seven 
sons and one daughter. Our subject was 
brought up on the farm and after receiving a 
full course in the common schools, he spent 
one year in the Sullivan Academy, one year at 
Bethany College, West Virginia, and one year 
at Eureka College, in Woodford County, 111. 
He was converted at the age of seventeen 
years, under the preaching of Elder Etheridge, 
at his father's house, and united with the sect 
known as " Disciples " or the " Church of 
Christ." After completing his education, he 
began teaching, which he continued, together 
with farming, until 1862, when he was or- 
dained to the Christian ministry, and has re- 
mained with that church and labored for its 
good ever since. In 1877, he came to Anna 
and engaged in the hardware business, and at 
the same time occupied the pulpit in the 
Christian Church. In 1882, he retired from 
business, leaving his sons to manage it, but he 
still retains his interest. He was married in 
Moultrie County, 111., February 19, 1840, to 
Miss Sarah C. Souther, a daughter of Abra- 
ham and Catharine (Hardin) Souther, natives 
of Oldham County, Ky. She died in 1864, 
leaving one child, Thomas B. He was mar- 
ried a second time, November, 1866, to Miss 
Amanda J. Hatfield, a native of Greene County, 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



83 



Ind., by whom he has four children, viz.: Rosa 
A., Rudolph A., William and John. The latter 
died when three years old. Mr. Rhodes has 
held six different discussions, one with an in- 
fidel on the Divinity of the Bible, the others 
upon religious matters with ministers of dif- 
ferent denominations. 

J. H. SANBORN, M. D., editor Farmer and 
Fruit Groioer, Anna, 111., whose portrait ap- 
pears elsewhere, was born in Boston, Mass., 
May 21, 1834. His boyhood was passed in 
the Eastern States, in each of which he lived 
more or less time. After attending various in- 
stitutions of learning, and teaching several 
3'ears, he received the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts at the Wesley an University, Middletown, 
Conn. Having an inclination for the profession 
of medicine, he studied two years with Dr. C. P. 
Gage, President of the New Hampshire State 
Medical Societ}-, and a 3'ear with his brother, Dr. 
J. E. Sanborn, who was for several years Profess- 
or of Chemistry and Materia Medica in the Medi- 
cal Department, at that time, of the Iowa State 
University at Keokuk; and, after attending 
courses of lectures at Harvard University 
Medical College, graduated in 1856 at the 
Medical Department of Dartmouth College, 
New Hampshire. He then attended supple- 
mentary partial courses in the Philadelphia 
Medical Schools ; returned to the New England 
States and practiced medicine about ten years. 
His health becoming poor, he went to Florida 
and remained there nearl}^ four 3'ears as Land 
Commissioner of the Florida Railroad Com- 
pany', buying and selling land, locating set- 
tlers, and, as opportunity' offered, practicing his 
profession. During these years, he wrote a 
long series of letters for the Country Gentle- 
man^ and corresponded with other journals in 
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. These 
letters were widely copied, and were the means 
of first drawing attention to Florida and caus- 
ing that now immense annual pilgrimage of 
invalids and others to the land of the oran<j;e 



and magnolia. In July, 1869, Dr. Sanborn 
came with his family to Anna, and during the 
following three years was Principal of the city 
public schools. Since then he has mostly given 
his time to fruit-growing, occasionally teaching 
during the winter. Almost from the first 
issue he has been a contributor to the Farmer 
and Fruit Grower^ published in Anna, and for 
several years has acted as editor of the horti- 
cultural department. In 1857, he married Miss 
Hannah M. Moody, and had one child,Winifred, 
born March 31, 1861. 

CHARLES S. SIMMERMi^ N, farmer, P. 0. 
Anna, was born in Union Count}', III, March 
20, 1847, and is a son of Peter and Jane 
(Frogge) Simmerman ; he, Peter, is a native of 
Virginia, and now residing in Johnson City, 
Tenn., engaged in the mercantile business ; his 
wife was born in Kentuck}-, and died in 1847. 
Charles S. was the only child born to her ; at 
three 3'ears of age he was taken to Texas b}' 
his grandfather, and was there raised by him 
on his stock farm. When he became twent}' 
years of age, he came to LTnion Count3', 111. 
In 1871, he bought his present farm of eightv 
acres. May 4, 1864, he married Miss So- 
phronia Jackson, a native of this count}' ; her 
parents, Reason and Rachael (GuUion) Jackson, 
are both natives of Kentuck3'. Mr.and Mrs. Sim- 
merman have six children : William H.. Minnie 
B., Charles S., Cora J. , Arthur L. and Lemuel. 

W. H. SMART, clerk at Insane Hospital, 
Anna, was born August 22, 1844, and is a 
grandson of Ezra Smart, a native of London, 
England, a lawyer there, and of a ver3' old 
English famil3'. He came to the colonies be- 
fore the Revolutionar3' war, and served in the 
struggle for independence on the side of the 
Colonies. He was married in this countr3' to 
Miss Chapman, b}' whom he had three children, 
viz.: Ezra, Edwin K. and Richard, the father of 
our subject. He was born in 1785, in Grafton 
Count}', N. H., and died in 1870 in Rurane}', 
in that count}-. He was educated to the law 



84 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



under Josiah Quincy, and practiced the pro- 
fession for twenty years in Haverliill, N. H.; 
he was a member of the Legislature for nine- 
teen years, from 1841 to 1860. He married 
Ancena Chapman, born in 1784 in Grafton 
County, N. H., and died there in 1865 ; her 
father was also a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war. She was tlie mother of five children, of 
whom four are now living — Charles C, a brick 
manufacturer, in Rumney, N. H. ; Caroline, 
wife of J. Greenough, a merchant, in Canter- 
bury, N. H. ; Harriet, wife of Frank A. Cush- 
man, a merchant of Lebanon, N. H., and 
William H., our subject, who was educated in 
Dartmouth College for the law. He read with 
Hon. A. F. Pike, of Franklin, N. H., and ad- 
mitted to the bar, in 1864, at Plymouth. He 
followed the profession nine years in Mexico, 
Mo. In 1871, he went to Charleston, S. C, 
where he had charge of John H. Deverauxs 
plantation, until 1878, when he came North, 
settling at Anna, 111., where he commenced to 
work as an attendant in the hospital for the 
insane, and in the fall of 1882 he was appoint- 
ed Clerk, b}^ Superintendent Wardner, a posi- 
tion he now occupies. He was married, April 
19, 1872, at Sparta, III, to Miss Alexina A. 
Jacobs, a step-daughter of John E. Detrich, 
and who was born in St. Louis, Mo. They 
have one child, "Willie R., born in June, 1873. 
Mr. Smart is a Republican in politics, and is a 
member of the Knights of Honor, Anna Lodge 
No. 1892, of which bod}^ he is now Dictator. 

JOHN SPIRE, painter, Anna, was born in 
Holland, Europe, October 9, 1835, to Leonard 
and Martha (Gerlhood) Spire, both natives of 
Holland. He was born in 1801, and in 1849, 
with his wife and family, he emigrated to Amer- 
ica, locating in Buffalo, N. Y., where he died 
the same year with the cholera. They had 
eight childi-en, of whom three are living — sub- 
ject, the eldest ; Charles, living in Buffalo ; and 
Martha, wife of Van Blois, at Grand Rapids, 
Mich. Subject was educated in the common 



schools until he was fourteen years of age, 
when he was compelled to assist in supporting 
the family, which he did, working by the day 
at such work as he could find to do. At six- 
teen, he apprenticed himself to the trade of 
painter in Buffalo, and after learning the trade 
he came West to Paducah, Ky., and during the 
summer of 1854 worked there at journeyman 
work. He then went to New Orleans, and the 
next spring went to Cincinnati, but soon after 
returned to Paducah, and in the fall of 1855 
came to Anna, 111., where he has since re- 
mained, working at his trade of painting ; 
sometimes employs as many as eighteen men. 
In 1857, he married Miss Emily Knight, a na- 
tive of Kentucky, but raised principally in 
Williamson County, and a daughter of Alfred 
Knight, a native of North Carolina. Subject 
has two children — George Leonard and Ella, 
wife of T. B. Rhoades, of Anna. Mrs. Spire is 
a member of the Reformed Church. Mr. Spire 
is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Odd 
Fellows. Politically, he is a Democrat. He 
has been Mayor for two terms (four years), 
School Director, and a member of the Town 
Board for three years. ~He enlisted, August 
15, 1862, in Company H, One Hundred and 
Ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under com- 
mand of Col. Nimmo, and was at the siege of 
Vicksburg for forty-two days. He was mus- 
tered out of service as Fourth Sergeant in April, 
1863. The regiment was consolidated with 
the One Hundred and Eleventh, and he was 
appointed to the same office, and afterward 
promoted to First Lieutenant in same com- 
pany, which he held until mustex-ed out July 
14, 1865. While in the army, he, was not 
wounded nor captured, and never off dut}'. 

L. E. STOCKING, M. D., Anna. This gen- 
tleman is a native of Collinsville, N. Y., born 
December 2, 1847. His grandfather, Ansel Stock- 
ing, was of Scotch descent, a blacksmith b}' oc- 
cupation. His father, Walter Stocking, a na- 
tive of Connecticut, was born in 1812. He is 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



85 



now a resident of Caledonia, Mo., where he is 
engaged in agricultural pursuits, biit he was 
formerlj' engaged in the mercantile business. 
He married Miss Rebecca (Downe}-) Stocking 
(mother of subject), a native of Vermont, born 
in 1812. She traces her ancestry back to Com- 
modore Downey, of the English Nav3^ She is 
the mother of nine children, five boys and four 
girls. Dr. Stocking was educated in the com- 
mon schools of Wisconsin, and took a prepara- 
tory collegiate course at Allen's Grove Acade- 
my, of the same State. At nineteen years of 
age, he entered the Michigan Universit}', gradu- 
ating from the same in June, 1870. Soon after 
his return from college, he began teaching, and 
was Principal of the school at Potosi, Mo., also 
at Irondale, Mo. In about 1873, he began the 
stud}' of medicine with Dr. L. T. Hall, of Po- 
tosi, Mo., and in 1874 he entered the St. Louis 
Medical College, and graduated from the same 
in March, 1876. He immediatel}^ began the 
practice of his chosen profession at Dardanelle, 
Ark., where he remained until 1877, when he 
came to Anna, Union Co., 111. The following 
year, he was appointed First Assistant Physi- 
cian of the Southern Illinois Insane Asylum, a 
position he still holds. In Anna, September 6, 
1876, he married Miss Helen L. Whiteman, a 
native of Watseka, 111., born November 23, 
1855. She is a daughter of Jacob and 
Nancy (Wright) Whiteman. The Doctor and 
wife are connected with the Presbyterian 
Church. He is a member of the South- 
ern Illinois Medical Society, and the Tri-State 
Medical Association. In politics, the Doctor is 
identified with the principles of the Republican 
party. 

THOMAS a. STOKES, farmer, P. 0. Anna, 
is a native of Union County, 111., born March 
6, 1840, to Thomas and Edna (Jennette) Stokes. 
Thomas Stokes was born in Kentucky in 1809, 
where he was raised and educated. He came 
to Union County with his parents, who located 
in what is now known as the Stokes settlement. 



During his life, he engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. He died in 1847. He was a son of 
John Stokes, a native of Virginia, a farmer by 
occupation, who died about 1854. The mother 
of our subject was born in North Carolina, in 
1811, and in 1825, with her parents, emigrated 
to Union County and settled in Anna Precinct. 
She died in 1849. They were the parents of the 
following children : William B., Mary, the wife 
of James S. Campbell, and Thomas G. Our 
subject was thrown upon his own resources 
after the death of his parents, and struggled 
hard to gain a livelihood. His education was 
limited to the common schools of the period. 
At nine years of age, he apprenticed himself at 
the tanner's trade, to W. Davis, and remained 
with him about two j-ears. He afterward 
learned the cabinet-maker's trade, and subse- 
quently the milling business, and was thus en- 
gaged when the war of the rebellion broke out. 
He enlisted in Companj' F of the Sixtieth Illi- 
nois Infantry, under command of Col. S. E. 
Toler, and was with the regiment to the close 
of the war, taking part in every engagement. 
He was wounded once while on a foraging ex- 
pedition. He was mustered out of the service 
July 30, 1865, and immediately returned home, 
and soon after went West and engaged in stock- 
raising in Iowa and Nebraska, where he re- 
mained about one year. His time since has 
been occupied in mercantile pursuits, milling 
and clerking. In 1 880, he removed to his pres- 
ent residence, where he has since remained en- 
gaged in farming. In 1871, he married Miss 
Nettie Spi'inggate, who died in 1873, leaving 
two children, one of whom is living — Maud. In 
1874, he married a second time, Miss Martha 
A. Eaves, a daughter of Judge Eaves, of Anna. 
She has borne him five children, of whom four 
are living, viz.: Stella M., Everett T., William 
P. and Edna. Mr. Stokes is a member of the 
A., F. & A. M., and I. 0. 0. F., and is a Re- 
publican. 

WILLIAM WATSON STOKES, black- 



86 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



smith, Anna, was borri in Jonesboro Septem- 
ber 11, 1856. to Matthew J. and Sarah J. 
(Cruse) Stokes. The senior Stokes was also a 
native of the county, and during his life worked 
at the blacksmith's trade. He died in May 
1869, his wife, subject's mother, was born in 
Jonesboro, and is now residing in Anna; she is 
the mother of eight children, of whom William, 
our subject, was the oldest. After the death 
of his father, he was thrown upon his own 
resources, and engaged in doing such work as 
his age and strength would permit. His edu- 
cation was limited to the common schools. At 
fourteen, he began to learn the blacksmith's 
trade, with Adam Cruse, and remained with 
him four years, and then engaged with Lenz, 
Dewitt & Braiznell, but remained with them 
only a short time, when he began traveling and 
working only a short time at a place, continu- 
ing the same until January, 1879, when he 
returned to Anna and entered into partnership 
with James Dewitt. They are both enterpris- 
ing gentlemen of good standing in the com- 
munity in which they live, and do a large and 
lucrative business, it being the most extensive 
business of the kind in Union County. 

J. E. TERPINITZ, who has been a citizen 
of Union County for over twenty-five years, 
and is now conducting a jewelry and music 
store in Anna, is a native of the Empire of 
Austria, and was born to Sj'lvester and Jo- 
sepha (Zettel) Terpinitz, on the 20th of May, 
1836, in the city of Peuerbach in the province 
of Upper Austria. The family is of ancient 
Russian origin, and possess a coat of arms, a 
family relic, bearing the date 1590. They em- 
igrated to Silesia, and thence to Linz, the cap- 
ital of Upper Austria, where the father of our 
subject carried on a mercantile and drug busi- 
ness for years. Some of the members of the 
family have held high positions under the Aus- 
trian Government, an uncle having been for a 
time Postmaster General at Vienna, the capital 
of the Empire, and his father was Mayor of his 



citj' during the troublesome revolutionary times 
of that then much oppressed country. Mr. 
Terpinitz received a liberal education, and his 
father, being an ardent lover of music, placed 
him, at the age of nine years, in the conserva- 
tory of Prague, in Bohemia, then as now one of 
the renowned institutions of that musical coun- 
try. Subsequently, he entered the Polytechnic 
Institute at Vienna. The memorable month of 
October, 1848, found him at the age of thirteen 
in the ranks of the National Guards as a mem- 
ber of the band. When the curtain dropped 
on that unfortunate struggle for liberty, a fort- 
unate sabre-cut received across his head dur- 
ing the combat laid him up for months in a 
hospital and saved him from the sad fate of 
man}- of his young comrades, who were led out 
to the sand hills back of Vienna and executed 
with powder and lead for their youthful mis- 
take of yearning for libert}-. After regaining 
his health, the revolutionary storm having sub- 
sided, through the influence of prominent 
friends of the familj' he was allowed to resume 
his studies. Becoming a member of one of 
those man}- musical organizations in that coun- 
try, he had, at one time, the rather gratifying 
satisfaction to appear in a concert before the 
imperial family at the castle of Maximilian, a 
brother of the present Emperor, in Ebenz- 
weyer, the same Maximilian who was after- 
ward the victim of Napoleonic intrigues in 
Mexico. The yearning for the " land of the 
free and the home of the brave " becoming vex'y 
strong, his father concluded to emigrate to the 
new El Dorado where milk and honey flow, and 
the pining for freedom from despotic tyranny- 
could be gratified. And so, in the year 1854, 
the family embarked for foreign shores. After 
rambling for awhile in the Atlantic States and 
remaining a time in Cincinnati, the family came 
farther west, with the idea of engaging in agri- 
cultural pursuits. A number of farmers, with 
their families, from Upper Austria, had previ- 
ously emigrated, and settled three miles south 



AI^NA PRECINCT. 



87 



of Jonesboro, and, being well pleased with the 
fertility of the country, built a church and 
schoolhouse and gave the settlement the ap- 
propriate name of Kornthal (Corndale). Mr. 
Terpinitz., Sr., was attracted to this settlement, 
and, procuring the necessarj- implements, 
stock, etc., went to work, but the old G-erman 
adage, " Shoe-maker, remain by your last," 
proved only too true. Neither the old gentle- 
man nor any of his sons had the least knowl- 
edge of practical farming in the West, except 
what they had read, and so the enterprise 
proved a miserable failure, not only absorbing 
all the means in possession of the family, but 
also sacrificed the oldest son, Sylvester, who 
succumbed to the then prevailing malarial 
fevers. Mr. J. E. Terpinitz then returned to 
his profession and trade, becoming connected 
with the jewelry establishment of Grear & Co. 
in Jonesboro, then the largest establishment of 
that kind in Southern Illinois. In the fall of 
1859, he married Miss Marie Dushel, and moved 
to the infant city of Anna, where he opened 
the first watch and jewelry establishment in 
this city. Mr. Terpinitz may be said to be the 
veteran musician of Southern Illinois, having 
been more or less connected with the organiza- 
tion of bands, orchestras and musical societies 
in this portion of the State for the last twenty- 
five years. He has met with many reverses in 
his business career, having been burned out of 
house and home three times, and had his store 
burglarized to a large amount. Nevertheless, 
with the proverbial adhesiveness and industry 
of his nationality, he remained in our city 
through prosperit}^ and adversity, and is now 
one of the old citizens of our rapidly growing 
town. 

JOHN M. TOLER, P. 0. Anna. The gen- 
tleman whose name heads this biography 
is a native of "Wayne County, N. C, born Jul}- 
16, 1806. His father, Stephen Toler was 
born in the same State in 1762, and was a 
farmer during his life, which ended in 1818. His 



paternal ancestors emigrated, at an early date, 
to America from Ireland. Elizabeth Powell, 
the mother of our subject, was born in North 
Carolina in 1763, and was the daughter of 
Peter Powell, a native of Scotland. The union 
of Stephen and Elizabeth resulted in sixteen 
children, all of whom are deceased, save John 
M., whose school advantages were very lim- 
ited. Such education as he did get was ob- 
tained within the log cabin, with slab seats 
and writing desks, etc. While yet in his mi- 
nority, perhaps when about fifteen years old, 
he began '•' paddling his own canoe " as a la- 
borer on a farm, at a small compensation. At 
the age of sixteen, he assumed the manage- 
ment of a store and fishery along the Neuse 
River for Silas Cox, from which he withdrew 
in 1829, and immediately came to what is now 
Stokes Township, where he remained until 
1868, in the meantime entering 1,100 acres of 
land. Here he devoted his entire efforts and 
time to the labors of the ruralist, and was al- 
ways well repaid for the same. In the year 
mentioned above, he removed to his present 
farm of 125 acres, lying a short distance from 
Anna, where he gives his attention to horti- 
culture, especially in small fruits. In 1830, he 
married Mary Throgmorton, born November 
15, 1812, in Kentucky, and who came to this 
county when quite young. She died in 1866. 
Her union with Mr. Toler gave her nine chil- 
dren, three of whom survive, viz. : Martha, the 
wife of Ezekiel Bishop ; L. H., born February 
15, 1844 (married, March 22, 1868, Amanda 
Sivea, and has four of six children living, viz.: 
Ary, A. J., Charles L. and Ed L.) ; J. M., born 
July 18, 1847 (married, October 13, 1867, Su- 
san M. Helton, the result being ten children, 
seven of whom survive, viz. : Isa A., Preston 
E., Olive B., Ida A. Alice G., John A. and 
Clarence E.). Three of our subject's sons 
joined the patriots to defend their country, and 
lost their lives in the service. Dr. S. E. raised 
the Sixtieth Illinois Volunteer Infantr}', and 



88 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



was commissioned General, but died before the 
time to take command. John W. was assigned 
the position as Quartermaster, and Josiah served 
as Lieutenant. June 17, 1869, Mr. Toler was 
married to Mary Baker, a daugther of Charles 
and Celia (Clark) Baker, the former born 
March 25, 1794, in Alabama, where he died in 
1861, and the latter born in North Carolina 
November 10, 1797, and died in Alabama in 
1865. The present Mrs. Toler was born in 
Georgia November 6, 1824, and belongs to the 
Methodist Church. Mr. Toler was early iden- 
tified with the Whig party, and is now a stanch 
Democrat. He served his township for several 
years as Treasurer and Trustee, and has held 
other small offices. 

HORACE WARDNER, M. D., Anna, Super- 
intendent Southern Insane As^'lum, was born 
on the 25th of August, 1829, in Wj'oming 
County, N. Y., and is a son of Philip and Maria 
(Frisby) Wardner, also natives of New York. 
The family is of German descent, the name 
Wardner being from the German " Veidner." 
Philip Veidner, the original ancestor, came to 
America about the year 1750. He was a stone- 
cutter, and was employed in building the old 
State House in Boston. Our subject's bo3hood 
was spent upon his father's farm, where the 
foundation of a strong physical organization 
was built up. He evinced a taste for literature 
when very young, a taste encouraged by his 
parents and by his uncle, the Rev. Nathan 
Wardner, formerly a missionary to China. 
The desire for knowledge increasing with his 
years, determined him to gain as liberal an 
education as possible, and to enter one of the 
learned professions. His father being of limited 
means, with a large family to support, was un- 
able to atibrd him the desired facilities, and at 
sixteen j^ears of age he launched out in sup- 
port of himself A few months' employment 
secured to him the means to commence his 
education, which was pursued at Cayuga Acad- 
emy and at Alfred University, during the fol- 



lowing seven j-ears, except such intervals spent 
in teaching as became necessary to defray 
expenses. In 1852, he commenced the study 
of medicine with Dr. W. B. Alley, at Almond, 
N. Y., and during the years 1853 and 1854, in 
Wisconsin, where he was also engaged in teach- 
ing. In the autumn of the latter year he 
located in Chicago, and was a pupil of Profs. 
A. B. Palmer and DeLaskie Miller. He en- 
tered Rush Medical College at the opening of 
the lecture course of 1854, and graduated from 
that institution in the spring of 1856. After 
spending one year in the Mercy Hospital, where, 
under excellent instructions, he made a thor- 
ough study of disease and its treatment, he 
commenced the practice of his profession at 
Liberty ville. 111. Here he rapidly made friends 
and readily commanded a fair practice. lu a 
few months, however, he sold out his business 
to another physician, and returned to Chicago, 
where, in 1858, in conjunction with Prof Ed- 
mund Andrews, M. D., he opened a private an- 
atomical room, where classes, consisting of stu- 
dents, artists and professional men were re- 
ceived and instructed in human anatomy. The 
Chicago Medical College was organized in the 
spring of 1859, and Dr. W^ardner was elected 
to the position of Demonsti'ator of Anatomy 
which he filled with success and acceptance 
until the breaking-out of the late civil war, 
when he entered the army as Surgeon of the 
Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. John 
Mc Arthur commanding. In April, 1862, he 
was promoted to the rank of Staff-Surgeon, and 
assigned to duty as a Medical Director in the 
Army of the Tennessee, under the command of 
Gen. Grant. He remained with the army in the 
field until after the battle of Corinth, in October 
1862, having participated in the engagements 
of Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Pitts- 
burg Landing, luka and Corinth, rendering 
services for which he received the highest 
commendation from his superior officers. He 
was then assigned to the United States Gen- 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



89 



eral Hospital at Mound City, 111. In Febru- 
ary, 1863, he was ordered forward to Vicks- 
burg, and while there was Assistant Medical 
Director on Gen. Grant's staff. He was then 
re-assigned to the Mound City Hospital, and 
continued in that extensive establishment until 
the close of the war, and the discontinuance of 
the institution in 1865. He was then placed 
in charge of the medical department of the 
post of Cairo, which position he occupied until 
its close in September, 1866. He was five 
years and four months in the army, and was 
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel 
for meritorious services. Pleased with the 
mild climate of Southern Illinois, he de- 
cided to henceforth make it his home, and 
upon his retirement from the United States 
service, he resumed the practice of his 
profession in the city of Cairo. In 1867, he 
was instrumental in establishing in Cairo St. 
Mary's Infirmary', and was its chief medical 
officer for ten 3'ears, enjoying at the same 
time a large and lucrative practice. In 1877, 
he was appointed by Gov. Cullom to the State 
Board of Health, a position he filled with abil- 
ity and satisfaction, and which he resigned in 
consequence of his increasing duties atthe Hos- 
pital. The last two years he was a member of 
the board he served as its President. In 1878, 
he was tendered the superintendency of the 
Southern Illinois Hospital for the Insane, by 
the Trustees, under Gov. Cullom. Being 
urged by his friends, he accepted the 
position, and has continued in charge of 
the institution ever since. Dr. Wardner 
is identified with the Republican party ; is 
a member of the Southern Illinois Medical So- 
ciety, the American Medical Association, the 
Association of Medical Superintendents of In- 
sane Asylums of the United States and Can- 
adas, the American Public Health Associa- 
tion, and for several j^ears previous to entering 
the Hospital had been Surgeon of the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company, and Examining 



Surgeon for United States Pensioners. He is 
the author of several able papers valuable to 
the medical prosession. His successful man- 
agement of the Government Hospital during 
the war, his executive and financial ability, 
and his well-known honor, integrity, humanity 
and Christian character, were largely the means 
of securing him the high and responsible posi- 
tion he now holds in the stead of Dr. Barnes 
resigned. He and his estimable lad}^ were a 
valuable acquisition to the Hospital. Dr. Ward- 
ner was married Februar}' 16, 1858, to Miss 
Delia Louise Rockwood, who was born in Can- 
ton, N. Y., July 6, 1832. She is a daughter of 
Capt. Cephas Rockwood, a step-son of Gov. 
Aaron Leland, of Vermont, and who partici- 
pated in the war of 1812 against England. 
Mrs. Wardner's ancestors were of English de- 
scent (the original English name being Rook- 
wood), and came from the North of England. 
The}' have yet the coat of arms of the family. 
Mrs. Wardner is a lady of great force of char- 
acter, and has been an able assistant to her 
husband in his charge of the Insane Hospital, 
of which she was for two j^ears Matron. They 
are members of the Episcopal Church and ex- 
emplary Christians. The Industrial School for 
dependent girls at Evanston, 111., was estab- 
lished by the suggestion of Mrs. Wardner, 
and she has been an officer in it since its com- 
mencement in 1877. She and her husband 
have educated three 3'oung ladies, viz. : Ma- 
rian, the wife of George Cary Eggleston, a well- 
known author residing in Brooklyn ; Mary 
Wardner, a niece of Dr. Wardnei', and now 
the wife of N. W. Hacker, a law student, and 
son of William A. Hacker, and grandson of 
Col. Hacker ; and Alice, wife of Fred M. Slack, 
druggist in Cleveland, Ohio. 

JAMES K. WALTON, farmer, P. 0. Anna. 
When we study the life-history of successful 
men, we find, as a rule, that they are men of 
fixed purpose and great continuity, who are 
fortunate enough to be able to choose a voca- 



^0 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



tion in keeping witii tlieir tastes, and for wliich 
their native or acquired powers fit them. The 
great cause of failure, or non-success in busi- 
ness or professional life, is a lack of continued 
effort. Of this class of men who succeed in 
finding the avocation in which their best pow- 
ers are furnished with ample scope for exer- 
cise, must be named the subject of this sketch. 
James K. Walton, a native of Lebanon County, 
Penn., was born May 18, 1825, and is a son of 
Isaac and Mar}^ (Brown) Walton. The elder 
Walton was born in Chester County, Penn., Feb- 
ruary 9, 1788, and was raised in the State, 
spent his whole life and died in it. May 28, 
1827. He learned the stone-mason's trade in 
early life, but in later years engaged in mercan- 
tile business on a small scale. He was married, 
December 19, 1815, and both he and his wife 
were exemplary members of the Episcopal 
Church. She was born in Chester County also, 
February 28, 1797, and died July 31, 1839. 
She was the mother of four children, of whom 
our subject was the youngest — Ellen, widow of 
John Irvin, now living at Hiawatha, Kan., the 
other two, William and Augustus, are dead. 
The former was long engaged in the foundry 
business in Baltimore and Philadelphia, in the 
firm of Isaac A. Shepard & Co. ; he died in 
Philadelphia in February, 1883, aged sixty 
years ; was quite wealthy, worth some $120,000. 
Our subject was raised on a farm, and educated 
in the subscription schools of Pennsylvania. 
He remained at home until 1853, when he 
came to Illinois, and located in Union County, 
entering upon his career in life as a hired hand, 
grading the Illinois Central Railroad. Before 
leaving his native State, he had worked on a 
farm b}' the month, and the highest wages he 
ever received was at the rate of $12 per month. 
He worked on the railroad for one year, and in 
1854 embarked in farming upon his present 
farm. It then contained 240 acres, but he has 
added to it until now it comprises 440 acres, 
highl}' improved, and in an admirable state of 



cultivation; he also owns some 1,500 acres in the 
Mississippi bottoms. He makes a specialty of 
ha}', wheat, corn and fine stock, of which latter 
he has some excellent and valuable animals. 
In 1869, he erected from his own designs a 
large and commodious brick residence, and 
upon his farm he has large barns, numerous 
outbuildings, all of substantial character. In- 
deed, his is a model farm, and displays in every 
design and improvement the good taste and 
judgment of its owner. Mr. Walton was mar- 
ried, March 26, 1854, to Mrs. Serena Walker, 
a native of Union County, 111., born in Jones- 
boro, June 24, 1833. She is a daughter of 
Hon. Winstead and Anna (Willard) Davie ; he 
was born in North Carolina, and came to 
Union County in 1820. His history appears 
elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Wal- 
ton have seven children living, and two dead. 
Anna Ellen, died in infancy ; Winstead Davie, 
born February 15, 1856, a farmer in the Mis- 
sissippi bottoms ; Marj^ Emma, born October 
12, 1858, at home ; Clinton B., born March 
16, 1861, and died November 12, 1862 ; Ed- 
ward B., born November 14, 1863, at home ; 
James K., born February 12, 1866 ; William 
B., born July 25, 1868 ; Charles A., born De- 
cember 28, 1870 ; Samuel D., born August 6, 
1873. Mr. and Mrs. Walton are members ot 
the Presbj'terian Church at Anna — he is a 
Trustee of the same ; he is also a charter mem- 
ber of the Knights of Honor at Jonesboro. He 
is a Democrat in politics, of the old Jackson 
school. 

WILLARD FAMILY, Anna. The Willards 
are one of the oldest, as well as one of the 
most numerous families in America, being 
scattered over man}' of the older States of the 
Union. The family is believed to be of French 
origin, although from a published work entitled 
"Willard Memoir,'' which we have perused, we 
find the family traced back to the reign of 
Edward III, of England, at which time they 
were found quite numerous in the British Do- 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



1.1 



minion. An extended sketch of this old 
family is given in the historical part of this 
volume, and without following it from the time 
of Edward III, a brief space will be devdted to 
members of the family who are known to many 
of our readers. 

Charles M. Willard, a banker in the city 
of Anna, was born in Sherbrook, Canada, April 
17, 1815, and is a son of William R. and 
Eleanor (Mann) Willard. He was born in Ster- 
ling, Mass., July 23, 1785, and was raised on a 
farm. When about eighteen years of age, he 
went to Chester, Vt., where he learned the 
trade of tanner with a man named Alfred 
Onion, who afterward changed his name to 
Deming. He followed the business of tanner 
until within twenty years of his death, and ac- 
cumulated a moderate fortune. He removed to 
Canada about 1809-10, where he remained 
until his death, September, 1864. He married 
Miss Eleanor Mann, of Chester, Yt., who was 
born April 17, 1787, and died July 24, 1832. 
Nine children were the fruit of this marriage, 
of whom Charles M. (our subject), Walter H., 
and Caroline, widow of William C. Kimball, of 
Elgin, 111., are living. Our subject was edu- 
cated at the American College at Peacham, Vt., 
and the French schools at La Bais, Nicholet 
and Sherbrook, Canada. At the age of twenty- 
one years, he left his home and came to the 
United States, and to Illinois, locating in Jones- 
boro, where, during the first summer, he engaged 
in teaching. In 1837, he commenced merchan- 
dising with E. A. Willard, Sr., and afterward 
with Elijah, Sr., Willis and William, under the 
firm name of Willard & Co. William died in 
1843, and Elijah in 1848, when Walter was ad- 
mitted, the firm still remaining Willard & Co. 
In the spring of 1849, Mr. Willard went to 
California, remaining some twenty-two months, 
mining and merchandising. Upon his return 
home, he again went into the goods business 
with Willis and Walter Willard, a business he 
continued more or less, with several firm 



changes, until 1873, when he added banking. 
April 22, 1879, he was burned out, and then 
discontinued mercantile business, and has since 
been engaged in banking business. In Novem- 
ber, 1853, he^was married to. Ellen D. Tuthill, 
who was bor^^ih*^:]P^iiiajDia2l"a^ in 1830. Poli- 
cally, Mr. Willard is a Democrat. 

Walter H. Willard, a merchant of Anna, 
III., was born in Sherbrook, Canada, December 
23, 1826, and is a brother of Charles M. Wil- 
lard, of the preceding sketch. He was the 
youngest of nine children, and was educated 
in the common schools, and in Nicholet College, 
where he took a French course. At the age of 
twenty years, he left his home and came to 
Jonesboro, 111., where he commenced his busi- 
ness career as a clerk in the store of Willard 
& Co., remaining with them for sixteen or 
seventeen 3'ears, and after the first three years 
taking an interest in the business. In 1851, he 
came to this cit}', where he continued the mer- 
cantile business with his brother, Charles M. 
Willard, and in' 1865 he and Mr. Wilcox be- 
came partners, which continued five years. 
He then bought out his partner and has since 
then conducted the business alone. He was 
married in 1863 to Miss Luc}' Loomis, a native 
of Sherbrook, Canada, and a daughter of 
Francis and Mary Loomis, she a native of 
Vermont, and he of Connecticut. They have 
five children — two boys and three girls, viz.: 
Francis W., Walter L., Mar}^ L., Lucj^ E. and 
Maud E. He is an active member of the 
Masonic fraternity. 

JOHN F. WILLIAMS, farmer, P. 0. Anna, 
was born in Union County, 111., February 20, 
1856. His father, Peter Williams, is a native 
of Virginia, and is now residing in Saratoga 
Precinct, Union County. His mother, Nancy 
(Verble) Williams, was born in Union Countj', 
and died in 1859. She was the mother of two 
children. John F., our subject, was raised on 
the farm and educated in the common schools 
of his native county. At nineteen years of age. 



92 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



he left his home and embarked on his career in 
life as a farmei". He is now the manager of 120 
acres of land, and is the owner of forty acres. 
In 1875, he married Miss Mary A. Penninger, 



a native of Union Count3^ This union has 
been blest with the following children : William, 
Everet, Oscar and Ralph. 



JOJ^ESBORO PREOn^OT. 



B. H. ANDERSON, farmer, P. 0. Jonesboro, 
was born January 5, 1838, in Union County. 
His father, Preston Anderson, may be 
classed among the pioneers who came here 
when the settlements were few, and the for- 
est was filled with wild beasts, and the 
prairies abounded with game. He was born 
in 1809, in Tennessee, and died November, 1875, 
in this county. When quite 3'oung, he was left 
an orphan. He was a farmer bj' occupation, 
and was married in Tennessee to Lucinda 
Williams, who was born in 1815 in Tennessee. 
She died in 1867 in this county. She was the 
mother of twelve children, of whom ten reached 
the age of maturity. Her son, Benjamin H., 
was the fifth child. He received a common 
school education in this count}', where he also 
enlisted August 15, 1862, in Company D of the 
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment of Illinois 
Volunteers. He was afterward transferred to 
the Eleventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry', Company I, and was mustered out Oc- 
tober 10, 1864, on the White River, Ark. 
While in the One Hundred and Ninth Regiment, 
he was promoted from Orderly Sergeant to 
First Lieutenant. He participated in the bat- 
tles of Yazoo City, Clinton, Miss., and Jackson, 
Miss. Our subject was joined in matrimony', 
November 7, 1864, in Jonesboro, to Miss Serena 
Armstrong, born September 18, 1844, in this 
county. She is a daughter of Calvin and Mary 
A. (McElhaney) Armstrong, who were born in 
Union Count}', 111., where they also died 
when Mrs. Anderson was quite young. Mrs. 



Anderson is the mother of four children now 
living, viz.: Henry H., who was born October 
6, 1865 ; Charles H., born June 9, 1868 ; 
Fannie, born February 28, 1871 ; William S., 
born January 15, 1881. Mr. Anderson has over 
200 acres of land, of which over eighty acres 
are in the corporation of Jonesboro. He is a 
Knight of Honor, Jonesboro Lodge, No. 1,891. 
In 1883, he was elected Alderman of Jonesboro. 
In politics, he is connected with the Democratic 
party. 

0. P. BAOGOTT, Sheriff, Jonesboro, was 
born in Montgomery County, near Dayton, 
Ohio, September 1, 1840. His father, James 
Baggott, was born in 1791, near Fredericks- 
burg, Va., and died in Osborn, Ohio, in 1863. 
He was a participant in the war of 1812. He 
married Mary Caylor, who boi'e him the fol- 
lowing children : Martin V., Oliver P., Jose- 
phine, James P. and Charles L. Oliver P. 
Baggott (our subject) was educated in Ohio, 
and in early life engaged in farming and teach- 
ing school. In 1861, the 21st of June, he re- 
sponded to the call of his countr}', and enlisted 
in the Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and 
served three years. He participated in many 
scenes and battles, some of which may be men- 
tioned, as second Bull Run, South Mountain, 
Antietam, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge and 
Resaca, Ga. In 1864, he returned to 
Ohio, and soon afterward went to the oil 
regions of Pennsylvania, where he remained 
two years. In 1866, he came to Illinois and 
located in Union County, where he engaged in 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



93 



farming and teaching until 1878, when he was 
appointed Deputy Sheriff under George Barrin- 
ger, and remained in said office until 1882, 
when he was elected Sheriff of the county. 
Mr. Baggott was married, April 8, 1869, in 
Union County, 111., to Miss Ruth Delves, a 
native of England, near Market Drayton ; she 
was born November 11, 1845; she is a daugh- 
ter of William and Mary (Watkins) Delves, 
and is the mother of four children, viz.: Harry 
Lee, born February 28, 1870 ; Maud, born 
July 7, 1871 ; George M., July 17, 1877, and 
Lola, born January 23, 1879. Mr. Baggott 
is a member of the following fraternities and 
orders : A., F. & A. M., Anna Lodge, No. 520 ; 
I. 0. 0. F., Anna Lodge, 291 ; the K. of H., and 
the Knights and Ladies of Honor. In politics, 
his sj^mpathies are with the Democi'atic party. 

C. C. BALLANCE, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, is a native of this county, and a sou 
of Samuel and Vina (Steiner) Ballance, who 
came to this county from Louisiana. He re- 
ceived a common school education and then 
settled down as a farmer, and now owns a farm 
of 130 acres, a part of which is devoted to a 
large orchard. Our subject was married, Octo- 
ber 3, 1867, to Mrs. Ritta Penrod, who was 
born in this county January 9, 1842, and is the 
daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Smith) 
Lyerly. She is the mother of five children 
now living, viz.: William R. Penrod, now mar- 
ried to a Miss Maggie Miles ; Sarah I. Penrod, 
who married Hugh Grammer ; Ada S., Colum- 
bus C. and Minnie A. E. Mr. and Mrs. Bal- 
lance are both members of the Christian Church. 
Mr. Ballance has occupied the position of 
School Director and is identified with the 
Democratic part}-. 

E. M. BARNWELL, Circuit Clerk and Re- 
corder, Jonesboro, was born June 13, 1837, in 
Hind County, Miss., and is a son of Edward M. 
and Maria Ann (Martin) Barnwell. He was a 
son of E. M. Barnwell, and was born in England 
and died iu New Orleans, La.; she was born in 



Ireland, and died near Natchez, Miss. They 
were the parents of three children, viz.: Ed- 
ward M. (our subject), John P., a farmer in 
Cass County, Mo., and Mark W. He died at 
the age of twenty-one at Pleasant Hill, Mercer 
Co., K}'., at the Shaker settlement, where 
he and his brothers had been placed after their 
mother's death, b}^ her request. In 1861, our 
subject left the Shaker settlement, and came to 
this county. He worked for Mr. W. Davie in 
the harness and shoe shop for about a year ; 
after that he taught school six months and then 
commenced the study of telegraphy at Anna 
In 1865, he obtained a position as operator iu 
Dongola, 111., where he remained until the 
spring of 1881, when he was elected Clerk of 
the Circuit Court and Recorder of Union 
County, to fill a vacancy caused by the death 
of A. Polk Jones, who had been Clerk for manj' 
years. Mr. B. was married, September 19, 
1871, in Dongola, to Miss Emma J. Bristol, a 
native of Palestine, Crawford Co., 111. She 
died in Dongola in March, 1872. Mr. B. is a 
member of Dongola Lodge, No. 343, 1. 0. 0. F., 
and Dongola Lodge, No. 2205, K. of H. He 
is politicall}' a Democrat. 

C. BARRINGER, merchant, Jonesboro, was 
born September 29, 1825, in this county, and 
is the oldest of seven children. His gi-and- 
father, Henry Barringer, came to this county 
in an early day, and his son Daniel, who came 
here with his father, was married to Elizabeth 
Treese, born in Rowan County, N. C. She died 
in this county. Mr. C. Barringer's chances for 
an education were limited, he onl}' attending 
the old fashioned subscription schools in this 
count}'. In most respects in I'egard to his 
business career, it may be said that he is a 
self-made man. In early life he was a farmer, 
and in 1846 he enlisted in Company F, of the 
Second Illinois Volunteer Infantr}- (Col. Bissel), 
and with it participated in the Mexican war, 
serving one j-ear. After the war, he followed 
farming for some years. On March 5, 1848, he 



94 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



was married to Miss Matilda Hileman, born 
November 9, 1826, in Union County, 111. She 
is a daughter of Christian and Nancy (Davis) 
Hileman, who were old settlers. Three chil- 
dren were the result of this union — George, 
Nancy C. and Phena. In the summer of 1861, 
Mr. Barringer enlisted in Company F, of the 
One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry (Col. A. J. Nimmo). In the spring of 
1863, our subject opened a grocery store on a 
small scale, with a stock of $64. He has con- 
tinued in that business ever since, and has 
prospered. Mr. Barringer is a member of the 
Masonic fraternit}', Jonesboro Lodge, No. 111. 
He has served the public in the capacity of 
Alderman, Ma^'or and City Treasurer, which 
latter office he fills now. In politics, he has 
been connected with the Democratic party. 

J. F. BITTLE, farmer, P. 0. Jonesboro, 
was born in this countv December 18, 1835, 
and is a son of John Bittle, who was born in 
North Carolina, and married in Kentucky to 
Hannah Kitts, who was the mother of twelve 
children. Her father, Jackson Kitts, was a 
soldier under Gen. Jackson in the war of 1812. 
John Bittle was a farmer, and came to this 
county in an early day. Our subject, John F. 
Bittle, went to school in this county, and also 
married here to Lavina Shei-al, who was the 
mother of five children, viz. : Maranda A., 
born April 29, 1863 ; Columbus M., born June 
24, 1867 ; Sarah A., born March 7, 1871 ; Han- 
nah I., born October 21. 1874 ; Martha E., born 
December 1, 1878. This lady died January 
16, 1880, after which Mr. Bittle was married 
the second time, to Mrs. Julia J. Rhoades, nee 
Douglas, born December 5, 1841, in Cape Girar- 
deau Count}', Mo. She is the daughter of 
Robert and Maria Ann (Hall) Douglas, and the 
mother of five children, viz. : Alice J. Rhoades, 
born June 5, 1860, wife of Walter Rhinehart ; 
Robert A. Rhoades, born November 2, 1861 ; 
Mary L. Rhoades, born September 22, 1863, 
wife of Richard Williams ; Anna Rhoades, born 



September 19, 1866 ; Ford Francis Bittle, born 
April 5, 1882. At present, Mr. Bittle resides 
upon a form of 200 acres, and is connected with 
the Democratic party. 

HENRY CASPER, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, was born in Rowan County, N. C, Oc- 
tober 29, 1835, and is a son of Jacob Casper, 
who was also born in that State, and there 
married Eliza Maura, also a native of North 
Carolina. She is the mother of seven b'ving 
children — Henry (our subject), Adam, George, 
David, Elizabeth, Anna and Amy. Subject 
attended school in this count}', and here he was 
also married, January 14, 1868, to Miss Ma- 
linda Brown, born February 3, 1838, in this 
county. She is the daughter of Isaac and 
Elizabeth Brown, who are old settlers in this 
county, and the mother of two children — Olive, 
born October 29, 1869 ; William, born April 
20, 1875. Mr. Casper at present has a farm of 
about one hundred acres, and in politics Ire is 
connected with the Democratic party. Mrs. 
Casper is a member of the Baptist Church. 

WILLIAM M. CHESTER, farmer, P. 0. 
Jonesboro, was born July 14, 1831, in Bedford 
Count}', Tenn. He is a son of John Chester, 
who was a carpenter by occupation, learning 
and following his trade in Tennessee, and also 
in this county, to which he had come in 1847. 
He was married, in Tennessee, to Mary Lee. 
who was also a native of Tennessee, where she 
was born in 1797 ; she died in 1865, May 26, 
in this county. She was a daughter of John 
and Mary Lee, who were born in North Caro- 
lina, and she is the mother of ten children, of 
whom five are now living — Sarah Meisenheimer, 
Elizabeth Green, William M., Amanda R. 
Sams and John D. The father of our subject 
was born August 7, 1794, in North Carolina, 
and died December 21, 1872, in this county. 
Our subject, William M. Chester, received his 
education partly in this State and partly in 
Tennessee. He was joined in matrimony, 
October 14, 1860, in Union County, to Miss 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



95 



Francis J. Meisenheimer, who died March 22, 
1873, leaving three children — William N., born 
July 17, 1867 ; Ann Mary, born April 9, 1869 ; 
and Amanda, born January 9, 1871. Mr. 
Chester was married a second time, September 
14, 1877, in this county, to Mrs. Georgie A. 
Le3'erle, who was born in Kentucky. She is 
the mother of four children now living — John 
B. Lyerle, born November 6, 1870 ; Levy L. 
Leyerle, born Februar}- 18, 1875 ; Henrietta 
Chester, born October 10, 1878, and Magdalene 
Chester, born March 23, 1882. Mr. Chester 
has a farm of eighty acres, which is the old 
home place of the Chester family. Our sub- 
ject, as well as his ancestors, have been con- 
nected with the Democratic party. 

JAMES CRAYER, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, was born March 4, 1822, in Davidson 
County, N. C, and is the third oldest son of 
Michael Craver, also a native of that State, 
who married Susannah Sowers in the same 
State and then came to this county, where he 
resided until his death, which occurred in 1838. 
Here he first followed farming, but during the 
latter part of his life he shipped pork South to 
New Orleans, and was at one time the Cap- 
tain of a company of State militia. He was 
the father of ten children, of whom seven 
are living, viz., Christina Ury, Mary Cover, 
James, David, Malinda, Daniel and Anna Hile- 
man. David is now in Florida. Daniel is 
a miner of 1849 in California, and the rest are 
in this county. Our subject, James Craver, 
came to this county with his parents in 1827, 
and has lived here ever since. He attended the 
schools of this county in an early day, and has 
since made farming his occupation. He now 
has a farm of 116 acres inside of the corpora- 
tion of Jonesboro and 560 acres on the 
Cape Girardeau road, six miles southwest of 
Jonesboro. At present, his sister Malinda 
is keeping houses for him. He is now identi- 
fied with the Democratic party, and will, he 
sa3-s, stick to that party as long as he lives. 



JUDGE M. C. CRAWFORD, lawyer, Jones- 
boro, was born in Franklin Count3\ 111., May 
26, 1835, and is a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Randolph) Crawford. The elder Crawford was 
born in Maryland, to which province his father, 
also John Crawford, had emigrated from the 
North of Ireland prior to the Revolutionary- 
war. He left his native countr}^ in disgust with 
the British rule and participated in our war for 
independence. He married Mar}' Wright in 
Virginia ; she was a native of England, and 
died in Mar3'land. John Crawford, the father 
of our subject, was a farmer by occupation. He 
served in the Indian wars under Gen. Jackson, 
participating in several battles with the sav- 
ages. His wife, Elizabeth Randolph, to whom 
he was married in 1830, in Franklin County, 
111., was born in 1812, in Rutherford County, 
Tenn., and died in 1842. She was the mother 
of five children, viz.: Ellen, wife of Jeflfersou- 
Whittington ; Monroe C. (our subject) ; Huldah, 
former wife of Isaac Whittington, deceased ; 
Napoleon B., a physician in Woodford County, 
111., and Thomas, a teacher in Franklin Count}*. 
Judge Crawford is mainly self-educated, re- 
ceiving his early learning in the common 
schools of Southern Illinois, which in the days 
of his boyhood were common indeed. In 1853, 
he commenced the study of law with Judge 
William K. Parrish, and was licensed to prac- 
tice in 1854. After attending a course of lect- 
ures at Louisville, Ky., and receiving the 
degree of Bachelor of Law, he began the prac- 
tice of his profession at Benton, the county 
seat at Franklin, in 1855. In November, 1856. 
he was elected State's Attorney for the Third 
Judicial Circuit, composed at that time of ten 
counties ; he was re-elected in 1860. He en- 
tered the army during the late war, and in 1862 
was made Lieutenant Colonel of the One 
Hundred and Tenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
participating in many stirring scenes and bat- 
tles, among which were Champion Hill and 
Stone River. After the war. Judge Crawford 



96 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



returned to Southern Illinois and resumed the 
practice of law at Duquoin. He was elected 
Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit in 1867, 
and was re-elected in 1873. He came to Jones- 
boro in October, 1867. After serving out his 
last term, he resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession. Judge Crawford was married, Novem- 
ber 1, 1858, in Benton, 111., to Miss Sarah I. 
Willbanks, who was born December 31, 18-42, 
in Jefferson County, 111. She is a daughter of 
Col. Robert A. D. and Madaline S. (Arrington) 
Willbanks. They have six children living, 
viz.: Robert N., Stanley A., John C, Charles 
C, George W. and Mary. Judge and Mrs. 
Crawford are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church ; he is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity of Jonesboro Lodge, No. 
Ill, of which he is Master ; he is also an I. 0. 
0. F., and P. Gr. of his lodge ; is a member of 
the Knights of Honor, Jonesboro Lodge, No. 
1891. He has been twice elected by the Grand 
Lodge of Illinois, K. of H. to repi'esent it in 
the Supreme Lodge of the United States. In 
politics, Judge Crawford is identified with the 
Democratic part}'. 

G. W. CROWELL. farmer, P. 0. Jonesboro, 
is a native of this county, and was born in June, 
1829. He is a son of John Crowell, whose 
father, John Crowell, Sr., was a South Carolina 
Indian. The mother of our subject was Miss 
Mar}' Dougherty, of Irish descent and the 
mother of a large family. John Crowell came 
to this county in a very early day, when the 
forests were inhabited by wild beasts and 
wilder men. Here he married, and the twain 
endured the hardships of pioneer life, depend- 
ing part of the time on the hunt for subsistence. 
Our subject, when young, went for a few mouths 
to the old-fashioned subscription schools, and 
in early manhood turned his attention to the 
occupation of a farmer, and now has a farm of 
120 acres. He was married in this county to 
Miss Mary Jane O'Neal, who was born in Ten- 
nessee, but came to this county when j-oung. 



with her father, Austin O'Neal. She is the 
mother of nine children, viz.: John, Marinda, 
Allen, Charles, Mar}', Mize, Sarah, Alonzo and 
William. The oldest son is now married to a 
Miss Alice Nash, and the result of this union 
is one child, Frank. Mrs. G. W. Crowell is a 
member of the Baptist Church, and our subject 
is an Independent regarding political parties, 
voting always for the best man. 

ALBERT CROWELL, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro. This gentleman was born in Union 
County, 111., July 4, 1858, and is a son of 
Charles and Elizabeth (Bennett) Crowell. He 
was a native of Illinois, and during his life was 
principally engaged in mercantile pursuits ; he 
died in Jonesboro, III, in 1878, where he had 
resided for some years previous. His wife, and 
mother of our subject, was a native of Illinois ; 
she died in Anna, 111., in 1881. She was the 
mother of nine children, of whom six are now 
living, viz.: Belle, wife of S. R. Green, a mer- 
chant of Cobden, 111.; Charley, a carpenter who 
married Miss Mollie Bissel ; Dora, wife of G. 
W. Smith, a merchant in Makanda, 111.; Ester, 
wife of Newt Meisenheimer, agent of the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad at Anna ; Ollie D., and 
Albert, our subject. He was educated in the 
schools of Union County, and embarked on his 
career in life as a clerk in his father's store ; he 
afterward engaged in business for himself, in a 
general merchandising store at Cobden, 111., in 
partnership with his brother Charley, he re- 
maining about two years, when he sold his 
business an d removed to Cairo and engaged in 
the dry goods business for about eight months, 
and in the spring of 1882 returned to Jones- 
boro, and in August of the same year returned 
to the old home farm where he has since re- 
mained actively engaged in farming. In March 
1880, he married Miss Addie Williams, a native 
of St. Louis, born in 1859. She is a daughter 
of Nicholas Williams, a resident of Cairo. Mr. 
and Mrs. Crowell have been blessed with one 
child, Maud S., born April -i, 1882. He is a 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



97 



wide awake business man. and a Republican in 
politics. 

W. S. DAY, attorney at law, Jonesboro, 
was born March 14, 1848, in Smith County, 
Tenn. He is of Scotch-English descent. His 
grandfather, John J). Day, was born in North 
Carolina and died in Tennessee. He was mar- 
ried to Margaret Cauley, born in Scotland, who 
died in Tennessee. She was the mother of 
seven children. Her son, Henrj^ D., was born 
December 14, 1822, in Smith County, Tenn.; 
he died in December, 1881 ; his death was 
caused by a runaway team. He was a farmer 
by occupation, and was married to Martha W. 
Kerley, born in 1821 in Smith County, Tenn. 
She is the mother of ten children, viz.: Aman- 
da Davis, William S., Jonathan W., Marj- and 
James (deceased), George, Alice, Henry, Dar- 
thula Hess and Louisa Bean. Our subject was 
educated in the common schools principally. 
He came to this county with his parents in the 
spring of 1861. In the spring of 1872, he 
commenced the study of law in Jonesboro with 
Judge M. C. Crawford, and was admitted to 
the bar in June, 1874, at Mount Vernon, 111. 
Since then he has followed his profession in 
this count}'. In the fall of 1876, he was elected 
State's Attorney, filling the office four years. 
Mr. Day was joined in matrimony, August 20, 
1876, in Jonesboro, 111., to Miss Helen A. 
Fi'ick, born April 26, 1856, in Jonesboro, 111. 
She is a daughter of Paul and Hannah (Mc- 
intosh) Frick. She is the mother of William 
C, born April 13, 1880. Mrs. Day is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
Mr. Day is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., South- 
ern Lodge, No. 241 ; is also a Knight of Honor, 
Jonesboro Lodge, No. 1891. In politics, he is 
identified with the Democratic party. 

HENRY DILLOW, farmer, P. 0. Spring- 
ville, was born in Union Count}', 111., November 
4, 1829. His father, Peter Dillow, was born 
in Rowan County, N. C, in 1797, and came to 
Union County when a young man. During his 



life, followed the occupation of a farmer. He 
died in 1880. His wife, Polly (Lence) Dillow, 
was born in North Carolina and is now living. 
She is the mother of fifteen children, of whom 
eight are now living. Henry, our subject, was 
raised on the home farm and educated in the 
old-fashion subscription schools common in his 
day, and to say the least his education was 
ver}' limited. He has, however, by observation 
and study, since acquired a fair knowledge of 
the English language. When he became o 
age, he embarked on his career in life, at which 
he is still actively engaged, being the owner of 
170 acres of land. He has been twice married. 
His first wife was Sophia Lingle, daughter of 
Peter and Betsey (Cruse) Lingle. She died in 
1862, leaving three children as the results of 
their union, viz.: Alfred, Mary J. and Levi C. 
His second wife was Amy Light, daughter of 
John Light. She died March 13, 1878, leav- 
ing five children, viz.: Alice L., Lilly S.. Cora 
A., John A. and Henry D. Mr. Dillow is a 
member of the Lutheran Church, and a Demo- 
crat. 

JOSEPH DUSCHEL, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, was born March 26, 1852, in Schwanen- 
stadt, Upper Austria. His father, Joseph Dus- 
schel, Sr., was born in Bavaria. He was the 
proprietor of the Emperor's iron-workers at 
Kanfing, in Austria. He had gained that po- 
sition through his industry, fidelity and skill 
as a mechanic. He finally sold out ; and, in 
1854, came to the United States, settling in 
Union County, 111., where he bought a farm, 
and tilled it till his death, which occurred in 
1872. He was married twice ; the first time to 
Magdalena Grahamer, who died while crossing 
the ocean ; the second time to Theresa Fuerth- 
bauer. Five children of his first wife are yet 
living ; their names are Magdalena, Anna, Mary, 
Louisa and Joseph. The oldest child, Magda- 
lena, was married in this countrj' to F. L. Ter- 
peuitz, who was a nobleman's son, of Russian 
descent. He was a Government employe dur- 



98 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



ing the late war, and died in the South of fever. 
His two surviving daughters, Amalia M., born 
March 21, 1865, and Josephina L., born June 
11, 1867, were educated in the St. Joseph's 
Convent, at Baton Rouge, La., and are now 
living with their mother at Joseph Duschel's, 
in Union Count}', 111. Our subject, Joseph 
Duschel, went to school in the German settle- 
ment in Union County, III. He has been a 
farmer all his life. He was joined in matri- 
mony September 10, 1876, in Alexander County, 
111., to Miss Malinda Cole, who was born in 
June, 1858, in Alexander County, 111., and died 
November 16, 1882, in this county. She was 
the mother of one little girl, named Ida, who 
was born December 24, 1879. Mr. Duschel is 
a quiet, industrious man, who enjoys the respect 
of his neighbors. He has a farm of 120 acres 
of land, on a part of which he i-aises fruit. In 
politics, he is a Republican. 

CHRISTIAN G. FLAUGH, miller, Jones- 
boro, was born March 26, 1821, half a mile 
northwest of Jonesboro, sou of Christian G. 
Flaugh, Sr., who was born in Germany, where 
he learned the cooper and brewer trades. When 
a young man, he came to this counti-y, being 
thirteen weeks crossing the ocean, settling in 
Reading, Penn., where he married a lady who 
was born in Germany, and on her arrival here 
was hired out to pay for her passage across the 
ocean, as was often done in those days. Shortly 
after they were married, the}' started for the 
West with other emigi'ants, in a keel-boat, 
starting from Pittsburgh, Penn., and landing 
near Murphy sboro, 111. They then came across 
to Jonesboro. The journey from Cairo to the 
mouth of the Big Muddy River, on the Mis- 
sissippi, was hard and tedious work, as the 
boat had to be propelled with oars and pike 
poles, and at times had to be drawn along with 
a cable by men walking along the shore. It 
took almost as long as it does now to travel 
across the continent. The family stopped one 
year near Jonesboro, and then bought a small 



farm southwest of there, that had a mill on it. 
There he put up a distillery, and continued to 
run it until the time of his death, which occurred 
in July, 1834, at the Hamburg Landing, while 
on his way to St. Louis. His body was found 
in the river, covered with wounds, indicating 
that he had been murdered. His wife died 
some five years afterward. She was the mother 
of seven children, of whom five reached the age 
of maturity. They are all dead except Henr}' 
B. Flaugh and our subject, who received a 
limited education in the old subscription 
schools, but who has since, through reading, 
acquired a fund of useful knowledge. In early 
life, he worked with his father on the farm, and 
after his father's death he ran the mill and dis- 
tiller3^ He is yet engaged in milling, l)ut quit 
the distilling business in 1852, when he became 
a convert to the temperance cause, of which he 
is now a warm supporter. After he gave up 
the distillery, he ran a tannery, and also a shoe 
and harness shop till after the war. Our sub- 
ject was married here, March 25, 1841, to Nancy 
A. Mcintosh, born January 21, 1823, in Jones- 
boro. She was a daughter of an old pioneer 
named John Mcintosh, Sr. The result of this 
union was seven children, of whom onl}- two 
daughters, viz., Emil}^ J. Lingle and Syndona 
M. Rushing, are now living. Mr. Flaugh is 
one of those men who, while the evening shad- 
ows gather around him, and the embers of life 
burn low, can look back upon a well-spent life, 
enjoying the esteem of those with whom he 
came in contact. He is a Democrat in politics. 
He has been a member and officer of the Bap- 
tist Church for thirty-seven ^^ears. 

H. B. FLAUGH, farmer, P. 0. Jonesboro. 
Our subject is a native of this county, and was 
born May 15, 1823. He is a son of Christian 
Flaugh, who was born in Germany, where he 
also married, and is the father of six children, 
of whom only our subject and his brother 
Christian, Jr., are now living. Christian Flaugh^ 
Sr. , came to this country soon after his mar- 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



99 



riage and settled north of Jonesboro, where he 
remained about one year, and then removed to 
a farm south of that town. He was drowned 
in the Mississippi River about fifty years ago ; 
his wife also died in this county. Henry B. 
Flaugh, our subject, went to school in the old- 
fashioned subscription schools, paying his own 
tuition for a winter term, while working for 
$5 or $6 per month. At the age of eighteen, 
he learned the cooper trade with Paul Frick, 
of Jonesboro, but after following it for three 
3'ears, he commenced farming, and now has a 
farm of 160 acres. He enlisted in the Second 
Illinois Regiment of Infantry, commanded by 
Col. Bissell, and served one year in the Mexi- 
can war. Our subject has been twice married ; 
first in 1848, to Miss Rebecca Sams. She was 
born February 23, 1830, in this county, and 
died here November 16, 1875. This lad3' was 
the mother of eight children now living, viz.: 
Alice, wife of Chester Atwood ; Serena, wife of 
Joseph Chester ; Augusta, wife of Andrew 
Brown ; Franklin, married to Harriet Gunn ; 
Francis, wife of Joseph Brown ; Ida, Eva and 
Idella. He married the second time, to Miss 
Sarah C. Neal, who lived only seven weeks 
after hermarriage, departing this life December 
24. 1876. Mr. Flaugh is a member of the 
Jonesboro Baptist Church, and is a Democrat 
in politics. He has served as School Director. 
PAUL FRICK, machinist, Jonesboro, was 
born July 9, 1816, in Rowan County, N. C. His 
great-grandparents came from Switzerland 
about 1740, settling in Bucks Countj', Penn. 
Their son Rudy was born there, but afterward 
moved to Rowan County, N. C, in 1755. His 
son, Jacob Frick, was born in Pennsylvania. 
He was married, in Rowan County, N. C, to 
Elizabeth Earnhart, who was the mother of 
twelve children, of whom Paul, our subject, 
was the youngest. Jacob Frick was a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war, serving mostl}' under 
Gen. .Rutherford, and afterward drawing a pen- 
sion. Our subject came to this county with 



his parents in 1823, arriving on Christmas Day, 
He attended the subscription schools, and paid 
his own way by making and selling split-bot- 
tom chairs, walking three miles night and 
morning. Mr. Frick was a farmer by occupa- 
tion in early life, and then learned and followed 
the cooper trade for fifteen years. In 1854, he 
opened a machine and farm implement shop, 
in which he has continued to the present day, 
although he has retired from active life. Mr. 
Frick has been married twice, the first time 
July 25, 1839, to Hannah Mcintosh, born July 
13, 1820, in Jonesboro ; she died May 14, 
1863. She is a daughter of John and Mary 
(killer) Mcintosh. Mrs. Frick was the mother 
of seven children — Martha J. (deceased), Eliz- 
abeth A. (wife of Davis W. Miller, of Chicago), 
William Dennis, Laura Ann, Mary F., Helen 
A. and Cyrus W. (deceased). Mr. Frick was 
married a second time to Mrs. Nancy Walker, 
born June 24, 1819. She is a daughter of 
Robert and Catharine (Hunsaker) Hargrave. 
Mrs. Nancy Frick is the mother of four chil- 
dren — Laura (wife of James Dewitt), William 
W. (married Sarah I. Williford), Willis W. 
(married Nettie Scott), and Flora (wife of Wal- 
ter Grear). These children are by Mrs. Frick's 
first husband. Mrs. Frick is a member of the 
Baptist Church. Mr. Frick was elected County 
Commissioner in 1841. The office is now 
called County Judge. He was formerly' a 
magistrate for thirteen j-ears, and filling the 
office of Mayor for the same length of time. 
Our subject's life has been a prosperous one, 
yet his prosperit}^ is the result of hard toil and 
perseverance. He has about 580 acres of well- 
improved land. In politics, Mr. Frick is the 
strongest kind of a Democrat, hoping to live 
and die within the fold of that grand old part}-. 
M. M. GOODMAN, M. D., Jonesboro, is the 
oldest son of a family of three children. He 
was born June 12, 1831, in Rowan County, 
N. C. His grandfather, George Goodman, was 
of German descent, but born in Cabarrus 



100 



BIOGRAPHICAI:r: 



County, N. C. His son Moses was born in the 
same place. He was formerly a merchant in 
Anna, 111., where he now resides. He was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Josey, who was born in 
Rowan County, N. C, where she died. She was 
the mother of three children, viz.: Mumford 
M., Rosannah and Julius V., the two latter de- 
ceased. Oar subject. Dr. M. M. Goodman, was 
a tiller of the soil in early life. After reaching 
the age of maturity, he shook the dust of South 
Carolina off his feet, and came to what was 
then and may yet be called " God's country," 
namely, Union County, III, where he taught 
school for one year, and then commenced the 
study of medicine, graduating at the Medical 
Department of the St. Louis University in 
March, 1855. He then returned to Jonesboro, 
where he followed his profession. The Doctor 
was joined in matrimony, May 18, 1862, in 
Jonesboro, 111., to Miss Mary A. Willard, born 
June 23, 1841, in Jonesboro, 111. She is the 
daughter of Willis and Frances C. (Webb) 
Willard, the pioneer family of Willards, of whom 
there appears in the general county history of 
Union County an extended account. Mr. and 
Mrs. M. M. Goodman have three children — 
Frances J., born September 15, 1864 ; Willard, 
born January 29, 1867 ; and Charles M., born 
December 16, 1869. Mrs. Goodman is a member 
of the Episcopal Church. Has spent her life 
among the people and has many friends of 
Union County. She possesses a large proper- 
ty, which she inherited from the fortune left 
by Elijah Willard, which she has managed 
and cared for in such a way as to add to its 
value from year to year. In the bosom of her 
pleasant family she is a model mother, a warm 
friend, a valued acquaintance. She is a most 
worth}' and exemplary member of the com- 
munity in which she lives. 

HON. JOHN GREAR, Mayor of Jonesboro, 
whose portrait appears in this work, sprung 
from a good old Jackson Democratic famih'. 
His father, George Grear. was born June 28, 



1791, in North Carolina, and entered the army 
at the age of fourteen years, where he served 
his country until twenty-three, most of the time 
with Gen. Jackson, being with him through the 
Creek and Seminole wars. He married Mary 
Meisenheimer, a native of North Carolina. 
They had seven children as follows: Elizabeth, 
John, Jacob, Mathias, Paulina, Malinda and 
Mary. Our subject, John Grear, was born 
March 2, 1824, in Jonesboro, III, whence his 
parents moved from North Carolina among the 
pioneers of Union County. His chances for an 
education were few, as were all children herein 
an early day. He learned the jewelry or watch- 
making business, a trade he still follows. Like 
his father before him, he is a Democrat in poli- 
tics, but is not an office seeker or a politician. 
At the last city election (spring of 1883), he 
was elected Maj^or of Jonesboro, which about 
constitutes his career as an office holder. He 
was married April 13, 1847, to Miss Dona 
Meadows, who was born in North Carolina, and 
is a daughter of William and Mary (Smith) 
Meadows. The fruit of this marriage is four 
children, all boys and all living — Walter, Sid- 
ney, John W. and Harrj . Mr. and Mrs. Grear 
have lived together as man and wife over thirty- 
six years ; have raised four children of their 
own, and raised or partly raised and educated 
nine others, and have never had a death in 
their family. 

F. W. GREEN, farmer, P. 0. Jonesboro, 
was born October 26, 1834, in Union County, 
111., where his father, William Green, also was 
born in 1807, although the name of Union 
County was unthought of The grandfather 
of our subject went from South Carolina to 
Kentucky, and finally, in 1805, he came to 
this country, settling in the northwest corner 
of what is now called Jonesboro Township, 
where he and his neighbors erected a kind of 
Indian foi't for mutual protection from the wild 
beasts and wilder men who roamed through 
the forest. His two brothers, Thomas and 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



101 



Parish Green, established a ferry across the 
Mississippi River, at what is now called Will- 
ard's Landing, but the ferry is yet linown to 
a great many people as Green's old ferry. 
"William Green was married in this county four 
times, viz.: Mar}- Witaker was his first wife, 
and is the mother of Florence W., who is our 
subject. His second wife was Cornelia C. 
Mounts, whose maiden name was Bennett ; 
she was the mother of Mar}-, wife of John C. 
Miller, and William P. Mrs. Josephine Min- 
ton, whose maiden name was Clark, was the 
third wife ; she was the mother of David M. 
His last wife was Permelia Peel. William 
Green died October 28, 1864. Our subject 
went to school in this county, where he was 
also joined in matrimony, January 17, 1865, to 
Miss Annetta Cover, who was born November 
25, 1847, in Jonesboro. Her parents, Daniel 
D. and Mary (Craver) Cover, were farmers by 
occupation. The former came from Maryland, 
and the latter from North Carolina. Mrs. 
Green is the mother of seven children — Otis, 
born October 14, 1865 ; Daniel, April 19, 1867 ; 
Theron, January 22, 1869 ; John H., January 
7, 1871 ; Florence E., October 15, 1873 ; James 
A., January 12, 1876 ; Lula A., February 25, 
1878. Mr. Green is a member of Knights of 
Honor, Jonesboro Lodge, No. 1891. He has 
been Township Trustee, Treas^irer and School 
Director. He has a good farm of 212 acres. 
In politics, he has been identified with the 
Democratic party. 

G. W. HALL, fruit-grower, P. 0. Jonesboro, 
was born November 29, 1812, in Maury County. 
Tenn. He is a son of Benjamin Hall, who was 
born in Maryland, and drowned in the Missis- 
sippi River. His wife, Rebecca Green, was 
born in North Carolina, and died in Mills 
County, Iowa. She was a distant relative of 
Gen. Green, of Revolutionar}- fame, and was 
the mother of twelve children. Our subject, 
G. W. Hall, had but little opportunity to obtain 
an education ; but what he has was mainl}- 



acquired through his own exertions. In early 
life, he learned the carpenter trade, and followed 
it for about forty-five j^ears, and now he is re- 
tired from active life, and oversees his fruit 
farm near Jonesboro. He came to this county 
January 8, 1844. He was joined in matrimony 
in 1834, at Cape Girardeau County, Mo., to 
Miss Minerva Ann Douglas, of Scotch descent, 
born in 1813 near Nashville, Tenn. She was 
the mother of eleven children. She died in 
this county some years ago, and Mr. Hall was 
married the second time to Mrs. Upchurch, 
whose maiden name was Rhoda Ann Powell, 
born in this county January 25, 1831, daughter 
of William Powell. He has a farm of about 
forty acres, and of this about two-thirds is de- 
voted to fruit culture, principally to that of 
strawberries. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members 
of the M. E. Church. In politics, our subject 
is now and always has been connected with 
the Republican party, and although raised 
among people who favored slavery, he was al- 
ways strenuously opposed to it. 

G. W. HESS, farmer, P. 0. Anna, was born 
November 20, 1854, in this county, and is the 
grandson of Joseph Hess, who was born in 
North Carolina, where he married Mary Hart- 
line. They are still living in this count}', where 
their children, five boys and three girls, are also 
living, and are prosperous. Silas Hess was the 
second oldest of these children, and was mar- 
ried in this county to Mary Hileman, daughter 
of Christian Hileman, and the mother of eight 
children, of whom our subject, George W. Hess, 
is the fourth oldest. He received a common 
school education, and then taught a number of 
3'ears in the schools of this and adjoining pre- 
cincts. At present, he is following the occupa- 
tion of a farmer, and owns a farm of 157 acres, 
a part of which is devoted to fruit raising. 
Mr. Hess was joined in matrimony, September 
7, 1879, to Josie Wilson, who was born Janu- 
ary 31, 1858, in this county, and is a daughter 
of John and Mary McCasland Wilson. Mr. 



103 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



and Mrs. Hess are both members of the Re- 
formed Church, and in politics Mr. Hess is 
identified with the Democratic party. 

J. HENRY HILBOLDT, County Clerk, was 
born October 2, 1853, in Berne, Switzerland. 
His father, Samuel Hilboldt was born January' 
1, 1797, in Switzerland ; he died January' 1; 
1860, in Dongola, 111. He was a soldier in the 
old country and a blacksmith by occupation. 
He was married there to Mary Weisenbach, 
born August 12, 1812 ; she died July 18, 18G8, 
in Dongola, 111. She was the mother of Ed- 
ward W., Jacob S., Mar}^ C. and J. Henry. 
Mr. Hilboldt came to this county with his 
parents, in May, 1854. He was educated in this 
county, and in early life clerked in Jonesboro. 
In November, 1882, he was elected County 
Clerk by the Democratic party. Mr. Hilboldt 
was joined in matrimony April 20, 1875, in 
Jonesboro, to Miss Ellen V. Evans, who was 
born May 29, 1855, in Jonesboro. She is a 
daughter of John and Mar}' (Evans) Evans, and 
is the mother of two children, viz.: J. Henr}', 
born August 31, 1878, and Eva W., born Jan- 
uary 5, 1881. Mrs. Hilboldt is a member of 
the Baptist Church, and Mr. Hilboldt is a mem- 
ber of the I. 0. 0. F., Southern Lodge, No. 
241. He is also a Knight of Honor, Jonesboro, 
Lodge, No. 1891, and also a member of the 
Knights and Ladies of Honor, Flora Lodge, 
No. 596. In politics, our subject is identified 
with the Democratic party. 

DANIEL HILEMAN, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, is a descendant of one of our old and 
worthy pioneer families. His father, Henr}- 
Hileman, a native of North Carolina, came to 
this county in 1819. The mother of our sub- 
ject was Elizabeth Mull, also a native of North 
Carolina ; she died 1883 in this count}'. She 
was the mother of six children now living, viz.: 
Daniel, our subject ; Anna Rendleman, Malinda 
Hargrave, Elizabeth Rendleman, Harrison and 
Jefferson. The Hileman family is of German 
descent and is mentioned in our general his- 



tory. Our subject, Daniel Hileman, was edu- 
cated in the schools of Union County, where he 
was also married afterward to Miss Sarah J. 
Hargrave, who was born in January, 1832, in 
this county. She was a daughter of Robert 
and Catharine (Hunsaker) Hargrave, and was 
the mother of three children, viz.: Emily, born 
June 15, 1855, wife of T. W. C. Hall; Ann 
Hannah, deceased, and Elizabeth C, born Au- 
gust 19, 1859. Mrs. Hileman is now dead. 
The Hileman family is one of the oldest and 
most respected families in Union County, and 
our subject has inherited many of his ancestors' 
sterling qualities. He is a quiet, unassuming 
man, who spends most of his time on his farm 
of 240 acres near Jonesboro. In politics, he 
is identified with the Democratic party, al- 
though in count}' ofltices he votes for the best 
man. 

J. E. HILEMAN, Postmaster, Jonesboro, 
was born January 27, 1860, in Union County, 
111. His great-grandfather was Rinehart Hile- 
man, of German descent. His son Adam 
Hileman, was born in North Carolina ; he died 
in this county where he was a farmer by oc- 
cupation. His son Eli was born June 11, 1832. 
in this county, where he fai*med until the 
breaking-out of our late war, when he obeyed 
the call of his county to protect the stars and 
stripes by enlisting in Company I, of the 
Eighty-first Regiment Illinois Volunteers, par- 
ticipating in several battles and also in the 
siege of Vicksburg, in which city he died Feb- 
ruary 14, 1864. of the small-pox. He was mar- 
ried, April 6, 1854, to Mary x\nn Reitzel, born 
December 13, 1829, in North Carolina ; she 
died August 8, 1867, in this county. She was 
the daughter of Christian and Delilah (Ingold) 
Reitzel, of North Carolina. She was the 
mother of six children, four now living, viz.: 
Jerome D., a farmer in Johnson County ; 
Matilda E., Jairus E. and Philetus E. Our 
subject received a common school education in 
this county, and was formerly a student of Car- 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



103 



bondale, 111. In early life he was a tiller of 
the soil, but in 1880 he clerked in the post 
oflSce of Jonesboro and Anna, and in February, 
1881, was appointed Postmaster at Jonesboro, 
and has held the office since. Mr. Hileman is 
a member of the Lutheran Church at Anna, 111. 
In politics, he is identified with the Republican 
party. 

MRS. NANNIE C. JONES was born in this 
county February 24, 1851, and is the daughter 
of Charles and Matilda (Hileman) Barringer. 
She received her education in the schools of 
Jonesboro, and was joined in matrimony Ma}' 
9, 1869, to A. Polk Jones, who was born Au- 
gust 27, 1846, in Johnson County, 111. He 
was a son of William and Eliza (Worele}) 
Jones. Mr. A. P. Jones received a common 
school education in Jonesboro, and afterward 
entered the office of Thomas Findley, who was 
then County Clerk, and from that, by his own 
exertions, he worked his way up. He filled 
several offices by appointment, and was finally 
elected to the office of Circuit Clerk in the fall 
of 1872, serving eight years in succession, and 
filling the office with ability, and enjoying the 
confidence of the people to such an extent that 
he was re-elected to a third term of four years, 
but he did not long fill the office, for the angel 
of death, in his journey over the earth, called 
the worker to his home above on the 27th day 
of November, 1880. He was a member of the 

1. 0. 0. F., and also a Knight of Honor. In 
politics, Mr. Jones was a Democrat. He was 
the father of five children — Luella, born De- 
cember 24, 1869 ; Ada P., born December 20, 
1870 ; Charles L., born Januar}^ 10, 1874 ; 
Adolphus, born December 24, 1876, and died 
May 11, 1880, and Myrtle S., born September 

2, 1880. Mrs. Jones at jiresent makes her 
home at Jonesboro, where she devotes herself 
to the education of her children. 

D. W. KARRAKER, lawyer, Jonesboro, 
was born in Union County, 111., February 12, 
1854. He is a grandson of Daniel Karraker, 



who came to Union County from North Caro- 
lina, where he was married to Rachel Black- 
welder, who bore him nine children, who lived 
to the ages of maturity. Their names are 
Paul, Peggie, Jacob, Paulina, Nathan, Dennis, 
Bazil, "Wilson and Sally. The father of our 
subject, Jacob Karraker, was born in this 
county in 1822, and is engaged in farming. 
He married Mary Peeler, who was born in 
Union County in 1824. She is a daughter of 
Christian Peeler, who emigi-ated to Union 
County in an early day. Parents of our sub- 
ject had ten children — Rachel, Anna (deceased), 
Malinda, William W., David W., Lucinda J. 
(deceased), Henry W., Julius (deceased), Jacob 
C. and Mary E. David W. received the bene- 
fits of the common schools of his native county, 
and was afterward a student at the A. M. Col- 
lege at Lexington, K3^ He began the study of 
law with Gov. John Dougherty in Jonesboro 
in the spring of 1876, and was admitted to the 
bar in June, 1878, at Mt. Vernon, 111. He 
taught school in Union County for four terms. 
In December, 1876, he was elected Secretary of 
the Union County Fair Association ; in April, 
1877, he was elected Attorney for the city of 
Jonesboro. In November, 1877, at the age of 
twenty-three, he was elected County Superin- 
tendent of Schools, which office he filled till 
November, 1880, when he was elected State's 
Attorney, which office he now fills. He was 
married, June 19, 1881, in Jackson County, 
111., to Miss Cora L. Harreld, onl}^ daughter of 
Cyrus and Amelia (Tuttle) Harreld. She was 
born April 26, 1859, in Jackson County, 111. 
Mr. Karraker is a strong Prohibitionist, and in 
politics is a Democrat. 

D. M. KIMMEL, farmer, P. 0. Jonesboro, 
was born September 9, 1845, in the Mississippi 
bottom, in Union County, and is a son of 
George W. and Eliza Jane (Smith) Kimrael. 
He was a farmer, and came here when quite 
young, and died April 3, 1877. His wife was 
born in Missouri. She was the mother of seven 



104 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



children, of whom our subject is the oldest now 
living. He received his education here in the 
common schools, and follows the occupation of 
farming ; has an excellent farm of 132 acres. 
He was married, April 28, 1867, to Miss Mar- 
garet E. Oterich, born December 13, 1849, in 
this county. She is a daughter of George W. 
and Mar}' (Renninger) Oterich, who were also 
early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Kimmel have but 
one child — a daughter named Mary Olive, born 
Februaiy 9, 1868. They and their daughter 
are members of the Baptist Church. He is 
School Director in his district. The grand- 
father of our subject, Daniel Kimmel, came 
from North Carolina and settled in this county, 
near Jonesboro. His son, George W., after- 
ward moved to the bottom, where he became a 
large farmer, aud where subject was born. 

WALTER G. KIMMEL, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, a natiA^e of Union County, was born July 
20, 1861, on the old homestead of his father, 
George W. Kimmel, also a native of this county. 
He was born August 29, 1820, and died April 
4, 1876. The genealogy of the Kimmels is as 
follows : Michael, born in Germany in Octo- 
ber, 1626 ; married in November, 1689, at the 
age of sixty-three years. He had three sons 
and one daughter — Philip, Valentine, Jacob 
and Elizabeth. Philip was born in 1695, and 
died at the age of eighty-four. He married 
Elizabeth Tolston in 1719, b}' whom he had 
six sons — Philip, Nicholas, Jacob, Michael, 
George and Anthony. George was born De- 
cember 21, 1743, and was married August 17, 
1768, to Juliana Kelly, in York County, Penn., 
by whom he had two sons — Philip and George, 
and five daughters. Daniel was a son of Philip, 
and the father of six children, viz., Mary, Louisa, 
George W., Philip and Anna, who is the onl}^ 
surviving member of the family. George W. 
was married, August 18, 1842, to Eliza J. 
Smith, b}^ whom he had eleven children, six of 
whom are now living — Daniel, Mar}- and Mar- 
tha (twins), Josiah, William and Walter G., our 



subject. He was educated in this county, aud 
lives on his father's home place with his mother. 
It contains 158 acres, is well improved, and 
considered one of the best farms in the neigh- 
borhood. Mr. and Mrs. K. are members of the 
Baptist Church. He is a true-blue Democrat^ 
as were his ancestors. 

CHARLES KLUTTS, retired, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, was born June 6, 1827, in Cabarrus 
County, N. C. His grandfather, Leonard Klutts, 
was born in Pennsylvania, and died in North 
Carolina. He was a potter by trade. His son 
George, the father of our subject, was born in 
Cabarrus County, N. C, and died there. He 
married Polly Holshauser, who was born in 
Rowan County, N. C. ; she died in Cabarrus 
County. She was the mother of eight children, 
of whom our subject was the third oldest. He 
got a common school education in Cabarrus 
County, where he also learned the tanner and 
saddler's trade. He was joined in matrimony^ 
August 26, 1854, to Sarah Dry, who was born 
August 30, 1831, in Cabarrus County, N. C. 
She is a daughter of Daniel and Rachel (Lipe) 
Diy. Her parents were farmers by occupation. 
After Mr. Klutts was married, he came to 
Jonesboro, where he first settled in 1851. In 
Jonesboro he engaged in the harness and sad- 
dle business, which he followed with good suc- 
cess till 1877, when he retired from active life. 
The past life of our subject has been a success- 
ful one, especially in a financial view. In the 
fall of 1862, he enlisted in Company F of the 
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers, commanded by Col. Nimmo. 

W. C. LENCE, physician, Jonesboro. The 
gentleman whose name heads this sketch, rep- 
resents one of our old settler families, who came 
here when the settlements were few, when the 
whistle of the steam monster on railroad or 
river was unknown, but in its stead the child 
of the forest plied his birch canoe on the 
Father of Waters. W. C. Lence was born 
September 30, 1844, in Union County, 111. He 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



105 



is a grandson of John Lence, a farmer by occu- 
pation, born in North Cai'olina, where he was 
married to Sallie Mull, who was born in North 
Caroliua, and died in this county in 1880. She 
was the mother of a large family, whose de- 
scendants are numerous, and are living prin- 
cipally in Southern Illinois. John Lence died 
in Union County. His son John J. was born 
here in 1818. He was married to Elizabeth 
Sifford, who was the mother of Sarah Jane 
Lentz and William Carol. Mrs. E. Lence died 
September 30, 1844. Mr. Lence was a farmer 
in early life, and was married a second time to 
Millie Lingle, who was the mother of Mary 
Ann Treece. Mrs. Lence died a year after she 
was married. In 1850, he, in company with 
others from Union Count}', went to California, 
where he worked at gold mining, returning to 
this county in 1857, where he was married a 
third time to Eliza Dilda}', who was the mother 
of two children now living — John and Helen. 
Mr. John Lence bought a mill in 1860 in 
Jonesboro, which he ran till 1870, when he sold 
out and spent his last days on a farm, where he 
died in 1876. His memory is cherished b}' 
those who knew him. Our subject received a 
common school education in this county, and 
then taught school here for two years, and then 
attended the college of Notre Dame, near 
South Bend, Ind. He returned to Jonesboro 
in 1878, where he commenced the study of 
medicine with Dr. Gr. W. Schuchardt. In the 
fall of 1879, he went to Louisville, Ky., and 
studied in the Medical Department the Univer- 
sity of Louisville, graduating in March, 1872, 
after which he returned to Jonesboro, where he 
has followed his profession ever since. The 
Doctor was joined in matrimony, December 31, 
1872, in Cairo, III, to Miss Luella Mulkey, born 
June 10, 1852, in Jonesboro. She is the 
daughter of Judge John H. Mulkey. She is 
the mother of two children — Maggie L., born 
September 21, 1873, and John H., born April 
1, 1881. Mrs. Lence is a member of the 



Catholic Church. Mr. Lence is a member of 
the Masonic fraternit}', Jonesboro Lodge, No. 
Ill, and the Knights of Honor, Jonesboro 
Lodge, No. 1,891. In politics, the Doctor is 
identified with the Democratic party. 

JAMES A. LEWIS, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, is a descendant of one of the pioneer 
families of Union County. He is a native of 
this county, born July 29, 1848. His father, 
William Lewis, came to the county when he 
was about nine years of age. He was a farmer 
by occupation. His wife, subject's mother, was 
Missouri (Tripp) Lewis, a daughter of William 
Tripp, more familiarly known among the old 
settlers of the county as " Uncle Bill Tripp." 
Of the children born to them, but three are 
now living — Henry, Willis and James A. 
Henry married Mattie Alexander, who bore 
him four children — Ott, Ella, Bob and an in- 
fant, unnamed. James A. Lewis was educated 
in the common schools of Union Count}-, and 
early learned how to till the soil, a business he 
is at present engaged in. He is now the owner 
of a good farm containing 240 acres, upon a 
portion of which he grows fruit. He was mar- 
ried iri Cape Grirardeau County, Mo., to Miss 
Anna McNeally, a native of the same county. 
She was born February 5,1852. They have 
the following children : George F., born June 
19, 1872 ; Eva, born August 28, 1874; Nora 
L., born November 20, 1876 ; and Otho J-, 
born November 28, 1878. Mr. Lewis is a mem- 
ber of the K. of H., Lodge No. 1891, at Jones- 
boro, and the I. O. 0. F. at Jonesboro. He 
has served the people as School Director and 
Township Trustee for several years. In poli- 
tics, he is independent. 

NELSON LINGLE, carpenter, Jonesboro, 
was born July 15, 1823, in Union County. 
His father, John Lingle was born in North 
Carolina, where he was married to Elizabeth 
Cruse, who was born also in North Carolina ; 
she died in this county in 1837, two years after 
the death of her husband. She was the mother 



106 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



of eight children. Our subject, Nelson Lingle, 
received a limited education in the old-fashioned 
subscription schools in this county, where he 
also learned his trade with Mr. J. Roberts, and 
was joined in matrimony August 2, 1852, to 
Miss Harriet Lamer, born February 5, 1829, in 
this county. She is a daughter of Joseph and 
Nancy (Zimmerman) Lamer, and is the 
mother of six children now living, viz.: 
Nannie E., born May 14, 1853 ; Cornelia, born 
August 2, 1855 ; Charley, born February 22, 
1858 ; James, born January 16, 1860 ; Willie, 
born June 21, 1869, and Johnny, born October 
29, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Lingle are members of 
the Baptist Church. Mr. Lingle has followed 
his occupation of carpenter in Jonesboro and 
vicinity, and has served the public as School 
Director and Alderman. In politics, he has 
been connected with the Democratic party all 
his life, and for the last thirt} -four years, he 
has been a strong temperance advocate. 

MOSES LINGLE, farmer and fruit grower, 
P. 0. Jonesboro. Our subject was born Feb- 
ruary 15, 1829, in Union County, 111. His 
father was John Lingle, of German descent, a 
farmer by occupation, and one of the pioneers 
of this county. He was married, to Elizabeth 
Cruse, also of German descent. She was the 
mother of eleven children, of whom our sub- 
ject Moses, was the youngest. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Lingle are now dead and lie buried in 
this county. Our subject was educated in this 
county, and here he was also married, Septem- 
ber 6, 1860, to Miss Emil}^ J. Flaugh, who was 
also born in this count}^ June 3, 1842, and is a 
daughter of Christian G. and Nancy A. (Mc- 
intosh) Flaugh. She is the mother of eight 
children now living, viz.: Dora A., born July 
15, 1861 ; Clara 0., born February 28, 1863 ; 
Mary E., born March 11,1865; Robert A., 
born September 7, 1867 ; Minnie I., born Jan- 
uary 14, 1871 ; John W., born November 2, 
1876; Lelia E., born February 20, 1879, and 
Christine E.. born October 6, 1881. Mr. and 



Mrs. Lingle are members of the Baptist Church. 
He has a farm of 140 acres, a part of which is 
devoted to fruit-raising. Mr. Lingle has been 
a School Director for fifteen years and in poli- 
tics he is identified with the Democratic part}'. 

FRANK MARTIN, grai:n dealer, Jonesboro, 
was born in this county March 14, 1853, and is 
a son of Samuel Martin, a native of Alabama, 
and a soldier in the Mexican war under Col. 
Bissell. After that war, Mr. Martin was mar- 
ried to Matilda McElhany, a native of Jones- 
boro, and a daughter of Joseph and Delilah 
(McElyea) McElhany, who were among the older 
settlers of this county, and founders of the city 
of Jonesboro. Mrs. Martin is the mother of 
five children, of whom our subject is next to 
the oldest. This gentleman received a common 
school education in the schools of this county, 
and in early life followed various occupations, 
but mainly farming. He has had about two 
3'ears' experience in the grain trade. On the 
18th of October, 1882, he commenced buying 
grain for Houston & Co., but about the last of 
March he began buying for D. R. Francis & 
Ross, a St. Louis firm. Our subject was joined 
in matrimony on December 7, 1882, to Louisa 
Barnes, who was born in Jonesboro, this county, 
and is a daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Barnes, a 
widow lady living in Jonesboro. In politics, 
Mr. Martin is identified with the Democratic 
party. 

N. B. MAXEY, attorney at law, Jonesboro, 
was born July 15, 1853, in Smith County, Tenn. 
His ancestors came from Wales. His great 
grandfather was William Maxey, whose son, 
Nathaniel, was born in Buckingham Count}-, 
Va., and came to his death by a boiler explo- 
sion, in 1834, on the Mississippi River. He 
married Mildred Taylor, born in Virginia. She 
died in Smith County. Tenn. She was the 
mother of eight children, of whom Thomas J., 
the father of our subject, was the third son. 
Four of his brothers were soldiers in the late 
war, one of them, William T., being killed at 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



107 



the battle of Shiloh. Thomas J. Maxey was 
born November 30, 1828, iu Smith Coimty, 
Tenn., where he married Mary B. Day, born 
1829, iu Smith County, Tenn , where she died 
in July, 1878. She was the mother of six 
children now living, viz., Virginia T., Napoleon 
B., John D., Thomas J., Jr., Mollie B. and 
Maggie. While in Tennessee, the occupation 
of our subject was that of a farmer. He came 
to Union County in 1875. Here he received a 
common school education. In 1877, he was a 
student in the University of Chicago. In 1879, 
he commenced the study of law with W. S. Day, 
then State's Attorney, and was admitted to 
the bar March 1, 1882, at Mount Vernon, HI. 
Since then he has followed his profession in 
Jonesboro, 111. He taught seven terms of 
school in Union County, 111. Mr. Maxey was 
married, December 25, 1881, in Jonesboro, to 
Miss Augusta C. Miller, born Februar}^ 29, 
185G, in this count}'. She was formerly a 
teacher in this count}'. She is a member of 
the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Maxey is a 
member of the Masonic fraternity, Jonesboro 
Lodge, No. Ill, and Egyptian Chapter, No. 45, 
Anna, 111. He was formerly' City Attorney, 
and was again elected in 1883. He is a Demo- 
crat. 

CALEB MILLER, farmer, P. O. Anna, is a 
native of Union County, 111., born March 1, 
1827, to David and Catherine (Kritz) Miller. 
He was born in Rowan Count}', N. C, and there 
raised and educated. In 1818, he came to 
Union County, being among its first settlers. 
He was a farmer, merchant and tanner. His 
wife (subject's mother) was born in Rowan 
County, N. C, and died in this county. She 
was the mother of nine children, of whom four 
are now living — Mary, Peter, John and Caleb, 
our subject. He was raised on a farm, and 
educated in the subscription schools. At 
twenty -two 3'ears of age, he left home, and en- 
gaged in mining in California, and returned to 
Union County in February, 1851, where he 



bought his present farm of 165 acres, and en- 
gaged in farming, an occupation he has since 
followed. He resided on the same farm, with 
the e.xception of five years spent in Alexander 
County. In 1852, he married Miss Elizabeth 
Stirewalt, a native of North Carolina. They 
are raising and educating Miss Rosella Miller, 
an adopted daughter. 

MRS. JULIETT A. MILLER, Jones- 
boro. This lady was born September 16, 1833, 
in this county, and is a daughter of Charles A. 
and Anna (White) Rixieben. Mrs. Rixleben 
was born June 10, 1811, in Livingston County, 
N. Y. She was married a second time, to John 
E. Nail, who died March 17, 1872. She is yet 
living, and is the mother of three children now 
living, viz.: Juliett A., Bruno and Harriett M., 
wife of John H. Span, of St. Louis. Our sub- 
ject was educated in this county, and in the 
Parke Female Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. She 
was married, October 17, 1849, to Dr. James 
V. Brooks, of Jonesboro, who was a graduate 
of the McDowell Medical College, St. Louis, 
having also been a student a Louisville, Ky. 
He, as well as his father. Dr. Benjamin 
Brooks, are mentioned in our general history. 
He was the father of David G., a carpenter bv 
occupation. Dr. J. V. Brooks died June 17, 
1872, mourned by all who knew him. Our sub- 
ject was married a second time, to N. Gr. Mil- 
ler, who is the father of four children, viz.: 
Augusta, wife of N. B. Maxey ; TuUius T., 
Otis W. and Ivo L. Mrs. Miller is a member 
of the Baptist Church. Mr. Miller was born 
in North Carolina ; he is a member of the 
Lutheran Church. In politics, he is indepen- 
dent, voting for the best man. 

COL. A. J. NI3IM0, Jonesl)oro, was born 
September 30, 1822, in this county, where the 
town of Anna now stands. His father, Weslej' 
G. Nimmo, was of Scotch descent, and was 
born in Albemarle County, Va., and died in 
this county October 17, 1856. He was a sad- 
dler by trade, and under the old military law 



108 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



of the State was Colonel of the militia. He 
married Priscilla Barker, who was born near 
Hopkinsville, Ky., and died in this county 
September 13, 1864. She was the mother of 
twelve children, of whom our subject was the 
oldest but one. His educational facilities were 
rather limited, and confined to the subscrip- 
tion schools of the count}^ and early in life he 
learned the saddler's trade with his father. In 
1846, when the war broke out with Mexico, he 
enlisted in Company F, Second Illinois Volun- 
teers, Col. William H. Bissell commanding. He 
served one year, and then returned home, and was 
Constable for one term. In 1850, he was 
elected Sheriff of Union County ; was again 
elected in 1854, and a third time elected in 
1858. In the fall of 1861, he was elected 
County Clerk, and while occupying that 
position he recruited a regiment for the late 
war, which became the One Hundred and Ninth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and of which he 
was commissioned Colonel by the Governor. 
In November, 1869, Col. Nimmo was again 
elected County Clerk ; in November, 1874, he 
was again elected Sheriff, and re-elected for the 
fifth time in 1876 ; he served as Deputy County 
Clerk from 1879 until December, 1882 ; since 
then the old veteran has been out of the har- 
ness, and is now enjo3'ing a needed repose after 
his long and faithful public service. He was 
married, March 9, 1848, to Miss Eliza J. Tripp, 
who was born January 3, 1828, in this county. 
She is a daughter of William and Frances 
(Grammer) Tripp. She is the mother of seven 
children, viz.: Leander W., William H. (de- 
ceased), Emily F. (wife of John S. Alexander)^ 
Mary A. (deceased), Charles F., Alexander J. 
and Sarah J. (deceased). Col. Nimmo is a 
member of Jonesboro Lodge, No. Ill, A., F. 
& A. M.; Egyptian Chapter, No.45,R. A. M. of 
which body he is High Priest; Southern Lodge, 
No. 241, of I. 0. 0. F., of which he is Noble 
Grand. He has alwaj's been identified with 
the Democratic party. The past life of Col. 



Nimmo needs no comment ; the number of 
offices he has held in the county speaks more 
eloquently in his honor and of his integrit}' 
than volumes written in his praise. 

J. OTTMAR, boot and shoe maker, Jones- 
boro, was born May 5, 1845, in Wurtemberg, 
Germany. He is a grandson of Phillip Ottmar, 
who was a shoe-maker by occupation, as was 
also his son Jacob Frederich, born in 1800, 
in Germany, where he died in 1880. He was 
married to Maria Saeger, born 1803 ; she died 
in 1882. She was the mother of nine children 
— Justina, Maria, Phillip, Johannes, Jacob F., 
Michael, George, Godfried and Jacob. Two 
of the boys, Johannes and Jacob F., were in the 
civil war. Johannes was killed at the battle 
of Franklin, Tenn.; Jacob F. died in the hos- 
pital at DecMtur, 111. Our subject learned his 
trade in the old country. He was a soldier in 
the German Army. He came to the United 
States in 1867, landing in New York; then went 
to Delphi, Ind., where he worked almost two 
years, and then went to La Pox'te, Ind., where 
he followed his trade, and was joined in matri- 
mony, April 24, 1869, to Mrs. Mary P. Ottmar, 
former wife of Johannes Ottmar, who was 
killed in the war. She was born September 
15, 1844, in Bohemia. Her maiden name was 
Brochaska. She is the mother of Jacob F., 
born March 3, 1863, and John M., born October 
31. 1864 ; they were the children of Johannes 
Ottmar ; Mary, born March 30, 1870, and Ad- 
die K., deceased. Mr. Ottmar came to Jones- 
boro in 1873, where he has followed his trade 
ever since. Mrs. Ottmar is a member of the 
Catholic Church, and Mr. Ottmar is a member 
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church ; also an 
I. 0. 0. F., Southern Lodge, No. 241, and a 
Knight of Honor, Jonesboro Lodge, No. 1891. 
He has been Alderman of the First Ward for 
three years, and resigned after he was re-elect- 
ed. In politics, he is connected with the Dem- 
ocratic part}'. 

MRS. MALINDA PROVO, Jonesboro. 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



109 



This lady is the daughter of one of our old set- 
tlers. She was born January 9, 1816, in Rob- 
ertson County, Tenn. Her grandfather, Charles 
Mcintosh, was born in Scotland and died in 
Tennessee. He and his son John, who is the 
father of our subject, were soldiers in the Rev- 
olutionary war. John Mcintosh max-ried Mary 
Miller, who was the mother of seven children 
— Samuel, Hannah, Nancy A., Washington L., 
Mar}' J. and John J., deceased, and Malinda, 
who went to school in Jonesboro. She was 
married, March 25, 1834, to Mr. Pipkin, who 
died November 20, 1839. He is the father of 
Andrew J. Pipkin. Our subject was married 
a second time, November 29, 1844, to James 
J. Provo, a merchant of Jonesboro, who died 
in April, 1864. He was the father of five chil- 
dren — Jerome, born July 16, 1845, died Feb- 
ruary 15, 1861, at the battle of Fort Donelson ; 
Ellen J., born December 22, 1846, former wife 
of Levi Davis, deceased ; James J., born Octo- 
ber 14, 1849, died December 12, 1873 ; Isabel 
born September 27, 1852, wife of William H. 
Ballard, she is the mother of Yada, who was 
born September 26, 1873 ; Byron, born July 
16, 1854, died September 27, 1855. Mrs. 
Provo is a member of the Baptist Church. 

JACOB RENDLEMAN, Sr., farmer, P. 0. 
Kaolin, is a grandson of John Rendleman, who 
was born in German}', and who on coming to 
this country settled in Pennsylvania, where 
Jacob Rendleman, the father of our subject, 
was born. On reaching manhood, he settled 
in Rowan County, N. C. In this State he mar- 
ried Betsey Fullenwater, who was the mother 
of nine children. Of this number our subject 
was the second, and was born March 30, 1808. 
Mr. Rendleman came to this county in 1817, 
with his parents, who are mentioned in our 
general history. The country was a wilderness, 
and wild beasts and wilder men roamed through 
the dark forests, which are now converted into 
fertile fields and blooming gardens, where fruits 
of almost every variety grow. Our subject's 



opportunities for an education were very 
limited, as the county had no schools except 
the subscription schools at that time, and to 
this school he went but about three months 
From early life until the present time he has 
devoted himself to the cultivation of ,the 
virgin soil of Union County. He has at 
present about 1600 acres of land, a part of 
which is devoted to fruit cultivation, 100 acres 
being devoted wholly to orchards. Mr. Ren- 
dleman is a self-made man in every sense of the 
word, and is a fair specimen of American grit 
and perseverance. He was married in this 
county in the year 1826, to Rachael Hartline, 
who was born in Rowan County, N. C, and died 
in this county in 1860. Her parents were 
among the older settlers of this county. She 
was the mother of ten children — John, William, 
George, Maston, Lucinda, Lavina, Jacob, Jeff, 
Marshal and Nancy K. Mr. Rendleman was 
joined in matrimony the second time to Mrs. 
Mary E. Wilson, daughter of John and Ellen 
(McKissie) McCasland, and is the mother of 
nine children, all of whom are living, viz 
Nancy C. Wilson, wife of John Hartline 
Sophrina E. Wilson, wife of John Cassel 
Josephina Wilson, wife of George W. Hess 
John D. Wilson, who married Elica J. Cassel 
David F. Rendleman, Robert M., Ellen, 
Amanda and Dora. Mrs. Rendleman is a 
member of the Baptist Church and Mr. Rendle- 
man is a member of the German Reformed 
Church. In politics, he is identified with the 
Democratic party, as were his ancestors years 
ago. 

D. H. RENDLEMAN, Jr., farmer, P. 0. 
Jonesboro, is a native of this county, and was 
born January 10, 1841. He is a son of D. H- 
Rendleman, Sr., who was born December 18, 
1801, in Rowan County, N. C. The father came 
to this county in 1825, and here married Catha- 
rine Hunsaker, who was born in 1812 in this 
county. She is the mother of twelve children, 
nine girls and three boys. Our subject, Drake 



no 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



H. Rendleman went to school in this county 
and at Lebanon, 111., at the McKendree College. 
He farmed with his father in early life, and 
taught school in the winters for sixteen consec- 
utive years, ten terms being in his own district, 
getting his wages raised from $35 to $G0 per 
month on account of his proficiency as a 
teacher. He was married in this county, April 
23, 1865, to Martha Jane Goodman, who was 
born February 10, 1848, in Rowan County, N. C. 
She is the mother of eight children — Cora 0., 
born December 29, 1866 ; Charles A., born 
September 8, 1868 (deceased) ; Daisy E., born 
December 15, 1869 ; Edith A., born October 27, 
1871 ; Clarissa C, born July 17, 1874 ; Bertha 
A., born October 14, 1877 ; Wilford A., born 
October 7, 1880, and Ivo Zoe, born August 28, 
1882. Mr. Rendleman now owns a farm of 
190 acres, and is at present engaged somewhat 
in fruit raising also. Subject is a member of 
Jonesboro Lodge, No. 11, A., F. & A. M. In 
politics, Mr. Rendleman is a Democrat, and as 
such has been elected to the office of Township 
Treasurer b} his constituents. 

M. M. RENDLEMAN, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro. The gentleman whose name heads this 
brief sketch is a son of one of the oldest and 
most well-to-do families in this county. Our 
subject is a native of this county, and was born 
January 17, 1847. His father, Jacob Rendle- 
man, came to this county before Illinois had 
been admitted into the Union as a State. He 
was then eight years of age, and made his 
advent here with his grandfather. The father 
married Miss Rachael Hartline upon reaching 
manhood. This lady, who died May 20, 1860, 
was the mother often children, seven boys and 
three girls, all of whom are living, married and 
have families in this county. Mr. Rendleman 
was married the second time to Mrs. Mary 
Wilson, who is the mother of nine children, 
four by her first husband and five by the latter. 
Our subject, M. M. Rendleman, was educated 
in the schools of this county, and in early life 



he turned his attention to the occupation of a 
farmer. This he followed up until 1876, when 
he turned his attention to the mercantile busi- 
ness, keeping a general store first at Alto Pass. 
Here he remained one 3'ear, and then went 
to Makanda, Johnson County. He engaged in 
business at this point until September, 1882, 
when he once more returned to this county . Here 
he purchased the old Cox farm of 210 acres, 
and on which he now resides and follows once 
again the occupation of a tiller of the soil. 
Our subject was joined in matrimony October 
2, 1877, to Miss Emma Bean, who was born in 
this county February 18, 1853. She is a 
daughter of George W. and Elizabeth (Taylor) 
Bean, the former is a native of Virginia and 
the latter of Tennessee. They have had eight 
j children, and of this number only four are liv- 
ing. Both are now dead and their memories 
are cherished very fondl}- and pleasantly by 
all who knew them. Mrs. Emma B. Rendleman 
is the mother of one little girl, named Gracie, 
who was born February 15. 1882. In politics, 
Mr. Rendleman is identified with the Demo- 
cratic party. 

JACOB R. RHOADES, tarmer, P. 0. Cob- 
den, was born January 22, 1842, in this count3^ 
His father, Mathias Rhoades, was also born in 
this count}' in 1818, and also died here. He 
was married to Matilda Damron, a native of 
this State. She was the mother of seven chil- 
dren, and of this number only our subject is 
now living. The grandfather of our subject 
may be classed among the old pioneers of this 
county. He was a farmer and blacksmith b}' 
profession, as was also his son Mathias. Our 
subject attended the schools of this county, 
then farmed, and at present he owns a farm of 
220 acres in Jonesboro Township, a fine stock 
farm by the way, and also 300 acres in Alto 
Pass Township. He was married in this 
count}' to Margaret E. Bittle, who was born 
September 30, 1846, in this county and is a 
daughter of John and Hannah (Kitts) Bittle. 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



Ill 



She is the mother of six children, five of whom 
are now living, viz.: Jefferson J., born July 19, 
1866 ; Thomas S., born October 17, 1868 ; , 
Willis J., born September 28, 1870 ; Charles, 
born December 30, 1873, and Albert, born Feb- 
ruary 14, 1882. In politics, our subject is 
identified with the Democratic part}^ 

LAFAYETTE RICH, Deputy Sheriff, Jones- 
boro, is a native of Union County, born Janu- 
ary 24, 1850. He is a grandson of Thomas J. 
Rich, who was a soldier in the Black Hawk 
war ; his son, William C. Rich, Sr., was born in 
1819, in Alabama. He emigrated to Union 
County, 111., with his parents, and subsequently 
married Miss Millie C. Guthi'ie, the daughter 
of Ansel and Matilda (Brock) Guthrie, and is 
the mother of eleven children, viz.; Samantha, 
Catherine, Matilda, Eliza, Maria, Malcom, Will- 
iam J., Lucy, Elizabeth, Greorge and our sub- 
ject, who was the fourth oldest child. His 
earl}^ life was spent at home, receiving such an 
education as the common schools afforded, and 
assisting to till the soil of his father's farm. 
For two years, in connection with his farming, 
he taught school. In Jonesboro, March 22 
1883, he married Miss Nannie E. Lingle, a 
native of Jonesboro, 111., born May 14, 1853. 
She is a daughter of Nelson and Harriet 
(Lamer) Lingle, who are natives of Union 
Count3^ In politics, Mr. Rich is a Democrat. 

JOHN A. ROBERTS, farmer, P. 0. Jonesboro, 
born in White County, Tenn., February 8, 1851, 
is a son of J. W. Roberts, who was born in 
Virginia, but moved to Tennessee when quite 
young, and there he followed the occupation of 
a farmer, raising a large family. When he died 
in 1867, he left the record of a good and exem- 
plary life behind him. In the latter part of 
his life, he served this count}' as its County 
Clerk, and then in the spring of 1867 he com- 
menced teaching penmanship, and it was while 
following his profession in Arkansas that his 
death occurred. He was married in Tennessee 
to Sarah Underwood, who died in 1862. This 



lady was the mother of six children, now living 
—Elizabeth, wife of W. M. Mulican ; May J., 
wife of M. C. Jones ; William C, George W., 
John A. and Joseph H. Mrs. Roberts' grand- 
father, Thomas Underwood, was a soldier in 
the Mexican war. Our subject had five 
brothers in the civil war, viz.: Jasper P., who 
was killed at the battle of Perry ville, Ky.; 
James M., killed in DeKalb County, Tenn.; 
William C, George W., and Thomas N., who 
died in 1879. Our subject received his educa- 
tion in White and De Kalb Counties, Tenn., 
and came to this county in December, 1868, 
where he engaged iu the saw-mill business. 
When he arrived here, he had only the small 
sum of 75 cents to begin life with, but 
with perseverance and good management 
he has bettered his condition so that he now 
has a farm of 200 acres, purchased in 1880, on 
which he intends to raise stock. In politics, 
he is identified with the Democratic party. He 
was married, October 9, 1882, to Narcissa 
Lumpkin, born in Caldwell County, Ky., De- 
cember 12, 1855, and daughter of Charles A. 
and Sarah (Baker) Lumpkin. 

JOSEPH H. SAMSON, County Superintend- 
ent, Jonesboro, was born April 30, 1820, iu 
Berkshire, Franklin Co., Vt, and is a grandson 
of William Samson, born in 1733, whose son 
Jonathan was born May 8, 1781, in Newberry- 
port, Mass., and died in February, 1870. He was 
raised a farmer, but during the last thirty years 
of his life he was a minister of the Presby- 
terian Church. He was married twice, the first 
time in 1800 to Lucena Titus ; she was the 
mother of five children, of whom only Ozima 
is now living. After the death of his first 
wife he was married a second time to Sally 
Powell, born 1782, in Manchester, Vt.; she died 
November, 1853, in Johnstown, Licking Co., 
Ohio. She was the daughter of William 
Powell, who was one of the sharp-shooters 
under Col. Stark at the battle of Bennington, 
Vt., in the Revolutionary war, while opposing 



112 



BIOGRAPHICAL ; 



the British Commander Burgoyne. Mrs. S. 
Samson was the mother of five children, four 
of whom arrived at maturity and had families. 
Their names are Sarah, Thomas, Joseph H. and 
Almon. Our subject was educated parti}- in 
Vermont and Oberlin College, Ohio. He was 
a tiller of the soil in early life, and taught 
school twent^'-five years. He has followed 
various occupations in his life. Has kept store 
and station, has been Deput}' County Clerk and 
Deputy Sheriff. He has been County Super- 
intendent for four years, and was elected a sec- 
ond time in November, 1882. Mr. Samson was 
joined in matrimony, March 1, I860, in Jones- 
boro, to Miss Mar}' J. Brown, born February 
21, 1841, in this county. She is a daughter of 
Francis H. and Abigail (Meadows) Brown ; she 
is the mother of three children — Ed, born 
August 3, 1861 ; Clara, born February 13, 
1865, and Dona, born December 10, 1871. Mr. 
Samson is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
Jonesboro Lodge, No. Ill, of \^hich he has 
been Master for many years. He is also a 
member of " Egyptian Chapter, No. 45." In 
politics, he is identified with the Democratic 
party. 

RJEV. D. R. SANDEFtS, physician, Jones- 
boro, was born July 26, 1844, in Benton Coun- 
ty, Tenn. His ancestors were prominent in the 
Revolutionary war. His great-grandfather came 
from England. His grandfather was born in 
South Carolina, where he died on the Pedee 
River. He married Sallie Langum, born in 
Virginia ; she died in 1861, in Williamson Coun- 
ty, 111. She was the mother of seven children. 
Her son Abraham, was born in South Carolina, 
and died in Williamson Count}', 111., in 1867. 
He married Jerusha Hopkins, born in Ken- 
tucky ; she died in Williamson County, in 1868. 
She had ten children, of whom David R. is 
next to the youngest. She is a descendant of 
the Hopkins of Colonial fame, one of whom 
served in the Colonial Congress. Her father, 
David Hopkins, was a Drum Major in the war 



of 1812, participating in a volunteer corps in 
the battle of Horseshoe Bend. Our subject 
received a common school education in Will- 
iamson County, 111. In August, 1862, at the 
age of eighteen, our subject enlisted in the 
army and served as Second Lieutenant in Com- 
pany E, of the Flighty-first Regiment Illinois 
Volunteers, Col. James J. Dollius. He served 
till the close of the war, participating in the 
battles of Thompson's Hill, Raymond, Jackson, 
Champion Hill, siege of Vicksburg, Fort De 
Russy, Nashville, Mobile and others. After 
the war, he settled down to farming and teach- 
ing. He commenced the study of medicine 
under Dr. F. M. Agnew, of Makanda, 111., in 
1872. In 1873, he took a course of lectures at 
the Medical College of Ohio, after which he 
practiced four years and then graduated at 
Cincinnati in 1877. Returning to Williamson 
County, he practiced there till 1880, when he 
came to Jonesboro, where he followed his pro- 
fession. He is also the pastor of the Baptist 
Church in Jonesboro, having been ordained as 
Elder in 1 861. In theology, he is self-educated. 
The Doctor was married in 1866. to Delphinia 
E. Grallegly. She is the mother of Minnie J. 
Mrs. D. E. Sanders died in 1875. Dr. Sanders 
was married a second time in 1876, to Lydia 
E. Ranch, of German descent, born in 1858. 
She is the mother of three children, viz.: Clyde, 
Carl and Ora. The Doctor is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, also of the I. 0. of G. T., 
and member of the Southern Illinois Medical 
Association. In politics, he is a Republican. 

MRS. HELEN A. SCHUCHARDT, Jones- 
boro. This lady was born March 14, 1846, in 
Jonesboro, 111. She is the youngest daughter 
of Lieut. Gov. John Dougherty, who is men- 
tioned in our general history. She received 
her early education in Jonesboro, but after- 
ward graduated, in 1864, at the age of eighteen, 
at the Female College in Granville, Ohio. 
Three years later, she was joined in matrimony, 
in Jonesboro, to Dr. George W. Schuchardt, 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



113 



who was born April 25, 1842. in Caldwell 
County. Ky. He lived in Kentuck}^ until he 
was seven years of age, when his father re- 
moved to Illinois. He received his early edu- 
cation in Golconda, Pope Co., 111. His medical 
education was received in the city of Chicago, 
at the Rush Medical College, graduating Janu- 
ary 27, 1864. He commenced the practice of 
his profession in Golconda, with his father, Dr. 
J. V. Schuchardt, but soon left there to join 
the Union arm}', in which he sei'ved his countr}' 
in the capacity of Assistant Surgeon until the 
close of the war. He was on duty part of the 
time at Atlanta, Ga., and afterward in General 
Hospital No. 3, Lookout Mountain, Tenn. 
After the war, he located in Jonesboro, where 
he lived and labored in the practice of his 
noble profession until some two years before 
his death. He died of pulmonar}' consumption, 
February 7, 1879, in Jonesboro. He was a 
man of scrupulous integrity, considerable cult- 
ure, and of great gravit}- and dignity of man- 
ner. He arose to eminence in his profession, 
and possessed to the last the esteem and con- 
fidence of his professional brethren and the 
people generally as a conscientious man, and a 
skillful and devoted practitioner. He was one 
of the gentleman to move in the organization 
of the Southern Illinois Medical Association, 
end was elected its first Secretary. He gave 
to this enterprise his whole heart, sparing 
neither time nor labor, until it was established 
on a firm basis. He wielded an influence for 
good, solid as granite itself; and when no 
more on earth, he left behind an example of un- 
tiring zeal, self-denial, truth and honor ; a care- 
ful, patient, faithful worker, worth}- to be cher- 
ished and followed by all who come after him. 
He was the father of four children, viz., John 
W., born November 15, 1869; Leilia C, born 
July 30, 1872 ; George C, born February 9, 
1874, and Ethel H., born August 14, 1875. 
Mrs. Schuchardt is a member of the Presby- 
terian Church. She was appointed Master in 



Chancery by Judge John Dougherty, and 
served two years, although the office was dis- 
puted, and judgment rendered against her by 
the Circuit and Appellate Court ; but when 
carried to the Supreme Court judgment was 
rendered in her favor, making the first prece- 
dent of its kind in Illinois. She is now Town- 
ship Treasurer, filling the office with tact and 
ability. In society, her influence for good is 
felt by all with whom she comes in contact. 

R. T. SHIPLEY, manufacturer, Jonesboro, 
proprietor of saw and planing mill, and manu- 
facturer of fruit and berry boxes, was born 
January 6, 1826, in Granger County, East 
Tenn. His grandfather, Thomas Shipley, who 
came from Virginia, was a farmer by occupa- 
tion. His son, Edward T., was born in Hawkins 
County, East Tenn.; he died in 1876 in Jones- 
boro. He was a carpenter by occupation, and 
a soldier in the Seminole war. He was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Thomas, who died in 1876 in 
Jonesboro. She was the mother of seven chil- 
dren — Robert T., Wilson K., Labona Ann, 
Marion (deceased), Martha, Melvina and Van 
Bureu, who was killed at the battle of Mur- 
freesboro. Our subject, Robert T., received 
a common school education in East Tennessee, 
where he also learned the carpenter trade, and 
was joined in matrimony to Ann R. Gore, who 
died in 1859 in Jonesboro. She was the 
mother of James and George W., the former 
married to Laura Bostan. Mr. Shipley was 
married a second time, to Mrs. Catherine M. 
Donehew, born August 1, 1827, in East Tennes- 
see. She was a daughter of Abel and Eglan- 
tine (Cardwell) Hill, and is the mother of four 
children — Canada C. Donehew, Almeda C. 
Donehew, Francis M. Shipley and Adeline 
E. Shipley. Mrs. Shipley is a member of the 
Baptist Church, and Mr. Shipley is a member 
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He 
is also an A., F. & A. M., Jonesboro Lodge, 
No. Ill, and formerly an I. 0. 0. F. In poli- 
tics, he is a Democrat. He was a soldier in 



114 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



our late war. He came to this county in 1854. 

DAVID SOWERS, farmer and blacksmith, 
Jonesboro, was born in Davison County, N. C, 
October 11, 1820. He was educated in the 
common schools of his native county, which 
were very limited in his day. When a young 
man, he was apprenticed to the blacksmith 
trade with Mike Lefler, and worked at the same 
until November, 1845, when he went to Little 
Rock, Ark., and in the spring of the next year 
came to Union County, 111., where he engaged 
in farming and working at his ti'ade for about 
two years. In 1849, he married and removed to 
Jonesboro, where he has since remained. He 
was married, September 23, 1849, to Miss 
Mary Cruse, who was born in Jonesboro April 
1, 1829, where she has always resided. She is 
a daughter of Peter and Sophia (Hess) Cruse, 
who were among the early settlers of Union 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Sowers have been 
blessed with four children — Walter W., born 
September 19, 1850, and died October 16, 
1850 ; Mary Ann, born December 10, 
1851; Sarah Jane, born October 20, 1853; 
and James C, born August 25, 1856 ; 
Sarah Jane is married to John W. Grear, ed- 
itor of the Murfreesboro Independent. The}' 
have two children — Charles D. and Frederick. 
Mary A. was educated at the Jackson Female 
College, and at the Normal University at Car- 
bondale, 111., of which she is a graduate and at 
present a teacher. James E. is foreman of the 
Murfreesboro Independent. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sowers are connected with the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. He is the owner of eighty-seven 
acres of land in the corporation of Jonesboro. 
In politics, he is a Republican. 

0. P. STORM, merchant, Jonesboro, was 
born March 2, 1827, in Perry (now Decatur) 
County, Tenn. He is of German descent. His 
father, Jacob Storm, was born in Maryland, 
and was married, in Tennessee, to Delilah 
Howell, who was the mother of six children — 
WilUam H., Leonard, Pleasant, Susan E. (de- 



ceased), Delilah and our subject, Oliver P., who 
went to school in Decatur County, Tenn. When 
our subject was ten years old, he was taken to 
Texas by his widowed mother, who, after the 
death of her first husband, had married Andrew 
Still, who died in Tennessee. Mr. Storm herded 
cattle in Texas about five years, after which he 
returned to Tennessee, where he went to school 
again for one year, and then commenced clerk- 
ing in a commission house at Perryville, Tenn. 
He clerked for diflerent men and in dift'erent 
businesses till about 1860, when he commenced 
business for himself in Decatur County, Tenn. 
When the war broke out, he voted against 
secession, but after hostilities commenced his 
sympathies were with the South. His life dur- 
ing the war was full of stirring incidents too 
numerous to mention, and after the great 
struggle he resumed the mercantile business in 
Decatur County, Tenn., where he also run a 
cotton gin. In 1877, Mr. Storm came to this 
county, where he has a farm of 474 acres, 
principally bottom land. He, in company with 
his son Coleman H. keeps a general store. Mr. 
Storm was married, in Tennessee, to Emma H. 
Haley, born August 5, 1843, in Tennessee, who 
is the mother of seven children now living — 
Coleman H., Oliver J., Leonard H., Susan P., 
Bertha P., Martha J, and Beulah W. Mr. and 
Mrs. Storm are members of the M. E. Church*. 
He is a member of the Masonic Council, Clif- 
ton, Tenn., and a dimitted member from the 
Blue Lodge and Chapter, Lexington, Tenn. He 
was formerly an I. 0. 0. F. and K. of H. In 
politics, he is a Democrat. 

WILLIAM K. TRIPP, farmer, P. O. was 
born in this count}' October 31, 1858. He is a 
grandson of William Tripp, who came to this 
county when it was quite new, and here he 
endured the privations of pioneer life, and 
deserves great credit for his share in the strug- 
gles in this new country. His son, Thomas 
Tripp, was born April 21, 1830, in this county, 
and died here January 29, 1871. He was a 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



115 



farmer b}^ occupation, and was married in this 
county to Miss Lydia L. Hargrave, who was 
born here July 25, 1835. She is a daughter of 
Kenneth and Clara (Zimmerman) Hargrave. 
Mrs. Tripp is the mother of three children now 
living — Mary M., William K. (our subject) and 
Erastus M. Thomas Tripp is well remembered 
by all of his old neighbors, and his memory is 
cherished b}^ the many friends who mourn his 
death. His two sons have managed the farm 
since then, and now control 365 acres. Our 
subject is a member of the Democratic party, 
as was also his father. 

MRS. L. J. TUCKER, Jonesboro. This lady 
was born March 9, 1839, in Anson County, N. 
C. She is a granddaughter of James Watkins, 
who came from Virginia. He was of Welsh 
descent, and married Phoebe De Jarnette, who 
was a descendent of the French Huguenots. 
She was the mother of Christopher Watkins, 
the father of our subject, who was a ph^'sician 
and planter. He was born 1796 in North Caro- 
lina, and died in 1872 in the same place. He 
married Jane E. Dunlap, born in 1812 in North 
Carolina, where she yet lives. She is a great- 
grand-daughter of Rev. Craighead,who fled from 
England during the religious persecution of the 
Protestants, because the Crown had offered a 
reward of £25 for his head. He was afterward 
known as the founder of schools and churches 
in western North and South Carolina. As 
stated in the history of Presb^'terianisra of 
North Carolina, Mrs. J. E. Watkins was a 
daughter of George and Hannah T. (Ingram) 
Dunlap, and is the mother of eight children, of 
whom Louise J. (our subject) and her sister, 
Winnie W., wife of William Redfern, and the 
mother of Christie, Jennie and Winnie. Our 
subject was educated in the Carolina Female 
College, and was married to P. J. Lowrie, who 
died in 1862 in Wilmington, N. C. Our sub- 
ject was married again in 1873 to Rev. J. K. 
Tucker, of Anson County, N. C. They came 
to Jonesboro in 1874, where he was Principal 



of schools. He died in 1881 in Nashville, HI., 
while pastor j3f the M. E. Church. Mi-s. Tucker 
has one son b}^ her first husband — Harold Wat- 
kins Lowrie. He was born April 19, 1861, in 
Ansonville, Anson Co., N. C, now a student of 
the Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. 
His father was a merchant, a grandson of Judge 
Samuel Lowrie, of North Carolina, and great- 
grandson of Mr. Alexander, who was one of 
the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of 
Independence. Mrs. Tucker is a member of 
the M. E. Church. 

W. H. URY, merchant, Jonesboro, was born 
September 10, 1857, in Union County, 111. He 
is a son of John Ury, born in North Carolina, 
who came to this county in 1818, where he fol- 
lowed farming, owning a large tract of land 
south of Jonesboro. His son, Thomas Ur}', 
was born in 1829 in this county, where he died 
in 1878. He was a farmer b}'^ occupation, and 
was married here to Leah Cruse, who was born 
in this count3^ She is the mother of six boN's 
— Walter H., John W., Warren, James, Absa- 
lom and Sidney. Our subject, Walter H.. was 
educated in this count}-, and in early life was a 
tiller of the soil. In 1880. he bought out the 
stock of A. H. Crowell and started a clothing 
store. February 25, 1883, he was joined in 
matrimou}', in Jonesboro, 111., to Miss Lena 
Snider, born September 4, 1863, in Jonesboro. 
She is a daughter of Charles and Theresa Sni- 
dei*, who came from Germany. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ury are members of the Knights and Ladies of 
Honor, Flora Lodge, No. 596. In politics, 
Mr. Ury is identified with the Democratic 
party. 

JOHN WAGNER, liveryman, Jonesboro, 
was born April 26, 1843, in Austria. His 
father, Jacob Wagner, was born in Austria, 
where he also married and followed the occu- 
pation of a weaver. Our subject, John Wag- 
ner, came to this county in 1852, and has 
made this his home ever since. He followed 
diflPerent occupations till about 1866, when he 



116 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



commenced to work in William A. Brown's 
livery stable. He worked there till 1870, when 
he married the widow of his former employer. 
Her maiden name was Mary C. Marbry. She 
is the mother of six children now living — 
Alice Brown (wife of W. J. House), Arabella 
Brown (present wife of Z. McBride), Greorge 
A. Brown (married Florence Corns), John 
Brown, Harman Brown (married Cora C. Ber- 
nard), and Arthur Brown. Mrs. Wagner is a 
member of the M. E. Church. Mr. Wagner is 
an I. 0. 0. F., Jonesboro Lodge, No. 241. In 
politics, he votes for the best man. 

GEORGE W. WALBORN, millwright, P. 
0. Jonesboro, was born April 19, 1826, in 
Dauphin County, Penn., and is a grandson of 
George Walborn, who was of German descent, 
born in Pennsylvania, where he was married. 
His son Christian was born there in 1802, and 
died in 1870. He was also married there to 
Judy Hartman, who was born in Dauphin 
County, Penn., where she died. She was the 
mother of ten children, of whom our subject is 
the oldest. He received a common school edu- 
cation in the subscription schools of Dauphin 
County, where he also worked with his father 
on the farm till his fifteenth year, when he 
learned the carpenter's trade, which he fol- 
lowed till he was thirty years old, when he 
learned millwrighting, which he has followed 
till the present da3\ Mr. Walborn was joined 
in matrimony to Malinda Cruse, born August 
27, 1827, in Union County, HI. Her parents, 
Peter and Sophia (Hess) Cruse, came from 
North Carolina. Mrs. Walborn is a member of 
the M. E. Church. Mr. Walborn is a dimitted 
member of the A., F. & A. M., also an I. 0. 0. 
F. He is also a member of the M. E. Church, 
and in politics is identified with the Democratic 
party. He has traveled over about twelve 
States. 

THOMAS J. WATKINS, druggist, Jones- 
boro, was born November 18, 1841, in Shrop- 
shire, England. He is a son of John Watkins, 



born in England. He died in 1869, in this 
county. He married Mary Bratton, born in 
England, who died in 1854, in this county. 
She was the mother of three children, viz., 
Sarah, wife of 0. Blevins ; Mary Ann, wife of 
James Lee, and Thomas J., who came to this 
county about 1848, with his parents. He went 
to school in Jonesboro, where he also acquired 
his profession with the firm of Hacker & Toler, 
physicians. In 1860, he opened a drug store 
in Jonesboro, in which he continued till the 
fall of 1862, when he enlisted iu Company F, 
One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, commanded by Col. Nimmo. Mr. Wat- 
kins entered the regiment as Orderly Sergeant, 
but was promoted to Second Lieutenant. He 
participated in the siege of Vicksburg and the 
battles of Spanish Fort, Fort Blakel}' and other 
engagements. He served till the close of the 
war, and then returned to Jonesboro, where he 
engaged in the insurance business one year, as 
clerk in a drug store three j'ears, and then 
kept a drug store in Dongola one year. In 
1870, he returned to Jonesboro, 111., where he 
bought the drug store of Thomas Frick, in 
which he has done business ever since. In 
1875, he was elected Mayor ; was re-elected in 
1877, and again elected in 1881. He had 
formerly been elected City Treasurer for three 
terms. Mr. Watkins was married to Elvira 
Albright, who was the mother of two children 
now living, viz., George T. and Kate M. Mrs. 
E. Watkins died in 1867. In 1869, our subject 
was married a second time to Mrs. Lou Glas- 
cock, born in Jonesboro. She was a daughter 
of Caleb and Rachel (Baggs) Frick, who came 
here in an early day. Mrs. Watkins is the 
mother of two children, viz.. Homer G. Glascock, 
born January 31, 1860, and Thomas J. Glas- 
cock, born March 16, 1862. Mrs. Watkins is 
an active and zealous member of the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union, she being Count}- 
President, and President of the Union in Jones- 
boro. Mr. Watkins is a Knight of Honor, 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



117 



Jonesboro Lodge, No. 1891, and in politics is 
a Democrat. 

W. G. "WHITE, pliysician, Jonesboro. was 
born May 21, 1853, in Union Star, Breckinridge 
Co., K3'. He is of Scotch-German descent. 
Traits of both nationalities seem to show them- 
selves in his studious habits and close applica- 
tion to business. His grandfather, Horatio 
White, was born in Scotland, where he farmed. 
He settled in Ohio and was also married there. 
His son. Dr. Jacob S. White, was born in 1824 
near Steubenville, Ohio. He died October 17, 
1865, in Kokomo, Ind.,from disease contracted 
during the war, where he served his country 
as Brigade Surgeon, under Gens. Pope and 
Nelson, having graduated at Philadelphia, 
Penn. He was a member of the I. 0. 0. F. 
and also a Royal Arch Mason. He had one 
sister and two brothers — Anna, Horatio and 
William. His wife, Elizabeth A. Grant, was 
born July 22, 1842, in Union Star, Ky. She 
is a distant relative of Gen. U. S. Grant, and 
the mother of one son, W. G. White (our sub- 
ject), who received his education in Indianapo- 
lis, Ind. He clerked some time in a drug 
store in New York, where he also studied med- 
icine, but graduated in the Medical Department 
of the University of Indiana May 1, 1878, hav- 
ing formerly been an attendant in a medical 
hospital in Indiana. His preceptor was Dr. 
Evan Hadley, with whom he practiced medi- 
cine after he graduated till the spring of 1882, 
when he came to Jonesboro, where he has fol- 
lowed his chosen profession, enjoying the con- 
fidence of the people in the town and countr3^ 
He was joined in matrimony, February 10, 
1876, in Indianapolis, Ind., to Miss Flora B. 
Nossaman, born March 30, 1859, in Marion 
County, Ind. She is a daughter of Adam and 
Salome (Catterson) Nossaman. Her grand- 
father Nossaman was born in Germany, and 



her grandfather Catterson was born in Ireland. 
Mrs. White is the mother of three girls — Zer- 
alda Adeline, born June 21, 1877 ; Gustavia 
E., born March 21, 1879; and Nellie S., born 
January 20, 1881. Mr. and Mrs. White are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias 
and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. In pol- 
itics, he is identified with the Democratic party. 
While a resident of Indianapolis, he was a 
member of the City Council, which he filled to 
the satisfaction of his constituents. 

W. J. WILL ARD, fruit-grower, surveyor and 
apiarian, P. 0. Jonesboro, was born August 8, 
1850, in Jonesboro. He is a son of Willis 
Willard, whose history appears in the general 
history of this work. Our subject inherited 
many of his father's sterling qualities. He was 
educated in Detroit, Mich., and at the Pennsyl- 
vania State College. In early life he followed 
merchandising in Jonesboro, in his father's 
store, till 1872, when he commenced to work on 
his farm, where he raises principally fruit and 
honey ; to the latter, especially, he devotes a 
great deal of his personal attention. His farm 
consists of 120 acres. He is a Knight of 
Honor, Jonesboro Lodge, No. 1891. In 1875, 
he was appointed Deputy Surveyor, and yet 
devotes a great deal of time, in the winter, to 
survej'ing. In politics, he is identified with the 
Democratic party. Our subject was joined in 
matrimony December 23, 1873, at the Pennsyl- 
vania State College, to Miss Nannie A. Cham- 
bers, who was born August 11, 1851, near 
Scottsville, Va. She is a daughter of Elijah 
and Mariamne (Staples) Chambers, who were 
of English descent. Elijah Chambers was a 
minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Mrs. Willard is the mother of two children now 
living, viz.: Josephine C, born September 10, 
1880, and Willis W., born December 25, 1882. 



lis 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



COBDEN PEECINCT. 



E. B. BARKER, fruit-raising, P. 0. Cobden, 
was born in Massachusetts April 8, 1816, to 
Jonathan and Rebecca (Hosmer) Barker. They 
were both natives of the same State, their an- 
cestors being among the early settlers of 
Massachusetts, he being of Welsh descent, she 
English. They both died in their native State. 
They were the parents of six sons and one 
daughter, all but two of whom are now living. 
When Lafayette was in Boston, in 1825, there 
were six of the children there to see him. In 
1875, fifty years later, five of the number again 
met in the same citj'. Both the grandfathers 
of our subject were in the battle of Concord. 
When our subject was about nine yeai's old his 
parents moved to Charleston, Mass., and it was 
there that he received his education. In early 
life, he learned the trade of carriage- making, 
but did not follow it after he had grown up. 
In 1836, he came West, and for eighteen 3'ears 
he steamboated on the Ohio and Mississippi 
Rivers, as engineer. Most of the time he was 
on a mail boat between Cincinnati and Louis- 
ville, but took trips as far as St. Louis and 
New Orleans. After leaving the river, he be- 
gan farming and fruit growing, twenty-five 
miles above Louisville, where he remained for 
some years. He then went to Ohio and en- 
gaged in the same business, twelve miles north 
of Cincinnati. In 1862, became to his present 
farm and has been here since, engaged in fruit 
growing, peaches receiving most of his atten- 
tion. His farm was mostly in the woods when 
he first bought, but now has fortj^ acres in 
fruits and orchards. In Ohio, 1844, he was 
first married to Martha Ann Robinson, daugh- 
ter of James and Mary Robinson, and was born 
in Ohio. She died in Ohio, and left our subject 
four children — Lucy, Albina, Cora and Mattie. 



In Ohio, in 1855, he was again married to Mrs. 
Elizabeth C. (Humphrey) Covington. She was 
born in Indiana to Holman S. and Mar}' Hum- 
phrey'. He was born in Virginia, she in Penn- 
sylvania. He died in Edgar County, 111., but 
she is still living there. She was mostly raised 
in Ohio, near Cincinnati. Mrs. Barker was first 
married in Edgar County, 111., to Edward 
Covington, and by this marriage she has one . 
son living, John, and one daughter dead. Mr. 
Covington died in Edgar County. Mr. Barker 
has five children bj' present wife — Lizzie, Mar}', 
Cyrus, Linnie and Emery. In politics, he is a 
Republican, but was a Whig before the Repub- 
lican party started. 

M. A. BENHAM, fruit and vegetable grower. 
Cobden, was born in Yates Count}', N. Y., Jan- 
uary 18, 1836, to Ansel and Lucy A. (Willard) 
Benham. Ansel Benham was born in New 
York September 8, 1800, but his ancestors 
were from New England, and still farther back 
from England. He died April 24, 1857. He 
was one of a family of nine children, all of 
whom lived till after the youngest was forty- 
five years of age ; two brothers and one sister 
DOW living. He resided in New I'^ork till 
1839, then moved to Boone County, 111., where 
he remained for seven years, then to Knox 
County, and died there. His occupation most 
of his life was in the harness business. In 
1833, in Elmira, N. 1"., he was married to Lucy 
Willard. She was born in Sterling, Mass., 
August 26, 1812, to Asa and Lucy Willard. 
The Willards are of English origin, and this 
family descended from Maj. Josiah Willard. 
Mrs. Ansel Benham is still living. To them 
a son and a daughter were born, both of whom 
are still living — our subject and his sister, Mrs. 
Emma L. Henry, of Irvington, 111. Our subject 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



uy 



received most of his education in Galesburg, 
111., in the academy. He entered college three 
times, but health failed and he had to abandon 
it. However, he completed a commercial 
course at the original Bell's Commercial Col- 
lege, Chicago. He learned his father's trade 
of harness-maker, but that has not been his 
life work. When twenty-two yeai's of age, he 
began farming, and continued for six years in 
Washington County, and, in the fall of 1863, 
came to this county and rented land for two 
years. In the spring of 1866, he came to his 
present farm, and has been here since engaged 
in raising fruits and vegetables, asparagus and 
sweet potatoes receiving most of his attention, 
having about four acres in the former and from 
twenty to twent}- five in the latter. He has a 
large potato house in which he can store 3,000 
bushels. Just after the battle of Bull Run in 
1861, he entered the service— Company E, 
Tenth Missouri — and was Sergeant in the 
company. Most of his work was scouting, so he 
was not in any of the heavy engagements. 
His health was completely wrecked, and the 
deafness with which he was afflicted before 
entering the service became worse, and on this 
account he was discharged after being in the 
service for about one year. In the spring of 
1864, he was married to Mrs. Josephine (Fos- 
ter) Newton. She was born in Erie County, 
N. Y., May 10, 1835, to Joseph and Lucinda 
Foster. Mrs. Benham died November 12, 
1881, leaving no children. In politics, Mr. B. 
is Republican. 

B. F. BIGGS, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, was 
born in Cobden Precinct January 28, 1839, to 
D. W. and Thisbe (Anderson) Biggs. D. W. 
was born in North Carolina November 21, 1805, 
and when five years of age he moved to Ten- 
nessee with his parents. He remained in Ten- 
nessee till 1825 ; then moved to this county and 
settled near his present home, and has resided 
here since. A short time before coming to 
this State, he was married, in Tennessee, to 



Thisbe Anderson. She was born in Tennes- 
see in 1809, and died here October, 1856. By 
this wife he had seven children, our subject 
being the youngest — Mary (now dead), William 
J. (supposed to be dead), Nancy, J. J., Sarah, 
Mahala and B. F. He was married to his sec- 
ond wife in 1857, Mrs. Catherine Burke}'. She 
was a native of Pennsylvania. His occupation 
has always been that of farmer. Our subject 
was educated in the district schools of the 
county, and his occupation has also been that 
of farmer and fruit-raiser. November 1, 1860, 
he was married to Elizabeth Parmly (see 
sketch A. J. Parmly). She died September 15, 
1861, leaving a child which died in infancy. 
August 11, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, 
Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and 
was discharged May 27, 1865, on account of 
disability. He remained with the regiment 
till May, 1864, rejoicing in its successes or suf- 
fering in its disasters. He was then so crip- 
pled b}' disease that he could no longer stay 
with the regiment, so was placed in the hospi- 
tal at Memphis, where he remained till receiv- 
ing his discharge. Most of the time he was 
clerking in the hospital oflflce. Before leaving 
his compan}' he was one of the Sergeants. He 
has been receiving a pension of $64 per year 
since his discharge. Februar}' 16, 1866, he 
was ■ married to his second wife, Eliza J. Fe- 
gans. She was a native of Kentucky. Her 
parents moved to this State when she was 
young, and settled in Clark County, where her 
father died. In 1859, her mother moved to 
this county and died here. Mrs. Biggs died 
in February, 1877. By her he has three chil- 
dren — Letta E., Beatrice L. and Charles W. 
After his marriage in 1866, he settled on his 
present farm, and has been engaged in general 
farming and fruit raising since. May, 1877, 
he was married to his third wife, Nancy A. 
Davis. She was born in this county to James 
K. and Harriet Davis. He died in Johnson 
County in 1877. She is still living. Two 



120 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



children have been the result of this union 
— Benjamin F. and Elmer J. Mr. Biggs is 
Republican in politics, and was once nominated 
b}' his party as County Clerk, but was defeated 
b}" the Democratic candidate, and has since 
taken no active part in political life. 

A. H. BROOKS, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, was 
born in Union County, 111., February 18, 1847, 
to LarkinF. and Martha R. (McCaul) Brooks. 
He was born in North Carolina July 22, 1814 ; 
died August 14, 1878. She was born in Ten- 
nessee June 15, 1820, and is still living. They 
were married September 22, 183G. In the 
spring of 1842, they came to Illinois and set- 
tled in Perry County, where they resided until 

1845, when they moved to Union County. In 

1846, they settled on the old homestead, on 
which he died. To them eight children were 
born who reached maturity. Three sons, M. 
C, William T. and James T., were in the serv- 
ice during the war of the rebellion. James T. 
died in 1870. He is the only one of the family 
of children deceased. In politics, he was Dem- 
ocratic. In early life he was a member of the 
Baptist Church, but after coming to this coun- 
ty he joined the Hillerites, and to this church 
all his family belong. His occupation most of 
his life was that of farmer, but had been vari- 
ousl}^ engaged, building flat-boats and working 
on the river in Tennessee, in saw mill and flour- 
ing mill on his old homestead in this county, 
etc. Our subject was educated in the schools 
of this county, and has resided here all his 
life. His occupation is that of farmer, but for 
nine years he acted as engineer, most of the 
time in the mill, in which he was interested 
with his father and brother. In 1877, he be- 
gan farming, and in 1878 came to his present 
farm of eighty acres. This he has improved 
till now he has good farm buildings and about 
112 acres cleared. May 19, 1877, he was mar- 
ried to Margaret Johnson. She was born in 
this county to Frederick and Darthula (Ledger- 
wood) Johnson. Her father died previous to 



her birth. Her mother was afterward married 
to Abram Hankley, who died at Jackson, 
Tenn., during the war. She is still living. 
Mr. and Mrs. Brooks have two children dead 
and two living — Arthur and Alfred Ernest. 
In politics, Mr. Brooks is Democratic. 

WILSON BROWN, physician and surgeon, 
Cobden, is a native of Union County, 111., born 
December 5, 1845 ; is a son of Charles and 
Elizabeth (Grear) Brown. Our subject is one 
often children, eight of whom survive — Alson, 
Wilson, Martha J., Andrew, Amanda E., Laura 
I., Augusta and John W. The Doctor attend- 
ed the pioneer log cabin schools, and also the 
Jonesboro Seminary. He was brought up on 
a farm. About the age of twenty, he began 
teaching school, and continued it successfully 
for fifteen terms, when he withdrew. He en- 
tered the study of medicine actively, with Dr. 
G. W. Schuchardt, of Jonesboro. He attended 
lectures at the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons at Keokuk, Iowa, in 1871-72, and grad- 
uated at the Missouri Medical College in 1876. 
Began the practice in the spring of 1872, at 
Unity, now Hodge Park, Alexander County, 
and afterward practiced at Jonesboro and 
Willard's Landing. In the fall of 1878, he had 
one case of the yellow-fever at Anna. In 1878, 
he located at Olmsted, Pulaski County, and in 
March, 1883, he came to Cobden, where he is 
doing a fine business. In connection with his 
professional da^s, he attends to a drug store 
owned by C. L. Otrich, at Cobden. During 
his period of preparing for his chosen profes- 
sion, he clerked in drug stores at Marion, 
Sparta and Jonesboro, by which he obtained 
means to forward his studies. He was married. 
May 18, 1881, to M. Anna Dodge, of New 
Grrand Chain, Pulaski County, and has as a re- 
sult of his union one child, Alice. His estima- 
ble lady is a member of the Baptist Church. 
He is an active Democrat. Dr. Brown is a 
specimen of a self-made man, possessing that 
indomitable characteristic necessary to succeed 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



121 



in everything he undertakes. He is pleasant, 
sociable, and merits the trust many people 
have already given him. 

ADAM BUCK, retired merchant, Cobden. 
Prominent among the leading, honorable, up- 
right citizens of Cobden is Mr. Adam Buck, a 
native of Cork, Ireland, born December 24, 
1824. His parents, Frederick and Harriet 
(Craig) Buck, were never residents of America, 
as will be noticed in the sketch of John Buck 
in another part of this work. Adam emigrated 
to this country in 1848, on board the " Thomas 
Worthington." Immediately on his arrival at 
New York, he began working in the navy-yard 
at that cit}', where he remained one year and 
then took charge of the construction of a plank 
road connecting Newberg and EUenville, a dis- 
tance of forty miles. This completed, he acted 
as Surveyor of a railroad from Chester, N. Y., 
to Delaware Water Gap. In 1852, he was ap- 
pointed Assistant Surveyor on the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad from Centralia to Cairo. He 
took charge of the construction of twenty miles 
of the same, extending from Centralia. In 
1854, he was elected Sui'vej'or of Dallas Coun- 
ty, Iowa. He remained in that borough until 
1857, when he engaged in the general drj- 
goods business at Cobden, 111., having traded 
his farm in Iowa to William H. H. Brown for 
said stock of goods. From this he withdrew 
in 1880, and is living somewhat in the quiet 
enjoj'ment of his little fortune, of which he is 
the artificer. He, however, devotes some time 
to his farms in this county, and orange groves 
in Florida. He was married, August 1, 1852 
to Hannah E. Sheppard. She died January 24, 
1865, being the mother of Frederick, Blary A., 
Harriet, Hannah and Adam. His second union 
was with Clara M. Grriffln, born April 25, 1837. 
The result of this marriage has been Clara, 
Fred^ Harry and Walter. Mr. Buck is serving 
as Village Trustee ; is a member of the A., F. 
& A. M.; votes the Democratic ticket. He 
takes a deep interest in educating his children 
in both literary and musical lore. 



JOHN BUCK, merchant, Cobden. In every 
cit}', village or neighborhood, there are persons 
whose names are always at the head of all pub- 
lic enterprises, and whose pocket books are 
ready to assist such efforts. Prominent among 
such whole-souled inhabitants of Cobden, is 
John Buck, a native of Cork, Ireland, born 
1827. He is a son of Frederick and Harriet 
(Craig) Buck, natives and always residents of 
Cork, Ireland, and the parents of seven chil- 
dren, five of whom survive, viz., Frederick, 
Adam, Alfred, Sydney and John. The father 
ranked among the finest miniature painters of 
the period in which he lived. Our subject 
emigrated to America at the age of eighteen 
years. He followed civil engineering for many 
years, and was among the party who surve3'ed 
and constructed the Illinois Central Railroad, 
working on the Southern Division. He was 
employed for awhile in Iowa, and on his return 
to Illinois he was appointed Master on the 
Southern Division of said road. In 1864, he 
formed a partnership with his brother Adam in 
a general dry goods store ; and in September, 
1879, he became the owner of the entire busi- 
ness, which he has increased, until he possesses 
the largest and best line of dr^- goods, together 
with a fine assortment of groceries, etc. He is 
also dealing largely in farming implements and 
machinery, and small hardware. In fact, he 
proposes to furnish his large class of customers 
anything the}^ may desire. He is making a 
specialty of buying and storing away sweet po- 
tatoes, having a large and commodious building 
for that purpose. He was married to Sarah 
K. Fulton, of Perry County, 111., the result of 
which was Edgar, Jessie H., Maggie H., John 
F., Lewis J., Bessie M. and Nellie M. He is a 
member of the A., F. & A. M., and votes the 
Democratic ticket. 

HENRY CASPER, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, 
was born in Rowan County, N. C, March 6, 1 815, 
to Peter and Esther Casper She was born in 
Ireland ; he in New Jersey ; but his father 
moved to North Carolina when he was a small 



123 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



boy. He moved to Union County, 111., in 1818. 
He settled on a farm two and a half miles north- 
east of Jonesboro, and died there. He had a 
family of four sons and four daughters. Our 
subject and three sisters are now living. The 
father died early in the 3'ear 1863, at about the 
age of sevent^'-five ; the mother about eight 
years previous to his death. Our subject was 
raised on the farm, and his earh' life was spent 
in improving it and helping to develop the 
country. He remained at home till March 14, 
1838, when he was married to Eliza Rich, 
daughter of Thomas Rich. (See sketch of J. 
M. Rich.) For about eight years after mar- 
riage, he remained on a farm near his father's, 
then sold out and came to his present farm, 
and has been engaged in farming and fruit- 
growing since. In this he has been very suc- 
cessful, and at one time had 860 acres of land ; 
but has deeded good farms to his sons and a 
daughter, and so has but 270 acres at present. 
He has retired from active life, and rents his 
farm. Mr. and Mrs. Casper have seven chil- 
dren living, and three dead — George W., 
Thomas P., John M., Minor W., Susan (Siflford), 
Mary (Brower), and Alice. Mr. and Mrs. Cas- 
per are members of the M. E. Church of Cob- 
den, and have belonged to it for over thirty 
years. In politics, he is Democratic. 

G. W. CASPER, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, is a 
native of Union County, 111., born January 18, 
1841, to Henry and Eliza (Rich) Casper. His 
early life was spent at home, assisting to till 
the soil of the home farm. He, in the mean- 
time, received the benefit of the common schools. 
At twenty years of age, he left his home and 
engaged in farming on his own account on his 
present farm, which at the time was unim- 
proved. It now contains 124 acres of good 
land, of which eight3'-five are under a high state 
of cultivation. He was married January 7, 
1861, to Miss Margaret Culp, a native of Ohio, 
and a daughter of Henry and Mary Culp, the 
former of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. 



Mrs. Casper died October 8, 1875, leaving five 
children as the result of their union, viz., Quit- 
man S., Henry W., Lucinda A., Robert F., 
Alvan. In November, 1879, he manned a 
second time Mrs. Marietta Gifford, daughter of 
A. Leroy, a resident of near Chicago. The re- 
sult of this union is the following two children 
— Etta May and Eftle Maud. Mr. Casper com- 
menced life a poor man, and by his honesty, 
industry and economy, he has succeeded in 
accumulating a good property', and a name and 
reputation which is beyond I'eproach. He 
served as Deputy Sheriff under William C. 
Rich, Jacob Hileman and Joseph McElhany, 
and was Constable over fourteen years. In 
politics, was formerly' a Democrat, but now is 
identified with the principles of the Republican 
party. 

E. N. CLARK, fruit grower, P. 0. Cobden. 
Among the fruit-growers in this township who 
have been active in developing the fruit 
interests of the county-, we find Mr. Clark. He 
was born in 1823, in Milford, Conn., six miles 
from New Haven; both his parents, and all their 
children, were born in the same town. Our 
subject's father, Alpheus Clark, was born 
March, 1795, died in New York, November, 
1874. His mother is still living, and is about 
eight}- years of age. In 1833, Mr. Clark's 
parents moved to New York, settling first in 
Monroe Count}', but afterward removed to 
Lockport, N. Y., and there our subject re- 
mained, until coming to this county, in the 
spring of 1858. In early life he followed 
carpentering and ship building, but for two 
years previous to coming here, he was engaged 
in the flour business in Lockport. When com- 
ing to this county. Mi'. Clark brought several 
varieties of strawbeny plants ; these he set out, 
also planted pears, peaches, etc. In 1859, he 
made an exhibit of twelve varieties of straw- 
berries, which he had grown, at the fair at 
Jonesboro. He received the first premium. 
He has continued since to be quite successful 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



138 



as a strawberry grower. When he first bought 
his farm, the previous owner told him that 
grass would not grow here, and in fact at 
that time there was but little grass to be found 
in the country, none along the roadsides, etc. 
However, between Cobden and Jonesboro, there 
had been a few acres of clover sown by two 
Northern railroad contractors, and this field 
fully proved that clover was well adapted to 
this soil. In New York, June, 1854, our sub- 
ject was married to Miss Frances E. Goodrich. 
She was born January 31, 1828, in New York, 
to William and Betsie Ann (Gibbs) Goodrich. 
William Goodrich was boi'n in New England 
September 28, 1786, died November 9, 1863. 
Betsie Gibbs was born near Great Barrington, 
Mass., July 12, 1788, died October 22, 1843. 
They were the parents of five sons and five 
daughters. One son, I. G. Goodrich, and four 
daughters are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Clark 
have two children — Ed. S. and Kittie. In poli- 
tics, he is a Republican. 

ED. S. CLARK, druggist. Prominent 
among the leading business men of Cobden 
is the gentleman whose name heads this biog- 
raphy. He was born in the State of New York; 
is a son of E. N. Clark, a prominent farmer of 
this county. He attended the school of Cobden, 
and two terms at Champaign, 111. He was 
brought up on the farm ; he clerked for awhile 
for Linnell & McLoney, in this village; they 
were then the only druggists in the place. In 
September, 1880, he, in partnership with H. C. 
Babcoek, opened up a drug store in Cobden, 
at which they were successful, until June, 

1882, when they located at Cairo, July 14, 

1883. Mr. Clark having purchased Mr. 
Babcock's interest, removed the entire stock 
to his present coz}' little room, where he is 
enjoying a lucrative trade. He gives his own 
personal attention to the business. He was 
married in March, 1881, to Elizabeth C. Wat- 
kins, of this county. 

J. B. COULTER, farmer and fruit-. 



grower, P. 0. Cobden, was born in 
Pennsylvania March 20, 1820, and is a 
son of David and Lj^dia (Coulter) Coulter, both 
natives of Pennsylvania ; he was born in 1794, 
and died at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1882, and she 
born in 1796, and died in 1881. They were 
the parents of five children, all of whom are 
living. The Coulters were originally from 
Ireland, but for generations had lived in Penn- 
sylvania. When our subject was quite young, 
his parents moved to Ohio, where he was edu- 
cated in the common schools. At the age of 
eighteen, he began teaching, and afterward 
attended Miami Universit}^, but did not take a 
full course. Most of his time was spent in 
teaching, until he accompanied his parents to 
Iowa in 1850. He followed various pursuits in 
Iowa, and among others read law, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar about 1859-60. He continued 
there until 1866, when he sold out his business 
and came to this county, having previously in- 
vested money here when everything was very 
high, and owing to the depreciation of property 
he incurred great loss. After losing nearly 
everything he had, he began over again, and 
has been reasonabl}^ successful. His farm is 
now mostly in fruit — apples, peaches, cherries, 
plums, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, 
etc. He has upward of fifty acres in fruits, 
and may be termed a successful fruit grower. 
He was married in Iowa, in 1851, to Miss 
Eunice Reed. Her father was a native of Con- 
necticut and removed to Ohio, and thence to 
Iowa. Both he and his wife are dead. Mr. 
Coulter is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
and has risen to the degree of Royal Arch 
Mason. In politics, he was long identified 
with the Republican party, but for some time 
has claimed no particular partj;. 

M. M. DOUGHERTY, hardware, Cobden. 
Among the leading business men of this village 
is M. M. Doughert}^, who was born August 7, 
1832, in Alabama. His parents, Isaac and 
Rachel (Slimp) Dougherty, were natives of East 



124 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Tennessee, and settled in Alabama, and finally 
in Mississippi, where they died after having 
been blessed with fourteen children, viz., John, 
Matilda, Alfred, William, Cynthia, Frances M., 
Amos. The eighth child was killed when quite 
young by a limb falling on it. The remaining 
children were M. M., Elizabeth, Allen, Parlee, 
Lafayette and Cansaday. The father served 
in the war of 1812, and he and wife were mem- 
bers of the Christian Church at the time of 
their decease. Our subject attended the log 
cabin schools as much as the circumstances of 
his father would afford. His early da3's were 
spent on the farm, and, at the age of fifteen 
years, he began for himself He was married 
February 21, 1858, to Eliza J. Wilcox, and 
with her took charge of a farm for a land-holder 
in the South, which he continued until the war 
pressed him from the position. After having 
engaged in the war, he located at Anna, this 
county, where he with a partner opened up a 
barber shop, from which he retired, after about 
twelve years, on account of ill health, and en- 
gaged at teaming for awhile, afterward at rural 
labors, until March 10, 1882, when he put in a 
full line of hardware in Cobden, to which he is 
giving his personal attention, and is succeeding 
remarkabl}' well. He has sustained several 
downfalls in life ; but, through his energy and 
perseverance, has as often arisen. His wife 
died in 1879, and he subsequently married 
Maggie Hail. He was for many years a mem- 
ber of the I. 0. O. F., and is now a member of 
the Knights of Honor of Jonesboro. He votes 
the Democratic ticket. 

D. H. EVETT, merchant, Cobden, was born 
January 19, 1835, in Henderson County, Tenn.; 
is a son of W. B. and Sarah Williams Evett, 
natives of Tennessee, and the parents of eight 
children, all of whom grew up. Our subject 
only resides in this county. He had the chance 
to attend school but a few days, and did not 
then even learn to read and write. He was 
brought up at the duties of the ruralist, and at 



the age of nineteen he began carpentering. At 
that time his only worldly possessions were a 
suit of clothing and $2.50. When about 
twentj^-five years old, he began clerking for the 
firm of Crytes & Cooper, of Bloomfield, Mo., 
whither the family had gone from Williamson 
County, III., where the}' settled in 1843. He 
severed his connection with the above firm, and 
took a position with Bartlett & Legget, of 
Piketon, the same State. Here, under the 
instructions of Legget, he learned to read and 
write, and within two years was able and did 
post the books of his employer. He remained 
with this firm, however, only a lew months on 
account of the war oppressing the business, 
which was finally closed up, and he then went 
to the individual store of Bai'tlett, of Bloom- 
field, where he was engaged actively for some 
time, and this store was also closed on account 
of the war. He clerked for awhile at Cape 
Girardeau, and from there made preparations 
to start for St. Paul, Minn., to take a position 
as a clerk. James Morrison, an elderly man, 
with wife and no children, had for a long time 
clerked for an adjoining firm to Mr. Evett, just 
merely to have employment, and had in the 
meantime taken a deep interest in his strong 
competitor, and without an}' solicitation on the 
part of Mr. Evett, Morrison prevailed on him 
to draw from the account of Mr. M. $6,000, 
and go in business for himself, which he did at 
Piketon, where he was very successful, and in 
a number of years paid back to Mr. Morrison 
the $6,000, together with $1,800 interest that 
had accrued. While at Piketon, he served as 
Postmaster for fifteen years. While here, he 
lost his wife, Arabell Spiller, whom he married 
in 1867. This union gave him three children, 
one living — Betty. Soon after the death of his 
consort, he came with his little daughter to his 
farm in Williamson County, III. After farming 
for some time, he went to Neosho, Mo., where 
he merchandized under the firm name of Bid- 
die & Evett, at which he was successful for 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



135 



two years, when he sold his interest to Biddle 
and returned to his farm in Illinois, which he 
sold in 1881, and in March tlie following year 
he opened up at Cobden his present fine line of 
general merchandise and groceries, and has 
been very successful. The only losses he has 
sustained was by robbers. He lost an entire 
crop by frost. He enlisted in 1863 in an Illi- 
nois infantr}' company, and was soon dis- 
charged on account of illness. He was mar- 
ried a second time to Ray Rendleman, daughter 
of John Rendleman, of Anna, and the result 
has been two children — Olive M. and Clyde. 
He votes the Democratic ticket. The names of 
his brothers and sisters were William, Ann, 
Elizabeth, Eveline, Jane, Samuel, Sarah and 
Mary. 

GEORGE W. FERRILL, farmer, and fruit 
raiser, P. 0. Cobden. The ancestry of our 
subject can be traced back only to John F. 
Ferrill, who was born in Nox'th Carolina about 
Christmas, 1767, and died in October, 1849. 
He was an orphan child, and during the Revo- 
lutionary war lost sight of his relatives, so 
knew nothing of his ancestry. About 1804, 
he moved to Tennessee, and died at the old 
homestead in Steward County. His son Thomas, 
the father of our subject, was born in North 
Carolina June 12, 1795, and was married in 
Tennessee to Elizabeth Anderson, who was 
born in that State September 28, 1803. In 
December, 1819, they moved to this county, 
and settled on the farm now owned b\' Cor- 
nelius Anderson. In the spring of 1838, they 
moved to Toledo, in this precinct, where he 
kept the post office for a number of years, and 
where he died August 6, 1849. After his 
death, his widow was appointed Postmistress, 
and our subject attended to the business for 
her. His occupation was that of farmer, but 
he served as Constable for some time, also as 
Deputy Sheriff, and was one of the Commis- 
sioners of the county for many 3'ears. Mrs. 
Ferrill still lives on the old homestead at 



Toledo. They were the parents of eleven 
children, nine of whom are still living. Our 
subject is the oldest of the family. His early 
life was spent in helping to improve the farm. 
His opportunities for an education were of the 
most limited kind, the schoolhouses being of 
the rudest sort. However, he continued to 
apply himself till he became an excellent pen- 
man, and till he could teach school, which 
occupation he followed for some time. " From 
1846 till 1869, he was Elder of the Toledo 
Christian Church, but, in 1869, his health 
broke down and he quit the ministry. His 
support, however, he has always obtained from 
the farm. In 1842, he settled on a farm in 
Section 18, and remained there till January, 
1857, when he came to his present home, and 
has resided here since. For three years from 
July, 1877, till October, 1880, he. superintended 
the Grange mill at Cobden. March 6, 1842, 
he was married, in this county, to Matilda 
Zimmerman. She was born in the county 
May 6, 1824, to Jacob and Cathei'ine (Rhoades) 
Zimmerman. They were both natives of Ken- 
tucky, he born September 12, 1802, she Sep- 
tember 6, 1792. He died February 12, 1859, 
and she some years afterward. He was one of 
the oldest settlers in the county, living here 
almost all his life, and for one term was a 
member of the Illinois State Legislature. Of 
the family of seven girls and two boys, onl}' 
two are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Ferrill have 
six children, four sons and two daughters — 
Lucetta (Griffith), Marinda (Griffith), John J., 
Thomas J., Otis J. and Albert W. The two 
daughters married brothers. In politics. Mr. 
Ferrill is Democratic. 

J. D. FLY, farmer, P. 0. Makanda, was born 
in Davidson County, Tenn., December 12, 1812, 
to Jesse and Delana FI3', both of whom were 
born in North Carolina, but when small moved 
to Davidson County, Tenn., with parents. 
They were married in Tennessee and resided 
there till after their children were all born, but 



126 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



when our subject was but a lad they moved to 
Wa3'ne Count}-, 111. They were the parents of 
nine children, five of whom are still living. 
They moved to this count}' in 1848, and died 
here. Our subject received his education in 
Tennessee and Wayne County, 111. His occu- 
pation has always been that of farming. Sep- 
tember 27, 1829, he was married in Wayne 
County, to Sarah McCracken. She was born 
in Kentucky January 15, 1813, to Samuel and 
Nancy McCracken. He was born in Pennsji- 
vania, but his parents moved from Pennsylvania 
to North Carolina and from North Craolina to 
Kentucky. The}' were from Ireland. When 
Mrs. Fly was but a small girl her parents moved 
to Wayne County, 111., and her father took an 
active part in opposing slavery in this State. 
Thev were the parents of a large famil}' of 
whom Mrs. F. is the 3'oungest, and the only one 
living. Mr. and Mrs. F. have three children 
living — M. L., W. K and Martha Jane ; also 
seven dead. Our subject came to this county 
from Wayne in 1846. His farm consists of 160 
acres, eighty of which he bought from the 
Government. All the farm was then woods ; 
now he has about 100 acres in a good state of 
cultivation ; grain and stock receive most of 
his attention, but he also raises some fruits. In 
religion, he is a member of the Christian order. 
In politics, Democratic. The eai'ly members of 
our subject's family were from England and 
Wales, but several generations back. The 
father of our subject was in the battle of New 
Orleans with Gen. Jackson. Mrs. Fly's father 
was a Revolutionar}- soldier, and two of her 
brothers were in the war of 1812, and in the 
Horseshoe battle. 

V. M. FOLEY, farmer. P. 0. Cobden, was 
born in Warren County, Ky., August 23, 1843, 
to Leroy M. and Caroline (Ellis) Foley. He 
was born in Warren County, Ky., May 12, 
1822. She was born and raised in Virginia. 
They are now living in this county. When 
our subject was small, his parents moved to 



Cape Girardeau County, Mo., and resided there 
till September, 1861. Then, on account of the 
war troubles, he had to leave, receiving such 
notice from some of the confederates. So he 
moved to this county with what he could haul 
in a wagon with two horses. His occupation 
has always been that of farming. They are 
the parents of two children, our subject and his 
sister, Eliza Castleberry, of Jackson County. 
Three sons, however, died when young. Our 
subject never had the opportunities of attend- 
ing the free schools, and attended but poor 
subscription schools. Before leaving Missouri, 
there were great inducements offered him to 
join the Southern arm}', most of his associates 
entering that army, and perhaps he might have 
done so, not knowing the cause of the war or 
what secession was, but his father was too 
strong a Union man, and influenced him in the 
right direction. August 11, 1862, he enlisted 
from this county in Company E, Eighty-first 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Capt. J. P. Reese, 
Col. Dollins. He served till mustered out 
August 5, 1865. He was in many of the lead- 
ing engagements, such as Jackson, Miss., 
Vicksburg, where Col. Dollins was killed, on 
the Red River expedition, at Spanish Fort, 
etc.; also at Guntown, Miss., where about one- 
half the regiment was lost ; also at Nashville, 
where Hood and Thomas were engaged. Mr. 
Foley is now a pensioner of the Government 
for injury sustained at Guntown, Miss. By 
forced marches, he was over-heated, and after 
going into the engagement the heat overcame 
him and he had to be carried from the field, 
but not until he had fired about forty rounds 
of cartridges. After returning from the army, 
he settled on his present farm, and has re- 
mained there since. September 17, 1865, he 
was married to Emily Anderson. She was 
born in this county to Cornelius and Elizabeth 
Anderson. The mother died during the war ; 
the father is still living in the county, and is 
one of the old settlers, coming from Tennessee. 



COBDEN PRECINCT 



127 



Mr. and Mi's. Foley have seven children — Ollie, 
Ella, Oran, Frank, Charles, Leroy and Harvey. 
For eight ^ears after coming from the service, 
he followed house carpentering ; then com- 
menced farming, and has been engaged in gen- 
eral farming and fruit-raising since. He has 
120 acres of land, about seventy being im- 
proved. He and wife are members of the 
Christian Church. In politics, he is Kepub- 
lican, and is serving a term as Justice of the 
Peace. Mr. Foley has always done all he could 
for the advancement of morals and against the 
liquor traffic in his vicinity. 

JAMES FOWLEY, merchant, is the son of 
Peter and Cathai-ine Fowley, and was born in 
Canada in 1841 ; was married in 1860 to Mary 
Rendleman. Several 3'ears ago he entered the 
mercantile business at Cobden which has in- 
creased from the- beginning until it ranks 
among the best business room in the country. 
The old days of the plow and scythe have 
passed away, the genius of the inventer has 
been at work, and in no branch of industry 
has there been greater strides than in the man- 
ufacture of agricultural implements. Indeed, 
without them it would be impossible to culti- 
vate the broad acres of our Western prairies, 
and farming to a profit would be an utter fail- 
ure. In this particular line of business, we 
find in the village of Cobden, several dealers. 
The leading man engaged in the retail of farm- 
ing machinery, however, is Mr. James Fowley. 
In addition to his large stock of dry goods, 
notions and farming implements, he is handling 
Woodsum Machine Company Engines ; Minne- 
sota Chief separator and Stillwater engine ; 
Gaar, Scott & Co. engines, threshers and saw 
mills. Heilman & Co. engines, threshers and 
saw mills ; Vinton Iron Works saw mills ; Vic- 
tor clover huUer ; Harris Machine Company 
engines and threshers ; Climax mower, reaper 
and self- rake ; Reliance harvester with Apple- 
by binder ; Thomas & Son sulky rake ; among 
the many plows we notice B. F. Avery & Son's 



sulky and walking plows ; D. B. Buford & 
Co.'s sulky and walking plows and cultivators ; 
Heilman ' & Co., Sparta & Roulker Plow Com- 
pany's plows, and Oliver chilled plows and 
Cassady sulky rake. He has also in the 
line of sundries, sorghum mills and evapo- 
rators, Neff wagons, grain drills, repairs 
for engines and separators, cylinder and concave 
teeth, belts, packing and oils, repairs for Nichols 
& Shepard vibrators, sewing machines, paints, 
and general merchandise, all of which he 
sells at small margins. 

D. GOW, fruit and vegetable grower, P. O. 
Cobden. Among the many men who have 
done much to develop the resources of this 
county in its fruit and vegetable industries, 
none have done more than the subject of this 
sketch, not only in advancing new theories, but 
by putting these theories, which originated in 
his brain, into profitable practice. He was 
born in the county of Midlothian, Scotland, 
eleven miles east of Edinbui'gh, February 15, 
1825, to D. and Margaret (Black) Gow. They 
were both born in the near neighborhood, and 
died in the same count}'. She died in 1832 of 
cholera ; he in 1876, at the age of eighty-three 
years. He was twice married. B}- the first wife^ 
the mother of our subject, there were three 
sons and one daughter, and by the second mar- 
riage two sons and two daughters. His occu- 
pation was always that of a fruit-raiser, and 
till after his family by first wife was nearly 
grown he only had ten acres of land to culti- 
vate, but afterward procured nine acres more, 
and still later twenty-one acres additional, so 
at the time of his death he was cultivating 
forty acres. His main crop was that of straw- 
berries, and for 3'ears he was the largest pro- 
ducer of strawberries in Scotland. For sixt}' 
years previous to his death, he had lived on the 
same place as a tenant of the Earl of Stair. 
So our subject was reared in a garden, and 
received instruction which has not only been 
useful to himself, but to all who come in con- 



138 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



tact with him who are interested in the same 
business. He received his education in the 
common schools of his native land, and for one 
year read law in the cit}^ of Edinburgh, but not 
liking tlie profession he gave it up and re- 
turned to the farm. In 1850, he accompanied 
his brother John to America, but did not 
expect to stay only for a short time. Daring 
the remainder of the year 1850, he worked at 
the carpenter's bench, and by that time his 
business prospects in the old country changed, 
so he decided to remain in this country. So he 
and his brother engaged in the fruit culture in 
New Jersey in 1851. In the winter of 1855- 
56, he came to this county, but his brother still 
remained in New Jersey and bought a farm 
near the one they had been renting, paying 
$3,000 for it. In a few years, he sold the farm 
to the railroad company for $40,000 ; then 
bought another near Wilmington, Del., and 
there died. In 1856, our subject embarked in 
the vegetable business in Anna. He boarded 
in Jonesboro, but had his hot-beds in Anna, 
near the present residence of Mr. Lufkin. 
These hot-beds were, indeed, curiosities, for the 
like had never been known in Union County, 
and to see plants growing there when the 
ground was covered with snow was wonderful. 
That year Mr. Gow experimented on different 
products to see which was best adapted, and 
which could be grown to best advantage. 
Tomatoes proved to be the most profitable. 
The first that he shipped, and probably the 
first ever sent from the county, was June 8, 
1856, and sold at $1 per dozen in Chicago. 
But a diflflcult}' arose, for there were no fruit 
commission houses then in Chicago to ship to ; 
but to obviate this trouble, Mr. Glow taught his 
men when and how to gather, pack and ship, 
and he went to Chicago to attend to the selling 
himself Mr. Dx'ake, of the Grand Pacific, was 
then steward in the Tremont House, and was 
Mr. G.'s best customer. During his second 
year as a shipper to Chicago, a discussion arose 



in some of the papers about his lettuce. One 
called it Democratic lettuce, thinking that no 
other kind could be grown in Southern Illinois, 
but a friend of Mr. Gow contradicted the state- 
ment in another paper, so to settle it they 
wrote to our subject to find out which was 
right. Of course he sustained the contradic- 
tion. During the shipping season of 1857, he 
had his private express car run from Anna to 
Chicago by passenger train, for which he paid 
$90 per car, including free pass for his agent in 
charge of it. He continued in business at 
Anna for three seasons, then came to Cobden, 
and, in the fall of 1858, was appointed express 
agent. In 1859, out of his own means, he 
built the present freight house here, on a guar- 
antee that the railroad would make Cobden a 
regular station instead of a flag station, and 
that they should pay him back the money 
expended in building the depot in two years 
without interest. Mr. Gow was the first sta- 
tion agent at Cobden. He continued for about 
one year, then bought his present farm in 1861, 
and has made it his home since. During the 
war of the rebellion, he was Deputy Provost 
Marshal in this district. Our subject not only 
introduced vegetable growing in this county, 
but was also the first to use fertilizers, and did 
the first underground draining in the county. 
In 1856, he presented the first car-load of 
stable manure ever presented to the Illinois 
Central Railroad for shipment. This car-load 
was taken up from the mines at Duquoin, and 
dumped into a car and brought to Anna. He 
then procured manure from the stables at 
Cairo till they began in the vegetable business, 
and kept it all at home. He then again re- 
ceived it from Duquoin, but soon that failed 
for like reason, so he had to think of some 
other plan, and that is this : He has made 
arrangements with the railroad companies to 
carry the manure at three-fourths cents per ton 
per mile, and in this way can procui'e an inex- 
haustible supply from St. Louis, and within the 



COBDEIf PRECINCT. 



129 



past six months has brought to this station 
about fifty car-loads of splendid stable manure, 
eighteen of which have been applied on his 
own farm. An ordinance has been passed b}- 
the authorities of St. Louis to permit our sub- 
ject to build a spur to the railroad ti-ack of 
sufficient length to hold five cars on which he 
can load the manure. This ability to obtain 
an abundant supply of stable manure from 
higlil^'-fed animals at so cheap a rate, costing 
only about 60 cents per two-horse load at 
Cobden Station, may be regarded as the crown- 
ing effort of his indefatigable energy, and is 
certainly the source of greater prosperity' to 
fruit and vegetable growers than has yet been 
devised. Mr. Gow was the originator of the 
present system of shipping together at car-load 
rates to Chicago, and the first rates of $50 per 
car were made to him individually on tomatoes. 
He was also one of the prime movers in 
organizing the present system of shipping in 
refrigerator cars. 

NATHANIEL GREEN, merchant, Cobden, 
was born April 8, 1856, in Union County, 111. 
His father, David, was born in North Carolina, 
and his mother, Elizabeth (Smith) Green, was 
a native of Missouri. The parents settled in 
what is now Union County in 1805, or rather 
the Green family settled then. The father 
erected the first store within the neighborhood 
of Cobden at what was known as Green's Cross- 
ing. He afterward, in partnership with one of 
his sons, transferred this store to the limits of 
Cobden, where he continued the business for 
some time. He died in 1877. The mother 
died in 1878, after having blessed Mr. Green 
with thirteen children, six of whom are living 
—Francis, Mary A., S. R., Walter G., Willis 
and Nathaniel. Our subject attended school 
at Cobden duringhisyounger days, and clerked 
in his father's store. When reaching his ma- 
jority, he began for himself, taking charge of a 
large stock of goods, which he has increased, 
making it one of the best lines in the town. 



He gives his personal attention to both the 
buying and selling, and consequently is suc- 
cessful. He has a general line of dry goods, 
notions, etc. He was married in 1879 to Mary 
Barker, a daughter of E. B. Barker, a resident 
of this precinct. The result of this union is 
two children — Emery D. and Bertha E. He 
owns a farm of 180 acres in this and Anna 
townships. He votes the Democratic ticket. 
HOLLADY & DUNCAN, millers, Cobden- 
V. R. HoUady was born January 20, 1850, in 
Tennessee ; is a son of J. J. and Nancy C. 
(Hines) Hollady, natives of Tennessee and 
settlers of Union County in 1860. They were 
the parents of eight children. Our subject at- 
tended school in the log cabin. In 1875, he 
left home and engaged in a saw mill in Jack- 
son County, 111. In 1882, he engaged in the 
present business. Was married in 1874 to 
Mary I. Odum, a native of Williamson County, 
this State. The result has been Charles and 
Clint. He is a member of the A., F. & A. M. 
and K. of H.; votes the Democratic ticket. 
R. B. Duncan is a native of Williamson Coun- 
ty', 111., where he was born May 4, 1850. His 
parents, Dudley and Rebecca (Spiller) Duncan, 
were natives of Tennessee, and settled in Will- 
iamson County very early. The grandfather 
Duncan owned the land where Bainbridge now 
lies, in said county. The parents were mem- 
bers of the Christian Church. Our subject had 
but little chance of school, his parents having 
died when he was very small. When fourteen 
years old, he went to Marshall County, Kan., to 
live with his oldest brother, W. B., who now 
lives in California. The home of his brother 
was then located on the old and well-known 
stage route, " St. Jo and San Francisco." This 
route was considered very dangerous, as man}' 
robbers and murderers occupied these wild re- 
gions. Young Duncan at the age of seventeen 
began learning the milling and millwright bus- 
iness, which he mastered very quickly, and 
soon became an expert as a mechanic, making 

I 



130 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



his services desirable over a wide scope of 
country. After closing Lis labors with a man 
by the name of Davis, of Toronto, Kan., he at- 
tended a commercial school at St. Jo, Mo., 
where he gradnated in the Bryant & Stratton 
system. In 1870, he rented a mill at Spillers- 
town, 111., for one year, and, in partnership with 
Dorris, buying the mill ; they moved it to 
Frankfort, Franklin Co., 111., and operated 
the same successfully for one year, when Mr. 
Duncan withdrew and traveled for awhile in 
the Western country in the interests of some 
manufacturing establishments. In 1875, he 
married Alice, a daughter of Judge Prickett, 
of Carbondale, and at said village worked for 
some time in a grist mill, in connection with 
his trade, that of millwright. In 1882, he and 
Mr. Hollady put up the present mill at Cobden. 
They have new machinery, both stones and 
iron rollers for grinding. They make a special- 
ty of custom work, and of course court the 
people by making good flour, the best in this 
part of the country. His wife died in March, 
1880, leaving one child— Ralph. He subse- 
quently married Mollie Prindle, of Indianapolis. 
He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F. of Nashville. 
His wife is a Baptist. He is a stanch Repub- 
lican. 

L. T. HARDIN, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, was 
born in Limestone County, Ala., December 9, 
1828, to Erasmus and Abashaba (Hodges) 
Hardin. Erasmus Hardin was born near 
Augusta, Ga., in 1785, died on the present farm 
of our subject in 1859. Abashaba Hodges 
was born in Tennessee, and died in this county 
in 1857. They were the parents of ten children, 
four of whom are still living. By a previous 
marriage he had two children, one of whom is 
now living in Texas. His occupation was 
that of a farmer. He was engaged in the 
Indian war in Florida, with the Seminoles. In 
1830, they moved to Union County, and made 
it their home until time of death. Our subject 
remamed on the farm until he was twenty-one 



years of age, then sowed his wild oats. In 
1853, he went to California, where he remained 
for two years, then sold out and went to Texas,^ 
and began in stock-raising ; with the exception 
of one or two visits home, he remained in Texas 
until 1860, and then war troubles began in 
Texas. He and his brother James had in 
partnership a herd of about 300 cattle, besides 
horses, but they lost all through the war. 
April 3, 1861, he was married in this county 
to Elizabeth Ferrill, daughter of Heni;y and 
Polly Feri'ill ; they were natives of Tennessee ; 
Mr. Ferrill died in this county ; his widow is 
still living. Mr. and Mrs. Hardin have ten 
children, all living but one — Lucetta (de- 
ceased), Olive, A. J., Mary, Charles, Emma, 
Ellen, L. T., Laura and Herbert S. Mr. Har- 
din's farm contains 160 acres, about 100 of 
which are in cultivation ; on this he does general 
farming, and meets with deserving success. H© 
and wife are members of the Christian order. 
In politics, he favors the Democratic party. 

JOHN F. HOFFMAN, farmer and fruit- 
grower, was born in Augusta, Ga., December 12, 
1842, to Charles F. and Charlotta (Gunther) 
Hoffman. They were natives of Baltimore. 
Our subject's grandfather Hofl'man, however, 
came from Hanover to America, and settled in 
Baltimore. Mr. Charles F. Hoffman was en- 
gaged in the millinery and dry goods business 
at Baltimore, but his health failing, he desired 
a warmer climate so moved to Augusta, Ga., 
where our subject was born. In 1849, he 
moved to New Orleans and was book-keeper 
for an English cotton commission house. He 
only lived for about eight years after moving 
to New Orleans. His widow still resides in the 
suburbs of that city, and is seventy-four years 
old. They were the parents of eight children, 
five of whom are now living, two sons and 
three daughters, our subject and Charles F. 
being the sons. Charles F. is in the banking 
business in New Orleans, also agent for Brown 
Bros. & Co., of New York. One daughter, 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



131 



Mrs. Rosalie Avery, is in Nebraska. The other 
two daughters are in New Orleans — one Mrs. 
W. Bourdette, whose son is cashier in above 
bank ; and a maiden daughter at home. One 
subject was educated in the high schools of 
the city of New Orleans, and after leaving 
school he began clerking in the house of Samuel 
Nicholson & Co. He afterward engaged in 
the exchange brokerage business. Mr. Hoff- 
man was in the cit}' of New Orleans at the time 
of its capture, but left immediately after for 
New York, where he had a position offered him 
with the same house for which he had been at 
work in New Orleans. He remained in New 
York for three years and then returned to New 
Orleans and remained there until 1869, when, 
his health failing, he desired more of an out- 
door life. A friend gave him a letter of intro- 
duction to Daniel Davie, of this count}'. Mr. 
H. came here and liking the country decided 
to remain, so the first year he sta3'ed with Mr. 
E. N.. Clark, and learned more of the fruit busi- 
ness, and in 1870 bought his present farm of 
eight}' acres, and has been engaged in farming 
and fruit-raising since. On his farm he has a 
peach orchard of fifteen acres, an apple or- 
chard of twelve acres, besides small fruits, and 
also meadow land. The West Fork of Drewery 
Creek flows through his farm, and when he 
came to it there were undrained flats, causing 
malaria; but these he has drained and made into 
meadow land, and thereb}- made them profita- 
ble and added to the healthfulness. He has 
found that the climate has had the desired 
effect on his health. On his farm he has splen- 
did springs of running water, and also has 
found outcroppings of black marble. In 1874, 
he was married in this count}' to Miss Ellen 
Tweedy, daughter of James M. Tweedy (see 
sketch, Alto Pass Precinct). The result of this 
union was four children, three of whom are 
now living — Carrie, Charles T. and Maggie. 
She died in March, 1881, and August 31, 1882, 
he was again married to Miss Nora A. Smith. 



She was born in this county, on Hutchins 
Creek, daughter of Alexander Smith. He is 
one of the charter members of Cobden Lodge, 
Knights of Honor, and is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church of Cobden. His wife is a 
member of the Christian Church. In politics, 
he is a Democrat, bat voted for Grant for his 
first term. 

DANIEL KIMMEL, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, 
was born June 7, 1827, to George and Elizabeth 
(Christy) Kimmel ; George Kimmel was l)orn 
in Somerset County, Penn., in 1793; died in 
Union County, March 29, 1868 ; his wife was 
born in Darke County, Ohio, in 1803; she is still 
living. His occupation during life was that 
of a farmer and stock dealer ; they came to 
Union County when our subject was but five 
years of age. He was married three times, 
and by his first wife had two sons ; but no 
child by the second ; by his third wife, the 
mother of our subject, seven sons and five 
daughters. In religious belief, he and wife 
were of the Dunkard faith ; with politics, he 
had but little to do, but was a Douglas Demo- 
crat, and strongly opposed to the war of the 
rebellion. He was a man successful in 
business, and did a good part by his children, 
giving to each a farm, and about $1,500 in 
money. Our subject's opportunity for an edu- 
cation was very limited, and when he began 
life for himself, at the age of twenty-one, it 
was with nothing but a pair of strong hands, 
and an unconquerable determination to make 
a success. For six years he rented a farm and 
kept bachelor's hall, but at the end of that 
time he had eighty acres of land paid for, and 
money besides. July 13, 1853, he was married 
to Miss Mary Ann Green, daughter of David 
and Elizabeth (Smith) Green. (See sketch.) 
Mr. and Mrs. Kimmel have the following chil- 
dren, viz.: Elizabeth Alice, Johana. Eliza, 
Mary Ann, Carrie Belle, Rolley D., Walter G., 
David G., Minnie May and Laura Lee ; also 
three children who died in infimcy. After mar- 



132 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



riage. he settled on his present farm of 225 
acres, which is one of the best farms in Cobden 
Precinct. His wife also has seventy-six acres 
of land in her own right. Mr. Kimmel does 
general farming — raising of grain, stock and 
fruits, and in traiding in stock. During the 
war, he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred 
and Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was 
chosen Lieutenant ; he was captured at Holly 
Springs by Van Corn's command, and paroled. 
He then reported to Col. Fry, at Benton Bar- 
racks, St. Louis. While there the One Hundred 
and Ninth was consolidated with the Eleventh 
and he returned home, and again engaged in 
farming. In politics, he is Republican. Is a 
member of the A., F. & A. M. of Cobden, be- 
ing one of the charter members. Mrs. K. is a 
member of the Cobden Baptist Church. Taken 
from the Agricultural Report of Illinois for 
1856-57, we find that a bushel of white wheat, 
raised by Mr. Kimmel took the first premium 
in the Illinois State Fair, held at Alton, and 
again at the Mississippi Valley Fair, held at St. 
Louis, and the report goes farther to state that 
he was considered the best wheat-raiser in the 
West, if not in the world. 

AUG. KOHLER, fruit-grower, P. 0. Cob- 
den, was born at Wyhl, Grand Duch}^ Baden, 
Germany, August 25, 1833. From the age of 
six 3'ears till he was fourteen, he attended 
school without an intermission. He then be- 
gan in the Government emplo}- on the River 
Rhine. There he remained till 1851, and then 
learned the miller's trade, but on account of 
disease he had to give up milling in 1856. 
December 22 of the same year, he started for 
America and landed in New York City March 
18, 1857, but went soon afterward to Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, then to Freeport, 111., June 22 
of the same 3'ear, he came to Jonesboro. 
January 2, 1858, he was married at Jones- 
boro, 111., by Judge Hileman, to Karolina 
Rethe. They remained at Jonesboro until 
1862 ; then sold out and iDought a place in 



Anna, where they lived till September, 1866. 
Selling out there the}' bought a little farn on 
the east of Cobden. From 1859 till 1881, he 
was employed at the stone-mason's trade, but 
since that time has given his entire attention 
to the raising of fruit, i. e., strawberries, rasp- 
berries, tomatoes, etc., etc. Mr. and Mrs. 
Kohler have three children living, viz.: Henry 
William, nineteen years of age ; Charles 
August, twelve years of age, and Maria Anna, 
seven years of age. Our subject is the son of 
Anton and Maria Anna Kohler. They were 
born in Vogelbach, Germany. In February, 
1858, they came direct from the old country to 
Jonesboro, and in 1863 to one mile below Cob- 
den, where she died August 29, 1868, at the 
age of fifty-six years, he at the residence of 
our subject June 20, 1870, at the age of sixty- 
six years. 

LOUIS KOHLER, liveryman, Cobden, was 
born in Wyhl, Baden, Germany September 1, 
1845, brother of August Kohler (see sketch). 
He was educated in the schools of his native 
countr}', attending until only twelve years of 
age. Came to this county in 1857, and this 
has been his home since, but in early life he 
was for some time in the Western States and 
Territories. He learned the trade of cooper- 
ing, and followed it for some 3'ears. Was 
married, on Easter Sunday, 1871, to Elizabeth 
Kerzenmacher ; she was born in the same town 
and street as our subject, November 19, 1846; 
came to America with her sister's family about 
a year previous to marriage. Mr. and Mrs. 
Kohler have four children living — William, 
born October 3, 1875 ; Fanny, his twin sister, 
died April 27, 1877 ; Josephine and Paulina, 
twins, born June 30, 1879 ; and Freddie Anton, 
born September 2, 1882. When first married, 
our subject kept toll-gate, on the Jonesboro 
and Willard's Landing road, for one year ; then 
on account of sickness he left and came near 
Cobden, and bought his father's old farm, but 
after two vears sold out and went to the Mis- 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



133 



sissippi River bottom, into farming and stock- 
raising. There he lost everything by fire ; in 
the , winter of 1874-75, he moved to Cobden, 
and has been here since. He engaged in his 
present business of livery stable, January 15, 
1879, buying out 0. P. Hill ; spring of 1882, 
he bought the lot and built his present stable, 
30x50 feet, with shed twelve feet in width on 
one side. He keeps rigs and riding horses to 
supply the demand of the town ; also does 
hauling. In religion, he and his wife are 
Catholics. He is Democratic in politics. 

E. D. LAWRENCE, fruit-grower, Cobden, 
was born in Bangor, Me., January 4, 1842, to 
Darius A. and Susan R. (Wyatt) Lawrence. 
He was born in November, 1808, in Castine, 
Me.; she in July, 1810, at Newbury port, 
Mass. She died in April, 1865 ; he in Septem- 
ber, 1882. By trade he was a carpenter, and 
he made that his business till his death. In 
May, 1865, he came to Cobden, and made this 
his home for the remainder of his life. The 
Lawrence family is of English descent. The 
first members of the family in this country set- 
tled in the colony of Massachusetts, and from 
there have spread to different States of the 
Union. Our subject had only one sister and 
one brother who reached maturity — Mrs. Susan 
E. Weakley, of Nashville, Tenn., and Henry 
Lawrence, now book-keeper for John Buck, of 
Cobden. Our subject was educated in the city 
schools of Bangor, and in early life learned the 
carpenter's trade of his father. He followed 
his trade till coming to Union County in March, 
1863. He then engaged in farming and car- 
penter work till he was married December 25, 
1865. He then devoted his time almost ex- 
clusively to fruit and vegetable raising. His 
farm consists of sixty-three acres, part of which 
he purchased in 1866, the remainder in 1875. 
Mr. Lawrence has been making experiments 
with marble which is found on his farm, and 
finds that there are three varieties, all of which 
are susceptible of a high polish, and are of 



superior quality. December 25, 1865, he was 
married to Miss Minnie Wright, adopted 
daughter of Rev. Paul Wright, now of Santa 
Barbara, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence have 
one son dead and three daughters living — Su- 
sie E., Grace and Kate L. In 1878, he joined 
the Cobden Lodge of A., F. & A. M., and is 
now Master of the lodge. He is also member 
of Cobden Lodge, Knights of Honor, and is 
Past Dictator. In politics, he is Democratic. 
A. W. LINGLE, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, was 
born in Rowan County, N. C, January 2, 1810, 
to Anthony and Margaret (Cauble) Lingle, both 
of whom were born in North Carolina. In the 
fall of 1817, they emigrated to this State and 
settled about two miles and a half south of 
Cobden, on a farm now owned by G. W. Robin- 
son. They lived there till the time of death, 
and raised their family, four of whom lived to 
have families of their own — Polly, Alexander 
W., John A. and Peggy. A. W. is the only 
one now living. Mr. Lingle's occupation was 
always that of a farmer, but he understood the 
coopering business sufficiently to do his own 
work. For a short time our subject was in the 
Black Hawk war. June 19, 1834, Alexander 
was married in Macon Count}^ 111., to Leah 
Dillow. She was also born in North Carolina 
July 26, 1816, to Michael and Rachael (Cauble) 
Dillow. They were natives of North Carolina 
but died in Piatt County, 111. They came to 
Illinois in 1817, and settled first seven miles 
south of Jonesboro, but in 1833 they moved 
to Macon County, 111., settling first on Big 
Creek, then on the Sangamon River, in what 
is now Piatt County. They were the parents 
of five children, all of whom lived to maturit}- ; 
two daughters and one son now living. Mr. 
and Mrs. Lingle had eleven children, only five 
now living — Margaret, John F., J. M., Charles 
M. and Matilda Alice. Six deceased — James 
M., Henry W., Rachael Elizabeth, Thomas J. 
and two infants. All the living are married 
except J. M., who stays at home and runs the 



134 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



farm. When our subject was first married, he 
settled on Sangamon River, Piatt County, 
where he remained till 1837, then came again to 
Union County, and in 1839 settled on present 
farm, which he entered from the Government. 
His farm consists of 120 acres, most all in 
cultivation. In politics, he has ever been 
Democratic, and is a member of the German 
Reform Church ; Mrs. Lingle, of the Lutheran 
Church. Mr. J. M. Lingle was born Januar}^ 
12, 1852, and has resided on the present farm 
of his father all his life. He was educated in 
the Cobden schools, and has made farming his 
occupation, now having charge of his father's 
farm. He gives most of his attention to grain 
and small fruits. In politics, he is a Democrat, 
and is a member of the Lutherian Church. 

L. T. LINNELL, banker, real estate, etc., 
Cobden. Among the live, wide-awake business 
men of the county may be classed the subject 
of this sketch. He was born in the State of 
New York February 13, 1839, and is a son of 
Samuel and Mahala (Mitchell) Linnell, also na- 
tives of New York, who emigrated to Illinois 
in 1848, locating at Rockford, where Mrs. 
Linnell died the next year. She was the mother 
of seven children, but three of whom are now 
living, viz.: Levi and our subject, and one 
daughter, Laura, the wife of Joel Campbell, a 
prominent grain dealer of Monticello, Iowa. 
After the death of his wife some years, Mr. 
Linnell married Caroline Thorn. He was a Whig; 
is a Republican. Subject received his education 
in the common schools of the country, and in 
the Academy at Delton, Wis., where his parents 
had removed from Rockfoi'd, 111., and where he 
remained four years, finishing up with one 3'ear 
at Way land University, at Beaver Dam, Wis. 
He commenced teaching at the age of 
seventeen years, a profession in which he 
proved ver}- successful, and which he continued 
to follow until the storm of war burst upon us 
in the spring of 1861, when he enlisted in 
Company' E, Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteer In- 



fantry, as Second Lieutenant. He was subse- 
quently promoted to First Lieutenant, and 
assigned as Ordnance officer, and as Assistant 
Quartermaster of the Third Division of the 
Seventeenth Army Corps, which position he 
filled until mustered out of the service, in De- 
cember, 1864. He came to Cobden the next 
year and bought a small farm near town, which 
he cultivated for two years, and then went to 
Battle Creek, Mich., for his health, but retui-ned 
here in a short time and bought a drug store in 
Cobden. Soon after he took in as a partner 
Dr. J. F. McLoney ; he withdrew in 1877, and 
the next 3'ear our subject sold out and turned 
his attention exclusively to banking and real 
estate, in which he had been more or less en- 
gaged for some time. He now carries on a 
large banking and real estate business, and may 
very justly be ranked among the solid men of 
the community. In March, 1873, he was ap- 
pointed Postmaster of Cobden, and still holds 
the position ; is also a member of the Board of 
Town Trustees ; he was married in 1864 to Miss 
Isabel A. Longley. The result of this union 
was six children, viz.: B. McPherson, Lewis 
M., Grace, Florence, Gertrude and Raymond ; 
the two latter deceased. Mr. Linnell served in 
Gen. McPherson's Corps during the war, and 
was in the battle of Atlanta, when this officer 
was killed ; was a great admirer of the brave 
and gallant General. He cast his first Presi- 
dential ballot for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, 
also 1864, while in the field — his entire com- 
pany voting the Republican ticket. 

JOHN LOCKARD, farmer, P. 0. Makanda, 
was born in Lawrence County, Tenn., June 20, 
1823, to William and Mary (Ayres) Lockard. 
She was born in North Carolina, but he in Ten- 
nessee. October, 1837, they came to this 
county. They remained here till 1844, when 
they moved to Missouri. In 1846, they moved 
to Arkansas, and she died there in 1854. He 
died in 1865. To them six sons and three 
daughters were born. Our subject is the old- 



\ 



\ COBDEN PRECINCT. 



135 



est of the family. He and two brCS'thers are 
all of the family now living. They We still 
living in Arkansas. Our subject's parents liv- 
ing on the frontier all the time, and cfiutinu- 
ally moving, his early life was full of depri- 
vations. November 14, ^844, he was makried 
to Sarah Hagler. She was born in this Sf!(T.te 
to Paul and Betsie (Clutts) Hagler. Th\y 
were both early settlers in this county from 
North Carolina, and died here. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Lockard the following children have been 
born : Alfred, Mary, William, Adam, James^ 
Catherine, John, Sarah Ann (deceased), George 
and Lilly Melvina. Our subject also moved to 
Missouri, but in 1847 came back to Illinois 
and settled on his present farm, and has been 
actively engaged in farming and fruit-raising 
since. In his farm there are 220 acres, 120 of 
which are in cultivation. He and wife are 
members of the Baptist Church. His first 
vote was cast for James K. Polk. Since voted 
for Lincoln, etc., but now has adopted the 
Greenback platform. 

WILLIAM F. LONGLEY, retired farmer, 
P. 0. Cobden, was born in Hawley, Mass., 
August 6, 1814, and is a son of Edmond and 
Olive (Field) Longle3^ He was one of three 
brothers, all of whom served in the war of 
1812, and their father, Edmond Longley, was 
a Eevolutionary soldier. He moved to Haw- 
ley, Mass., when a young man, and lived 
there until his death, which occurred at the 
age of ninety-six j-ears. He raised a family, all 
of whom settled within a mile of the old home- 
stead. The}' were of the old Plymouth stock 
ofLongleys. Our subject remained in Massa- 
chusetts until twenty-one years of age, receiv- 
ing his education there mostly, and in 1835 
going to Ohio for the purpose of taking a full 
course at Oberlin College ; but his ej'esight 
failed and he was compelled to forego it, and 
after teaching a couple of terms in Ohio he re- 
turned to Massachusetts and taught there for 
a term. Engaged in the fall of 1837 in general 



merchandising in the town of Hawley, in part- 
nership with his brother Freeman. He was 
appointed Postmaster at Hawley, Mass., March 
3, 1838, an office he held about six years, be- 
ing all the time in business there. He sold 
out and removed to Albany, N. Y., and three 
or four years later to Sterling, N. Y., and after 
several changes of business he was again ap- 
noinied as Postmaster, April 27, 1849, at 
Sterling, T-T. Y.,~ which he held for four years. 
His father's age and feebleness called him home, 
and he sold out his mercantile business and 
returned, where, for one and a half years he 
carried on the farm. His father dying, he went 
to Wisconsin and there bought a farm, remain- 
ing on it for eleven years. In January, 1866, 
he came to this countj- and settled on a farm. 
He and Mr. Linnell went into partnership in 
fruit-raising. This was continued, with some 
changes, until 1879, when Mr. L.'s health 
failed, and he took his present place as Assist- 
ant Cashier in the bank of Mr. Linnell, and 
Assistant Postmaster of Cobden. Mr. Longley 
was married in Massachusetts, December 5, 
1838, to Miss Lydia S. Bassett, a daughter of 
Thomas Bassett. She was born in Ashfield, 
Mass., October 19, 1820. She is the mother 
of four children, all of whom are living — Julia 
Ellen, now Mrs. David D. Lee, in Pawnee 
City, Neb. ; Isabella, now Mrs. L. T. Linnell, 
of Cobden ; Fannie S., now Mrs. Herbert 
Dwinnell, of Wisconsin, and William E., living 
in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. L. are members of 
the Presbyterian Church of Cobden. In poli- 
tics, he was a Whig, but is now identified with 
the Republican party. 

W. P. MESLER, box mill, Cobden, was born 
in Western New York in September, 1842. In 
1862, he came to Pulaski County, and was in 
the employ of James Bell at UUin until 1870 ; 
then was in the West for two years. In 1872, 
he went into the Cairo Box Mill ; was Superin- 
tendent and also partner in the mill. In 1876, 
became to Cobden, and in 1877 started in the 



136 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



present box factory three and a half miles west 
of Cobden, and, as he was well acquainted with 
the business and the consumers, W. P. Mesler 
& Co. have been doing a good business since, 
and one which has rapidly increased. He and 
his partner, James Bell, also have a box mill in 
the south part of the county, started in 1882. 
They manufacture all kinds of fruit and vege- 
table boxes and baskets not patented.^ The 
number of employes of course vpxV.K'ili a^ differ- 
ent seasons of the year, but through the straw- 
berry season they require fti'dout fifty persons 
in the mills and in Cobden*; also keep from fif- 
teen to twenty teams at (work all the time. 
When first starting in business here they could 
sell the green material., but now all want the 
seasoned material, so 'ihey have to keep a large 
sijpply on hand. They ship to all States west 
of Pennsylvania , except on the Pacific Slope, 
and have the Ip^rgest trade of any other com- 
pany in the same line in the West. Supply all 
the largest fruit-growers in the Mississippi 
Valley— Pai-ker Earle, of Cobden, B. F. Baker 
& Co., of (^jhicago, the Drs. McKay, of Madison, 
Miss., etc. In their work annually they use 
3,000 pounds of two-ounce tacks, about 200 
kegs of three-penny fine nails, etc. They make 
material up ready for using when desired, and 
ship it so. One day's orders for immediate 
shipment amounted to 275,000 quart boxes, 
and the sales of quart boxes for 1883 will ex- 
ceed 4,000,000 boxes, about 1,000,000 being 
for use in the county. Previous years the 
sales have been over 3,000,000 quart boxes. 
This one industry has been a source of great 
profit to Cobden and Union County, making a 
demand for all timber fit for boxing material, 
and giving employment to so many persons. 

A. J. MILLER, merchant, Cobden, was born 
January 8, 1845, in Jonesboro, 111. His par- 
ents, Henry Miller, a native of North Caro- 
lina, and Catharine (Cover) Miller, a native of 
Maryland, were in comfortable circumstances, 
and his educational advantages were as good 



as could be furnished in the schools of Jones- 
boro. A.t the age of seventeen jears, he be- 
gan cleyking for Adam Buck, then a merchant 
of Coljden. From the day of his taking serv- 
ice t(j, the final withdrawal, he enjoyed the con- 
fidcj.ice of his employers, and to a large extent 
participated with them in the management of 
their affairs, and at the age of twentj'-six years 
he was taken as a partner and thus did busi- 
ness for five 3'ears. In 1878, he formed a 
partnership under the firm name of Miller & 
Loomis, which is now recognized as one of 
the leading enterprises of Cobden. In Febru- 
ary, 1880, he married Allie, a daughter of 
Capt. I. N. Phillips, the result of which is two 
children, viz.: Henry and Nettie A. He is 
proprietor of Miller's Opera House ; owns his 
present business room and the adjoining one in 
which Mr. L. T. Linnell is doing a banking 
business and keeps the post office. He is a 
member of the A., F. & A. M. Chapter, of 
Anna, and of the K. of H. fraternities. His 
efforts, politically, is with the Democrats. His 
estimable lady is a member of the Presby- 
terian Church. The father of our subject is 
deceased, while the mother survives in a very 
pleasant home in Anna, blessed with plenty of 
this world's goods to make her comfortable the 
remainder of life. She blessed her husband 
with eleven children, nine of whom are Jiving, 
viz.: George N., A. J., Alice S. the (wife of 
Arthur Moss), John C, Frank P., David W., 
Mary M. (the wife of James Dickerson), Caleb 
and Kittle. The parents were earl}' identified 
with the Grerman Reform Church. 

WILLIAM E. MOBERLY, retired attorney 
and real estate, Cobden, was born in Garrard 
County, Ky., near Lexington, in 1822, to 
John and Mahal a Moberly. He was. from 
Maryland, and died when our subject was 
young. She afterwai'd married. By first hus- 
band she had two sons — our subject, and John 
Moberly, who has been a member of the 
Georgia Senate for some time. The complete 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



137 



history of William E. Moberly would occupy a 
volume in itself, but a few of the leading facts 
in his life will be given. He was raised on a 
farm, and when a young man went to Missouri 
to seek his fortune ; he was educated in the 
common schools of Kentucky, and after going 
to Missouri studied law, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1849, and in 1850 commenced the 
practice of his profession at Brunswick, Mo.; 
he very soon stood at the head, and for several 
years had one side of every important case in 
the county. He continued in his practice until 
1860, when he was elected President of the 
North Missouri Railroad, a road in which he 
was largely interested. He continued President 
for over three years, and owned the controlling 
interest in the road before selling out ; 
during the time, he platted the town 
of Moberly, Mo., and it was named in 
his honor. In 1846, he was elected to 
the Missouri State Legislature, from Macon 
County, as a Whig ; he served for two terms, 
then declined to run for any office afterward 
if he thought he could be elected, but sev- 
eral times was a candidate for the sake of keep- 
ing party alive, although he knew he could not 
be elected. For three years during the war, he 
was Colonel of a regiment in Missouri. They 
were located around the old home of Gen. 
Price, and their woi'k was to keep down the bush- 
whackers. Previous to the war, he was a large 
slave-holder, and although his friends protested, 
he was ready to uphold his nation, although 
he knew that in its success he would 
lose his slaves. Among the slaves in his 
house was a sister of Senator Bjuce, of Mis- 
sissippi, and it was in his kitchen that the 
future Senator received his first lessons in read- 
ing ; for two j-ears, he was the bod3'-guard of 
our subject. In the latter days of 1864, after 
quiet had been restored in Missouri, Mr. Mo- 
berly moved to St. Louis, Mo., and engaged in 
the real estate business, and has had his office 
there since. By his keen business faculties, he 



added to his already large property. Before 
the war, he had about twenty-five or thirty 
thousand acres of land, but when locating in 
St. Louis he transferred it mostly into city 
property ; at one time, it was estimated that he 
was worth half a million dollars, but he sold 
his railroad stocks and invested over $300,000 
in the North Missouri Insurance Company* 
thinking that it was in good hands ; he did 
not give the insurance business the attention 
that he should, and before he was aware of it 
the officers had made a blunder, and the credit 
of the company was lost. He put in $40,000 
more to try saving the company, but to no pur- 
pose, its credit was destroyed, and all was lost; 
about the same time, other property declined in 
value, so his losses were great, outside of the 
insurance. Although Mr. M. had made a suc- 
cess which but few attain, he lost most of it, 
but through no fault of his own. In 1880. he 
bought his present beautiful residence north of 
Cobden, and will hei-e end his days in quiet, 
away from the excitement of a busy city life. 
In 1840, in Missouri, he was married to Martha 
A. Collins ; she was also a Kentuckian by birth 
and education ; daughter of Joseph and Mary 
(Woolfork) Collins, an old and wealthy family 
of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Moberly never 
had childi-en of their own, but have adopted 
and raised a large family, and have well edu- 
cated them. This is, they consider, the best 
investment they ever made, for it cannot be 
taken away. Mr. Moberly is a member of the 
I. 0. 0. F., and in early life was Deputy Grand 
Master of the State of Missouri, and repre- 
sented the State Lodge in the National Lodge. 
From early life he and his wife have been 
members of the Christian Church, but are also 
Spirtualists ; not those, however, that believe in 
mediums. He now takes no part in political 
life. 

A. J. PARMLY, farmer and fruit-grower, 
P. 0. Cobden. John Parmly, the father of 
our subject, was born on the present farm of 



138 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



N. B. Collins, Alto Pass Precinct, November 
22, 1816. He was the son of Giles Parmly 
(see sketch N. B. Collins), who was one of the 
earliest settlers in the county. John Parmly 
resided in this county all his life, except one 
year he lived in Stoddard County, Mo. In the 
latter part of 1835, he was married when 
about nineteen years of age, to Bernice Hen- 
son. She was also born in this State, and was 
but fourteen years of age at the time of her 
marriage. She was the daughter of Jesse 
Henson, who was an earl}' settler in Jackson 
County, and who made quite a good property 
by stock-raising near Grand Tower, Jackson 
County. For some years after marriage, Mr. 
Parmly would buy and sell farms, so he did 
considerable moving from place to place. In 
1841, he sold out and went to Missouri, where 
he remained for one year ; then returned to 
this county, and settled on the Mississippi River 
bottom, and lived there till 1858 ; he bought 
the present farm owned by his widow as her 
dowry. At time of his death, October 6, 
1878, he had a landed property of about 900 
acres. His first wife died either in the last 
days of 1859 or first of 1860. By her he had 
five children who reached maturity — Martha J. 
(Seely), Elizabeth (Biggs), deceased, A. J., W. 
L. and N. B. June, 1860, he was married to 
Mrs. Sarah (Biggs) Freeman, daughter of D. 
W. Biggs, an old resident of this county (see 
sketch of B. F. Biggs). She still survives. 
She was the widow of James H. Freeman. By 
this wife, there are four children living — Olive 
M. (Tweedy), W. D., Sarah E. andThisbeE.* 
Mr. Parmly never had the opportunities of an 
education, but was a man who did a good deal 
of reading and studying, and when undertak- 
ing anything he made it a study till it was 
fully understood. He did not make up his 
mind hastil}', but when convinced that any- 
thing was right, he could not very easily be 
changed. In early life, he was rather wild and 
reckless, but in later years professed religion, 



and for some years before death was a min- 
ister in the Baptist Church. His occupation 
was that of farmer and fruit-raiser, and he 
was eminently successful because he made it a 
study. His home farm in Section 6 was one of 
the best in the north part of the count3^ He 
was a man with a great influence in any direc- 
tion in which he was willing to lead, in politics 
or in agriculture. Often his advice was asked 
with regard to kinds of fruits best to cultivate, 
etc. Till after Lincoln's first election, he had 
been a Democrat, but he then changed and was 
so outspoken in regard to the war that he made 
man}' enemies, and it was threatened to burn 
him out, but none dared to make the venture. 
His family seem to have imbibed the same 
spirit of thrift and attention to business, and 
we find his sons among the successful farmers 
and fruit-raisers of the precinct. Our subject, the 
eldest son of John Parmly, was born November 

4, 1846. His early education was obtained in 
the district schools of the county. He afterward 
attended one term at McKendree College, Leb- 
anon, 111., and his father offered to furnish 
mone}' for him to complete the course and take 
a profession, but he preferred the farm, and re- 
mained at home till he was twent^'-nine years 
of age. He was married, March 5, 1875, to 
Miss Gertie A. Freeman, daughter of James 
H. and Sarah (Biggs) Freeman. Here we find 
a peculiar relationship. Elizabeth Parmly, 
daughter of John Parmly, first married B. F. 
Biggs. John Parmly married for his second 
wife Mrs. Sarah Freeman, who is a sister of 
B. F. Biggs. Then our subject married his 
stepmother's daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Parml}- 
have two children — Sarah Nellie, born August 

5, 1878, and Bernice Alice, born February 14, 
1881. Since his marriage, Mr. Parmly has been 
on his present farm, which consists in all of 
490 acres, his wife also having an undivided 
half of 248 acres. About 112 acres of his 
land is in cultivation, with about seventy acres 
of that in fruits ; thirty acres in apples, large 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



139 



peach and pear orchards, also strawberries. 
In politics, he is Republican, but never took 
any active part in politics till the fall of 1882, 
when he was persuaded to take the field as a 
candidate for Assessor and Treasurer of the 
count}'. He was elected by a good majority. 
Mr. Parmly is not a member of anj- church or 
society, but is free to give his support to any- 
thing that will advance the moral and intel- 
lectual standard in his count3\ 

W. L. PARMLY, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, was 
born December 18, 1852, in this county, on 
Running Lake, son of John Parmly. (See 
sketch of A. J. Parmly.) He was educated in 
the schools of this count}-, and has always 
been engaged in farming and fruit-raising. He 
was married, August 3, 1872, to Frances 
Winstead. She was born in Missouri Decem- 
ber 13, 1857, to William and Barbara Winstead. 
Mrs. Winstead was born in Missouri. Mr. 
Winstead either in Missouri or Tennessee. He 
was killed by accident about 186-4, in the mill of 
€harles LeBarr, Cobden, the saw severing 
his head from his body. He left a widow and 
five small children, three sons and two daugh- 
ters. His widow married Samuel Ferrill, Au- 
gust, 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Parmly have three 
children living and two dead — Ernest, Herbert, 
and DeVere (Lena May and Lola), deceased. 
Mr. Parmly bought his present home place in 
1872, and settled on it when married ; he af- 
terward bought sixty acres more. His farm 
now consists of 120 acres, about seventy im- 
proved, but little had been improved when he 
first purchased. Grain and fruit receive his 
attention. In politics, he is a Republican. ^ 

N. B. PARMLY, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, son 
of John Parmly and brother of A. J. (see sketch 
of A. J.), was born in Mississippi River bottom, 
October 11, 1856, and was raised and educated 
in this county. His occupation has been that 
of his fathers — farmer and fruit-grower. He 
was married, August 20, 1879, to Lucy E. 
Anderson. She was also born in this county, 



March 5, 1862, to E. J. and Polly Ann Ander- 
son. They are both still living in this county. 
She was born in Indiana, he in this county, 
his parents being early settlers here. Mr. and 
Mrs. Parmly have two children, John Grarfield 
and Ervin Jackson. Since marriage, he has 
been living on his present farm of 137 acres. 
He bought it January, 1877, and rented it till 
marriage, living at home and running his 
father's farm till that time. In politics, Mr. 
Parmly is Republican. 

COL. F. E. PEEBLES, fruit-grower, hotel, 
etc., was born May 8, 1833, in Vandalia, 111.; is 
a son of Robert H. and Augusta (Ernst) Pee- 
bles, natives, the former of Pennsylvania, and 
the latter of German parentage ; was born on an 
ocean vessel. The father was of Scotch descent, 
and settled at Vandalia when it was the capital 
of the State. He was an early physician of 
that city, and served in the Black Hawk war. 
He made his advent into the State of Illinois 
in 1818. The parents were Presbyterians. Our 
subject had good common school advantages 
and an academic course at Chicago. He first 
began business for himself in 1855, in Chicago, 
where he continued for two years, and then 
transferred to Winona, Wis., where he remained 
until the war, at the breaking out of which he 
enlisted in a Wisconsin B. L. R., as First Lieu- 
tenant, which position he held for two years, 
and was then promoted to the command of the 
Forty-seventh U. S. C. T., and was mustered 
out as such in two and one-half years. Soon 
after returning from the war, he bought a farm 
near Mobile, Ala., and in one year came to 
Cobden, where he yet resides. He engaged for 
four years in the manufacturing of fruit boxes, 
and later engaged in the growing of fruits. For 
the last seven years, until lately, he has been 
actively engaged in traveling for Hager & 
Spies' fruit house, of Chicago, which position 
he resigned to accept the management, as gen- 
eral consignee, of the Cobden Fruit-Growers' 
Association, a situation he now holds. He 



140 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



was married, 1864, to Mary Stone, one of two 
children, as the result of the union of Isaac 
and R. C. Stone. Mr. Peebles' marriage has 
given him four children, viz.: Gertrude, Au- 
gusta, Elizabeth and Robert. He was an active 
worker in establishing a first-class library at 
Cobden, a history of which is given elsewhere. 
His daughter, Gertrude, is the efficient librari- 
an. In addition to his above mentioned busi- 
ness, he has been running the Phillips Hotel, to 
remunerative advantage, and satisfaction of 
many guests, but the Colonel recently gave up 
the hotel business, and is giving his entire time 
to his farm in Cobden Precinct. He has held 
some small offices, and is a stanch Republican. 
AMOS POOLE, fruit-raiser, P. 0. Cobden. 
Some time in the seventeenth century, one by 
the name of John Poole was born, either on the 
Isle of Man or Taunton, England. Early 
in life, he came to America, and for some years 
resided at Beverly, Mass., working with one 
Richard Woodbury, who died in 1690, leaving 
a widow whom Poole afterward married. In 
April, 1700, he bought of John P]merson, Jr., a 
tract of land at "ye Cape," and moved to it, 
finding but one family on Sandy Bay, now 
Rockport, Mass., that of Richard Tarr, who 
had settled there a short time before. Poole 
became a large land-owner, and died in 1727, 
quite wealthy. He had been married four times 
and had seven children. One son, Ebenezer, 
was born in 1699. He also had quite a large 
family, and one, Francis, was the grandfather of 
our subject. His son, Aaron Poole, the father 
of Amos, was boi-n November 12, 1767, and 
lived to the age of sevent3'-six years. His 
wife. Sarah (Butman) Poole, was born May 
10, 1770, and reached the advanced age of 
eighty-seven years. They were the parents of 
nine children, only four of whom reached ma- 
turity. There are only two now living, the 
oldest son, Aaron, born October, 179^8, and our 
subject, who was born September 8, 1814, in 
Rockport, Mass. Aaron still lives on the old 



homestead, where his father lived and died. By 
trade, the father of our subject was a cooper, 
but most of his life was spent in farming. 
When a bo}', Amos learned his trade of black- 
smith, and then began working by the day. 
This he continued for six years, and in that 
time saved $2,000; then established a business 
of his own at Milton, Mass., six miles south of 
Boston Court House. Here he continued for 
about twenty-five years, till coming to Union 
County, 111., February, 1868. When coming 
to this county, he bought but fort}' acres of 
his present farm, and has since been engaged in 
general fruit and vegetable growing. His farm 
contains eighty acres and is well improved, l)ut 
contained few of the present improvements 
when he bought it. In Milton, Mass., October 
6, 1841, he was married to Miss Caroline C. 
Rand. She was born in Bradford, Vt., but her 
parents moved to Milton, Mass., when she was 
small, and resided there until the time of their 
death. She is the daughter of John and Eliz- 
abeth (Babcock) Rand. They were both na- 
tives of Massachusetts. She was born at Mil- 
ton. In early life, he resided in Beverly, Mass., 
where his father was a baker, and he learned 
the trade of chaise-maker, and was established 
in business at one time in Boston, but sold out 
and entered the ministry, being one of the early 
Christian ministers. He traveled for a num- 
ber of years preaching the Gospel, then settled 
in Milton, where he died at the age of seventy- 
four. She died at the age of sixt3'-six. The 
Rands formerly came from England. Mr. R. 
was one of the early workers in the temperance 
cause, and also one of the earliest Abolition- 
ists. They were the parents of eleven chil- 
dren who reached maturity, six of whom are 
still living. Of Mrs. Poole's brothers, it is use- 
less to speak, for their reputation Is world- 
wide, one establishing the publishing house in 
Boston of Rand, Avery & Co. ; another is the 
senior member of the Chicago house of Rand, 
McNally & Co. ; and still another, Franklin 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



141 



Rand, devoted thirt}' years of the best part of 
his life to Zions Herald, and it was largely due 
to his energy that the paper made its financial 
success. Mr. and Mrs. Poole have five sons 
living, one daughter dead : George A., Caroline 
S. (deceased). William H., Arthur B., Franklin 
K and Frederick C. The daughter died Janu- 
ary 5, 1867. She was the wife of John Ritchie, 
of Boston. The Poole Bros., George A. and 
William H., started into the printing business 
for themselves Januar}', 1881, and have in their 
employ over eighty persons. Rooms 117-119 
Lake street, Chicago. Entrance also on Clark 
street. They were both with Rand, McNally 
& Co. for quite a time, and are still interested 
in the company as stock-holders. George A. 
had clerked for them, but William H. learned 
the printer's trade. The other three sons are 
in Montana. In politics, Mr. Poole is a Repub- 
lican, and has not been without political honors 
serving one term in the Massachusetts State 
Legislature. 

J. P. REESE, farmer and fruit-grower, P. 
0. Cobden, was born in Wilson Count}^ Tenn., 
April 7, 1834, to William and Martha (Taylor) 
Reese. The}- were both natives of Tennessee. 
He was born 1796, and was one of the first 
white men born in the State of Tennessee. Died 
February 28, 1883. She was born 1803, died 
1845 in Williamson County, 111. They came 
to Illinois, 1839, and settled in Williamson 
County. He resided in Williamson County 
till he was so old that he was almost helpless, 
then came to our subject's and died there. He 
was the cousin of President Polk, and as his 
parents were wealthy, he was raised a typical 
Southern gentleman. He spoke little of his 
earl}' life, but we know that before leaving 
Tennessee he was Clerk of the Court, and after 
settling in Marion he was Justice of the Peace 
and Notar}' Public till too old to attend to busi- 
ness. For four years, his oflQce was in the same 
room as Col. Bob IngersoU's. He was twice 
married ; by first wife there were two sons and 



one daughter, and by the second, the mother 
of our subject, four sons and four daughters, 
all of whom are living except one daughter. 
He was a man of strongly Southern principles, 
but was opposed to slavery. One of his 
oldest sons was in the Southern army, and was 
killed at Perryville. Four sons were in the 
Northern army and all came out but one. 
J. P. received four flesh wounds. He was 
Captain of Company E, Eighty-first Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, after first three months. 
Enlisted August 11, 1862, mustered out Aug- 
ust 5, 1865. Except for three and one-half 
months when he was a prisoner of war, he was 
with his company during the service. He was 
captured at Guntown, Miss., June 11, 1864, 
and was one of the number put under fire of 
the Union troops at Charleston. After his 
exchange, September 25, 1864, he returned to 
his company. Our subject never attended 
school but about nine months, but since he 
has had a family of his own he has done a great 
deal of reading and studying. His occupation 
has been that of farming, since starting for 
himself After his mother's death, he worked 
on farms from place to place. January 12. 
1855, he was married in this county to Miss A. 
T. O'Daniell, daughter of John and Betsie 
(Penrod) O'Daniell. Mr. O'Daniell was born in 
Tennessee, his wife in this count}' in 1816. 
She is probably the oldest person now living 
who was born in this county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Reese have five children — Willis A., Zeb, 
Louisa, Lena and Ann. Willis A. is a lawyer 
by profession, but is now farming at home. 
Zeb is operator at Richview, 111. When first 
married, he settled on his present farm, which 
contains 200 acres, one-half in cultivation. He 
is engaged in general farming, but fruit-raising 
receives most of his attention, and he is very 
successful. He hauled the first load of wheat 
to Cobden, having to cut and blaze out a road. 
He is a charter member of the Cobden Lodge, 
A., F. &, A. M., and is Republican in politics. 



143 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



W. 0. RICE, fruit-raiser, P. O. Cobden, was 
born in Portage Cit}', Wis., August 8, 1851, to 
William and Miranda (Winchell) Rice. He 
was born in Mt. Morris, N. Y., September 20, 
1813. She also in same State, in Ticonderoga, 
February 16, 1814. He died April 27, 1882. 
When Mrs. Rice was a child, her parents 
moved from New York to Vermont, and there 
she remained till twenty-eight years of age, re- 
moving thence to Wisconsin. He, however, 
had moved to Wisconsin from New York, and 
it was there the}' were married. They remained 
in Wisconsin till November, 1864, when they 
came to Union County and settled on their 
present farm. A son, W. 0., and a daughter, 
Belle, blessed this union ; both are now living 
at home. Mr. Rice was the youngest of a 
family of five brothers. By trade, he was a 
carpenter and joiner, and had made that his 
occupation till coming to this county. Then 
he engaged in the fruit culture. He was in the 
service for six months with Gen. Butler, but 
being too old for active duty, he was 
commissary clerk. At the time of his 
death, he was on a prospecting tour in 
Kansas. He was taken suddenl}' sick, and 
died and was buried without his family know- 
ing anything of it. Mrs. Rice is one of a famil}' 
of ten children, six girls and four bo3's. Seven 
of the number are still living ; one died in the 
Mexican army. Mrs. Rice is a relative of the 
Winchells, of Michigan, where all her father's 
family now live, except one of her sisters, who 
resides in Wisconsin. Mrs. Rice's mother, with 
a number of other women, were in the battle of 
Plattsburg, during the war of 1812. Her hus- 
band was taking part in the engagement, and 
as the men would fire and retire to load, the 
women would give them water, and watch to 
see if some dear one was missing. Both our 
subject and his sister were instructed in their 
studies at home, till they were well advanced in 
their studies. Miss Belle afterward attended the 
State Normal, at Carbondale, and has made 



teaching her profession. Before coming to the 
State, our subject had attended the German 
school for one year, then the Cobden schools in 
this county, and one year at the State Universi- 
ty at Champaign. He has always been en- 
gaged in fruit farming since working for him- 
self. Their farm consists of forty-seven acres, 
and is in a good state of cultivation. All the 
members of the family are Presbyterians in re- 
ligion, belonging to the Presbyterian Church of 
Cobden. Our subject has made quite a study 
of archfeology, and has exhumed the remains of 
several human beings, and remains of an an- 
cient civilization. These have been taken from 
the deposits under overhanging cliffs. He has 
here found complete skeletons, pieces of pottery, 
ashes, parched corn, bones of different smaller 
animals, and also pieces of fabrics showing 
hand-weaving. The skeletons are lying on the 
sides, knees to the breast, arms between the 
knees, etc., showing that such was the custo- 
mary way for burial. He cannot yet determine 
the exact age in which they lived, but from the 
deposits in which they are found knows they 
are of an ancient race. 

HON. WILLIAM C. RICH, Sr., capitalist, 
Cobden. Among the few who have been pre-emi- 
nently successful in this county, we find Mr. 
Rich. He was born on the Tennessee line in 
Alabama November 18, 1819, to Thomas and 
Catherine (Noah) Rich. The ancestors of the 
Rich family were Germans, but had been in 
America for generations. The grandfather of 
our subject moved from North Carolina to 
Tennessee, Franklin County, when his son 
Thomas was but a young man, and resided 
there until the time of his death. Thomas 
Rich was married in Tennessee to the mother 
of our subject, and lived in that State until 
after several children were born to them ; then 
he moved to Alabama among the canebrakes 
and Indians. Here he remained till 1834, 
when he moved with his family to Illinois, but 
had started with the intention of going to Ar- 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



143 



kansas. After coming to this county, he re- 
mained for a part of a year in what is now 
Rich Precincts then bought the farm now 
owned by John M. Rich, his youngest son. 
He resided then on the old homestead till his 
death in 1866. His wife, however, died in 
1845. They were the parents of three sons 
and six daughters ; two sons and four daugh- 
ters are now living. Our subject was educated 
in the proverbial schools of the pioneer — round 
logs built up and a rude cover over it, but no 
floors ; their seats were made bj* splitting logs 
and putting legs in the pieces ; there was one 
door, but no window except an opening left be- 
tween two logs ; then the fire-place occupied 
one end of the building, and at noons the 
boys would have to cut down the trees and get 
in the wood which they burned. Notwith- 
standing such rude schoolhouses, our subject 
obtained sufficient schooling to engage in teach- 
ing school for some time in winters, farming 
in the summer. He frequently indulged in the 
sport of hunting. When about twenty-five 
years of age, he was married to Millie C. Guth- 
rie, daughter of Ansalen Guthrie, who had 
come to this county from Kentucky about four 
years after our subject. Mr. and Mrs. Rich 
have eleven children living — Samantha (Tripp), 
Catherine, Matilda (Moreland), Eliza (Condon), 
La Fayette, Amalphus, William, Maria, Lou, 
Lizzie and Geoi'ge. Mr. Rich has never given 
up farming, although his other business has 
frequently taken nearly his whole attention. 
When a young man, he was elected Constable, 
and from that time on has been in some public 
oflSce most of the time. Served as Deputy 
Sheriff for a number of years ; afterward served 
for twelve years as Justice of the Peace. In 
1861 and 1862, he was School Commissioner. 
Then in 1863 was elected to fill out a vacancy 
in the SheriflT's office ; when the term was up, 
he was elected for the ensuing two 3'ears, 1865 
and 1866. He then retired for two years, but 
was again elected for the term of 1869 and 



1870. Li 1871 and 1872, he was in the State 
Legislature, and from 1879 to 1882 he was one 
of the County Commissioners. In politics, he 
has ever been Democratic. About 1861, he 
joined the Jonesboro Lodge, A., F. & A. M. 
Is also a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at 
Anna. Although Mr. Rich has spent a great 
deal of his time in public life, he has not neg- 
lected his own business, and has made a large 
property by hard work and saving. His father 
being a man in very moderate circumstances, 
could not help his children to make a start, 
and so he early formed the practice of relying 
upon himself and of taking but few risks. A 
short time before the panic of 1872, he had en- 
gaged in the mercantile business in Jonesboro, 
in partnership with Willis Willard. The panic 
soon following, they found that the}' were not 
making anything, so they divided the goods 
and boxed them up. But Mr. Rich did not 
like the idea of having about $6,000 worth of 
goods on his hands and yielding him no profit, 
so traded one half and got a half-interest in a 
saw mill in Jackson Count}'. So they ran 
store and mill for two years, running the lum- 
ber down Big Muddy and up to St. Louis. 
They then closed out business at the end of 
two years. 

JOHN M. RICH,farmer and fruit-grower, P. 0. 
Cobden, was born just across the line from Ten- 
nessee in Alabama October 4, 1828, to Thomas 
and Catherine (Noah) Rich. The grandfather 
of our subject moved to Tennessee when Thomas 
was a young man, and he lived the remainder 
of his da\'s near a small town called Salem, in 
Franklin County. He was of German descent, 
and at the time of his death left a large family 
who scattered to the different States in the 
Union, Thomas coming to this State in 1834, 
and settled first in what is Rich Precinct, but 
either in the last of the same year or the first 
days of 1835, he bought the present home- 
stead of our subject, and resided there until 
the time of his death in 1866. His wife had 



144 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



died in 1845. Tliey were the parents of tliree 
sons and six daughters, two sons and four 
daughters are now living. Our subject is the 
youngest child. He has always resided on the 
old homestead, and has been engaged in farm- 
ing and fruit-raising. He received his educa- 
tion in the subscription schools of the county, 
and had to go several miles to attend them. 
February, 1847, he was married in this county, 
to Ann UflFendill. She was born in England, 
1826, to Michael and Mary (Robinson) Uffen- 
dill. They came to America about 1835. For 
a time they remained in New York ; then made 
several moves before coming to this State, 
going to Cleveland, Ohio, from New York; then 
to Troy, where they remained for about one 
year, and then to Evansville, Ind.; from Evans- 
ville to Cairo, 111., at the time the State first 
projected the Illinois Central Railroad. They 
afterward moved to this county, and she died at 
Jonesboro, soon after coming to the county, he 
in Anna May, 1882. He had been engaged in 
different occupations, keeping hotel, butchering, 
etc., and for some years before his death had 
followed the family grocery business in Anna. 
Of their family of eight children that they 
brought to. the United States, only three 
daughters are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Rich 
have eight children —Thomas J., William C, 
Jr., M. M., George D., Adelia, Mary A., Robert 
L. and Carry B. All of the sons except young- 
est are in business for themselves — farming, 
fruit-raising, etc., William C, Jr., is practicing 
law at Jonesboro. Except the youngest, the 
daughters are all marrie'd. Mr. R.'s farm con- 
sists of 188 acres, and on this he is engaged in 
general farming and fruit-raising, especially of 
the smaller varieties. He is also member of the 
mercantile firm of Rendleman & Rich, of Alto 
Pass, but does not stay in the store any him- 
self. In 1862, he entered the service of his 
country and was chosen Captain of Company 
C, One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, but served onl}^ for about seven 



months. When at Memphis, he and seven 
other officers of the regiment were discharged. 
Accusations had been made against them, and 
a form of trial had been gone through with, 
but the accused were not allowed to appear for 
themselves nor had they counsel. Although 
stung by this reproach, they had clear con- 
sciences, knowing that the accusations were 
false and the trial unfair. In after years, they 
were reinstated, however, and received pay for 
the time served. Mr. Rich is a member of the 
Cobden Lodge, A.. F. & A. M., and in politics 
is Democratic. Mr. R. and his oldest son have 
met with quite heavy losses, as within six years 
they have paid about $8,000 security debt, but 
by perseverance the}' have come out of it all 
right. 

M. F. ROLENS, physician and surgeon. Cob- 
den. Prominently classed among the physi- 
cians of this county is Dr. Rolens, born Octo- 
ber 15, 1855, in Gruernse}' Count}^ Ohio ; is a 
son of W. F. and Elizabeth (McGrowen) Rolens, 
natives, the former of Maryland, and the latter 
of Pennsylvania, and the parents of eight chil- 
dren, all of whom are living, viz. : Sarah E. 
(the wife of Robert Wilson, a farmer and coal 
miner of Jackson County), Hugh H., James M., 
Louisa M. (the wife of W. B. McClure, station 
agent at Gillsbuvg, 111.), William R., M. F., 
George S. and Mar}' E. Our subject attended 
the count}' and select schools, and for some 
time at the Normal at Carbondale. He taught 
four terms. He began reading medicine in 
1876, with E. H. Wheeling, of Galesburg, con- 
tinuing there some time, and then with M. G. 
Parsons, of Murphy sboro, Jackson County. 
He attended the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, and subsequently 
completed his course at the Hospital College of 
Medicine at Louisville, Ky. He at once began 
practicing at Mui-physboro, and in 1882 located 
at Brazeau, Perry Co., Mo. In December, 
1882, he came to Cobden, where he has al- 
ready grown into the good graces of the people, 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



145 



and is doing a large practice. Was married, 
February 14, 1881, to Ida E. Stephens, of 
Union County, the result being one child, Louis 
E. While in Missouri, the Doctor was chosen 
Trustee of a high school. 

DR. B. F. ROSS, P. 0. Cobden, whose por- 
trait appears in this work, was born August 10, 
1832, in Franklin County, Penn. His father, 
Samuel M. Ross, was of Scotch descent and 
probably a native of Pennsylvania. His 
mother, Rebecca (Chilerstone) Ross, was of 
English parentage and was also born in Penn- 
sylvania. The father died in the county of 
his birth, and the mother died in Clinton 
County, 111. The fruit of their union was 
several children. Our subject attended the 
county schools of Clinton County, 111., as much 
as was convenient, owing to the amount of 
farm labor devolving upon him. Being thus 
reared on a farm, he was early imbued with 
habits of industry and self-reliance, which 
have been among the leading characteristics of 
his life. Having a decided litei*ary taste, he, 
at the age of twenty-one ^-ears, concluded to 
abandon farm labor and chose the profession of 
medicine, and accordingly began the study of 
the same under the tutorship of Drs. Phillips 
and Henry, of Nashville, 111., with whom he 
remained for three years actively engaged in 
his studies and attending to the drug store of 
his preceptors. He then attended Rush Med- 
ical College of Chicago, where he graduated 
with high honors in 1858. He at once began 
the practice of his profession, for which he had 
thus so elaborately prepared himself at Cobden, 
where he has since remained, building up a 
lucrative practice. He was married in 1861, to 
Elizabeth Hearns, a native of New York, the 
fruit of which union is two children, viz. : Min- 
nie and Frank. He has endeavored to devote 
his entire time to his profession, but has been 
forced to find time to attend to some minor 
offices, where it is reallj' all labor and no pay. 



such as Township and Village Trustee, and was 
for ten years Township Treasurer. By econ- 
omy and frugality, he has secured some good 
property in the village of his adoption, j'et 
with a childlike confidence, he has trusted 
many, during his long practice, only to be the 
loser. In the upbuilding of the beautiful little 
village of Cobden, it is not too much to say 
that he has done his full share, and in its writ- 
ten history his name occupies an honorable 
and conspicuous place upon its pages. He is 
a member of the A., F. & A. M. and K. of H. 
fraternities of Cobden. He is an active Dem- 
ocrat, and really the leader of that organiza- 
tion where he resides. His estimable lady is 
a member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. 
Ross has successful!}' borne all the hardships 
and privations incident to the life of the early 
settlers, and they have developed in him, as a 
natural result, both physical vigor and the 
sturdy moral and mental health which are se- 
cured by the constant practice of industry and 
thrift. 

JACKSON SIFFORD, farmer and fruit-grow- 
er, P. 0. Cobden, was born in this county August 
17, 1884, to Peter and Leah (Mull) Sifford. 
The}- were both born in North Carolina, he 
1795, she 1805. ' They came to this county 
in 1819 ; were mai'ried in 1820. Their ances- 
tors were of German origin. He died in this 
County in 1853. She is still living. They were 
the parents of twelve children, seven of whom 
are still living, three sons and four daughters. 
He made no permanent settlement till 1827, 
when he settled on the farm now owned by A. 
L. Sitter, and died there. Our subject's oppor- 
tunities for an education were verj' limited. 
He remained at home till he was twenty-three 
years old, and assisted in the support of 
the famil}-. In 1856, he was married to Rosena 
Mull, daughter of Martin and Catherine Mull. 
They were also early settlers in this county, 
coming from North Carolina. She is still 



146 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



living, but he died a few years ago. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sifford have twelve children, all but 
one living — William, John, Sarah, Tampa, 
Frank, Louis, Ida, Delia, Edward (deceased), 
Cora, Nina and Amos. When first married, 
Mr. S. settled on his present farm of eighty-five 
acres, and is engaged in general grain, fruit 
and vegetable farming. He and wife are mem- 
bers of the Lutheran Church. In politics, he 
is Democratic. 

DANIEL SIFFORD, farmer and fruit-grower, 
P. 0. Cobdeu, is a native of Union County, 111., 
born January 5, 1839, and is a son of Peter 
and Leah (Mull) Sifford. (See sketch Jackson 
Sifford.) His early life was spent at home 
assisting to till the home farm, and receiving 
such an education as could be obtained in the 
schools of the county. Arriving at his majority, 
he embarked on his career in life as a farmer, 
an occupation he has since followed ; his farm 
contains 125 acres of good land, of which 100 
are under a high state of cultivation, and a por- 
tion devoted to fruit-growing. Mr. Sifford was 
married in 1861, on the 18th of April, to Miss 
Susan C. Casper, a native of the county ; born 
November 8, 1842 ; she is a daughter of Henry 
Casper, whose history appears in another part 
of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. S. have been 
blessed with eight children, viz.: Dora E., W. 
R., T. Peter, Minnie J., Lizzie, Henry, Dell and 
Susie. Mr. S. and wife are members of the 
Lutheran Church ; he is a member of the or- 
ders of A., F. & A. M. and K. of H. Poli- 
tically, he is a Democrat. 

GEORGE SNYDER, fruit and vegetable 
grower, Cobden, was born in Susquehanna 
County, Penn., March 2, 1823, to Benjamin 
and Elizabeth (Griffin) Snyder, both of whom 
were born in New York, he in Columbia 
County, she in Orange County. Both died in 
Pennsylvania. They were the parents of four 
sons and ten daughters. Two sons and five 
daughters now survive. Our subject was 



raised on a farm and educated in the common 
schools of his native State. In 1848, he began 
the putting on of composition roofs, and con- 
tinued in this emplo3'ment in the leading cities 
of New York till 1852, when he removed to 
New Orleans, and resided there for five years, 
making lime from oyster shells. His health 
failed, so in the spring of 1857 he came to Cob- 
den and settled on his present farm. His farm of 
123 acres he bought from the railroad com- 
pany. He has been engaged in fruit and vege- 
table raising since. He is one of the largest 
sweet potato raisers in the State. In 1882, he 
had out twenty-eight acres, and in 1883 in- 
creased it to thirty acres. He also has large 
peach orchards, etc. In New York, in 1852, he 
was married to Miss Jane Butler, daughter of 
James and Lydia (Reed) Butler. James But- 
ler was a native of New York and a cousin to 
Gen. B. F. Butler. Mrs. Butler was born in 
Maine. They moved to near Detroit, Mich., 
and died there. They wei'e the parents of six 
girls and three boys — all living but one 
daughter. Previous to marriage, Mrs. S. had 
been engaged in teaching school. She now 
raises an abundance of beautiful flowers, and 
in 1883 shipped 400 boxes to Chicago for De- 
coration Day. Mr. and Mrs. S. have never 
been blessed with children. In politics, he is 
Democratic. His first vote for President was 
cast for Henry Clay. During the time spent in 
New Orleans, Mr. Snyder had the yellow fever, 
cholera, breakbone fever and swamp fever. 

SAMUEL SPRING, merchant, Cobden, was 
born January 15, 1827, in Massachusetts, in the 
town of Newburyport. His maternal ances- 
tors for several generations were ministers of 
the Gospel, Non-Conformists and English Puri- 
tans. In the 5'ear 1834, John Spring, with his 
wife Eliza, embarked at Ipswich, England, for 
New England, with four children. They settled 
in Watertown, Mass., near Boston, where his 
name is on the earliest list of Proprietors in 1 836. 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



147 



His decendants were John and Henry, from 
whom a large number have sprung. Samuel, 
the father of our subject, married Lydia M. 
Norton, the result being nine children, four of 
whom survive, viz.: Mary, Lucia, Gardner and 
Samuel. The father was an active minister for 
thirty-seven yeai'S, and died at the age of 
eightj'-nine, and his consort at the age of ninetj'. 
Mr. Spring had some advantage of the country 
schools, until he was sixteen 3-ears old, when 
he went to St. Louis, Mo., and there engaged as 
a clerk in a grocery store at $75 per month ; 
one year later, he, in partnership with his 
brother, A. L., opened up a wood 3'ard and 
grocery store at Union Point, this county, at 
which they continued until 1867, when they 
came to Cobden and entered a general dry 
gc/ods and notion store. In 1877, our subject 
opened up where he now continues, having a 
full line of almost an^-thing the general public 
may be in want of; in addition to his large 
stock of goods, and some excellent property in 
this village, he has 540 acres of land in this 
count}', that ranks equal to an}' in Southern 
Illinois ; all of which is the result of his own 
labors. He was married, March 15, 1854, to 
Martha J., a daughter of C. D. and Margaret 
C. (Gray) Henderson, natives of North Carolina; 
the former, born November 14, 1800, and the 
latter, December 24, 1804 ; they emigrated to 
Missouri in 1831. Her parents were blessed 
with nine children, two of whom are living, 
viz., J. E. and Martha J. Her parents were 
members of the Presbyterian organization. Mr. 
Spring has served on the Board of Trustees of 
Cobden, and was for seven years Postmaster at 
Union Point. His wife, who was born August 
5, 1838, in Missouri, blessed her husband with 
four children, viz.: Charles, Gardner, Lucia A. 
and Lillie. She and Mr. Spring are members 
of the Presbyterian Church. He is an active 
Democrat. Mr. S. is a thorough business man, 



and knows exactly what class of goods to keep 
to please his many customers. 

JOHN SWElfzER, fruit farmer, Cobden, 
was born in Baden, Germany, July 17, 1845, 
to John and Bosa (Dirr) Sweitzer. They were 
both born, lived and died in Baden. He died 
at the age of forty-five years, when our subject 
was but five years old. She was born in 1811, 
died in 1879. His occupation was that of farm- 
er. They were the parents of seven children, 
all now living. Our subject is next to the 
youngest child. Only John and his brother 
Frank are in America ; both live near Cobden. 
Our subject came to America in 18G6 ; re- 
mained at Cincinnati for about six months ; 
then came to Cobden and engaged to James 
Bell, and continued with him for sixteen years 
as foreman on the farm. January, 1883, he 
came to his present farm, and is engaged in 
fruit and vegetable raising. Besides his home 
farm of ninety acres, which is well improved, 
he has another farm of 120 acres. He was 
first married, January, 1872, to Anna Blsigg. 
She was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, but 
came to America with her parents when small. 
Her father died in this county in 1881. Mrs. 
Sweitzer died in April, 1879. By her he has 
three children — Edward, Hany and Freddie. 
In 1880, he was married to Anna Bleger. She 
was born in Pennsylvania ; came to this coun- 
ty when small. Her parents are both still liv- 
ing in the county, Joseph and Mary (Unto) 
Bleger. By this marriage there are two chil- 
dren, Josie and Rosa. He and family are 
members of the Catholic Church. In politics, 
he is Democratic. 

JAMES THOMAS, fruit-farmer, P. 0. Ma- 
kanda, was born in Manchester, England, Jan- 
uary 23, 1838, to William and Mary Ann 
(Parr) Thomas. These are two old English 
families, and on the father's side the ancestry 
traces back and includes Gen. Wolf as a mem- 



148 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



ber of the family. In England, there is a large 
landed estate, which belonged to Peter Walt- 
hall, who died in 1743, and which in its proper 
descent would have come to the father of 
our subject, and consequently to our subject. 
The estate, however, is still in question, and 
all the proof now lacking to give it to its 
rightful owners is the certificate of the mar- 
riage of James Thomas, the great-great-grand- 
father of our subject, to Rebecca (Walthall) 
Wolf, the grand-daughter of Peter Walthall. 
The father of our subject was born March 8, 
1808, in Ormskirk, England, and died Decem- 
ber 5, 1845, at Chester, England. The mother 
was born December 12, 1807, and died at St. 
Louis, Mo. His occupation was that of attor- 
ne3''s clerk, serving his apprenticeship. He 
was the father of nine children, our subject 
being the fifth and the only one now living. In 
1842, our subject accompanied his father to 
Buenos Ayres, South America. In the latter 
part of August, 1 842, when near land near the 
mouth of the La Platte River, the vessel — the 
Sea Gull — was wrecked and went to pieces, all 
but one of the passengers and crew were saved, 
but would have been lost except for aid from 
the men on land. They stayed in Buenos 
Aj'res and Montevideo for two years, and then 
returned to P]ngland. James then attended the 
Chester grammar schools till he was fourteen 
3'ears of age. He came to the United States 
in 1852, landing at New Orleans ; then coming 
up the river to St. Louis. From here he went 
to Kansas City and started to Salt Lake City, 
with a cousin, but the Mormon company with 
which they had started had the cholera so 
badly that he and his cousin went to the Mis- 
souri River and back to St. Louis. In St. 
Louis his mother died ; she was then the wife 
of John P. Bates, taxidermist and naturalist 
in St. Louis, who mounted the heads, etc., of 
the buffaloes killed by Prince Alexis on the 
Western plains. In 1853, our subject went to 



Wisconsin to keep from going back to England 
with his uncle. There he remained till 1859 ; 
then he sold out and started to Texas. He and 
two friends built a boat at Helena, Wis., espe- 
cially for pleasure and comfort, and so went 
down the river into the Mississippi, and stopped 
at all the principal places, and at the end 
of eight weeks came to the mouth of the 
Red River. They took steamboat up to 
Shreveport, La., and remained there for a short 
time ; then, on account of the war troubles, 
he came North, and cast his first vote for Lin- 
coln at Mound City, 111. He has been a Re- 
publican ever since. He afterward came to 
Jackson County, where he remained for a year 
or so. April 14, 1864, he was married in 
Cape Girardeau County, Mo., to Susan A. 
Lumpkin. She was born near Princeton, Ky. 
to George W. and Jane (Baker) Lumpkin ; both 
died in this county. He was a soldier in the 
Union army. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have four 
children — Ada, Ettie, William Walter and 
James Ed. Mr Thomas has been on his pres- 
ent farm since the year after marriage. He 
raises fruit and vegetables. He is a member 
of MakandaLodge A., F. & A. M. He and wife 
are members of the Christian Unitarian 
Church. 

R. B. THOMPSON, farmer and fruit-grower, 
P. 0. Makanda, was born in Jackson County, 
111., one mile south of Makanda, May 22, 
1852, to Joshua and Maria A. (Milner) Thomp- 
son. The father was born June 11, 1812, in 
Jefferson County, Ohio. The mother in Carroll 
County, Ohio. July 13, 1815, and died 1870. 
The father was born and raised a Quaker, 
but when marrying it was outside of the 
church, so he has never had connection with 
the church since, although that is still his be- 
lief In earl}^ life, he learned the trade of stone- 
cutting and brick-lacing, and for some years 
his trade called him to different localities. 
Most of the time in Jefferson and Belmont 



COBDEN PEECINCT. 



149 



Counties, being in partnership in the marble 
business in Belmont County for nine 3'ears 
with R. H. Evans. In 1849, he went to Cali- 
fornia in quite a large company, and he was 
the commander, and so gained the title of 
Colonel, which still clings to him. Thej' were 
four months on the trip. He then followed 
mining for sixteen months, and was about four 
months on the home trip. He took passage 
in a vessel and for sevent}' days was out of 
sight of land, twenty days was on one-half 
rations, and for twenty-five days on one-fourth 
rations. He lauded at Acapulco, Mex., and 
for 750 miles across the country he rode on a 
wild mountain pony. After reaching home, he 
remained in the marble business for about one 
3'ear, then came to Jackson Count}', 111., in 
1852 ; about a year later, he moved to Union 
Count}', to his present home. However he has 
retired from active life. The farm is one of 
the highest points in Southern Illinois ; from 
one side the waters run into the Ohio, from 
the other into the Mississippi River. When 
the news came that Fort Sumter had been fired 
upon some of the loyal people of the vicinity, 
made a flag and hoisted it on " The Lone 
Tree," a tall poplar tree on the highest point 
of the farm. The hill was then called Banner 
Hill, and from this the farm took its name of the 
Banner Farm. October 25, 1838, Mr. Thomp- 
son was married to Maria A. Milner. To them 
six children were born ; one died young. The 
living are T. W., A. S., M. M., Mary Alvira 
(now Mrs. James Fitch), and R. B. ; T. W. and 
M. M. live in Jackson County ; A. S. in San 
Francisco, Cal. ; Mrs. Fitch and R. B. in this 
county. Our subject, R. B., was educated 
mostly in Carbondale, 111., under Clark Braden. 
He was married, January 27, 1874, to Miss 
Orintha, oldest daughter of H. F. Whitacre, 
now of Williamson County, and by profession 
an attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have 
two sons — George J. and Albert L. Our subject 



has charge of the farm and owns most of it. 
The home farm consists of 120 acres, also one 
forty to the east of it. Grain and stock re- 
ceive most of his attention, and he has some 
splendid stock — high-grade Jersey cattle, full 
blood Cotswold sheep, etc., raised by William 
Barter, of Williamson County, the dam and 
sire both being imported from Canada. (The 
buck's yield of wool at thirteen months of age 
was sixteen and one-half pounds of wool, 
measuring eleven inches, others yielding about 
the same.) Mr. Thompson's energy and in- 
dustry toward the introduction and raising of 
good stock cannot but result in profit to him- 
self and to his neighbors. In politics, both 
our subject and his father are strong Repub- 
licans. 

J. F. TWEEDY, farmer, P. 0. Makauda, 
was born in Union County, 111., February 25, 
1854, and is a son of J. M. Tweedy, whose his- 
tory appears in the department devoted to Alto 
Pass Precinct. He was raised on the farm and 
educated in the common schools of the county. 
In 1877. he engaged in farming on his own ac- 
count, on a farm near his father's, in Alto Pass 
Precinct. His present farm contains seventy 
acres of good land. He makes fruit-growing a 
specialty. In March, 1877, in Union County, 
he married Miss Alice Freeman, a native of the 
county, and a daughter of J. H. and Sarah 
Freeman. This union has been blessed with 
the following children — Walter, Roy and Fred. 
Mr. Tweedy is a man of good reputation and 
much enterprise. He has never sought office, 
it being more in accord with his views to stay 
at home, and give his time and attention to his 
famil} and the duties of his farm. In connec- 
tion with the land he owns, he is managing 
a sixty-acre farm for Mr. Shelker, of Elgin, 
111. 

Y. J. VANCIL, farmer, P. 0. Cobdeu, was 
born in this county October 22, 1817, of Adam 
and Catherine (Penrod) Vaucil. Adam Vancil 



150 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



was born in Virginia March 6, 1790, and was a 
son of John Vancil. They were of German 
origin. He died March, 1831, killed by a tree 
falling on him. Catharine Penrod was born 
April 19, 1794 ; died November 13, 1853. The 
two families had settled in Kentucky at an early 
date, and in 1805 Adam Yancil and his brother, 
Jonas, came to Union County, 111. Adam af- 
terward returned to Kentucky and was married 
there, then again came to Union County in 
1811, or before, as they were here at that date. 
He was principally engaged in hunting, and so 
moved where game was most plentiful. In 
1821, he killed two bears at Stone Fort, Jackson 
County. Being of this wandering disposition, 
he did not remain in one place long enough to im- 
prove more than a few acres, and, in fact, that 
was about all that was necessary, for they had 
no markets for the products of the soil. They 
were the parents of six children, all but the 
3*oungest living to advanced ages. Our sub- 
ject and one sister now reside in this county. 
Our subject's opportunities for an education 
were necessarily very limited, but he has con- 
tinued the improvement of his faculties since, 
by reading and thinking. His occupation has 
ever been that of farming since working for 
himself At the time of his father's death, 
they were living near Carbondale, but in the 
fall of 1831 moved to this county, and he has 
lived on his present homestead since. He has 
twice been married ; first, March 23, 1839, to 
Elizabeth Hazlitt. She was born in Ohio, July 
24, 1811 ; died April 3, 1847. Two children 
blessed this union, viz.: Adam and Matilda- 
Matilda died when small ; Adam is now en- 
gaged in farming. The second marriage oc- 
curred December 10, 1848, to Mrs. Prudence 
Elizabeth Whitacre, born February 21, 1818, 
in Switzerland County, Ind., daughter of John 
T. and Deborah Deming. John Deming was 
born in Massachusetts March 9, 1787 ; his 
wife in what is now Ohio, January' 10, 1796, 



and is said to be the second white person born 
in the State of Ohio. They moved to Illinois 
in 1818, aud died in this county. Mrs. Vancil 
has been married three times. She had one 
son by her first husband — Charles Vandiver ; 
by her second husband, one daughter — Debo- 
rah Whitacre. B}' the present marriage, Mr. 
and Mrs. Vancil have three children, viz. : Mary, 
Algernon R. and Albert D. Mr. Vancil's farm 
consists of 280 acres, 120 in cultivation. 
Gi'ain raising receives most of his attention. 
In politics, he is a Democrat. 

R. M. VANCIL, fruit-grower, P. 0. Cobden, 
was born in this county September 13, 1849, 
to Benjamin and Catherine (Landrith) Vancil. 
The father was born in Ohio December 25, 
1804, and died in this county March 19, 1883. 
When small, his father, John Vancil, moved to 
Virginia from Ohio, and in 1823 they moved 
to this county ; then trying to find a better 
land, moved to Missouri and Arkansas, but was 
not suited, so came back to this county. John 
Vancil was the first man to introduce the 
Buckingham apple in this county ; he brought 
it from Buckingham County, Va. After Ben- 
jamin Vancil settled on his farm near Cobden, 
he began in the nursery, fruit and floral cult- 
ure, and as he gave his whole thoughts to his 
business he was very successful. He shipped 
fruit trees and flowers to many States, and took 
many premiums at the fairs. He had eight}-- 
five varieties of apples and thirty-two of pears, 
but many were not profitable. From 1861 
till the time of his death, he was so crippled by 
rheumatism that he could not work, and so had 
to abandon his nursery and also his flowers, 
with the exception of a few choice varieties. 
His experience has been of great value to the 
present fruit-growers in this vicinity. He had 
seven sons and six daughters ; he survived all 
of his sons except our subject. Three daugh- 
ters are still living. He was a member of the 
Dunkard religious societ}' and was a Jackson 



COBDEN PRECINCT. 



151 



and Douglas Democrat, but took no part in 
politics. In 1872, January 18, our subject 
was married to Mary J. Rendleman, daughter 
of Samuel and Catherine (Kimmel) Rendleman. 
The mother died September 29, 1881. The 
father is living in Claj- County, Ark. Mr. and 
Mrs. Vancil have three children — Notia Leo- 
nora, Charles S. and Myrtle Agnes. He and 
wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Cobden. 

N. B. WALKER, farmer, P. 0. Makanda, 
was born in Jackson County, 111., May 18, 
1828, to Nathan D. and Nancy (Collins) Walker. 
The father was a native of Kentucky, but was 
brought to this State with his parents when he 
was quite young, settling near Grand Tower. 
The Walkers were originally from North Car- 
olina, and were among the early settlers of 
Jackson County. His wife was a sister of N. 
B. Collins, of Alto Pass Precinct. She was the 
mother of four children — Benjamin C, N. B., 
Mark M. and Polly, of whom our subject is the 
only one now living. The father died in Jack- 
son Count}', while his children were all small, 
but his widow lived until they were grown. 
Our subject was mostly raised in this county 
by his uncle, Mr. N. B. Collins. He was mar- 
ried. May 16, 1852, to Leah Hagler, a daugh- 
ter of Paul and Elizabeth (Clutts) Hagler, na- 
tives of North Carolina. She died October 3, 
1862, leaving four children, viz.: Nanc}^ Eliza- 
beth, Nathan B. D., Mar}' Emaline and an in- 
fant ; the latter lived but a short time. Octo- 
ber 8, 1863, he was married a second time to 
Miss A. A. Sill. She was born in Washington 
County, Ind., to Commodore Perry and Sarah 
(Beard) Sill ; he died in Marion County, 111., 
and she is still living in this count}'. By his 
second wife, Mr. Walker has seven children liv- 
ing — Sarah D., Lavina Lucinda, Alice Cathe- 
rine, Polly Isabella, Huldah Ellen, John Logan 
and Etta Araminta, and three dead. Mr. W. 
has lived on his present farm about twenty-five 



years, and raises grain and hay mostly; he 
and his wife are members of Shiloh Baptist 
Church. 

E. B. WING, farmer, P. 0. Cobden, was born 
in Missisquoi County, Canada, April 29, 1836, 
to Turner and Julia Ann (Barnes) Wing. They 
were both born in Canada, but the parents of 
each had emigrated from the United States to 
Canada. In 1847, he moved to De Kalb 
County, III, and continued to follow his occu- 
pation of farmer. About 1863, he moved to 
the vicinity of Dubuque, Iowa, and still makes 
that his home. She died in Iowa March, 1883. 
They were the parents of six sons and one 
daughter ; two sons and the daughter are all 
that are now living. Four sons entered the 
army, and our subject is the only one who 
came out. He enlisted three days after the 
firing on Fort Sumter, in Company E, Second 
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, as a private; was 
afterward promoted to Sergeant's position. He 
served till the battle of Antietam and was 
there wounded and discharged on account of 
disability. He was in the two battles of Bull 
Run, at South Mountain, and then at the bat- 
tle of Antietam under Gen. Hooker, on the 
right. After he was wounded, he remained at 
Keedysville for about two weeks : then was 
taken to the hospital at Baltimore, and there 
remained until discharged November, 1862. 
When our subject was about eighteen years 
old, he had left his home in Geneva, 111., and 
had gone to Oshkosh, Wis., and it was from 
there that he entered the army, and there he 
returned when coming home. He remained in 
Oshkosh till 1868, engaged in lumbering. In 
1868, he came to this county and settled on his 
present farm, which contains 140 acres, about 
sixty being in cultivation; when first buying it, 
there were but three or four acres cleared. 
Grain and stock raising receive most of his at- 
tention, but he also raises some fruits in con- 
nection with his other farming. July 4, 1860, 



152 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



he was married in Oshkosh, Wis., to Sarah Burn- 
side. She was born in Erie County, Penn., 
August 2, 1837, to John J. and Matilda (Miles) 
Burnside. He is still living in Erie County, 
Penn. Mr. and Mrs. Wing have no children of 
their own, but have adopted one little girl, 
Donna Inez. Mrs. W. is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church of Cobden. He is Demo- 
cratic in politics, and since his discharge from 
the arm}' has been receiving a pension of $4 
per month. 

C. C. WRIGHT, farmer and fruit-grower, 
Cobden, was born in Rome, N. Y., in 1815. to 
John and Miriam (Reymond) Wright. They 
were both born in Connecticut, he in 1772, she 
in 1780. He moved into New York about 
1790, and it was there his family was born. 
In 1836, he moved to Kendall County, 111., 
with his family, and he and his wife both died 
there, in 1851 and 1857 respectively. They 
were the parents of eight children ; three sons 
and two daughters are now living. His occu- 
pation was mostl}^ that of farming. Our sub- 
ject was educated in New York, and came West 
with his parents. Chicago was their only 
market, and that was sixty miles distant, and 
after hauling wheat there they would get from 
25 to 75 cents per bushel, and from $1 to $3 
per hundred for dressed pork. When the canal 
was completed, they had a market within 
twelve miles of their home. In 1853, he moved 
to Winnebago County, 111., and opened a farm, 
but sold it in 1862 and came to Cobden. He 
went into the woods and opened up the farm 
now owned by Am as Poole. He sold that 
in 1864, and then began to make his present 
farm, which had but little improvement at the 
time. His farm contains seventy acres, all im- 
proved. When first settling on it, he began 
the raising of peaches, apples and strawberries. 
In later years, he has abandoned the peaches 
and apples, and gives his attention more to 
strawberries, cherries, vegetables and hay. 



Mr. Paul Wright, the brother of our subject, 
had much the same experience in early life, 
but he was educated for the law, and he prac- 
ticed in Elgin for some time, and for some 
yeai's previous to coming to this county had 
been Circuit Clerk of Kane County. On ac- 
count of ill-health, he came to this county in 
the spring of 1862, and began in the fruit bus- 
iness, being one among the first from the North 
to go into fruit-raising. Enjoying the beauti- 
ful, he took pains to make his home attractive, 
and so improved the present farm of Mr. E. D, 
Lawrence. The last j'ear in this county, he 
practiced law at Jonesboro, in paituership 
with Jackson Frick. In 1875, he again made 
a move on account of ill-health, going to Santa 
Barbara, Cal., where he has since built up a 
good practice in the law. In 1843, our subject 
was married in Winnebago County, 111., to 
Harriet M. Talcott. She was also born in 
Rome, N. Y. Her father, William Talcott, 
came to Illinois about the same time as Mr. 
Wright, and settled at Rockton, on the Rock 
River. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have three chil- 
dren, only two of whom are still living — Henry 
T. and Mary (Harriet A. died 1864). By pro- 
fession, Henry is a lawyer, and practiced for 
SIX years at Carbondale, 111. ; then taught 
school near Chicago for some time, when 
health failed, and he went to railroading. He 
is now located at Minneapolis, and is Paymas- 
ter on the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad. 
Mr. Wright in religious belief is Congregation- 
alist, and was a member of that church until the 
oi'ganization was let fall in Cobden, and as he 
did not take out any letters he now has no 
connection with any church. By nature, our 
subject is opposed to oppression in any form, 
and at an early date he took the side of anti- 
slavery, although it was the unpopular party 
at the time. From 1844 till Lincoln's election, 
he had never voted with the popular parties. 
When the call for men came, he offered his 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



153 



services, but bad to stand back and allow the 
younger and more robust to answer the call. 



But he did all he could at home toward the 
support of the Government. 



ALTO PASS, OR EIDGE PRECII^OT. 



W. K. ABEENATHIE, farmer, P. O. 
Alto Pass, was born in this county April 17, 
18-il, to James and Mary (Tweedy) Aber- 
nathie. They were both natives of South 
Carolina, but came here when both were 
young, their families being among the first 
settlers in the county. He died in this 
county when our subject was about two years 
old, and she in 1876. They were the parents 
of fifteen children, of whom our subject is 
the youngest. Of the fifteen, only three are 
now living — Mr. Abernathie and two sisters. 
Our subject's whole life has been spent on 
the farm. He was educated in the common 
schools of the county. Mr. Abernathie has 
resided on his present farm for about eight- 
een years, and most of the time has been en- 
gaged in fruit-growing. In orchards he has 
about sixty- five acres, forty being in apples 
and the remainder in peaches. March 17, 
1864, he was married in this county to Miss 
Mary Croull, who was also born in this 
county, daughter of Louisa and John Croull, 
also of the earliest settlers in the county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Abernathie have seven children 
— Mary Elizabeth, Emma Bell, Hattie 
Josephine, Cora Ellen, John Howard, Will- 
iam Bertie and Robert Artie, twins. Mr. 
Abernathie has always been an active mem- 
ber of the Democratic party. 

HON. HOLLY R. BUCKINGHAM, Alto 



Pass, was born in Clermont County, Ohio, 
January 12, 1850, to Mark and Margaret 
(Hawn) Buckingham. They were both born 
in Ohio, she in Milford, Clermont County, 
and he just across the line, in Hamilton 
County, December 5, 1808. His parents 
had moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 
1790, so the Buckingham family is one of the 
oldest in the State, and also one of the larg- 
est. The first residence after coming to the 
State was a large, hollow tree, where Cincin- 
nati now stands. Mrs. Margaret Buckingham 
was born August 11, 1826, also of an old 
family of the State, her grandfather, Peter 
Bell, being the first Associate Judge in Cin- 
cinnati. So the ancestors of our subject 
have long been identified with the interests 
of the State of Ohio, and with very few ex- 
ceptions have been the strictest Democrats, 
grandfather, father and son (our subject) hav- 
ing ever voted the Democratic ticket. Mr. 
Mark Buckingham was a successful business 
man, at one time having a wholesale pork- 
packing business, besides a large flouring mill 
and distillery, also several farms in Ohio and 
Illinois, and was well known on 'Change in 
Cincinnati. He died in Hamilton County, 
111., in November, 1878, but was buried in 
the old burying- ground in his native State. 
Mrs. Mark Buckingham is still living on the 
old homestead in Ohio. Of thoir family, four 



154 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



sons and one daughter are now living. Our 
subject's early life was spent in assisting his 
father with his business, but his higher edu- 
cation was not neglected. He prepared him- 
self for college in the Woodward High 
School of Cincinnati, and then completed a 
classical coiirse in the Miami University, of 
Oxford, Ohio, where he took the degree of 
B. A. in 1873. He then came to one of his 
father's farms in Hamilton County, 111., 
where he remained for about eighteen 
months, during which time he taught one 
term of school. After studying law with 
Judge Crouch, of McLainsboro, for about 
one year and a half, he went to Ann Arbor, 
Mich., and studied law for a year; then he 
returned to Illinois, and was admitted to the 
bar at Mount Vernon in June, 1875. In Au- 
gust, 1875, he was married, in this county, 
to ]\riss Florence Tarleton, who was born on 
the Teche, near New Orleans, La., to Leo 
and G. Augusta (Hawkins) Tarleton. Mrs. 
Tarleton's first husband was George Wash- 
ington, a grand-nephew of the President; 
she is still living, at the age of seventy- 
three years. Mr. Buckingham has remained 
in this county since 1875, and has been en- 
gaged in fruit- farming during the time. On 
his present farm he has about seventy acres 
in orchards, but also has a number of acres in 
small fruits and vegetables. Mr. and Mrs. 
B. have two little girls— Florence and Ada. 
Mr. Buckingham has always taken an active 
part in politics, but has never been an office- 
seeker; however, in 1880 he was elected a 
member of the State Legislature, and served 
through his term with credit to himself and 
to his constituency. 

N. B. COLLINS, farmer,- and Justice of 
the Peace, P. O. Alto Pass, was born about 
the year 1813 in Tennessee, and came to 



this county with his parents when but a very 
small child. Soon after coming here his 
parents both died, leaving no record of his 
birth or of their history. After the death of 
his parents, he was taken by strangers and 
x'aised on a farm in this county, and with 
the exception of three years he has lived in 
the county ever since. Two years of the 
three he lived in Louisiana, the other in 
Kentucky. His only chances for an educa- 
tion were to attend a subscription school 
when he could not work at anything else. 
July 20, 1836, he was married, on his present 
homestead, to Miss Keziah Parmley. She 
was born on their present homestead October 
22, 1819, to Giles and Elizabeth (Craft) 
Parmley. They came from Kentucky to this 
State, but he was a native of Virginia, his 
father being an old Revolutionary soldier. 
When Mr. Parmley first came to this county, 
he settled in the Mississippi River bottom, 
but got afraid of the Indians, and moved back 
to Kentucky, where he remained for a year 
or so, and then returned to this county, 
bi'inffinof a number of friends with him. He 
then settled on the present homestead of Mr. 
and Mrs. Colli us in about 1813. He died 
January 8, 1849, but she survived him many 
years, and died at the age of eighty- four. 
When Mr. and Mrs. Parmley first settled in 
this county, there were scarcely any white 
settlers at all. When they went to mill at all 
they had to cross the river to Whitewater, 
Mo. Mr. Parmley was a cooper by trade, 
and made barrels to pay for the first land he 
entered. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have raised 
a family of nine children, but four daughters 
and one son died after having families of 
their own. The living children are Sarah 
E., Lucinda E., Bell and John. The 
daughters are all married. Mr. and Mrs. 
Collins have twenty-three motherless grand- 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



155 



children. In the fall of 1850, they moved 
to their present farm, which consists of 360 
acres, with 200 of it improved; also another 
farm of 160 acres, 100 being in cultivation. 
Mr. Collins has large orchards, having ap- 
ples, peaches and pears. When Mr. Collins 
completes his present term of office, he will 
have served thirty-eight years as Justice of 
the Peace, for four years being Associate 
Justice of the Peace of the county. He also 
served two years as Constable. 

WILLIAM H. FINCH, farmer, P. O. 
Cobden, was born in this county July 28, 
1840, to Richard M. and Sarah (Smith) 
Finch. He was from the West Indies, of 
French desccDt, and she from North Caro- 
lina, of German descent. They both| died 
in this county, he September 16, 1863, she 
March 3, 1875. They were the parents of 
seven children, four of whom are now living, 
our subject being the oldest. From the time 
our subject was eleven years of age till he 
was twenty-one, he worked on the farm in 
summer, and winter in his father's cooper 
shop. When starting for himself, however, 
he gave his attention to farming, and has 
continued to make that his occupation to the 
present. He has a farm of 252 acres, and 
makes corn and stock his dependence. When 
starting in life for himself, he had one horse, 
and nothing else. August 20, 1862, he was 
married to Melissa Catharine Cauble, who 
died May 29, 1863, leaving one child, which 
also died, July 8, 1863. March 2, 1865, he 
was married to Mary Lindsey. She was 
born in Jackson County, 111., but mostly 
raised in Union County. She is the daughter 
of Reuben and Sarah (Coleman) Lindsey. 
He was born in Kentucky May 24, 1823, 
and came to this State in 1829, and lived in 
Jackson County till he was about grown. 
She was born and raised in Jackson County, 



and died August 23, 1882. He is still liv- 
ing, and is engaged in farming. Mr. and 
Mrs. Finch have two children living, and one 
dead — John Albert, born January 2, 1862, 
died December 1, 1882; Sarah Isabella and 
Mary Ellen. Mr. and Mrs. Finch are mem- 
bers of the Free- Will Baptist Church. He 
is Democratic in politics. 

DR. J. GrLASCO, physician and surgeon, 
Alto Pass. The subject of this sketch was 
born in Union County, 111., February 14, 
1840, to William and Rhoda (Strawmat) 
Glasco. They were both of North Carolina, 
but came to this county before marriage 
She died in 1843; he is still living in this 
county, and with his third wife. By the 
three wives he has nine children now living, 
four sons and five daughters. At the time of 
the Doctor's birth, his parents were living on 
a farm where the city of Anna now stands. 
Our subject* was raised on a farm, and re- 
ceived his education in this county, and, with 
the exception of the time spent in the army, 
and about six months in Kansas, he has re- 
sided here during his life. In 1861, he en- 
tered the State Militia for thirty days; then 
was taken into the army, Company I, Eight- 
eenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Capt. S. 
B. Marks. He served for three years and 
then re-enlisted, and served till the close of 
the war, being one of the last discharged. 
While in the service, he passed through some 
of the severest engagements, being in the 
battles of Ft. Donelson, Shiloh, the taking of 
Vicksburg, Little Rock, etc., in all being 
about sixteen different engagements. At 
Fort Douelson he was severely wounded, 
being shot through the right lung, and was 
captured at the time, but remained a captive 
only till the Fort was taken. He first en- 
listed as a private, but was afterward pro- 
moted to Sergeant, in which capacity he 



156 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



served most of the time. However, for two 
years previous to receiving his discharge, he 
was Hospital Sui'geon, and for six months be- 
fore that had been Hospital Dispensing Clerk. 
For two years previous to going into the 
army, the Doctor had studied medicine un- 
der Dr. A. B. Agnew, and during the time 
he was in the service he studied all his spare 
time, and especially while in the hospital, 
under Dr. H. T. Garnett. While in the hos- 
pital, he had a great deal of practice also, as 
Assistant Surgeon. The Doctor now makes 
a specialty of lung and female diseases. On 
returning from the army, he began the prac- 
tice of medicine, at the store of Cyrus Har- 
rold, just across the line in Jackson County. 
He remained there for about one year, and 
then moved to Saratoga, 111., where he prac- 
ticed for about seventeen years, except six 
months he was practicing in Topeka, Kan. In 
the spring of 1880, he quit the practice and 
bought his present saw and grist mill in Alto 
Pass. He gave his entire attention to the 
mill till the spring of 1883, when he re- 
sumed the practice of his profession, but 
still conducts the mill. December 19, 1866, 
in this county, he was married to Miss Sarah 
E. Stevenson, who was born in Marion, Will- 
iamson Co., 111., daughter of James W. and 
Catharine Stevenson, both of whom are now 
dead. They came from Indiana to Illniois. 
Dr. and Mrs. Glasco have five children liv- 
ing and one dead — Emma C, James W., 
George S. (deceased), Jesse, Eva Ellen and 
Amos Monroe. In politics the Doctor is Repub- 
lican, and for three years was Postmaster at 
Saratoga. His wife is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

JOHN C. GREGORY, farmer, P. O. Cob- 
den, was born in Union County, 111., on his 
present farm, September 11, 1836, to John 
and Sarah (Leonard) Gregory. They were 



natives of North Carolina, but came here in 
1819, and settled in the woods on what is 
now our subject's farm. They were the 
parents of twelve children, eleven of whom 
lived to have families of their own, the other 
dying when small. He died February 24, 
1866, and was some months over seventy-five 
years of age; Mrs. Gregory, however, lived 
till December 16, 1882, and died at the age 
of about eighty three years. When they first 
came to the county, their neighbors were so 
few that they had to neighbor with all for 
six or seven miles around, going that dis- 
tance to help a neighbor when he needed it. 
Our subject received his education in the 
schools of the county, and his occupation 
has always been that of farming on the old 
homestead, which he now owns. In August, 
1862, he enlisted in Company E, Eighty- 
first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. James 
Dollins, and served till June, 1865, when he 
received his discharge. Soon after his en- 
listment, he was taken with a severe spell of 
sickness, and after being in the hospital for 
several months he partially recovered, but 
not so as to continue with his regiment, so 
he was transferred to the Invalid Corps, and 
served his last fifteen months around Wash- 
ington City. June 15, 1859, he was married 
to Miss Elizabeth L. Anderson. She was 
also born and raised in this county, daughter 
of Cornelius and Susan (Morris) Anderson. 
She died in the county; he, however, is still 
living. Mr. and 'Mrs. Gregory have three 
children — Andrew J., Emma F. and Willis 
T. His farm consists of 160 acres, about 
100 being in cultivation, on which he raises 
mostly corn, wheat and stock; however, he 
gives some attention to berry-raising. In 
politics he is a Republican. He is now tilling 
his first term as Justice of the Peace. He and 
wife are members of the Christian Church. 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



157 



CYRUS HARRELD, farmer and mer- 
chant, P. O. Alto Pass, was born in Jackson 
County, 111., March 29, 1830. He is the son 
of James Harreld, who came to Jackson 
County in 1817 and entered land there, and 
was engaged in trading, buying and selling 
land, goods, etc., and died in 1844, while 
building the steamboat Convoy, on Big 
Muddy River. His ancestors were in the 
Revolutionary war, and five of his great- 
uncles were killed at King's Mountain. Mr. 
James Harreld was First Lieutenant in Capt. 
Jenkins' company of mounted volunteers in 
Black Hawk war, 183'2. Our subject is the 
only son in a family of five children. His 
opportunities for an education were very 
limited — the windowless schoolhouse and 
other things in accordance. Their noons 
were the time for them to cut and carry in 
the wood for the big fire-place. When our 
subject was twenty one years of age, he en- 
gaged in business for himself, and since that 
time he has closely followed in the footsteps 
of his father — farming, buying and selling 
land, in mercantile business, buying notes, 
lending money, etc. He has lived on the 
old homestead, just across the line in Jack- 
son County, most all his life. In 1851, he 
started into the mercantile business, having 
a store on the old homestead. Here he con- 
tinued until 1860. He went to Carbondale, 
and for eighteen months was in the mercan- 
tile business there, but again returned to 
the old stand, and for some time was selling 
goods thei'e; then sold the. stock of goods, 
but did not remain long out of the store. In 
the same place, in 1872, he again engaged 
in business, and continued for six years, and 
then again sold out the stock, and avoided 
mercantile life till May 1, 1883, he bought 
his present store at Alto Pass. Here he car- 
ries a general stock of goods, of about $5,000 
value. Besides store and other property, Mr. 



Harreld has about 2,000 acres of land in the 
two counties of Union and Jackson. His 
life has been one of success, but his own 
energy has been his best capital. His school 
education, being such as he could obtain in 
the subscription schools of the day, was very 
limited, but he has continued to read and 
study, and in his studying he has not neg- 
lected the reading of law. He was married, 
in Carbondale, 111., in 1857, to Miss Amelia 
Tuttle, daughter of Nathan Tuttle, and was 
born in Pennsylvania July, 1838. Mr. and 
Mrs. Han-old have three children living — 
James, William and Cora. In politics, he 
has always been Democratic, but will not 
vote for a man until he considers him worthy. 
Prohibition is his main standard. 

J. E. HENDERSON, groceries and no- 
tions, Alto Pass, was born in North Carolina 
November 3, 1823, to Davidson and Caroline 
(Gray) Henderson. They were both born and 
raised in the same county as our subject 
(Mecklenburg County, N. C). They were 
the parents of six children, of whom our sub- 
ject is the oldest and only son, so his chances 
for an education were very limited, as he had 
to do all he could toward supporting the 
family. Mr. H. and one sister are all who 
are left of the family. His father died in 
Missouri, where they moved when our sub- 
ject was but seven years old; his mother, 
however, died [in Preston, this county. In 
1846, flCr. Henderson left Missouri, and went 
to Mississippi, where he remained till 1851. 
He then came to this county, and has re- 
mained here since. Up till 1866, he had 
always followed farming, but since that time 
he has been engaged in merchandising, either 
as proprietor or clerk. In 1866. he was in 
partnership, at Preston, with Samuel Spring, 
but after about two years they closed out, 
and Spring went into partnership with his 
brother at Cobden. Soon after this, how- 



158 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



ever, tJie Spring Bros, engaged in the grain 
and merchandise business at Preston, and 
left their families at Cobden They then 
engaged Mr. Henderson to conduct their 
business at Preston for them. This con- 
tinued for about two years, when the Spring 
Bros, dissolved partnership, and Samuel 
Spring continued alone at Cobden. Mr. Hen- 
derson then clerked for him about eight 
years, when he commenced business for him- 
self at Alto Pass, in September, 1880, and 
now carries a stock of about 1900 of groceries 
and notions. He is a Democrat. 

C. B. HOLCOMB, farmer, P. O. Alto 
Pass, was born in Lockport, Will Co., 111., 
January 13, 1855, to C. D. Holcomb and Ann 
Jeannet (Butler) Holcdmb. He was born in 
St. Lawi-ence County, N. Y., but he made 
various changes in life, living in Canada, 
Vermont, Ohio, etc., till, about 1850, he 
settled in Lockport, 111., where he worked 
for some time at his trade of printer, when 
he and a friend bought out the paper and 
continued the publication of it for some 
years, and then discontinued it. During 
Lincoln's administration, he was Postmaster 
at Lockport. In 1866, he came to this 
county, and has resided here since. Our 
subject was educated in the schools of Lock- 
port, and resided with his father till 1879, 
when he came to his present home, where he 
has been engaged in general fa,rming since. 
He was married, in Cobden, December 15, 
1880, to Miss Mary E. Kean, who was born 
in Carlyle, Clinton Co., 111., to James and 
Mary Ann (Ross) Kean, both of whom were 
born in Pennsylvania. He died in Nashville, 
111., she in Richview, 111., April 10, 1872. 
Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb have one little son — 
Charlie Ross Holcomb. Mrs. Holcomb is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church of Cob- 
den. Mr. Holcomb is a member of the I. O. 
O. F. , and is a Republican in politics. 



MONTGOMERY HUNSAKER, farmer, 
P. O. Ccbden, was born in Union County, 
111., July 7, 1827. He is the son of Nicholas 
and grandson of Abraham Hunsaker, who 
came to this county at an early date in its 
settlement. Abi'aham Hunsaker and his wife, 
Mary Snyder, were both born in Pennsyl- 
vania, and resided there until after they had 
a family, and then came to this county, where 
one son— George — was the first Sheriff. They 
were the parents of six sons and three 
daughters. Nicholas Huneaker was married, 
in this county, to Olivia Montgomery. She 
was the daughter of John Montgouery, a 
surveyor, who surveyed a great part of Ken- 
tucky, and died there. His widow moved to 
this county, and settled near Saratoga, when 
Mrs. Hunsaker was but a small girl. Mrs. 
Hunsaker died near Jonesboro April 4, 1836, 
and he soon afterward moved to the present 
homestead of our subject, on Hatchins* 
Creek, and died there October 6, 1860. They 
were the parents of live children, two sons 
and three daughters. Two of the daughters 
died after having families of their own. 
Our subject is tLp oldest of the family. His 
occupation has always been that of farming, 
grain and stock-raising occupying his at 
tention. June 24, 1863, he was married, in 
Jackson County, 111., to Emily R. AVoods, 
daughter of Samuel and Christiana (Young) 
Woods. They were from North Carolina, 
and settled in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., 
and she died there. He, however, died in 
Texas, March 10, 1883, at the age of eighty- 
three years. Mr. and Mrs. Hunsaker have 
eight children— Beatrice Christiana, Mary 
Ellen, Mortimor, Florence M., Emily Belle, 
Olivia Bernice, Roxana Roseland and Dana 
G. In politics, Mr. Hunsaker has always 
been Democratic. 

JOHN F. HUNSAKER, farmer, P. O. Cob- 
den, was born in this county September 28, 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



159' 



1843, to A. F. and Elvina (Holmes) Hun- 
saker, and is a descendant of the original 
Hunsakers who settled in this county at an 
early date. This county has been the home 
of our subject all his life, although he was 
in the service during almost the entire war, 
being mustered in in September, 1861, and 
was not mustered out ti U the close of the war. 
He enlisted in Company H, Twenty- ninth 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. 
Jacent B. Sprague. He entered as a private, 
but, after the engagement at Fort Donelson, 
he was made Corporal, and at the close of the 
war was First Sergeant. Mr. Hunsaker found 
what active service in the West meant, as he 
passed through all the leading engagements: 
Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Spanish 
Fort, Mobile, etc. He was in the infantry 
during all the time, except about six months, 
just before and just after the capture of 
Vicksburg; during that six months he was on 
the Mississippi River Squadron, on the Mis- 
sissippi and Red Rivers. Mr, Hunsaker 
passed throvigh the service without being 
captured or taken to the hospital. He re- 
ceived two or three flesh wounds, but they 
never were noticed when so many others 
were so badly mangled. Mr. Hunsaker' s 
opportunities for an education, before en- 
tering the army, were quite limited, so he 
and a number of comrades put in most of 
their spare time studying. When returning 
home, he again went to farming, and in 1866 
was married to Miss Martha Anderson, who 
was born in this county to C. Anderson, who 
is still a resident of the county. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hunsaker have five children — Minnie, 
Edith, Oscar, Erwin and Andrew. His farm- 
ing is mostly raising corn and wheat, but 
raises some fruits. He, wife and oldest 
daughter are members of the Christian 
Church. In politics, Mr. Hunsaker is Re- 
publican; the only one by the name, to his 



knowledge, who belongs to the Republican 
party. 

G. W. JAMES, P. O. Cobden, was born 
in this county October 6, 1847, to Wilson J. 
and Huldah Ann (Abernathie) James, both 
of whom were born and raised in this county. 
Wilson J. was born March 2, 1816, just a 
few months after his parents came to the 
State from South Carolina. He settled on 
the present homestead of our subject about 
1853, and died there of the small -pox June 
25, 1866; his wife died April 8, 1862. They 
were the parents of six children, all of whom 
are living, ovir subject being the oldest of 
the family. Mr. James was raised on his 
parents' farm, and educated in the district 
schools, but mathematics has always been a 
specialty with him. For some years after 
his father's death, life was a struggle with 
him. His father, having some security debts 
to pay, died and left his farm of eighty 
acres covered to its full value. However, 
through his u;icle. Gov. Dougherty, who 
was also his guardian, oui' subject leased the 
old home place, and so saved the farm, and 
made a start in life. When he was twenty- 
one years of age, he was elected Constable, 
which office he held for eight years. He 
would also work at anything which would 
make him money; clerked in stores when not 
too busy on the farm, and so struggled on 
till he bought all of the home farm, besides 
adding another forty to it. On this 120 acres 
now he has about one hundred acres in fruits 
and vegetables. But he also has two other 
farms, of 160 and 135 acres, near Alto Pass, on 
which he raises more grain, but some fruits. 
So in life he has been very successful, but 
not without hard work for it. Some of his 
best fields he helped to clear and put in cul- 
tivation when a boy. He also has had to 
take his sack of corn, put fit on a horse, and 
start to the horse mill, but fi-equently would 



160 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



have to wait all day for his turn to come. In 
politics, Mr. James has always been I emo- 
cratic. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. 
of Alto Pass, and is now Vice Grand. As 
most other members of the James family 
have done before him, so oui* subject has re- 
mained single till he is almost of middle age. 
C. JESSEN-TVILSTEDGUARD, saw 
mill, Alto Pass. The subject of this sketch 
was born in Denmark April 28, 1844, to J. 
J. Tvilstedguardand Mary (Jessen) Tvilsted- 
guard. His parents, and two sisters and a 
brother, are still living in their native coun- 
try. Oiu- subject was given his mother's 
maiden name as a given name, and after 
coming to America he dropped his father's 
name, except in deeds and private matters, 
and is known as C. Jessen. He was edu- 
cated in his native land, attending the high 
school, commercial school, and then received 
private instruction from his father. So when 
he came to this country, he not only was well 
versed in his own language, but could speak 
and write the German, Swedish and English 
languages. Mathematics were almost natural 
to him, so that he is a rapid and accurate ac- 
countant. When he was thirteen years^old, 
he was put behind the counter in a store, and 
clerked for live years. For the threej years 
previous to his coming to America, he was 
in the employ of the Government. In 1867, 
he came to America, and during the_^ next 
three years he traveled almost all over the 
United States: but part of the time would 
work on railroads, or do farm work, and for 
a short time was in the furniture business on 
Clark street, Chicago, but while away for a 
short time bis partner sold out and took all 
the money, leaving him ^with nothing. In 
1870, he bought a team, and went into the 
pineries of Wisconsin, where he remained for 
four years, working in summer farming, but 
in the winter would work in the woods. Most 



of the time, he would hire some one to drive 
his team, while he would do scaling, etc. 
For one season he was in the employ of the 
Rochester -Nursery Company, selling and de- 
livering fruit trees. In 1876, he came to 
Cairo, 111., and took the position of clerk in 
Halladay & Bell's box mill, but remained 
there only for about three months, when, in 
the fall of 1876, he, in partnership with W. 
P. Messier, engaged in the box mill enter- 
prise, "starting near Cobden. He remained 
in partnership with Mr. Messier for four 
years, and then sold his interest to James 
Bell, of Cobden, and bought a store and farm 
near the box mill. These he sold in 1882, 
and engaged in his present business of saw 
milling, under the firm name of C. Jessen & 
Co. (see sketch of James Massie). In con- 
nection with their 'saw mill, they have en- 
gaged in the box manufacturing, and during 
the season employ about twenty hands in the 
two box manufacturing establishments at Alto 
Pass. October 31, 1877, in Cobden, he was 
married to ;Miss Mary Buck, daughter of 
Adam Buck, of Cobden. Mrs. Jessen was 
born February 5, 1856, and died April 6, 
1883. The result of this union was three 
children — Meta, Leopold and Scott. Mr. 
Jessen is a'member of the Masonic fraternity 
of 'Cobden, also the I. O. O. F., and is Re- 
publican in politics. 

J. J. KEITH, farmer, P. O. Alto Pass, 
was born in this county February 6, 1840, 
to Samson and Lucinda (Parmley) Keith. 
He came to this county, while still a boy, 
from Kentucky, but when his father (the 
grandfather of our subject) came, he was 
left in Kentucky as an apprentice to a black- 
smith, but as soon as his time was out he 
also came to this county, but never followed 
his trade to any extent, but gave most of his 
attention to farming, he having entered part 
of the farm now owned by our subject. He 



ALTO PASS PRECmCT. 



161 



died in 1855, and she in 1869. They were 
the parents of ten children, live ol' whom are 
still living. Our subject received his edu- 
cation ia the schools of this county, and has 
always followed farming, and on the farm 
he now owns, it being the oldest homestead. 
In March, 1860, he was married to Miss Eliza- 
beth Rendlemau, a daughter of J. S. Rendle- 
man (see sketch). Mr. and Mrs. Keith have four 
children — Benjamin Franklin, Harry Everett, 
Leroy Guy and Bertha Elizabeth. Mr. Keith 
has one ^of the best improved farms in the 
precinct. It consists of 210 acres, and about 
eighty acres are in apple and peach orchards. 
In 1877, he shipped 12,600 boxes of peaches, 
grown on his farm and from trees most of 
which he had grafted with his own hands. 
In politics, he has always' been Democratic. 
He has served as Constable, Justice of the 
Peace, and is now one of the County Com- 
missioners. He is also a member of the I. 0. 
O. F. 

MRS. ELIZABETH (SUMNER) LAM- 
ER, P. O. Cobden, was born in Kentucky No- 
vember 22, 1825, but her parents moved to 
Tennessee when she was very small, and 
in 1828 they came to this county and settled 
about two miles northwest of Cobden. From 
this time on she experienced the life of the 
frontier woman. They made their clothing 
themselves, from the cotton, flax and wool 
that Ihey raised, taking each through its 
complete process of manufacture, and till the . 
time she was fifteen years old she had not 
seen a wagon, only the rude concerns which 
they manufactm-ed themselves. As they had 
no markets, they did not try raising anything 
for sale, so had no money with which to buy 
any of the luxuries of . life. November 2, 
1847, she was married to William Jackson 
Lamer. He was born in Kentucky April 19, 
1818, to Joseph and Elizabeth Lamer. Mr. 
William Lamer died April 9, 1855. Mr. and 



Mrs. Lamer had two sons and two daughters, 
now living. During the war, when prices 
were so high, Mrs. Lamer, having her fam- 
ily to support, again resorted to her carding, 
spinning and weaving. Up to the time of 
the Illinois Central Railroad coming through 
the county, they did not think of raising 
fruit as a means of money- making, and the 
first apples that Mrs. Lamer shipped were 
some that she did not consider worth any- 
thing, but some friend, seeing them, told her 
where and how to ship; so she gathered up 
the apples from under a few trees and sent 
them, and from these she realized $25. The 
next year, she sold the chance of her peach 
orchard, of 150 trees, for $125. So, from 
this time out, she increased the business, at 
least, making it her main support. Mrs. 
Lamer is a member of the Baptist Church. 

WILLIS LAMER, farmer, P. O. Cobden, 
was born in Union County, 111., August 23, 
1848, to William Jackson and Elizabeth 
(Sumner) Lamer. (See sketch of Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Lamer). Our subject was raised on a 
farm, and received his education in the dis- 
trict schools of this county. Except one year, 
when he was engagt^d in the mercantile busi- 
ness in Alto Pass, his whole life has been 
given to fruit and vegetable farming, and he 
has made a success of it, as his farm and im- 
provements show. In 1882, he erected a 
handsome residence, the main building being 
18x40 feet, an L in front, 16x16, and a T 
behind, 20x24 feet, costing $3,200. April, 
1874, he was married to Miss Mary Ann 
Lovelace, who was born in Johnson County, 
to R. Lovelace, who died when she was small. 
She was mostly raised in this county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Lamer have three children — 
Charles Roy, Hewitt* Hugh and a little 
daughter, Gertie. In politics, Mr. Lamer 
has always been Democratic. He is also a 
member of the Cobden Masonic fraternity. 



162 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



WALTER S. LAMER, P. O. Cobden, was 
born in this county January 19, 1854, to Will- 
iam J. and Elizabeth (Sumner) Lamer. (See 
sketch of Mrs. Elizabeth Lamer. ) His educa- 
tion was obtained in the district schools of this 
county. His life, so far, has been spent on 
the farm on which he was born; however, 
he has a farm of his own, which is well im- 
proved. His attention has always been given 
to the raising of fruits, about all kinds of 
which he raises. October 25, 1877, he was 
married, in this county, to Miss Laura Har- 
baugh, daughter of Frank Harbaugh. She 
was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and came to 
this county with her parents in the fall of 
1865. He died in 1876; Mrs. Harbaugh, 
however, is still living in this county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Lamer have two little boys — Ray- 
mond S. and Fred M. He is Democratic in 
politics, and is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity of Cobden. 

J. LANDRITH, farmer and mill owner, 
P. O. Cobden, was born in Union County, 
111., July 15, 1842, to McKmdley and 
Eliza (Stone) Landrith. They both came to 
this county with their parents when they were 
still small, and this county has been their 
home ever since. He died July, 1852; she, 
however, is still living. They were the 
parents of six children, five of whom are still 
living. Our subject received his early edu- 
cation in the district schools of the county, 
and has always been engaged in farming. 
He now owns the farm which his grandfather 
Landrith settled, and which his father also 
owned before him. Of his 400 acres of land, 
about 200 are in cultivation. Grain and 
stock are his main dependence, but he is en- 
gaged in fruit-raising to some extent. In 
1882, Mr Landrith, in partnership with Mr. 
B. F. Rethey, started a saw mill, and now 
has it in complete running order, and has 
a capacity for sawing about 3,500 feet of 



lumber daily. June, 1866, he was married, 
in this county, to Miss Elizabeth Lilly, 
daughter of Boston and Malinda (Corbitt) 
Lilly. They were both born in Tennessee, 
and are still living, coming to this county 
when small. Mr. Lilly is the son of William 
and Elizabeth Lilly, and one of a family of 
seven children, only two of whom are still 
living. Mr. Lilly has always been engaged 
in farming. Mr. and Mrs. Landrith had 
three children, to die when young, but have 
two daughters and one son living — Fannie, 
Minnie and John. In politics, he has always 
voted with the Democratic party, and has 
served one term as Justice of the Peace. 
His wife and mother are members of the New 
Hope Methodist Church. 

JOSHUA LEWIS, P. O. Cobden, was born in 
Dearborn County, Ind., July 5, 1812, to 
George and Elizabeth (Johnson) Lewis. He 
was born one mile from Reading, Penn., 
1769, bu<^ when he was ten years old, removed 
with his parents to Eastern Tennessee, where 
his father bought a mill site in Sullivan 
County. In the then wilderness of Tennessee 
he was reared and remained till 1809, but 
during that time he had served in two or 
three local campaigns against the Indians. 
Before moving from Tennessee to Dearborn 
County, Ind., in 1809, he was married to the 
mother of our subject. They were the par 
ents of seventeen children, all of whom, ex- 
cept one, reached the age of maturity, and 
nine are now living, the youngest being tifty- 
eight years of age. George Lewis died in his 
seventy third year, but his wife reached the 
age of eighty-five, and retained all of her 
mental faculties till the last; she, however, 
was of a long-lived family, her father reach- 
ing the great age of one hundred and nine, 
in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. 
The grandfather of our subject came from 
Wales, but his grandmother was an English- 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



163 



woman, both coming to this country while 
young. Our subject was raised in Dearborn 
County, Ind. He had but small opportunities 
to attend school, but he applied himself, out- 
side of the schoolroom, and so qualified him- 
self that he made a successful school teacher 
for several terms. From the time that he 
was eighteen years of age till he was thirty, 
he was mostly engaged on public works; first 
on the Cincinnati & Harrison Turnpike, 
then on the Cincinnati &Colerain Turnpike. 
On these he was part of the time Contractor, 
and part Superintendent. He was afterward 
Superintendent of the White Water Canal, 
in Indiana, and again of the Cincinnati & 
White Water Canal. In 1844, he removed 
to La Salle County, 111., where he remained 
till the spring of 1859, when he moved to 
his present home, near Cobden. Since com- 
ing here, he has been engaged in farming 
and fruit-growing. February 22, 1844, he 
was married to Ellen Kelso, a native of his 
native county, in Indiana. She was born 
November 29, 1821. Her parents both came 
from the old country; he from Ireland, but 
of Scotch parents, and she from Scotland. 
They were married in New York, and were 
the parents of six children, of whom Mrs, 
Lewis was the only daughter. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lewis have five children living— Charlotte, 
Thomas, John, George and Mary. Mr. 
Lewis' life has been far from a failure, both 
financially and in the esteem of his fellow- 
men. He has been a Republican in politics 
since the party was first organized, and 
although living in a etrongly Democratic 
county, he has twice been elected as one of 
the County Commissioners, because both 
Democrats and Republicans recognized in 
him a man whom they could trust. Mr. 
Lewis now possesses a curiosity, in the 
shape of an old rifle made in Germany, 
and one which has been in the family 



and in use ever since. A man by the 
name of Adam Stump could not shoot except 
with what they called a " left-handed" gun, 
so he sent to his native country, Germany, 
and had one made for him; but before the 
gun arrived, Stump had killed some Indians 
in the colony, and had to flee to escape ar- 
rest, so our subject's grandfather bought 
the gun when it arrived. It has the same 
lock and stock that it first had, and is in 
good condition for shooting; the only change 
is that it has been changed so as to use per- 
cussion caps. 

JAMES MASSIE, engineer and saw mill- 
er, Alto Pass, was born in Forfarshire, Scot- 
land, at the foot of the Grampian Hills, 
about 1842. He is the son of Peter Massie, 
who was a miller. He died about 1874. 
Our subject's mother, however, is still living, 
in her native land. They were the parents 
of ten children, eight sons and two daugh- 
ters. Seven sons and one daughter are now 
living, but our subject is the only one living 
in this country. Mr. Massie received his 
education in his native country, and served 
an apprenticeship of seven years to learn his 
trade of machinist and engineer, getting only 
25 cents per week during the time. While re- 
siding in his native country, his work was on 
steam engines, and he made several sea voyages 
as engineer. It was not until coming to this 
Country that he learned the saw mill busi- 
ness. April 20, 1866, in Scotland, he was 
married to Miss Susan Simpson, daughter of 
George Simpson, who died in 1873, but his 
widow is still living. By trade, he was a 
stone-mason. They were natives of the same 
county as our subject, and were the parents 
of three sons and three daughters, all of 
whom are still living, Mrs. Massie and her 
eldest brother being the only ones in this 
country. He came to New York City in 1873, 
and for some time clerked for A. T. Stewart 



164 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



& Co., and then was sent to one of Stewart's 
woolen mills on the Hudson River, and at 
last accounts he was still there. In 1869, 
our subject came to America, to Cairo, 111., 
and for five years worked in the Cairo Box 
Mill, and was the first one to successfully 
work the " box machine. " After being here 
for five years, he returned to the old country 
for his wife, whom he did not bring at first. 
In July, 1875, Mr. and Mrs. Massie again 
came to Cairo, 111., where he worked in the 
box mill for three years longer. They then 
returned to Scotland, where he remained for 
nearly eighteen months, and then came to 
Messler's Box Mill, near Cobden. Mrs. 
Massie did not return to this country till 
about eight months later than her husband. 
Mr. Massie remained at Messler's Box Mill 
from March, 1880, till March, 1882, when 
he started into his present mill. Mr. and 
Mrs. Massie have no child living, but there 
was one son, who died. They are both mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. 
While in Scotland the last time, Mr. Massie 
joined the Lour Lodge of Masons. Our sub- 
ject is partner in the saw mill firm of Jessen 
& Massie. The mill is located on Section 7, 
Township 11, Range 2, and was built in 
1882. Commencing in March, Messrs. Jes- 
sen & Massie did the work themselves, but 
the mill was soon in running order. They 
bought most of the machinery of C. Harreld. 
After it had passed through a fire, Mr. Massie 
worked the machinery all over and put it in 
good condition. Their mill is now complete 
in all the necessary details, so that they are 
prepared to saw all kinds of lumber, barrel 
heads, staves, fruit boxes, etc. When running 
with full force, they can saw from 6,000 to 
10,000 feet of lumber daily. They keep 
four teams of their own running all the time. 
They also have a lumber yard in Alto Pass. 
JOHN McCaffrey, farmer, P. O. Cob 



den, was born in County Fermanagh, Ire- 
land, to Thomas and Bridget (McMahon) 
McCaffrey. They were natives of the same 
county as our subject, but came to America 
when he was but three years old, and settled 
in Galena, 111. In 1856, Mrs. McCaffrey 
died in Chicago, of the cholera; Mr. Mc- 
Caffrey, however, died in Galena in 1858. 
They were the parents of seven children, two 
sons and five daughters. Our subject is the 
only son living now, but all the daughters 
ai'e still alive. Our subject attended the pub- 
lic schools of Galena, till he was about 
nineteen years old, when 'he quit school and 
went to Chicago, where, for five years, he 
was engaged in the drug business — two years 
being in business for himself. He sold oat, 
and in the fall of 1870 came to his present 
farm, having traded Chicago real estate for 
it before coming here, His home place con- 
sists of forty acres, on which he is engaged 
in fruit and vegetable raising. But he also 
owns 300 acres in Jackson County, 111., on 
the Big Muddy River. He also has property 
in Alto Pass Village. April 10, 1867, he 
was married, in this county, to Cora Wal- 
cott, daughter of George and Elizabeth Wal- 
cott. Mr. McCaffrey is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, Cobden Lodge, No. 466. 
In [politics, he is Democrat, and was raised 
up in the Roman Catholic faith, but in both 
politics and religion he is very liberal. 

J. S. RENDLEMAN, farmer, P. O. Alto 
Pass, was born in Rowan County, N. C, 
October 26, 1811. In October, 1816, his 
father, Jacob Rendleman, came to this 
county, and settled three miles northwest of 
Jonesboro, and was a member of the first 
Board of County Commissioners, with 
George Hunsaker and William Thornton. 
The history of the Rendleman family would 
include a great many incidents of hardships; 
such as going to New Madrid, Mo. , for cot- 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



165 



ton, from which they would manufacture 
their own clothes, and of going to Saline, 
111., for salt and packing it on horses, having 
only an Indian trail to follow. At first, their 
milling was done by pounding corn in a hol- 
lowed stump or block, with a wooden pestle 
attached to a sweep. Their sugar was made 
from the sugar maple, and instead of tea and 
coffee they used sassafras and sycamore chips. 
However, the childi-en of the family grew up 
strong and I'obust. Frequently, while a 
young man, our subject has gone to a^ house - 
raising in the morning, where by evening 
they would have the puncheons split and laid 
for a floor, the roof on, and then be ready 
for a dance that night, and in this sport Gov. 
Reynolds would frequently take a hand with 
them. The second school that Mr.^ Rendle- 
man attended was taught by Gov. Dougherty, 
and the last by Winston Davie. In 1832, he 
enlisted and served through the Black Hawk 
war, B. B. Craig being Captain. While out 
on the campaign, he cast his first Presiden- 
tial vote for Jackson, and has been voting 
for a Jackson man ever since. Of the 100 
men who went out under Capt. Craig, only 
six are now living — John Corgan, James 
Morgan, Wilson Lingle, H. E. Hodges, Solo- 
mon Miller and our subject. For four years 
after coming out of the army, Mr. Eendle- 
man taught subscription schools. In 1838, 
he was married, in this county, to Margaret 
Hartline, her family, also, being one of the 
earliest families in the county, coming from 
North Carolina. By this marriage Mr. R. 
had five children; two sons and two daugh- 
ters now living. In 1848, his wife died, and 
some time after this he was married to Eliza- 
beth Donovan, who was born in Missouri but 
came to Union County when but a small girl, 
being here during the flood of 1844, and only 
escaping by being taken out of the second 
story window just as the house was about to 



go to pieces, crushed by the flood. By this 
wife Mr. R. has four children, two sons and 
two daughters. In 1838, he moved to his 
present farm, and in 1840 built the house he 
still lives in. Mr. R. is a strong temperance 
man. 

JOHN RENDLEMAN, farmer, P. O. Alto 
Pass, was born in this county December 23, 
1844, to Henry and Mary (Hess) Rendleman. 
He was born in 1805, to Jacob Rendleman, 
and came to this county, from North Carolina, 
in 1818, and died here in 1873. She was 
born in North Carolina also, and came with 
her parents to this covmty about the same 
time as the Rendlemans. She is still living, 
but over seventy years of age. Our subject 
is one of a family of seventeen, eight of 
whom died when small; the remaining nine 
are now living in this county. He was edu- 
cated in the schools of this county, and has 
always been engaged in the same occupation 
as his father, that of farming; but he has 
not confined him self to farming alone, but 
has engaged in other business in connection 
with his farm. For three years, he was in 
the mercantile business, in Alto Pass, but in 
1881, he sold his stock of goods to James 
Harreld, but this pi-esent year has again put 
in a stock of groceries, but leaves the business 
in the hands of clerks. For three years Mr. 
Rendleman has been in the employ of F. 
Nickerson & Son, fruit commission, 91 South 
Water street, Chicago. December 28, 1865, 
he was married to Miss Isabel ; Keith. She 
was born in this county, to Abner and Louisa 
Keith. He was also a native of this county, 
and died here; she, however, is still living. 
Mr. and Mrs. Rendleman have five children 
— William Ai'thui-, Herbert, Maud, May and 
Mctmie. In politics, he has always been De- 
mocratic. 

A. J. RENDLEMAN, general merchan- 
dise, Alto Pass, was born in Union County, 



166 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



111. , April 6, 1848, and is the son of J. S. 
Rendleman (see sketch), his mother dying 
during his iafancy. Our subject attended 
the schools of this county, and remained on 
the farm till 1860, when he went to Cobden 
and clerked in the store owned by his father 
and James Fowley. Here he remained as 
clerk till he was about of age, and then en- 
gaged in business as Mr. Fowley's partner. 
He continued in the store till 1875, when his 
health failed and he went to California, 
where he remained for about eight months, 
then returned to Cobden, and in 1876 sold 
his interest in the store and went to Dallas, 
Tex. ; but losing a little child by death, and 
his wife's health failing, he again returned 
to Cobden. Here his rernaining child died, 
April 20, 1877, and May 22, following, his 
wife, also, passed away. Mrs. Emma M. 
(Stearns) Rendleman was born in Bangor, 
Me., May 12, 1856, and was married to Mr. 
A. J. Rendleman April 15, 1873. She was 
the daughter of Osborn R * Stearns, who 
settled in Cobden in 1867, and died Decem- 
ber 22, 1873. After the loss of his family, 
Mr. R. went to Iowa, and engaged in the 
commission business, but in 1878, he again 
returned to Union County and bought a 
fruit farm, which he still owns. In 1879, he 
engaged in mercantile business at Alto Pass, 
and has continued here since, doing a general 
merchandise business, his store building 
being 48x60 feet. He carries a stock of about 
$10,000, and his annual sales amount to 
about $35,000. Mr. Rendleman is a member 
of the I. O. O. F., of Alto Pass, and is also 
Democratic in politics. 

C. C. RENDLEMAN, general merchan- 
dise, Alto Pass, was born in Union County, 111. , 
Detiember 18, 1854, and is the oldest son of J. 
S. Rendleman, by second marriage (see 
sketch of J. S. R.). He remained on the 
farm till he was sixteen years old, when he 



began clerking in the store of Fowley & 
Rendleman, of Cobden. He continued 
in this store till 1879, when he went into 
partnership in general merchandising, in 
Alto Pass, with his brother A. J. His 
health failing, in the spring of 1882, he sold 
his interest in the store to his brother, and 
for the succeeding year avoided all confine- 
ment, and so regained health. During the 
year, he was engaged collecting and straight- 
ening up the old store accounts of Rendleman 
Bros. Now, however, he has again opened a 
$5,000 stock of general merchandise. In 
October, 1881, he was married, in this coun- 
ty, to Miss Adelia Rich, who was also born 
and raised in this county, daughter of John 
M. Rich. Mr. and Mrs. Rendleman have two 
little girls — Ara and Villa. Mr. R. is a mem- 
ber of the I. O. O. F. , and a Democrat in 
politics. 

E. R. SKIMLAND, farmer, P. O. Cob- 
den, was born in Norway May 16, 1832, to 
— Richard and Karey (Knotson) Skimland. 
They were both natives of Norway. He was 
a farmer, but through misfortune lost his 
farm when our subject was but a small boy, 
and after that he held a position in Norway 
called Skafer, it being one in w^hich, if a 
traveler came along, and wished to be car- 
ried to a certain point, he would have to find 
the conveyance for him, and generally, in 
that place, they traveled in row boats, so Mr. 
Skimland would have to see to getting the 
rowers. He, however, died when our subject 
was but sixteen. His widow, the mother of our 
subject, is still living, and in this country 
with a daughter, and is eighty-two years of 
age. She came to America in 1872. They 
were the parents of nine children, all but one 
of whom are still living, and that one died 
in 1882, at the age of sixty years. To follow 
the changes, and to give all the incidents of 
importance in the life of our subject would 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



16^ 



make a volume in itself; so we will mention 
but a few. As soon as he was able to earn 
his board, he was taken on a vessel with his 
uncle as waiter. He continued here except 
what time he was compelled, by the laws of 
Norway, to attend school, till he had passed 
his last examination at school. From that 
time till he was twenty-two years old, he was 
a sailor on a coasting vessel, going to the 
German, English and neighboring coasts. 
In 1856, he came to America, and settled at 
Ottawa, 111., where he remained until 1858, 
when he went to Texas. Here he was^ at 
work on a railroad, when the war broke out, 
and was compelled to enter the Southern 
service; but as soon as he could, he deserted 
and lied to Mexico, where he remained most 
of the time till he heard that Lincoln was 
killed, and also that there were Union troops 
at the mouth of the Rio Grande River, to 
whom he made his way, and after a great 
deal of hardship he joined them, and took 
the oath of allegiance. They then started 
for the North, and while at Cairo the war 
was declared over, but Mr. Skimland was 
without transportation or money with which 
to reach his friends at Ottawa; but he 
started out, and went to Cobden, and here he 
stopped to work for money to carry him on, 
not having food, clothing or money — his 
only shirt was one he had worn from March 
7, still he got to Cobden, June 29 following. 
Going into the store of Henry Blumenthall, 
Mr. B. saw his need, and gave him a new 
shirt. By tbe time Mr. Skimland had made 
money enough to <fa,rrj him on to his friends, 
he had decided that he would try raising 
strawberries for a year or so — and the result 
is that he is still here, in Union County, and 
one of the most successful fruit-raisers in the 
precinct. From the time of his aiTival here 
till 1873, he had various reverses of fortune. 
After making some money, he went into a 



mill, on which he lost all that he had, and 
still found himself about $800 in debt; but, 
nothing daunted, he bought his present place 
that year, and paid $62 down, but in a few 
years he paid off all his debts and built a 
good residence, and made other improve- 
ments. December 18, 1867, he was married, 
in this county, to Elizabeth Haup, of Balti- 
more, Md. In politics, Mr. Skimland is Re- 
publican. 

' S. H, SPANN, farmer, P. O. Alto Pass, 
was born in North Carolina August 3, 1811, 
to William and Hannah (Flack) Spann. She 
was born in North Carolina and died there, 
but he was born in South Carolina, and went 
to North Carolina when a young man, but 
moved to Alabama and died there. They 
were the parents of thirteen children; three 
sons and one daughter are still living. Oui* 
subject was raised and educated in his na- 
tive State, and learned the same trade as hi^ 
father — that of carpentering. He followed 
his trade for several years, but most of his 
life he has been engaged in farming. In 
1851, he moved to this State, and settled in 
Jonesboro, where he remained till 1876, 
when he moved to his present home at Alto 
Pass. For some years, while in Jonesboro, 
and also for three years in Alto Pass, he 
was engaged in the mercantile business. 
He now, ^however, gives his attention to his 
farm. Mr. Spann has always been Demo- 
cratic in politics, and while in Jonesboro he 
served one term as Justice of the Peace. He 
is now Police Magistrate of Alto Pass. He 
is a member of the Masonic fraternity; also 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. 
Spann is now living with his fourth wife, 
and is the father of fifteen children, ten of 
whom are still living, and all are in this 
county, except one son, who is a lawyer in 
Vienna, 111., and one son in St. Louis, Mo. 
HENRY STONE, farmer, P. O Alto Pass, 



168 



BIOGKAPHICAL : 



was born in Kentucky November 13, 1813, to 
John and Elizabeth (Williams) Stone. They 
were both natives of North Carolina, but 
moved to Kentucky after they were married, 
and had one child. Soon after the birth of 
our subject, they moved to Alabama, where 
they resided till moving to this county, when 
our subject was about fifteen years old. They 
settled near the present home of our subject, 
and died on the old homestead. They were 
the parents of nine children, four of whom 
are still living. When our subject was first 
married, which was on his twenty- third birth- 
day, he settled on his present farm, and has 
resided here since. His first wife was Eliza- 
beth Langley. She died March 7, 1862. 
By her, he had seven children, six of j^whom 
are still living. Soon after his wife's death, 
he was again married, to Mrs. Nancy Under- 
wood, daughter of John Childress. By this 
wife, he has but one child — a son. On his 
farm, Mr. Stone does general farming, rais- 
ing corn, wheat, berries, etc. In politics, he 
has always been Republican. 

J. M. TWEEDY, farmer, P. O. Cobden, 
was born March 22, 1817, on the banks of 
the Mississippi River, in this county, just 
below Preston. He is one of the oldest men 
now living in the county who were born here. 
He is the son of John and Mary (Craft) 
Tweedy. John Tweedy was born ^in South 
Carolina, but came to this county when 
young, coming with his father, wlio built the 
first horse mill in the county. His wife, by 
birth, was a Pennsylvanian, but her parents 
moved to Kentucky, and from Kentucky to 
this county. Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy both 
died in this county. They were the parents 
of eleven children, only two of whom are 
now living, our subject and his brother, S. 
P., who is a resident of Cobden. Our sub- 
ject was quite a large boy before he ever 
heard of a scholar or teacher, but after the 



first school was opened they had a school of 
about three months every winter, and as 
there was quite a settlement near his father's 
the school was well attended. August 30, 
1838, he was married to Mrs. Charlotte (Biz- 
zel) Craig, daughter of Isaac Bizzel, who was 
from Tennessee, and lived near where Anna 
now stands. Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy have 
raised a family of twelve children; one 
daughter, however, died after she had a 
family of her own. Mr. Tweedy's family has 
been a remarkably healthy one, he himself 
never having had but one spell of sickness 
in his life. So, for forty- three years, since 
first learning to swing the cradle, he has 
never missed a harvest. His farm consists 
of 258 acres, about 200 being under fence. 
His farming is mostly grain and stock-rais- 
ing, but still raises some fruits, but does not 
make them a specialty. The first farm Mr. 
Tweedy opened up was in the Mississippi 
River bottom. He had entered the land be- 
fore his marriage, and lived on it till the 
flood of 1844, when he had to move off, and 
never again returned to make it his home. In 
politics Mr. Tweedy has always been Demo- 
cratic. 

W. K. UNDERWOOD, farmer, P. O. Alto 
Pass, was born in Tennessee November 20, 
1841, to Jesse and Mary (Ledbetter) Under- 
wood. Both were born in North Carolina, 
and moved to Tennessee after their marriage, 
and then to this county in 1847. He died 
herein 1851; she, however, is still living, 
and was eighty years old her last birthday, 
'July 23, 1882. They were the parents of 
fourteen children, seven sons and seven 
daughters, all of whom lived to have families 
of their own, and all were members oP the 
Baptist Church, their father being a Baptist 
minister. Nine of the fourteen are still liv- 
ing. Our subject was raised on a farm, and 
received his education in this county. Most 



ALTO PASS PRECINCT. 



169 



of his life has been spent in farming. His 
attention is given now, almost exclusively, to 
the raising of strawberries and raspberries. 
He was married, in this county, February 1, 
1863, to Caroline Nipper, who was born in 
Tennessee to James and Mary Ann (Smith) 
Nipper. Mr. and Mrs. Underwood have five 
children living — Mary Annabel, Frank M., 
Lenora Alice, Arthur Calvin, Minnie Effie. 
They also have had five sons who died when 
young. Mr. Underwood has lived on his 
present farm since November, 1868. May 9, 
1871, he met with quite a serious accident, 
in which he lost his right hand, by catching 
it in the machinery of a saw mill. He is a 
member of the I. O. O. F., of Alto Pass 
Lodge. Is also a Democrat in politics, and 
he and his wife are members of Eidge Bap- 
tist Church, of Alto Pass. Five of Mr. Un- 
derwood's brothers were in the civil war, one 
of them dying in Andersonville Prison. Four 
of the five were in the Federal army, but 
one went from Missouri to the Confederate 
army. 

DANIEL WILLIAMS, farmer, P. O. 
Alto Pass, was born in Lafayette County, 
Penn., June 20, 1800, to Charles and Mary 
(McLain) Williams. He was born in Goshen, 
N. Y. ; she in Fredericksburg, Va. Both 
saw many of the exciting times of the Eev- 
olutionary war, but were small at the time. 
In 1817, they moved to Bracken County, 
Ky., then to Ohio, and finally to Henry 



County, Ind., where they died. They were 
the parents of thirteen children, three of 
whom are still living. Our subject moved to 
Ohio with ^his parents, but from there to 
Madison County, Ind. ; then to Allen Coun- 
ty; from there to Miami County; thence to 
Cass; from Cass to Tippecanoe County, and 
then, again, to Madison County, where he 
remained till 1846, when he came to Union 
County, 111., and settled on his present farm. 
Most of the time when in Indiana, he was 
contracting on the Wabash & Erie Canal, 
and on the Indiana Central Canal. By 
trade, however, he is a blacksmith, but 
has not followed it scarcely any since coming 
to Illinois, but has followed farming. He 
was married, in Indiana, February 15, 1836, 
to Rebecca Peugh, daughter of Even and 
Sarah Peugh. She was boru in Licking 
County, Ohio, January 31, 1811, and he is 
still living. Her parents were from Virginia. 
Mr. and Mrs. Williams have had seven chil- 
dren, five of whom are still living, three in 
this county, one in California and one in 
Arizona — Lester, Joseph A., 'John A., Mary 
E. and Caroline R. ; Philander K. and Sarah 
J., deceased. Lester and Joseph were both 
in the civil war; Lester for four years, and 
Joseph for some time over three years. Mr. 
and M<:s. Williams are members of the Bap- 
tist Church. In politics, he has been Re- 
publican since the party started, voting for 
John C. Fremont. 




170 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



DOJSTGOLA PRECINCT, 



J. W. BARNHART, farmer, P. O. Spring - 
ville, was b«>rn December 15, 1840, in Ca- 
barrus County, N. C, son of John Barnhart, 
who was also born in North Carolina, and 
died there in 1869; his occupation was that 
of a farmer. The mother of our subject was 
Deliah Duke, born 1818, in Rowan County, 
N. C. She died in May, 1876. She was 
the mother of five boys and two girls, of 
whom only Cyrus and our subject, Jacob W. , 
are now living — the former on the old home 
farm in Rowan County. The latter spent his 
youth in Cabarrus and Rowan Counties, N. C, 
where he farmed and received the rudiments 
of a common school education. At the age 
of twenty -two, he was consci'ipted for the 
Southern army, as was also his brother 
Julius, who died about a year afterward. 
He served almost three years, of which the 
last three months were spent at Point Look- 
out, as a prisoner of war. After the war, he 
worked one year and a half on the farm for 
his father, and then came West, locating in 
Union County, where he worked almost one 
year for M. A. Goodman in a saw mill. After- 
ward, he worked for different men in this 
county. He was joined in matrimony, April 
27, 1871, to Miss Sarah M. Mowery, born 
November 3, 1850, in Union County, 111. 
She was a daughter of George and Margaret 
(Dillow) Mowery. Mrs. Barnhart has three 
children now living, viz., Maggie V., born 
November 26, 1872; Charles H., born Janu- 
ary 31, 1877, and Jennie J., born November 
10, 1879. Mr. Barnhart is a self-made man. 
When he first commenced to farm for him- 
self, he rented land for five years, and then 
bought 160 acres of land for $3,300; of the 



160 acres, he partly sold and donated one 
and a half acres to the St. John's Cemetery. 
His farm has good improvements. He has 
served his neighbors in the capacity of 
School Director. In politics, he is a Demo- 
crat, and a thorough, energetic prohibition- 
ist. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart are members of 
the Reformed Church. 

MOSES CASPER, farmer, P. O. Wetaug, 
111., is a son of Peter and Cathiarine (Frick) 
Casper, and was born January 5, 1833, in 
Rowan County, N. C. His father s\as a 
farmer, born also in North Carolina, January 
12, 1797, and died February 25, 1855. The 
mother was born February 3, 1804, and died 
March 26, 1864. The parents' family con- 
sisted of ten children, only two of whom are 
living — Eve Caroline, born June 26, 1841, 
the wife of Nathaniel Earnhart, of this 
county, and our subject. The latter received 
his early education in the old time schools of 
his native county, and he afterward attended 
a little in Union County, his parents remov- 
ing here in the fall of 1853. He started in 
life as a farm hand, assisting his father till 
the latter's death. He afterward purchased 
the home place from the other heirs, and 
now has 175 acres, which is given to general 
farming. For a few years past he has run a 
distillery on the place, which turns out ap- 
plejack of an enviable quality. September 
27, 1863, our subject was united in marriage 
to Anna Hoffner, born December 24, 1845, 
a daughter of Levi and Mary Hofiner. 
Seven children have blessed the happy union 
all of whom are living — Malinda, born Sep- 
tember 22, 1864, wife of J. H. Beaver; 
Eleanora, March 6, 1867; Matilda, Novem- 



DONGOLA PRECINCT. 



171 



ber 10, 1869; Huldab, March 6, 1872; Silas 
December 27, 1874; Laura, November 21, 
1877, and Flora. August 3, 1880. Mr. and 
Mrs. Casper are members of the German Re- 
formed Church. In politics, he votes the 
Democratic ticket. 

JACOB M. COSTLEY, farmer, resi- 
dence Dongola, -was born August 8, 1846, in 
Union County, 111., a sou of Franklin and 
Catharine (Davault) Costiey. His father 
■was a general mechanic, and died when 
Jacob was small. The parents were blessed 
with three children, two of whom are living 
— Mary C. and our subject. The mother is 
still living, and was married a second time, 
to Frederick Allbright, by whom she had 
four children, two living — Malinda and 
George W. The only schooling our subject 
received was in the common schools of Union 
County. Farming has always been his occu- 
pation. He at present owns 120 acres of 
land, forty of which lie within the corpora- 
tion of Dongola. He was first married, in 
1868, to Sarah E. Childers, a daughter of 
George W. and Caroline Childers. She died 
in 1876, the mother of two children, one liv- 
ing — Charles, born February 28, 1871. He 
was married again, In 1879, to Emaline An- 
drew, a daughter of Jam«s Andrew, of this 
county. She died shortly afterward, the 
mother of one child, who died in infancy. 
In politics, Mr. Costiey is a Democrat. 

ANDREW J. DALE, residence Dongola, 
was born in Wilson Cr>unty, Tenn., July 14, 
1832, a son of James P. and Nancy (Avant) 
Dale. The father was a native of Maryland, 
born July 15, 1804, a son of William Dale. 
The mother was born in North Carolina Jan- 
uary 7, 1811. Both of the parents are living, 
and have been blessed with eleven children, 
nine of whom are living. The early educa- 
tion of our subject was received in his native 
county. At the age of nineteen, he came to 



Illinois, locating in Jefferson County, and 
was variously engaged up to the opening of 
the war. In July, 1861, he enlisted for three 
years in the Second Illinois Cavalry, Col. 
Noble, which, during the term of its enlist- 
ment, did mostly detached service, scouting 
up and down the Mississippi. They were 
engaged in several hot skirmishes, and at 
Hudson, Miss., our subject was taken 
prisoner and sent to Oxford, and thence to 
Cahaba, Ala. He was successively removed 
to Andersonville, Milan and Savannah, at 
which latter place he remained until Febru- 
ary, 1865. He was firnt married, December 
1, 1867, to Eliza J. Riddle, widow of David 
Riddle. She died March 12, 1874, leaving 
two children — James H., born September 6, 
1868, and Ida May, March 17, 1873. He was 
married a second time, February 24, 1876, to 
Charlotte F. Davis, born July 27, 1844, a 
daughter of Solomon and Nancy Davis. Mr. 
and Mrs. Dale are the parents of four chil- 
dren, three of whom are living — Alonzo S., 
born March 1, 1877; Luella, August 25, 
1878; Charles A., deceased; and Arley, July 
9, 1882. Mr. Dale is a member of the L O. 
O. F., Dongola Lodge, No. 343. Politically, 
he is a Republican. 

GEORGE W. EDIE, saloon, Dongola, is 
a native of Hancock County, W. Va., born 
September 2, 1844, the eldest child of Samuel 
and Elizabeth L. (Pugh) Edie, both natives 
of the same county. The father was a car- 
penter, and died in 1863, aged fifty-four 
years. The mother is btili living at the old 
home in West Virginia, aged seventy-two 
years. They were the parents of eight chil- 
,dren, five of whom are living. The early 
schooling of our subject was obtained in the 
common schools of his native county, and in 
later years he attended the Iron INIountain 
Commercial College of Pittsburgh, Penn. 
April 16, 1861, he enlisted in the First Vir- 



173 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



ginia Infantry, Col. Kelley, and was engaged 
in several active skirmishes. In the follow- 
ing August, he re -enlisted in the same regi- 
ment, Col. Thoburn, and took an active part 
in the principal battles of the Virginia cam- 
paign. Before his three years of enlistment 
had expired, the First and Fourth Virginia 
were consolidated, and named the Second 
West Virginia Veteran Volunteer Infantry, 
Col. Thoburn. Our subject re-enlisted in 
this regiment, which, till the close of the war, 
did valuable service in the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, their brave Colonel being killed in the 
engagement at Cedar Creek, made memorable 
as the point to which Sheridan made his 
famous ride from Winchester. Our subject 
was mustered out in August, 1865, at Wheel- 
ing, W. Va. During his long service he sus- 
tained but two wounds, one a saber cut in 
the head, the other caused by an ounce ball 
passing through his right thigh. In the 
spring of 1866, he went to Cairo, 111. , and 
for a short period was engaged in boating 
between that point and St. Louis. Since then 
he has worked in, owned and operated several 
saw mills in Pulaski and Union Counties, 
111. He was married, July 5, 1868, in Anna, 
Union County, to Emma P. Sackett, and by 
her has two childi-en — Lillie May, born July 
19, 1870, and Arthur Hugh, November 1, 
1872. August 1, 1882, our subject opened a 
saloon in Dongola, which he has since run. 
He belongs to the I. O. O. F., Dongola 
Lodge, No. 343, and is a Republican in poli- 
tics. 

SAMUEL J. FITE, cooper, Dongola, is a 
native of Rowan County, N. C. He was born 
in September, 1840, a son of Henry and 
Susan (Lemly) Fite, both natives of Rowan 
County, and both died when Samuel was 
small. The father was a farmer, and had 
been twice married, his first wife being a 
Miss Fraley, by whom he had three chi Idren, 



all deceased. The parents of our subject 
were blessed with six children, three of 
whom are living. Mary Ann, Henry and 
Samuel. Being deprived of parental cai'e at 
an early age, a Mr. Solomon Peeler was ap- 
pointed his guardian, but Sam'iel preferred 
going to his uncle, who kindly permitted him 
to attend school every winter for a period of 
about four years. He afterward lived, for 
about seven years, with Samuel Rothrock. a 
Lutheran minister. In the meantime, his 
guardian, to whom was intrusted a large 
amount of property, invested the same in 
Confederate bonds, etc., and becoming finally 
embarrassed fled the country, thereby causing 
a total loss to Samuel of over $8,000, which 
was the latter's share of his father's estate. 
In July, 1861, our subject enlisted in the 
Fifth North Carolina Volunteer Infantry, 
Col. McRae. The regiment participated in 
the first battle of Bull Run, and went 
through the entire war. At Gettysburg, Mr 
Fite was taken prisoner, and held as such un 
til released some eighteen months later. He 
sustained several slight wounds during his 
long service. He had been promoted from 
private to Second Lieutenant. In the fall of 
1866, he came West, and located in Dongola 
two years later. Here he was mai'ried, Octo- 
ber 11, 1868, to Malinda Peeler, born April 
28, 1849, a daughter of Alexander and 
Melissa (Freeze) Peeler, and by her has five 
children, four of whom are living — Nellie, 
born June 15, 1870; Albion, March 21, 1872; 
Wendon, January 25, 1 874, and Alexander, 
October 7, 1882. Mr. Fite picked up the 
cooper's trade himself, and ran a shop in 
Dongola for about eight years. He is at pres- 
ent employed in the shop of Frank Neibauer. 
He and wife are members of the Lutheran 
Church, and in politics he votes the Demo- 
cratic ticket. 

HENRY HARMES, physician and sur- 



DONGOLA PRECINCT. 



173 



geon, Dongola, was born September 12, 1825, 
in Berlin, Germany. He is of Greek descent, 
his great-grandfather being a native of 
Athens. His father, Christopher Harmes, 
was for many years in the German army, and 
in that country's war with Napoleon I, which 
lasted from 1806 to 1815, he was engaged in 
nearly every battle, receiving eight wounds, 
from the effects of which he died in 1838 or 
1839, at an early age. The mother of our 
subject was Louisa Linden, who died when 
he was small. The parents were blessed 
with seven children, 'our subject being the 
fifth child of the family. He received his 
education in his native city, attending the 
Gymnasium and the University, at which 
latter institution he studied medicine three 
years, and for eight years was engaged in 
the practice of his profession in Berlin, 
being two years a practitioner in the Charity 
Hospital. In the fall of 1858, he sailed from 
Hamburg for America, and for a year 
traveled throughout the Union for recrea- 
tion and pleasure, and in August, 1859, he 
located at Jonesboro, Union Co., HI., where 
he was married, on the 27th of the same 
month, to Alice Duschel, a lady of French 
descent. In the spring of 1860, he removed 
to Dongola, where he has since enjoyed a 
liberal practice. He is a member of the A., 

F. &. A. M., I. O. O. F., K. & L. of H. and 

G. T. . and is the medical examiner to the first 
three named and also to three insurance 
companies. He is also a member of the 
Anna Encampment, No. 91. Mr. and Mrs. 
Harmes are the parents of nine children, 
eight of whom are living — Mollie T., Dora 
A., Henry, Otto, Albert, Nettie, Frank (de- 
ceased), Cornwell J. and Louisa. Subject 
and wife are members of the Baptist 
Church. He is Republican iu politics. 

JACOB M. HILEMAN, farmer, P. O. 
Jonesboro, was born July 30, 1833, in Union 



County, 111., son of Peter Hileman, born in"^ 
February, 1795, and died December 5, 1875. 
His father, Jacob Hileman, born July 20, 
1762, died August 25, 1828, came to this 
county at an early day. His children have 
seen the country, which was then a wilder- 
ness, turned to a productive and prosperous 
land. Peter Hileman married Susan Miller, 
born February 19, 1801. Her father was 
an old pioneer named John Miller. She is 
yet living, with our subject, and is the 
mother of twelve children, of whom nine are 
now living. Our subject, Jacob M. Hileman, 
had but few chances to acquire even the rudi- 
ments of an education, as his services were 
needed on the farm, where he assisted his 
aged parent to provide for the family wants. 
He was joined in matrimony, September 23, 
1865, in this county, to Miss Mary E. Kim- 
mel, born June 22, 1849, daughter of George 
W. Kimmel, an old pioneer. She is the 
mother of six sons, viz., George W., born 
September 1, 1866; Thomas J., born Decem- 
ber 13, 1869, died August 11, 1873; Bruno, 
born November 30, 1873; William, born 
September 10, 1875; Oliver, December 16, 
1878, and Walter, born May 10, 1882. Our 
subject, Jacob M. Hileman, although no 
scholar, is a splendid farmer, and owns 382 
acres of land. In politics, he is a Demo- 
crat. 

FREDERICK JOHNSON, blacksmith. 
Dongola, was born in Hanover, Germany, 
November 12, 1822, a son of Henry and 
Hemke (Fredericks) Johnson, both Germans 
by birth. The parents were blessed with 
eleven children, five of whom were living at 
last accounts. Our subject received his early 
education in the schools of his native prov- 
ince, and in 1837 he commenced a four years' 
apprenticeship to the blacksmith trade. In 
1851, he sailed from Bremen for New Or- 
leans. He came up to Caledonia, on the 



174 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Ohio River, where he worked for two years 
at his trade. He removed to Dongola 
Precinct in 1854, bringing his smithing 
outfit with him, and has since run a shop in 
this place, where he does all kinds of black- 
smith work. He is recognized as being a 
very skillful mechanic in all kinds of iron 
and steel work. When he first came here, 
he purchased forty acres of land, which he 
has since increased to 133| acres, which is 
partly operated by a renter. Mr. Johnson 
was united in marriage, November 3, 1856, 
to Margaret R. Meisenheimer, born October 
26, 1840, a daughter of Elias and Nancy 
(Davault) Meisenheimer. This union has been 
blessed with eight children, seven of whom are 
living — Martha N.. born August 21, 1857: 
James H., November 31, 1859; Mary E., August 
25, 1860; John W. , deceased; Margaret E., No- 
vember 23, 1867; Nancy J., February 12, 
1869; William F., May 6, 1872; and Fred- 
erick L., September 25, 1875. Mr. and Mrs. 
Johnson are members of the Baptist Church. 
He is an I. O. O. F., Dongola Lodge, No. 
343. In politics, he is a Democrat. 

NATHAN KARRAKER, farmer, P. O. 
Dongola. Among the substantial farmers of 
Dongola Precinct is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch. He was born in 
this county January 12, 1827. a son of Dan- 
iel and Rachel (Blackwelder) Karraker. The 
father was born February 8, 1793, in Cabarrus 
County, N. C. He was a farmer, and died 
July 30, 1861. The mother was also a na- 
tive of North Carolina, born October 1, 
1794, and died August 10, 1881. Ten chil- 
dren were born to them, six of whom are liv- 
ing, four boys and two girls. What little 
schooling our subject received in early life 
was gained from a limited attendance in the 
old subscription schools of Union County 
He worked for his father on the home farm 
until his marriage, which occurred May 25, 



1854. He wedded Sarah Knight, born 
March 31, 1834, in Montgomery County, 
Ind., daughter of John and Polly (Kelley) 
Knight. Mr. and Mrs. Karraker are the 
parents of eleven children, seven of whom 
are living — William J , born September 1,. 

1855, and died January 3, 1883; he had 
graduated in medicine at Keokuk, Iowa, and 
at the time of his death was engaged in the 
practice of his profession; he married Min- 
nie L. Montgomery, born January 20, 1859, 
a daughter of E. L. and Elizabeth Montgom- 
ery, and by her, who now survives him, had 
three children, two of whom are living, 
Owen O., born January 6, 1877, and William 
C, born July 26, 1881. Harriet A., born 
June 9, 1857, died February 24, 1859. 
Joseph F., September 5, 1859; married, 
February 26, 1880, Georgiana Montgomery; 
has two children — Ella Viola, born December 
18, 1881, and Earl, October 1, 1882. James 
A., born October 30, 1861; married, Novem- 
ber 26, 1882, Melissa A. Corzine, born Jan- 
uary 14, 1864, a daughter of R. B. and 
Sarah Corzine. Mary E., born March 10, 
1864; married, September 11, 1881, to J.W. 
Keller, and has one child — Sarah A. , born 
August 7, 1882. John W., February 14, 1866 ; 
Daniel W., deceased; Francis M., July 1 
1869; liaura J., October 10, 1871; an infant; 
and Nathan T., born February, 1875. Mr. 
Karraker has farm property to the extent of 
700 acres, besides property in the town of 
Dongola. He engages in general farming. 
He and his wife are members of the Baptist 
Church. He has been Township Treasurer 
for twenty-two years of Township 13 south, 
and Range 1 east, and has settled many 
estates. Politically, he is a Democrat. 

DENNIS KARRAKER, farmer, P. O. 
Dongola, was born in Union County, 111., 
July 19, 1830, a son of Daniel Karraker (see 
sketch of Nathan Karraker, of this precinct). 



DONGOLA PRECINCT, 



175 



His early education was meager, a limited 
attendance in the subscription schools of the 
county having to suffice in that direction. 
He worked on the home farm for his father, 
with whom '^he remained until he married. 
February 19, 1851, he wedded Nancy Hinkle, 
born April 10, 1830, a daughter of Philip 
and Sarah Hinkle. She died October 18, 

1880. By her our subject had eleven chil- 
dren, eight of whom are living— Amanda J., 
born December 6, 1851, deceased; Wilbern, 
August 7, 1853; Cornelia, October 15, 1854; 
Marinda, April 19, 1856; Thomas J., No- 
vember, 27, 1857; Sandy, September 14, 
1859; Isadora, June 15, 1861, deceased; El- 
bert J., December 15, 1862; Randolph, 
May 30, 1865; Harvey, October 5, 1867, and 
Tsora, April 9, 1871, deceased. Our subject 
was married a second time, February 18, 

1881, to Keziah Goodman, born May 8, 1832, 
a daughter of Nicholas and Margaret Jeffords, 
and widow of Henry Goodman. Mr. Kar- 
raker has a farm of 253 acres, which is given 
to general farming. He and wife are mem- 
bees of the Christian Church. He was one 
of the first Directors under the free school 
law, and served many years. In politics, he 
is a Democrat. 

JOSEPH H. KUEGLER, restaurant, Don- 
gola, was born in the city of Hof, Kingdom of 
Bavaria, Germany, March 2, 1853, a son of 
Joseph and Barbara (Tramp] er) Kuegler, 
both of whom are natives of the same king- 
dom, where they are at present living, the 
father being engaged as Superintendent of 
a Government railroad. The parents were 
blessed with nine children, eight of whom are 
living, six sons and two daughters, our sub- 
ject being the eldest of the family and the 
only representative in America. He received 
a good education during his six years' at- 
tendance in tiie common schools of his native 
place, which he supplemented by a three 



, years' course in the Mercantile College at 
Beyreiith, Germany, where he acquired a 
thorough knowldege of book-keeping and 
the various business branches. For a period 
of three years, he was employed by a whole- 
sale dry goods house at Muenchberg, Ger- 
many, and was afterward for a year a clerk 
in a cotton mill in his native town. He then 
worked in his father's office until he em- 

^ barked for America, October 3, 1872. He 
landed at New York, and for several months 
was engaged in farming in various States. 
In June, 1874, he removed to Pulaski County, 
111., and worked in the lime kiln of J. A. De 
Baun, and afterward in Morris, Root & Co.'s 
saw mill. [He was afterward, for several 
years, variously engaged, both in Cairo and 
Dongola, until April 11, 1883, when he 
opened a restaurant in the latter place, which 
he now runs, with the intention of increasing 
his storeroom and carrying a general line of 
groceries, etc. He was united in marriage, 
August 16, 1876, in Pulaski County, 111., to 
Louisa N. Sexton, born September 24, 1857, 
widow of William D. Sexton (by whom she 
had one child — Archibald, born October 22, 
1875), and daughter of William G. and 
Mary Elizabeth (Wilson) Carter. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kuegler are the parents of three chil- 
di-en — Charlie, born IVIarch 12, 1878; Agnes, 
November 16, 1880, and Henry, February 12, 
1883. Mr. Kuegler is a member of the I. O. 
O. F. , Dongola Lodge, No. 343. Politically, 
he is a Democrat. 

EBENI LEAVENWORTH, deceased, was 
born in Camden, N. Y., October 16, 1811, 
a son of E. I. Leavenworth, a Presbyterian 
missionary, who died at Brownhelm, Ohio. 
Our subject was a lawyer by profession, and 
was engaged in practice in Chester and 
Sparta, 111., having removed from Ohio in 
1841. Finding that his profession was un- 
congenial to his nature, he turned his atten- 



176 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



tion in another direction. He studied sur- 
veying, and came to Union County as assist- 
ant in running the line for the prospective I. 
C. R. R. While here, he purchased a tract 
of land, and laid out the town of Dongola. 
He was the founder of the old Novelty 
Works, and during his life was engaged in 
milling and merchandising, and was prom- 
inently identified with many popular and 
noble enterprises. He was married, in 1847, 
to Eliza S. Henderson, a daughter of John 
Henderson, a resident of Randolph County, 
111. She died in Chester, III, December 21, 
1850, leaving one son — Charles. He was 
married a second time, January 1, 1856, to 
Alice M. Little, a daughter of Ebenezer Lit- 
tle, of La Salle County, 111. She died in 
Dongola July 4, 1865. She was the mother 
of four children, all of whom died in infancy. 
Our subject's third marriage occurred in 
1866. He wedded S. Jane G-albraith, who sur- 
vives him. She was the widow of John Gal- 
braith, who was Sheriff of St. Clair County, 
III., at the time of his death. Her father, 
C S. Burr, was a resident of the same 
county. He moved from Connecticut to 
Kaskaskia in 1817, bringing his bride with 
him to the wilderness. He afterward moved 
to St. Clair County, where he died. Ebeni 
Leavenworth died of pneumonia in April, 
1877, leaving a widow and one child — 
Charles — who reside in Dongola. He was 
truly a self-made man, wide-awake in busi- 
ness matters, and full of enterprise and 
energy to the last. He was a man who did 
his own thinking, who governed his actions 
by a sense of right and justice, and who at- 
tained all his ends by high-minded and 
honorable means. Whatever he did was done 
with deliberation, and a consciousness that 
he was doing right. His hand was at all 
times extended to those in need, and the 
alacrity with which he rendered assistance 



in all enterprises calculated for the public 
good are lasting monuments to his memory. 
Upon his tombstone is inscribed : " One who 
lived and died with an abiding faith in God 
and his fellow-men. " 

CALEB LINGLE, farmer, P. O. Dongola, 
was a native of Pulaski County, 111., born 
October 15, 1820, a son of Daniel ajid Mar- 
garet (Cell) Lingle, natives of North Caro- 
lina; he of Cabarrus and she of Rowan 
County. The father was a farmer, and died 
in 1862, aged seventy- throe years. The 
mother died March 5, 1880, at the advanced 
age of eighty-nine years. The parents had 
nine children, five of whom are living — 
James, Nancy, Caleb, Betsey and Sally. 
Caleb's early education was received in the 
old schools of Union County, his parents 
having removed from North Carolina about 
1816. He took up farming for an occupa- 
tion, and remained with his father until he 
married. March 9, 1843, he wedded Eliza- 
beth Keller, born August 2, 1827, a daughter 
of Absalom and Mary (Beggs) Keller. In 
August, 1862, our subject enlisted in Com- 
pany G, One Hundred and Ninth Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, Col. Jackson Nimmo. 
The regiment went into camp at Jonesboro 
and Anna, and were afterward sent to Co- 
lumbus, Ky., and were consolidated with the 
old Eleventh. They fought under Grant at 
Vicksburg, and were engaged toward the 
last in nearly an every-day fight. At Jack- 
son, Miss., our subject was seriously 
wounded, and was taken to the hospital at 
Vicksburg. He was mustered out at Mem- 
phis May 31, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Lingle 
are the^parents of fifteen children, twelve of 
whom are living — Francis M. , born January 
2, 1846; John W., December 24, 1849; 
Daniel K., April 12, 1851; Leonora, May 
14, 1854; Alexander, April 6, 1856; Mere- 
dith, February 13, 1858; Caleb, February 



DONGOLA JPRECINCT. 



177 



27, 1860; Amanda E., April 5, 1862; 
James F., July 19, 1864; Mary L., Septem- 
ber 14, 1866; Paul, February 22, 1869, and 
William A., April 5, 1872. Mr. Lingle first 
purchased forty acres of land, which subse- 
quent additions have increased to 283 acres, 
which are given to general farming. He and 
wife are members of the Chi-istian Church. 
Politically, he is a Democrat. 

JAMES B. McCALLEN, bookseller and 
gardener, Dongola, was born in Hillsboro, 
Orange Co., N. C, May 17, 1812, the young- 
est son of James and Jane (Turner) Mc- 
Callen. The father was a native of the same 
county, born August 19, 1770, and was a 
farmer by occupation. He died at the age 
of seventy-five years. The mother died in 
Kentucky, .aged seventy-nine. Six children 
blessed the married life of the old folks, two 
of whom are living — John E., who resides 
near Nashville, Tenn., and the subject of 
these lines. The latter received but a limited 
subscription school education, in Robertson 
County, Tenn., whence his parents had re- 
moved when he was about six years old. He 
assisted his father on the home place up to 
the time of his marriage, which occurred 
August 20, 1829. He wedded Lucinda 
Thompson, born March 3, 1813, in Robert- 
son County, Tenn., a daughter of John and 
Nancy (Walker) Thompson, natives of North 
Carolina. Shortly after his marriage, our 
subject moved to Grant County, Ky., where 
he purchased a farm of eighty acres. He 
sold in 1843 and came to Illinois, locating 
about three and a half miles from Dongola, 
on the old Metropolis road. With another 
man he entered eighty acres of land, and 
farmed his forty until 1851, when he dis- 
posed of it, and, with his family, removed to 
the State of Rhode Island, for the benefit 
of his own health and the education of his 
children. Here he remained for about three 



years, and after a residence of several years 
in Pennsylvania and Tennessee, he returned 
to Dongola by way of water, late in 1864, 
and purchased a lot in the town, on which 
he at present resides. He also has other 
town property. He keeps a little nursery 
garden and also many swarms of bees, which 
contrive to give him sufiicient trouble to 
keep him busily engaged in his old age. 
Adjoining his residence he has a store, 
where he carries a general line of books and 
stationery goods. In early years, Mr. Mc- 
Callen was actively interested in religious 
matters, and he first came to this country as 
a home missionary, establishing religious 
organizations throughout the then wilderness 
of Southern Illinois. Many churches to-day, 
whose members exceed a hundred in number, 
owe their present prosperous condition to his 
indefatigable labors in the days of their in- 
fancy. In later years, he has been an or- 
dained minister in the Cumberland Presby- 
terian Church, and his earnest sermons have 
been the means of guiding many a wayward 
traveler into the narrow path which leadeth 
to life everlasting. Mr. and Mrs. McCallen 
ai*e the parents of eight children, four of 
whom are living — Francis M., born August 
10, 1830; George W., October 9, 1832, died 
November 10, 1880; Louisa J., April 25, 
1835, deceased; John C, March 17, 1837, 
deceased; James B., December 18, 1839; 
William M., August 5, 1842; Alexander F.. 
February 25, 1846, deceased; and Freeman 
W., July 5, 1848. Our subject had five sons 
in the late war, and he himself served a year 
as Clerk to the Fifty-second Kentucky 
Mounted Infantry, Col. Grider. Mr. and 
Mrs. McCallen have been members of the 
Presbyterian Church for over sixty years. 
He is a member of the Good Templars' 
Lodge, and in polities has been a Repub- 
lican since the organization of the party. In 



178 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



August, 1879, upon the occasion of the 
golden anniversary of the happy union of 
Mr. McCallen and his noble wife, a large 
concourse of friends gathered together to do 
honor to the venerable couple. 

A. MEISENHEIMER, retired, Dongola, 
is a native of Union County, 111., born Feb- 
ruary 13, 1828, the youngest son of Moses 
and Christina (Fisher) Meisenheimer. The 
father was one of the worthy pioneers of 
Union County, having settled here in the 
year 1816. He came from Cabarrus County, 
N. C, where he was born December 7, 1795, 
a son of Abraham Meisenheimer, a native of 
Germany. He was a man that was univer- 
sally esteemed, and he served the people as 
Justice of the Peace and County Commis- 
sioner for many years. He lived here until 
his death, which occurred June 2, 1857. His 
noble wife survived him many years. She 
was also a native of North Carolina, born 
May 22, 1797, and departed this life May 4, 
1876. The happy union of the old couple 
was blessed with ten children, five of whom 
still remain — Henry, ISancy, Malinda, Sally 
and Abraham, the subject of these lines. 
The latter received what little education the 
old subscription schools of this county 
afforded. His father needed his assistance 
on the home farm, and he remained with him 
up to the time of his marriage, which oc- 
curred March 2, 1854. He was united in 
marriage to Jane Sethman, born in Pennsyl- 
vania June 20, 1836, a daughter of Jacob and 
Rachel (Cotrell) Sethman, both of whom died 
when she was small. Shortly after his mar- 
riage, our subject went to merchandising in 
earnest, having previously in 1849 been en- 
gaged in that business on a small scale. For 
a few years he kept a small store a few miles 
northeast of Dongola, and in 1858 removed 
to the latter place, where he met with success. 
His business steadily enlarged and he was 



actively engaged prosecuting its affairs up 
to the time of his retirement in April, J 882. 
At the latter date he turned his business in- 
terests over to his sons, and the present firm 
of Meisenheimer Bros, ranks among the 
leading merchants of Dongola. Mr. and 
Mrs. Meisenheimer are the parents of six 
children, five of whom are living — William 
S., born November 26, 1854; Mary I., Feb- 
ruary 6, 1858, and died December 28. 1880; 
Frank W., March 9, 1862; George A., March 
23, 1865; Charles R., October 23, 1871, and 
Birdie B. , January 9, 1874. Our subject 
has a good residence in Dongola, and also 
about fifty acres of land and twenty-four 
lots, all of which lie in the corporation. 
Politically, he is a Democrat. 

SIMEON D. MILLER, farmer, P. O. 
Dongola, was born in Union County, 111., 
July 15, 1849. His father, Dewalt Miller, 
was a native of North Carolina. He was a 
farmer by occupation, and was twice mar- 
ried, Sallie (Beaver) Miller, the mother of 
Simeon D., being his second wife. He died 
about 1868, and his wife in 1875. They were 
parents of fifteen children, eleven of whom 
are living. His parents removing to Pulaski 
County, 111., when he was about five years 
old our subject obtained his early schooling 
in that county. He took up farming for an 
occupation, and has always been thus en- 
gaged. He has a good farm of 142 acres, 
forty-two of which lie in Pulaski County. 
He was united in marriage, September 16, 
1869. to Susan Mowery, born August 1, 
1850, a daugnter of Adam and Elizabeth 
(Hartline) Mowery. He has a family of three 
children — Turner L., born December 11, 
1870; Jasper N., September 18, 1873, and 
Olie I., August 27, 1875. Mr. and Mrs. 
Miller are members of the Lutheran Church. 
Politically, he is a Republican. 

FRANK NEIBAUER, miller, Dongola, 



DONGOLA PRECINCT. 



179 



was born in Furstenthum, North Germany, 
October 9, 1834, the eldest son of Nicholas 
and Johanna (Franke) Neibauer, Grermans by- 
birth. The father was a stone mason and 
cutter by. trade, and died in his native coun- 
try at the age of about sixty-five >ear8. The 
mother is still living in the old country. The 
parents were blessed with eight children, 
three sons and five daughters, all of whom 
are living excepting the youngest son. The 
early schooling of our subject was obtained 
in the common schools of his native place. 
At the age of fourteen, he commenced an ap- 
prenticeship to his father's trade, at which 
he worked until coming to America in 1854. 
He landed in New York June 22 of that year, 
and for several years fr)llowing was engaged 
at his trade and other work in various parts 
of the country. In 1858, he catue to Don- 
gola, and worked at his trade, ofi" and on, for 
a few years. He was married, in November, 
1859, to Rachel Keller, who died December 
28, 1875, the mother of seven children, five 
of whom are living — Jane, Henry, Sarah J,, 
Lucinda and Frederick W. He was married 
a second time, in March, 1877, to Mary 
Graver, by whom he has one child — Dolly E. 
Shortly after his first maiTiage, Mr. Neibauer 
engaged in farming, and he still has a farm 
of 300 acres in Dongola Precinct, which is 
operated by renters, and on which he has 
one of the finest sandstone quarries in this 
section of the country. In 1874, in partner- 
ship with Joseph Schlegel, he purchased a 
mill in Dongola, which was run nine months 
when it burned. He purchased the interest 
of his partner, and shortly afterward built 
his present mill, which he has since operated. 
It has a run of four buhrs, which turn out 
from 75 to 150 barrels per day. Mr. Nei- 
bauer is an A., F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., K. 
of H., K. & L. of H. , and is also a member 
of the Anna Encampment, I. O. O. F. He 



and wife are members of the Lutheran 
Church. He is one of the present (1883) 
County Commissioners of Union County, and 
in politics votes the Republican ticket. 

JOHN OVERBAY, teamster and farmer, 
P. O. Dongola. Nicholas Overbay, the 
father, was born in Virginia, lived there until 
his marriage, and then moved to Tennessee, 
where his first wife died. He then marrieci 
Miss Mary Campbell, the mother of John. 
Our subject was born in Tennessee July 18, 
1827. His parents left Tennessee when he 
was about five years old, and came to this 
State, settling first in Williamson County. 
Remaining thei-e three years, the father then 
went to Saline County, where, in about a 
year from the time he moved, he was killed 
by falling through a hatchway. His mother 
then married a Mr. Pistol, and our subject 
was soon put to work by his step- father, and 
although he remained there until he was six- 
teen, he was only permitted to go to school 
about three months. Then, starting out in 
life, he first went to Hardin County, and 
worked three years for a man there. The 
next two years he worked for different par- 
ties, and at the age of twenty-one he came 
back to Gallatin County, and remained there 
about eight years. In 1868. he came to 
Dongola, Union County, where he has since 
resided, and now follows teaminsr and erar- 
dening; was a soldier in both the Mexican 
and civil wars, enlisting in the former in 
1847, in an independent company commanded 
by Col. Lawler; enlisted in the latter; was 
in the One Hundred and Twentieth Regi- 
ment Illinois Volunteer lufantiy, Col. Mc- 
Kaig, Company D, Capt. Pillar, August 16, 
1862, and remained out three years and four 
months; was married, in 1844, to Martha 
Jane Gates, daughter of Esquire Gates, of 
Gallatin County. She is the mother of 
eight children, seven of whom are living — 



180 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



Sarah Jane, wife of Thomas Douglas, of Mill 
Creek; Louisa E. , wife of George Freeze, of 
Elco Precinct, Alexander County; Cynthia 
A., wife of William Harrison, of Union 
County; Hester, wife of Donald McKenzie, 
of Ullin; Melvina, wife of Piekney Rushin, 
of Union County; Ann Eliza, wife of Joseph 
Getlinger, of Dongola; and Katie. In poli- 
tics, our subject is a Republican. 

WILLIAM PENROD, saloon, Dongola, 
was born October 26, 1844, in Union County, 
111., a son of James A. and Unity (Smith) 
Penrod. The father was a native of Ken- 
tucky. He died December 24, 1874, aged 
about sixty-five years. He was married four 
times. The mother died November 8, 1844, 
our subject being only a few days old. The 
parents were blessed with eight children, four 
of whom are living. The early education of 
our subject was very limited, being received in 
the common schools of Union County. He 
started in life as a farm hand, and was thus en- 
gaged up to the opening of the war. In Au- 
gust, 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Twentieth 'Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. 
Hard3^ and for several months lay in the 
hospital at Memphis, Tenn., and was finally 
discharged for disability in February, 1863. 
He re-enlisted in January of the following 
year in the Fifty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Iq- 
fantry. Col. Green B. Raum. This regiment 
was with Sherman in his famous march to 
the sea, and was hotly engaged at Resaca 
and other points along the route. They were 
mustered out at Little Rock, Ark., August 27, 
1865. Our subject was united in marriage, 
January 4, 1866, in Johnson County, 111., to 
Sarah Morgan, born April 24, 1843, a 
daughter of John Morgan. Her mother, nee a 
Miss Wise, died when Sarah was small. Mr. 
and Mrs. Penrod are the parents of six chil- 
dren, four of whom are living — William Tell, 
born July 27, 1868; LiUie Belle, October 20, 



1871; Stephen S., August 11, 1874, and 
Dora, October 22, 1877. Politically Mr. 
Penrod is a Republican. 

FRIEDERICH SCHLUTER, farmer, P. O. 
Dongola, was born in Prussia, Germany, 
March 29, 1824, the eldest son of Christian 
and Louisa (Gerlink) Schliiter, natives also 
of Germany. The father was a carpenter by 
trade, and was a soldier in the war from 
1807 to 1815. He died when Frederick was 
eleven years old, which left the latter an or- 
phan, his mother having died when he was 
only seven The parents had seven childi'en, 
our subject being, so far as is known, the 
only one living. He received a common edu- 
cation in his native place and learned the 
carpenter's trade, at which he worked for a 
few years, afterward turning his attention to 
farming. In 1854, he embarked for America, 
landing in New Orleans. He came up the 
river to Cairo, and from there went to St. 
Louis, where he remained a short time, after- 
ward coming to Dongola. In 1859, he pur- 
chased thirty acres of land, and has made 
several subsequent additions, having now 
180 acres, after giving one son 120 and an- 
other 76 acres. In 1849, in Germany, he 
was married to Louisa Tote, born in 1830, a 
daughter of Christian and Caroline (Fondera) 
Tote. Mr. and Mrs. Schliiter are the parents 
of eleven children, seven of ^whom are living 
— Frederick, born September 1, 1851; Mary, 
December 27. 1853; Henry, November 19, 
1856; Caroline, May 19, 1864; Charlie, June 
9, 1866; Alice, April 10, 1868, and Emma, 
March 19, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Schliiter are 
members of the Lutheran Church. In poli- 
tics, he is Republican. 

ALBERT S. WILBER, farmer and stock- 
dealer, residence, Dongola, is a native of 
Onondaga County, N. Y., born February 25, 
1845, the eldest child of Simon and Melissa 
(Welsh) Wilber, both of whom were natives 



DONGOLA PRECINCT. 



181 



of Ireland, where they 'were married. They 
immigrated to America and settled in Onon- 
daga County, N. Y., where the father piir- 
chased 120 acres of land, and engaged in 
farming. He was a son of John Samson 
Wilber, who was a son of Milton Wilbei', a 
native of England. The father enlisted in 
the New York Militia and served five years, 
and afterward eight years in the regular 
army. He was all through the Mexican war, 
in which he was Colonel of a regiment. He 
was shot seventeen times, and yet his life 
was prolonged for several years. He re- en- 
listed in the regular service, and was active- 
ly engaged in the civil war. His battle 
career finally ended, a few days after the en- 
gagement at New Berne, N, C, having suc- 
cumbed to a severe attack of infiammation of 
the brain. The mother of our subject is still 
living in Traverse City, Mich. The parents 
were blessed with four children, all of whom 
are living — Albert S. , Olive D., William H. 
H. and Louisa A. Mr. Wilber received a 
fair education, his circumstances, fortunately, 
permitting several years' attendance in the 
common and select schools of his native county. 
About 1862, he anticipated Greeley's advice, 
and "went West." For nearly two years, he 
was engaged in herding, driving and other- 
wise roughing it in Wyoming Territory. He 
returned East, as far as Villa Ridge, 111., 
where he took a contract with the I. C. R. 
R. Company for 50,000 railroad ties. He was 
afterward engaged, for one year, in making 
charcoal for the Cairo market, since which 
he has given his attention to farming pur- 
suits. In 1870, he made a purchase of 120 
acres in Pulaski County, and has since made 
several additional purchases, having at pres- 
ent 972| acres, in Alexander, Union and Pu- 
laski Counties. Most of this land is operated 
by renters. He also owns 160 acres of tim- 
bered land in Stoddard County, Mo., off of 



which he has cut 120,000 feet of black wal- 
nut logs, which was recently purchased by 
an Indianapolis firm. He also takes an in- 
terest in the raising of fast stock. The 
official records indicate that he carried thf» 
first blue ribbon out of the Anna Fair Asso- 
ciation, and also the last one (1882). He 
raised the " Belle of St. Louis, record 2:38; 
also Ponchartrain, pacer, 2:22; also the cele- 
brated pacing stallion " Glencoe Chief, " 
time 2:20. He is the present owner of 
"Flitter Foot Frank." Mr. Wilber is also 
versed in veterinary surgery, and is often 
called upon to perform operations in this 
line. Our subject was united in marriage, 
April 18, 1874, in Anna, 111., to Louisa M. 
Meisenheimer, widow of Lewis Meisenhei- 
mer, by whom she had two children — Allen 
H., born June 18, 1870, and Louie E., De- 
cember 6, 1873. She is a daughter of Jacob 
and Nancy Peeler. She was born August 31, 
1840, in Wetaug, 111., and died April ;26, 
1882, in Dongola. By her our subject had 
two children — Albert A., born June 10, 1876, 
and Oliver A., born March 26, 1880, and 
died July 15, 1881. Politically, Mr. Wilber 
is a Democrat. 

ALBERT G. WILLIAMS, physician and 
surgeon, Dongola, is a native of Henry 
County, Tenn., born July 21, 1831, the 
eldest child of Henry L. and Elizabeth A. 
(Holmes) Williams. The father was born in 
Rowan County, N. C, April 22, 1805, a son 
of Joseph Williams, of Welsh descent. He 
was a carpenter by trade and moved, in 1826, 
to Tennessee, where he died September 9, 
1869, from the effects of injuries received by 
being thrown from a mule. The mother of 
our subject was born January 10, 1808, in 
Sumner County; Tenn., a daughter of Albert 
and Jane Holmes. The parents were married 
January 3, 1830, and were blessed with seven 
children, two of whom are living — Frances 



182 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



I. and our subject. The latter received a 
common school education in his native State, 
and started in life as a trader in general 
merchandise on the Mississippi River, in 
which occupation he was eagaged up to the 
time of his marriage, which occurred March 
21, 1850, in his native county. He wedded 
Susan E. Lowry, born September 30, 1833, 
in the same county, a daughter of William 
and Jane (Wyott) Lowry. In 1854, our sub- 
ject commenced the study of medicine, under 
the instruction of Dr. Joseph H. Travis, of 
Paris. Tenn., with whom he continued his 
studies until the opening of the war of the 
rebellion. In the meantime, he was the 
owner of a little farm in Henry County, and 
from its soil he himself wrought the money 
necessary to defray the expenses of these 
years of study. In 1863, he removed to 
Illinois, and located at Lincoln Green P. O., 
Johnson County, where he remained until 
June, 1865, engaged in the practice of his 
profession. At the latter date, he removed 
near the I. C. R. R. at Wetaug, and shortly 
afterward to Dongola, where he has since re- 
mained, the people having recognized and 
appreciated his skill as a physician and sur- 



geon. In 1870, he entered the St, Louis 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, from 
which institution he graduated the following 
year, having enjoyed the benefits of a term of 
medical lectures. Mr. and Mrs. Williams 
are the parents of nine children, five of whom 
are living — Georgiana C, born June 19, 
1852, the wife of Prof. A. B. Garrett, of 
Murphysboro, 111.; Aquilla J., born June 4, 
1855, wife of Henry E. Eddleman, of Don- 
gola; Alice, born July 22, 1858, wife of 
Frank Brevard, of Knoxville, Tenn,; Albert 
H., born January 20, 1865, and Mollie, born 
October 30, 1868. Our subject has, since 
1867, been a member of the I. O. O. F., 
Dongola Lodge, No. 348, and is also a mem- 
ber of the Anna Encampment. He belongs 
to. the Knights of Honor, and is the Medical 
Examiner of that body, which he has repre- 
sented, as well as the I, O. O. F., in the 
Grand Lodge. He is the local surgeon for 
the I. C. R. R., and was also one of the thir- 
teen institutors of the Southern Illinois 
Medical Association, and has held offices of 
distinction in that body. In politics, he has 
been a Republican since the organization of 
that party. 



MEISEI^HEIMER PRECINCT. 



CHARLES BROWN, farmer, P, O. Jones- 
boro, is a native of Rowan County, N. C. 
born December 15, 1814. He is a son of 
Abraham Brown, who came from North Car- 
olina in 1816 and settled in the southern part 
of what is now Union County, 111., and here 
raised a large family of boys and girls. He 
was married in North Carolina to Catherine 
Hess, whose father came to Union County 
with his family with Mr. Brown in 1816. 



Our subject was raised in this county, and 
has since made it his home. He commenced 
life a poor man, and by his honesty, industry 
and economy has succeeded in accumulating 
a good property, and is now the owner of a 
good farm. He married Miss Elizabeth 
Grear, a daughter of George Grear. They 
have been blessed with eight children, viz. : 
Alson, Wilson, Martha J., Emeline, Laura I., 
Augusta, John W. and Andrew J. Mr. 



MEISENHEIMER PRECINCT. 



183 



Brown is a man of good standinor in the com- 
munity in which he lives, and a Democrat in 
politics. 

PETER DILLOW, farmer, P. O. Spring- 
ville, was born April 11, 1831, in this coun- 
ty. He is a son of Peter Dillow, Sr., who 
was born May 1, 1797, in North Carolina. 
He came to this county with his parents in 
1818, and here he endured with others the 
privations of early pioneer life. Here he was 
also married to PolJy Lence, who is yet liv- " 
ing, and who bore him fourteen children, of 
whom three girls and five boys are now liv- 
ing. They have numerous descendants in 
this and adjoining counties. Peter Dillow, 
Sr. , lived to the ripe old age of eighty-three 
years, dying July 1, 1880. He was a man 
of the old pioneer type and liked by all who 
knew him, making few or no enemies and 
making and keeping many friends. When 
our subject, Peter Dillow, J r. , was a boy, and 
even when he was a young man, the chances 
for an education were very limited. A few 
subscription schools existed, in which were 
taught the common branches. Most of his 
time was spent on the farm, helping his 
father. He was joined in matrimony, De- 
cember 17, 1856, in this couuty to Miss Mary 
Poole, born February 23, 1840, in this coun- 
ty. She is a daughter of John and Susan 
(Mowery) Poole, who are also North Caro- 
linians. Mrs. Dillow is the mother of six chil- 
dren, viz. : George W., born March 16, 
1858; Eli A., born October 4, 1859; Flu- 
anna, deceased; Caleb E., born October 12, 
1864; Luvina, born September 21, 1866; 
and Eliza A., born June 15, 1873. George 
W. and Eli A. are married. The former 
married Isidora Davis and the latter married 
Emily I. Brown, who is the mother of Essie 
Dillcw. Mr. and Mrs. Dillow and their chil- 
ren are members of the Gei'man Reformed 
Church. He has a good farm of 160 acres, 



which he keeps in a high state of cultivation, 
and is considered one of the best farmers in 
his neigliborhood. Mr. Dillow is identified 
with the Democratic party, as were also his 
ancestors. 

LEVI A. DILLOW, farmer and mechanic, 
P. O. Springville. His father, Charles Dillow, 
was born in Union County in 1820. During his 
life, he engaged in farming. He died August 
30, 1876. His father was Peter Dillow, a 
native of North Carolina. The mother of 
our subject was Elizabeth Light, who was 
born in 1818, and is still living. She is a 
daughter of John Light, a native of North 
Carolina, but of German descent. The par- 
ents of our subject had two children, viz., 
Melvina, wife of Daniel Hurst, who is the 
mother of three children, viz., Hattie. Ida 
and Mary. Levi A. was born in Union 
County 111., October 11, 1843. He was 
raised on the farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools. In July, 1862, he enlisted in 
Company A of the One Hundred and Ninth 
Illinois Volunteers, and served to the close 
of the war. He was in the following en- 
gagements: Siege of Vicksburg, Fort Blake- 
ly, Ala., and many others. After the 
close of the war, he returned home and 
worked with his father in the wagon shop, 
where he remained for several years. He 
afterward worked at caipentering and subse- 
quently engaged in farming, at which he 
still continues. He was married, March 23, 
1867, to Miss Lavina Poole, who was born 
December 3, 1849. She is a daughter of 
John and Susan (Mowery) Poole. She is 
the mother of the following children: Dora, 
born October 19, 1868; Emma, born Novem- 
ber 20, 1869; Minnie, born September 11, 
1873; Elizabeth, born November 11, 1876; 
Coby, born September 23, 1880; and Clara, 
born November 10, 1881. Miv and Mrs. 
Dillow are members of the Reformed Chui'ch. 



184 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
Jonesboro Lodge, No. 111. He has served 
the township as Trustee for a number of 
years, and is now Township Treasurer. He 
is the owner of 330 acres of land. 

PAUL DILLOW, farmer, P. O. Spring- 
ville. This gentleman is a son of one of our 
old pioneers who deserve so much credit for 
what they endured in those early days pre- 
paring the way for others. He was born 
July 17, 1845, in Union County, 111. His 
father, Peter Dillow, Sr., was born May 1, 
1797, in Rowan County, N. C. ; he died June 
29, 1880, in Union County, to which he had 
removed from North Carolina, October 23, 
1818, with a number of other families who 
had to travel together for mutual aid and 
protection. He was married here to Mary 
Lence, who was born March 15, 1802. She 
is yet living with her son, our subject, and 
is the mother of fourteen children, of whom 
eight are now living, mostly in this county. 
Paul was principally educated in this coun- 
ty. He tilled the soil in early life, and was 
joined in matrimony in Cape Girardeau 
County, Mo., December 16, 1866, to Mary 
Z. Sheppard, born March 19, 1842, in Cape 
Girardeau County. She is a daughter of 
Elisha and Melinda Sheppard. She died 
October 22, 1882, in Union County. Two 
children, Anna Lee, born May 31, 1868, and 
John E., born September 2, 1870, mourned 
her death. They yet by their deportment 
and kindness to each other show that de- 
parted mother's guiding hand. Mr. Dillow, 
as was also his wife, is a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church at St. John's. 
He served his neighbors in the capacity of 
School Director, and was once elected Justice 
of the Peace, but did not qualify on account 
of an elderly gentleman having been elected 
to the other office of Justice. He has a good 
farm of 130 acres of land with good im- 



provements. In politics, he is identified 
with the Democratic party. 

JOHN A. DILLOW, farmer, P. O. Mill 
Creek, was born in Union County, 111,, Jan- 
uary 15, 1845, and is a son of Paul and 
Catherine (Moweiy) Dillow, both natives of 
North Carolina. John A. Dillow was edu- 
cated in the common schools of his native 
county, and early learned the art of farming, 
an occupation he has been engaged in prin- 
cipally during his life. He commenced life 
a poor man, and by his honesty, industry and 
economy has succeeded in gaining a good 
property and a name and reputation which 
are beyond reproach. His farm is located 
in Meisenheimer Precinct and contains 200 
acres of good land. In Union Coanty, on 
the 5th of February, 1869, he married Miss 
Eveline S. Brown, who was born July 9, 1850 
She is a daughter of Abraham Brown. Thoy 
are the parents of six children, viz., Olive 
J,, born December 3, 1869; James A., born 
December 17, 1871; Rotert 0., born August 
47, 1874; Effia F.. born August 20, 1876; 
Octavia L., bora March 30, 1878, and 
Franklin B. , born January 16, 1880. lifr. 
and Mrs. Dillow are religiously connected 
with the Reformed Church. He is a Demo- 
crat in politics, and in his quiet ways and 
good habits is an example to his fellow-men. 

JOHN M. HILEMAN, farmer, P. O. 
Springville. The grandfather of this gen- 
tleman was Jacob Hileman, one of the early 
settlers of Union County; he was an emi- 
grant from North Carolinan. His son, Peter 
Hileman (subject's father), was born in 
North Carolina, and in Union County mar- 
ried Susannah Miller, who bore him twelve 
children, of whom nine are now living. 
Eight of them are residents of Union Coun- 
ty. John M. Hileman was born in Union 
County, September 5, 1824. He has experi- 
enced the man}' hardships and deprivations. 



MEISENHEIMEE PRECINCT. 



185 



common to the pioneer, and in consequence 
of the same was deprived of the advantages 
of receiving an education. He had three 
brothers who served in the late war, viz. , 
Samuel, Edward H. and Peter F. , who died 
after he reached home, though he was al- 
ready speechless. These brothers were in 
many hard-fought battles, yet not one of 
them was wounded. ■ John M. Hileman was 
married to Miss Caroline E. Cruse, who was 
born March 26, 1831. She is a daughter of 
Henry and Elizabeth (Leopard) Cruse, who 
were old settlers in the county. Mrs. Hile 
man is the mother of eleven children, of 
whom six are now living, viz. : Alfred F. , 
born October 23, 1855; Scott J., born April 
1, 1861; Martha A. , born November 29, 1862;' 
Nancy C, born 21, 1865; Henry W., born 
December 21, 1868; and Charley W., born 
March 9, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Hileman are 
members of the St. John's Lutheran Church. 
He is tiie owner of 520 acres of good land; 
besides, his son, Alfred F. , has a farm of hi s 
own. He was the fir.st Director of the lirst 
free school in Union County, 111., and served 
about eighteen years. It was a log school- 
house in Section 23 of Meisenheimer Town- 
'ship. 

ALFRED F. HILEMAN, farmer, P. O. 
Springville. This gentleman is a son of one 
of our old and most respectable citizens, who 
although no scholar himself, has yet done a 
t;reat deal for the common schools in his 
township; we speak of John M. Hileman. 
Our subject was born October 23, 1855, in 
this county, where he was also educated and 
afterward taught school, and is now Town- 
ship Trustee. He has eighty acres of land 
besides having an interest in some of his 
father's land. He was joined in matrimony 
September 11, 1879, to Miss Eosa Meisen- 
heimer, who was born September 13, 1862. 
in this county. She is a daughter of Eli A. 



and Susan (Poole) Meisenheimer, and is the 
mother of two children, viz., Oliver E., born 
July 8, 1880, and Jennie E., born October 
12, 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Hileman are mem- 
bers of the German Reformed Church. He 
is a wide-awake business man and a Demo- 
crat. 

CHRISTOPHER W. KELLER, farmer, 
P. O. Jouesboro, was born March 5, 1810, in 
Rowan County, N. C. He, like many people 
who were raised where the schools of the 
country were conducted on the old-fashioned 
subscription plan, never enjoyed the privi- 
lege of a good education. A great part of 
his youth was spent in supporting his aged 
mother. When quite young, he came to this 
country, where he was married to Nancy 
Lence, who bore him six children, of whom 
Lucinda Meisenheimer, Tempa Meisenhei- 
mer, Matilda Knupp, Jackson Keller and 
Eli Keller are now living. The two last 
children are both married and living on their 
father's farm of 160 acres. Our subject's 
oldest boy, named Willis, was killed by the 
accidental discharge of his gun, while sitting 
on a fence. Our subject's first wife died, 
and he was mairried a second time, to Mrs. 
Sophia Laws, daughter of Moses M. Meisen- 
heimer. After her death, he married Mrs. 
Mary Kaster, whose maiden name was Lence. 
Mr. Keller is a Democrat. His son, Jack- 
son, married Tena Knupp, who is the 
mother of six children, viz. : Fannie, 
Phoena, Ida, Bell, Joseph and John F. 
His other son, named Eli, was joined in mat- 
rimony to Ellen Brown, who is the mother of 
three children, viz., Eva, Henry W. and 
Thomas J. 

SAMUEL KNUPP, cooper and farmer, P. 
O. Springville, was born in Union County, 111. , 
January 19, 1840. His father, John Knupp, 
was born in North Carolina in 1788, and emi- 
grated to Union County, 111. , in 1820 and soon 



18G 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



after married Miss Susan Smith, daughter 
of Andrew and Catherine (Halterman) Smith. 
She was the mother of nine children, of 
whom eight are now living. She was born 
in North Carolina in 1801, and died Novem- 
ber 23, 1882. Her husband, John Knupp, 
died August 12, 1861. Our subject received 
such an education as the common schools of 
his native county afforded, and when quite 
young learned the cooper's trade of his 
father. In the fall of 1861, he enlisted in Com- 
pany A, One Hundi'ed and Ninth Regiment 
Illinois Volunteers, of the late civil war, and 
was thus engaged for three years, after which 
he returned to Union County and engaged in 
farming, at which he has since continued. 
He is the owner of 180 acres of land. In 
Union County, April 26, 1867, he married 
Miss Matilda Keller, who was born July 27, 
1888. She is a daughter of Christopher^and 
Nancy (Lence) Keller. She has borne him 
the following children, viz. : Laura, Walter, 
Washington W., Mary S., Martha E., llosa 
L., Charles H. , John A. and James A. Mr. 
and Mrs. Keller are members of the German 
Reformed Church. 

JOSEPH KOLLEHNER, farmer, P. 0. 
Jonesboro, a leader among the German ele- 
ment in Union County, was born December 18, 
1823, in Wels, Upper Austria. He is a grand- 
sou of Johau KoUehner, a farmer and nursery- 
man, whose son. Johan Koliehner, Jr., was also 
born in Austria, where he died. The mother 
of our subject was Katharina Gattermeier, a 
native of Austria, where she died, who was the 
mother of three children now living, viz.: 
Johan and Peter, yet living in the old country, 
and Joseph, our subject, who was educated in 
the old countr}' , where he was also married in 
1848, to Theresa Haberfellner, born in 1830, 
daughter of Philipp and Josepha (Starzinger) 
Haberfellner, and the mother of four children 
now living, viz.: Johan, Joseph, Josepha T. 



and Earnest, who do credit and honor to their 
parents. Our subject came to the United 
States in June, 1853, settling in Kornthal, 
Union Co., III., where he bought 160 acres of 
land at $5 per acre ; by way of improvement it 
had one block-house, a cooper shant}' and fif- 
teen acres in cultivation. He now owns 225 
acres of good land with splendid improvements. 
Mr. Koliehner takes quite an interest in every- 
thing that pertains to the development and in- 
terest of the community in which he lives, and 
which shows him the respect due a man of his 
standing. In 1848, while yet in theold country, 
he took quite an active part in the Revolution, 
favoring the liberal party. He is now identified 
with the Democratic part}-. 

ALFRED LINGLE, farmer, P. 0. Mill 
Creek, was born in Union County June 25, 
1832. His grandfather, Jacob Lingle, was 
a native of North Carolina, and one of the 
pioneers of Union County, 111. His son 
(subject's father) was Peter Lingle, also a 
native of North Carolina. He married Miss 
Elizabeth Cruse, a native of the same State. 
She was a daughter of Peter Cruse, and the 
mother of a large family of children, of whom 
Alfred, our subject, is now living. His 
early life was spent at home receiving the 
benefit of the subscription schools of the 
period, and assisting to till the soil of his 
father's farm. Arriving at his majority, he 
embarked on his career in life as a farmer, 
an occupation he still follows. He was 
joined in matrimony, June 25, 1857, to Eliza 
Poole, daughter of John and Susan (Mow- 
ery) Poole. She was born May 6, 1841, 
and is the mother of sixteen children, of 
whom fourteen are now living, viz. : John 
C, who married Ellen Brown, Heni-y M., 
Isabella, Sarah J., William J., xldam J., 
Alfred W., Dora L., Ellen S., Bertha. Mary 
A., George W., Charley E. and Lily I.; the 
two deceased are Alice and 011a. Mr. and 



MEISENHEIMER PRECINCT. 



181 



Mrs. Lingle with their four oldest children 
united with the German Reformed Church at 
St. Johns. He is the owner of a farm of 
165 acres. He has served the people of his 
neighborhood in the capacity of School 
Director and Trustee. 

J. N. MEISENHEIMER, farmer, P. O. 
Springville, was born August 29, 1818. 
Jacob Meisenheimer (subject's father) was a 
native of North Carolina, a farmer by occu- 
pation. He emigrated fj-om his native State 
to Indiana in 1817, and the following year 
came to Illinois and settled in Union Coun- 
ty. He married Sarah Peck in North Car- 
olina, who bore him seven children, of whom 
three are now living. Our subject received 
such an education as the subscription schools 
of his day -afforded, and when quite young 
learned the cooper's trade and worked at the 
same until about the time of the last war, 
when he engaged in agricultural pursuits, at 
which he has since been engaged. He is 
now the owner of 220 acres of land. He was 
married, February 3,1842, to Miss Elizabeth 
Penninger, who was born in Kowan County, 
N. C, December 26, 1820. She is a daugh- 
ter of Mathias and Margaret (Rendleman) 
Penninger. Mr. and Mrs. Meisenheimer 
have nine children, viz.: Giles M., Sarah 
U. . Margaret A. , Jacob T. , Laura J. , Martha 
E.,MaryM. , Julia and Ellen C, who mar- 
ried Joseph C. Fulenwider, a native of Rowan 
County, N. C. He was born May 22, 1858, 
and was married in 1878. He is the owner 
of tifty-five acres of good land. He is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Church, and she of the 
German Reformed. They have two children, 
viz., Bessie J. and Josie Ann. Mr. and Mrs 
Meisenheimer are members of the St. Johns 
Church . In politics he is a Democrat. 

ALFRED MEISENHEIMER, Justico of 
the Peace, Jonesboro, was born October 20, 
1820, in the township of Union County that 



bears his name, and it may be said that it 
was named in honor of the Meisenheimer 
family, who were among the first settlers of 
that part of the county. He is a son of 
David Meisenheimer, who emigrated from 
Cabarrus County, N. C. , in 1819. He was a 
native of the same county, born March 1, 

1791, and died in 1871. He came to this 
county with his father (sabject's grand- 
father), Peter Meisenheimer, a soldier of the 
Revolutionary war. Rosana (Hollocher) 
Meisenheimer, the mother of our subject, was 
born in Cabarrus County, N. C, June 5, 

1792, and died in J 868. She was the mother 
of six children, three boys and three girls, of 
whom the following are now living: Mary, 
wife of A. Brown ; Lucinda, wife of 
John Brown, and Alfred, our subject, 
who was the oldest child. His education 
was limited to such as could be obtained 
from the subscription schools common in his 
day. His occupation has been principally 
that of a farmer; he does, however, work at 
the carpenter's and blacksmith's trade some. 
Ee has been twice married; his first wife 
was Anna E. Weaver, who was born in Un- 
ion County, November 22, 1822, and died 
August 3, 1859. She was a daughter of 
John and Sarah (Lyerle) Weaver, who were 
early settlers of Union County. She was the 
mother of three children, viz., MaryE., born 
January 15, 1845, now the wife of Caleb M. 
Lyerle and the mother of three children, viz. , 
Martha J., Ann and Alfred M.; J. Monroe, 
born April 3, 1849, married Miss Mary J. 
Dillow, who is the mother of the following 
children: Alfred H, Etta and William C. ; 
Henry J. L. was born January 2, 1857. 
Mr. Meisenheimer married a second time, 
Miss Lucinda Keller, who was born in Union 
County April 5, 1832. She is a daiighter of 
Christopher W. and Nancy (Lence) Keller. 
This union has been blessed with one child, 



188 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Joseph E. J., who was born December 15, 
1864. Mr. Meisenheimer is amemberof the 
order A., F. & A .M., Jonesboro Lodge, No. 
Ill He has held several offices, that of Con- 
stable, Township Treasurer for about four- 
teen years and Justice of the Peace, the most 
of the time since he was twenty- eight years 
of age; he is now holding that office. Dur- 
ing the life of our subject, he has been fort- 
unate in obtaining asufficiency of the world's 
goods to enjoy a life of ease in his old age. 
He is now the owner of 623 acres of land, of 
which 360 belong to the homestead farni. 

GILES M. MEISENHEIMER, farmer, 
P. O. Springville, was born January 27, 
1843, in this county, and is a son of John 
N. and Elizabeth (Penninger) Meisenheimer. 
He was born in Indiana, where his father, 
Jacob Meisenheimer, had moved to from 
Rowan County, N. C. In 1818, they came to 
this county and settled five miles southwest of 
Jonesboro. The parents of our subject 
raised a family of nine children, of whom he 
Is the oldest. He was educated in the com- 
mon schools of the county, and September 
9, 1869, was married in Anna, to Miss Ma- 
tilda Ann Dougherty. She was born No- 
vember 25, 1848; is a daughter of William 
Dougherty and a grand- daughter of Elijah 
Dougherty. Mr. and Mrs. Meisenheimer 
have four children, viz. Edna E., born May 
23,1872; Emily E., born April 15, 1874; 
Birdie A., born October 21, 1876; and Will- 
iam Pearl, October 4, 1879. He has a farm 
of 222 acres, well improved, including the 
old homestead, and is a prosperous farmer. 
Elijah Dougherty, the grandfather of Mrs. 
Meisenheimer, was born in Virginia, Decem- 
ber 20, 1777, and emigrated to Missouri in 
1800 and died in 1855. He married Martha 
Hand, who was born July 2, 1784, and died 
in 1840. Mrs. Meisenheimer's father, W^ill- 
iam Dougherty, was born June 17, 1804, 



and died April 21, 1873. His wife was born 
July 8, 1804, and died July 28, 1859, in 
Scott County, Mo. 

J. M. MEISENHEIMER, farmer, P. O. 
Jonesboro, son of J. N. Meisenheimer, and a 
native of Union County, 111., was born April 
3, 1849. In Union County, December 18, 
1873, he married Miss Mary J. Dillow, who 
was born in Union County August 26, 1856. 
She is a, daughter of Henry and Sophia (Lin- 
gle) Dillow. She is the mother of three 
children, viz., Henry A., born September 12, 
1874; Etta, born November 1, 1877, and 
William C, born June 16, 1880. -Mr. Meis- 
enheimer is a member of the order A., F. & 
A, M. , Jonesboro Lodge, No. 111. He is 
the owner of 140 acres of land. In politics, 
he is a Democrat. He is a wide-awake bus- 
iness man and capable of discharging the 
duties of any position in the township or 
county. 

J. H. POOLE, farmer, P. O. Mill Creek, 
is a son of John and Susanah (Moweiy) 
Poole, who were immigrants to this county 
from North Carolina. They were the par- 
ents of nine children, of whom eight are 
now living. Our subject was born in Ken- 
tucky November 20, 1838. He spent his 
early life at home, receiving such an educa- 
tion as the common schools of Union County 
afforded, and assisting to till the soil of his 
father's farm. Arriving at his majority, he 
embarked on his life career as a farmer, an 
occupation he is at present engaged in. In 
the fall of 1862, he enlisted in the war, 
serving first in Company A, of the One Hun- 
dred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
and was afterward transferred to the Eleventh 
Illinois Regiment, in which he served to the 
close of the war. He has been married 
three times; first to Elizabeth Mowery, 
who died, leaving one child, J. P. Poole. 
He married for hi& second wife Mary L. 



MEISENHEIMER PRECINCT. 



Peeler, who bore him one child, Arelis. 
He was married a third time, to Martha 
L. Brown, daughter of Abraham Brown. 
She is the mother of the following chil- 
dren: Ella, Abbey L., Laura E., Albert, 
Willie, Lucy and Jennie. Mr. Poole and 
wife are religiously connected with the Ger- 
man Reform Church. He is a member of 
the orders A., F. & A. M. and K. of H. He 
is the owner of 375 acres of land. In poli- 
tics he is identified with the Democratic 
party. For several years he has served his 
neighbors in the capacity of School Director 
and Trustee. 

G. W. POOLE, farmer, P. O. Mill Creek. 
This gentleman is a grandson of Jacob Poole, 
of North Carolina. He is a native of Union 
County, 111., born January 26, 1843. Ho is 
a son of John and SiTsana (Mowery) Poole, 
both natives of North Carolina. He was 
born Januury 7, 1815; she was born Febru- 
ary 14, 1817, and is now living with our 
subject; they a7-e the parents of nine chil- 
dren. George W. Poole, our subject, was 
raised on the farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native county. He is a 
farmer and owns a farm of 165 acres. In 
June, 1864, in Union County, he married 
Mise Margaret N. Meisenheimer, who was 
born February 8, 1846. She is a daughter 
of John N. Meisenheimer, and the mother of 
seven children, of whom the following are 
now living: Berdelia, born July 11, 1867; 
Oliver E., born May 25, 1869; Sidney C, 
born Januaiy 29, 1873; Cora A., born Jan- 



uary 20, 1875; and Lilly I., born January 
17, 1877. Mr. Poole is a member of the 
Reform Church and his wife of the Luther- 
an Church. He is a member of the order 
A., F. & A. M., at Jonesboro Lodge, No. 111. 
Politically he is a stanch Democrat. Al- 
though he is slow to make up his mind in 
regard to any new thing which will come un- 
der his observation, yet when it is once made 
up he will seldom swerve from it and will 
come up to his agreements. 

THOMAS A. SAUERBRUNN, farmer, 
P. O. Anna, was born February 9, 1847, in 
Weingarten, Bavaria. He is a son of Jacob 
Sauerbrunn, born 1816, in Bavaria, where he 
married Anna M. Andres, who bore him four 
children, viz., Peter, Eva, Thomas A. and 
Frederick. Jacob Sauerbrunn came here in 
1860, settling in Union County, 111. Our 
subject, Thomas A. Sauerbrunn, attended 
school in Germany. He came to this coun- 
try with his father, and was married here 
April 26, 1875, to Louisa Worsfcman, born 
September 24, 1857, in Groszleppin, Prus- 
sia. She is a daughter of William and 
Maria (Coym) Worstman, who are living in 
this county. Mrs. Louisa Sauerbrunn is the 
mother of two children, viz., William, born 
June 28, J876, and Emma H., born Septem- 
ber 19, 1877. Mr. Sauerbrunn is considered 
a good farmer and has a farm of 130 acres, 
which he keeps in a good state of cultivation. 
He is a Democrat in politics. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sauerbrunn are religiously connected with 
the German Evangelical Lutheran Church. 



190 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



STOKES PEEOIJSrOT. 



JOHN H. BOSWELL, farmer, P. 0. Mount 
Pleasant, was born November 4, 1839, in Union 
County, 111.; is a son of Thomas and Percy 
(Cox) Boswell, natives of North Carolina, and 
early residents of this county. The father is 
living, and seven of his eight children survive 
— Mary (the wife of Greorge W. Cook), Zilpha^ 
Carrie C. (the wife of F. McGinnis), Jane, 
John H., William T. and Thomas. The father 
was married a second time, to Mrs. Mary 
Stroller, and a third time, to Mar}' McGinnis. 
Further mention of the original Boswell family 
is made in another part of this work. John H. 
attended the country schools and nine months 
at the Shurtleff College. He afterward taught 
two terms, at $35 per month. He fulfilled a 
contract to carry mail from Vienna to Golcon- 
da, Rendlesburg, Metropolis City, and return 
from 1866 to 1870. In 1878, he bought his 
present farm of 160 acres, where he has since 
remained. He owns 320 acres of fine land, 
the result of his own efforts. He is making 
some specialt}' of raising cattle, having at 
present a fine-blooded Durham bull. Was 
married in 1861 to Lizzie A. Major, a daughter 
of James M. Major, of Missouri, and has by 
her four children — Edgar, Charles L., Thomas 
(deceased) and Laura J. (deceased). He served 
for a few months in defense of his country. 
He has been Justice of the Peace, and is serv- 
ing his second term as Township Treasurer. 
He and wife are members of the Christian 
Church of Vienna. He is a Democrat. His 
farm is so arranged that stock can get water 
from each field. 

G. W. CLINE, farmer, P. 0. Anna, was born 
August 7, 1835, in Cabarrus County, N. C. ; 
is a son of James and Matilda (Barnhart) Cline. 
natives of North Carolina, and the parents of 



six children — Mary, Maggie, G. W., Adamr 
Sarah and Thomas. The father survives in 
North Carolina among the wealthy merchants. 
Our subject attended the countr^^ schools of 
his native county, and was brought up on a 
farm. In 1858, he came to Illinois and rented 
land of Davidson, near Jonesboro. At the 
breaking-out of the war, he enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry', and was transferred to the One Hun- 
dred and Eleventh, in which he remained for 
about three years, and was with the regiment 
at each engagement ; was struck with a spent 
ball, making a slight wound on the neck. In 
1865, he bought forty acres, where he now 
lives, to which he has added until he owns 
over 200 acres, the result of his own ettbrts. 
The farm is one of the best in the precinct. 
He is a thorough agriculturist, having informed 
himself by perusing agricultui'al journals. 
He clovers the land and keeps every portion of 
it tillable and productive. From elevated por- 
tions, one can see Cobden and other places for 
many miles around. He was married, 1861, 
to Elizabeth C. Lyerle, the result being Jane, 
Catharine, M. Mary, Amanda, Maggie. James 
J., John, Minnie and Ida. He is now serving 
as Township Trustee. He devotes considerable 
time in the interest of the education of his 
children and furnishes them with several news- 
papers. He gives his personal attention to his 
farm, which is the secret of his success. He 
votes the Democratic ticket. 

W. H. COBBIT, farmer, P. 0. Lick Creek, 
was born November 13, 1827, in Johnson 
County, 111. Is the son of Philip and Margaret 
(Keen) Corbit, natives of North Carolina, and 
residents of Illinois since about the year 1820. 
In 1830, the family came to Union County and 



STOKES PRECINCT. 



191 



rented a farm for some time. Four of Philip's 
and Martlia's children survive the other three. 
Those living are W. H., Civil, Calvin and 
James. The mother died in 1839, and the 
father subsequentl}- married Susannah, the 
widow of Massack Stokes. The father died in 
1862. The mother was an early and always an 
active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. W. H. had but little school advan- 
tages; such as he did get, were at the log-cabin 
many of which are elaborately described in this 
volume. After the death of his mother, he 
lived with Caleb Mu.sgraves, then a resident on 
the present site of Mt. Pleasant. He tilled the 
soil where Moi'gan Stokes' residence now stands. 
At the age of twenty-two, he was found work- 
ing by the month at $10. In 1849, he took 
the gold fever, and drove a four-horse team to 
California, where he mined successfully for 
nearly three years, and afterward returned by 
water. He started from the shores of Cali- 
fornia March 30, 1851, and after a long, tire- 
some voyage of thirty- five daj's, he landed from 
the Pacific waters on the Isthmus of Panama, 
which neck of land he walked across during 
the night following his landing. He was com- 
pelled to wait ten da3's for a boat, and was 
finally transported across the Caribbean Sea to 
the Island of Cuba, thence to New Orleans and 
from there to Willard's Landing, in thiscount}-, 
on the Mississippi River. When arriving at 
the above landing, the river was on a terrible 
spree and he had to find his way to the shore by 
means of a canoe, a distance of six miles. He 
was in company with John Mijintosh and Dan 
Craver. On arriving home, he bought eighty 
acres where he now lives, of Thomas Boswell, 
and here he has resided most of his time since. 
He is the artificer of his own fortune of 160 
acres of as fine land as there is in Stokes Pre- 
cinct. He is making some specialty of stock- 
raising. Was married, 1854, to Catharine, a 
daughter of James and Clarissa Bishop. They 
have no children of their own. He had the 



misfortune in 1 862 to get a thumb torn off by 
a threshing machine. He is raising a boy by 
the name of Charles Walker, who was found 
when quite small, at the State Fair, at Duquoin. 
Mr. Corbit and consort had retired from farm 
labor for awhile to that cit}', and as an act of 
charity took the boy, who said his name was 
Charles Walker, and who had been set oflT from 
a train. He has never been identified by an}- 
parents or relatives. He is a very spriglitl}- 
boy, smart and intelligent, and will always 
cherish a bright memory of those exemplary 
persons who have so kindly- cai'ed for him. 
Mr. C. has served as Trustee for five years, and 
from 1863 to 1865 as Constable. He is an 
active advocate of the principles of the Repub- 
lican party. 

J. C. EMERSOX, farmer, P. 0. Anna, was 
born December 25, 1834, in North Carolina ; is 
a son of Silas and Sarah (Cartner) Emerson, 
natives of North Carolina, and the parents of 
six children, viz.: Gr. W., J. C, Mary C, Sam- 
uel B., Bichard J., Ruth E. The father died 
in his native State and the mother came with 
our subject to this county in 1855, where she 
died in 1867. The parents were members of 
the Cumberland Presbyterian organization, 
Mr. E. settled where he now resides as soon as 
entering the count}-. He possesses 160 acres 
of well improved land, the result of his own 
eflforts and frugal management. He was mar- 
ried, 1855, to Mary E. Stroud of North Caro- 
lina, the result being Sarah and Richard T. He 
was married a second time to Rebecca J. Da- 
vis ; no children. His third and last union 
was with Elizabeth C. Dill, the result of which 
is six children, viz.: George M., Melinda E., 
Silas M., Melissa A., Eli T. and one deceased. 
He has served the precinct with credit for 
three years as Trustee ; enlisted in Compau}' 
E, Thirty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry and 
served eight months ; is a member of the 
Count^ Fair Association. Himself and wife 
are Presbvterians. He is an active and ear- 



192 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



nest laborer in the interests of the Republican 
part}'. 

J. L. HALTAMAN, farmer, P. 0. Anna, was 
born March 17, 1839, i;i North Carolina, is a 
son of Abram and Anna (Stavolt) Haltainan, 
natives of North Carolina, and the parents of 
the following children, viz.: Easter, Monroe, 
Mary, Noah, Irene, Lena, Marquis, J. L., 
Michael, Jacob, Thomas and John. The 
parents came here in 1849. They were Lu- 
therans. J. L. received such school advan- 
tages as the country afforded during his 
younger days. His parents having died, he 
engaged for himself at the age of eighteen 
years ; was married, 1861, to Miss T. A. Toler, a 
daughter of William Toler, and has by her 
nine, of eleven children, living — Easter E. 
Jacob A., Miles, Andrew J., Sarah E., Martha 
A., George E., Ora A., Giles. He settled at 
marriage where he now lives, having then 
eighty acres, to which he has added until he 
possesses 260 acres, of finely improved qual- 
iiies. He served three 3'ears in the defense of 
his country. He has been willing to serve his 
share of the small oflflces where it is all labor 
and no pa^^ Votes the Democratic ticket. 

F. M. HENARD, farmer, P. 0. Mt. Pleas- 
ant. The gentleman whose name heads this 
sketch was born June 7, 1835, in Hawkins 
County, Tenn. He is a son of Jones and Ro- 
sannah (Cooper) Henard, both natives of Vir- 
ginia, and parents of nine children, six of 
whom are living — William. F. M., Nancy, Polly, 
Stephen and Elizabeth J. Subject attended 
school about two months a year at the old sub- 
scription schools. He resided on the home 
farm until 1854, when he came to Illinois, first 
settling in Johnson Count}-, and for the first 
six months worked out at $8 per month, and 
out of this paid about 75 cents for washing. He 
worked out for about five years, and finally 
had his wages increased to $14 per month. 
Upon his marriage, he received 300 acres as 
his wife's dowry; this has since been increased 



to a farm of 800 acres, most of which is now 
improved. He has also erected a saw mill on 
his farm, and there does custom sawing, and 
has lately finished the erection of a store room 
on his farm, where he keeps a general stock of 
goods. He vvas married, December 8, 1859, 
to Miss Lucretia A. Bridges, a native of John- 
son County. The result of this union was 
thirteen children, nine of whom are living : 
John W., Mary A., Ellen, James, George, 
Carrie, Abbie J., Luly and Everett C. He 
has been School Trustee several years. Over- 
seer of the Poor, Road Supervisor and School 
Director. He and wife are both members of 
the Baptist Church, he has been connected 
with that denomination for many years. Has 
helped to erect several churches, one at 
Cairo, another at Vienna, and others at many 
other places. In politics, he is a Democrat. 

E. H. HILEMAN, farmer, P. 0. Anna, was 
born May 21, 1838, in Union County, 111.; is a 
son of Peter and Susannah (Miller) Hileman, 
natives of North Carolina, and residents of this 
county in 1819, where Mrs. M. Goodman now 
resides, in Dongola Precinct. Jacob, the 
father of Peter, had a large family — Jacob, 
John, Peter, Adam, Henry, Christian, George, 
Christina and Elizabeth, all of whom came to 
this county save Jacob. The father of our sub- 
ject had twelve children— Catharine, Elizabeth, 
John, Samuel, Adam, Christina, Sarah, Jacob, 
William, E. H., Caleb and M. Franklin. The 
parents were members of the St. Johns Church. 
Our subject attended school in a log cabin, lo- 
cated near where, the Cope roads now cross. 
His specialty in life has been that of a ruralist. 
He was married, September 8, 1867, to Mar- 
tha, a daughter of George and Eliza (Smith) 
Kimbel, the result being eight children — 
Charles E., Ira J., Loueva J., Edward H., Nora 
E., Flora E., Cyrus C. and Fannie B. At mar- 
riage, he settled his present farm of 287 acres, 
where he has since remained, improving the 
same and making it one of the best farms in 



STOKES PRECINCT. 



193 



the precinct. He also owns 175 acres in the 
neighborhood, all of which is the result of his 
own labors. He enlisted in the One Hundred 
and Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, as Cor- 
poral, and served nearly three years. Was in 
the siege of Vicksburg, Yazoo City. Spanish 
Fort, Fort Blakel}-, and others. On his farm 
are the remains of some ancient mounds, and 
it is probable the Indians had their camping 
grounds here. He votes the Democratic ticket. 
Is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church, while his wife is a member of the Bap- 
tist organization. 

ARCHIBALD MILES, farmer, P. 0. Mount 
Pleasant, was born December 16, 1833, in 
Union County, 111. Is a son of James and 
Elizabeth (Brazel) Miles, natives of Caro- 
lina. The parents came here when single. 
They were blessed with eleven children by their 
union, ten of whom gi'ew up, namel}^, Nancy, 
John, Marj^, Archibald, Kimon, James, Clark, 
Elizabeth, Samuel, "William and Talton. Our 
subject attended the log-cabin schools during 
his 3'oung days, in all about three mouths. He 
has experienced the scenes that make up the 
life of the early settlers of this county, such as 
going to mill on horseback, plowing with the 
wooden mold-board plow with ox teams, etc. 
He was married, 1852, to Bernetty Cochran, 
and has three children living, viz. : George M., 
James A. and W. D., and five deceased, viz. : 
Nancy J., John C, Eraeline, infant, Frances 
E. Mr. Miles settled on his present farm in 
1853, buying at that time forty acres, with but 
little improvement. .By industry and frugal 
dealing, he has added until he possesses 336 
acres, the result of his own labors. The onl}^ 
means he could call his own at the beginning 
of his matrimonial career, was one yearling 
calf, the gift of her mother, and one yearling 
colt, the gift of his father, and one bedstead, 
the entire amount worth about $100. He is a 
member of Evergreen Lodge, I. 0. 0. F. ; votes 



the Democratic ticket ; ranks among the best 
farmers in the county, and is strictly honest. 

ISAAC M. NEWTON, farmer, P. 0. Lick 
Creek, was born November 1, 1841, in William- 
son County, 111. ; is a son of James and Mary 
Newton. The mother, Mary Diarman Newton, 
was born November 28, 1 803, in Rockcastle 
County, Ky. She is a daughter of William 
and Esther (Trapp) Diarman, the father, a na- 
tive of North Carolina, and of Irish descent, 
and the mother a native of Virginia, and of 
English descent. Her parents came to Pike 
County, 111., 1820, and there died, the father 
in 1822, and the mother in 1832. They had 
five children, two of whom survive, viz., Jona- 
than and Mary. The mother of our subject 
was married in 1820 to Leonard Buckner, who 
died in 1835, being the father of seven children 
by his union with her, viz., David M. and 
Martha C. The remaining five are deceased. 
She again married in 1837, James Newton, of 
Pope County, 111., by whom she was blessed with 
six children, viz. : Sarah J., Isaac M., James 
D., William W., John T., and infant, deceased. 
Her last husband, Mr. N., died April 17, 1866. 
She came with him to this county in 1852, set- 
tling on the farm now owned by Isaac M. and 
William W. Newton. James Newton was mar- 
ried to Susan Damron, prior to that with Mary, 
the result being no children. Mrs. Mary New- 
ton is surviving with her children, in Stokes 
Precinct ; has been for sixty-five years a mem- 
ber of the Protestant M. E. Church, to which 
her last consort belonged. She has labored hard 
with her family, experiencing all the scenes of 
the pioneer life. The grandfather Newton was 
a soldier in the war of 1812 ; laid a land war- 
rant in Florida, but accidentall}- lost his title 
papers. Isaac, our subject, attended the cabin 
schools. He enlisted in Company E, One Hun- 
dred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry 
and was transferred to Company C, Elev- 
enth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, serving 
with the compan}^ in all engagements for 

M 



194 



BIOGRAPHICAL ; 



about three 3'ears. He was wounded in the 
left forearm at Yazoo City. Was married. De- 
cember 26, 1861, to Clark Miles, the result be- 
ing seven children, five of whom are living, 
viz. : James M., John F., Mary E., William E. 
and Lulu M. His wife died April 10, 1883. 
He is a member of the Evergreen Lodge, I. 0. 
0. F., of Lick Creek, and is also a member of K. 
of H., Jonesboro ; votes the Democratic ticket. 
His brother, William W., married Amanda 
Tharp, the result being six children ; four sur- 
vive, viz. : Laura E., Leva A., Frances E. and 
Oliver E. Those deceased were Sarah E. and 
Mary L. His wife died March 31, 1883. These 
two brothers have 282 acres of fine land, which 
they are cultivating, making some specialty of 
stock-raising. They are Democrats. 

WILLIAM P. PENNINGER, farmer, P. 0. 
Anna, was born December 16, 1829, in Rowan 
County, N. C. He is a son of William and 
Elizabeth (Lock) Penninger, natives of North 
Carolina, and the parents of Alexander L., 
Eliza, George W., John William, Sarah A. 
and Mary J. The father was married a second 
time to Mary Lynch, the result being Mary J., 
Daniel F., Margaret S., Levi C, Laura M., 
Mahala C, Martha, Minerva, Melinda A., Miles 
G. and Morgan J. Our subject had the advan- 
tages of the pioneer log-cabin schools. At the 
age of nineteen years, he began for himself, b}^ 
buying a farm of ninety-six acres in the thick 
forests. Here he devoted his entire time to 
clearing. He possesses, at this writing, 180 
acres of fine land, the result of his own labors. 
He has used ox teams, and the wooden mold- 
board plows ; gone to mill on horseback, and 
experienced all the scenes that go to make up 
the life of the early pioneer. He was married, 
in 1850, to Susan Kisler, a native of Illinois, 
which union gave him one child. She died in 
less than a year, and Mr. P. was subsequently 
married to Ellen Hunsuckle, the result being 
Samantha and Isophene. The strong hand of 
death again visited his family, and he again 



sought a third marriage, and united with Eliza- 
beth Worle3\ and has been blessed by her with 
Idelle, Dora, Almina, Lafaj'ette, Maggie. Carrie, 
Benton and William. Mrs. P. was born April 
3, 1844, in Tennessee ; is a daughter of Elisha 
and Elizabeth (Farris) Worle}^, natives of South 
Carolina, and the parents of twelve children, 
five of whom survive, viz., Henry, J. M., Cas- 
sandra, Mary and Elizabeth. Her parents came 
to Illinois in 1855, and are now residents of 
Clay County, Tex. 

W. J. STANDARD, farmer, P. 0. Mt. Pleas- 
ant, was born in this county March 3, 1833, 
and received his education at the old subscrip- 
tion schools, with the old slab seats and writing 
desks, puncheon floors and stick and clay 
chimneys, only attending from forty to sixtj' 
days in the course of a year. He worked on 
the farm until he was about nineteen 3'ears old, 
and then for four years he clerked in the dr}' 
goods store of C. D. Finch, of Jonesboro. 
When twenty-three, he commenced the profes- 
sion of teaching, and followed it until the year 
1880. He taught about seventeen terms, earn- 
ing first $35, and having increased graduall}' 
to $50. He settled on his present farm in 1863, 
and now owns 200 acres, mostly improved ; has 
some nice stock and a fine orchard. He was 
married November 5, 1863, to Elizabeth J. 
Sitter, daughter of Solomon H. and Hannah 
(Oiler) Sitter. The result of this union is one 
son, Warren, who is at home. Our subject is 
no oflSce seeker, and is a member of the Demo- 
cratic party, casting his first vote for Bu- 
chanan. 

MORGAN STOKES, farmer and merchant, 
P. 0. Mount Pleasant. When we trace the 
history of our leading men, and search for the 
secret of their success, we find, as a rule, they 
were men who were early thrown upon their 
own resources, and whose first experiences 
were in the face of adversity' and oppression. 
Such was the case with Morgan Stokes, an out- 
line of whose life ma}' he found in what follows. 



STOKES PRECINCT. 



195 



He is a native of Union Count}^, 111., born June 
21, 1831, and is the oldest living native citizen 
of Stokes Precinct. The original Stokes family 
came to this borough from Kentucky, and set- 
tled near where is now the present site of Mount 
Pleasant, in 1811. Jones Stokes, one of these 
pioneers, married Minerva Davidson, a native 
of Kentucky. The result of which was five 
children, four of whom survive, viz. : Elizabeth, 
wife of John Sivia ; Morgan (subject) ;- Sarah, 
the wife of H. N. Halterman ; Nancy, the wife 
of Giles Toler, and Evans. She died, and Mr. 
Stokes subsequently married Elizabeth, a sis- 
ter of his first consort, which union gave him 
Jones, Piety and Matthew. Morgan, whose 
portrait appears in this volume, from his early 
boyhood, assisted in the labors of the farm. 
His educational advantages were such as the 
subscription schools of the country' afforded. 
In those days, schoolhouses of an}' kind were 
few, and Mr. S. was compelled to walk five miles 
to obtain such meager educational facilities as it 
was his fortune to treasure. No time was lost 
in truancj*, but his business was the improve- 
ment of his mind, and the duties of the ruralist. 
He never, as he gi'ew older, learned that a sea- 
son of " sowing wild oats " was necessary or 
essential to make a man ; so, b}- perseverance, 
he has arisen, step b}- step, and now ranks 
among the wealthiest men of the county, hav- 
ing at this writing about 900 acres of finely-im- 
proved land. A portion of his possessions is 
the old homestead, which he obtained by pur- 
chasing the heirs' part, and inheriting his 
equal share. His first farming for himself was 
on railroad land. During the late civil war, he 
enli-sted in the One Hundred and Ninth Regi- 
ment Illinois Volunteer Infantr}' ; was elected, 
commissioned, served and was mustered out as 
First Lieutenant. About three months before 
his regiment was consolidated, he was elected 
and served as Captain, but did not receive his 
commission. In 1865, he bought out Leaven- 
worth & Little, who kept a general store at 



Mount Pleasant. This business he continued 
with marked success for eight 3'ears, when he 
sold to a Mr. Brown. In a short time, the 
building and entire contents were destroj-ed by 
fire, and Mr. Stokes was the loser of tlie former. 
He subsequently erected a handsome two-story 
brick building, and, in partnership with J. W. 
Ramse}', he carries on a general line of mer- 
chandising, Mr. R. taking charge of the same. 
He has on his farm a blacksmith shop, which 
does the work of the neighborhood. He believes 
in improvement, and has latel}' erected a fine 
barn at an expense of several hundred dollars. 
He was married in 1855 to Margaret Halter- 
man, the result being nine children, eight of 
whom are living, viz. : Martha, the wife of 
George Otrich, Henry, John, Daniel, Laura, 
Flora B., Piety E. and George E. In politics, 
Mr. Stokes is a Democrat of the old Jetferson 
school, and wields a large influence in his town- 
ship upon all questions coming to a vote. In- 
deed, the saying, " as votes Morgan Stokes, so 
votes Stokes Precinct," has become proverbial. 
Although Mr. Stokes' tastes and inclinations 
would incline him strictl}- and exclusively to 
the cares of his farm, his neighbors' apprecia- 
tion of his business abilit}" and judgment have 
called him to serve them for several years 
in succession as a Justice of the Peace, which 
position he now holds. He is ii member of 
Moscow Lodge, A., F. & A. M. He is a man of 
mild disposition, careful and cautious in all his 
movements, and conscientious in all that he 
says or does. He is at the same time firm 
and decided, and adheres with rigid tenacity to 
every principle of justice and right. Polite in 
manners, genial and social in his habits, he has 
made for himself a large circle of devoted 
friends, and by his upright life, has not failed 
to leave upon all with whom he has mingled 
the impress of his genuine manhood. 

J. B. STOKES, farmer, P. 0. Mt. Pleasant, 
was born February 19, 1838, in Union County, 
and is a son of John and Mary (Gwin) Stokes, 



196 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



who came to this county before marriage. The 
parents had ten children, viz.: Jones, Martha^ 
Alfred, William, Calvin, James, J. B., Mary, 
Elizabeth, Preecly. Our subject had the ad- 
vantage of the country log cabin schools. He 
was married March 30, 1859, to Mary A. Mc- 
Tntire, native of Kentucky, and daughter of 
John and Nancj" Mclntire, also natives of 
Kentuck}-, and the parents of seven children — 
John, Nancy J., Mary. A., Dallas, Elizabeth, 
Rufus, Julia A. By his union, Mr. Stokes has 
eight children, three of whom survive, namely : 
Richard, James and Dennis. He settled at his 
marriage where William Holmes now lives, and 
in 1876 he bought his present farm of ninety 
acres of James Miles. He now possesses 130 
acres of good land. Enlisted in Company E, 
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment Illinois 
Infantry, and was in the service nearly three 
years. He is a member of the Evergreen 
Lodge, No. 581, I. 0. 0. F., of Lick Creek. He 
votes the Democratic ticket. 

MRS. ZILPHA H. STOKES, farmer, P. 0. 
Mt. Pleasant, is a native of this county, and 
was born March 10, 1841. She is the daugh- 
ter of Thomas and [Percy (Cox) Boswell. They 
were natives of North Carolina, and came to 
this county when quite young, and after mar- 
riage the}" raised a familj' of eight children — 
Eleanor J., John H., Zilpha, Mary C, Sarah E., 
William T., Thomas J. and Percy C. The 
parents were both members of the Methodist 
Church. The father is still living, but the 
mother has passed away to her reward. The 
educational advantages of our subject were but 
limited, her schooling being obtained almost 
entirely at the subscription schools of that day. 
As a maiden, most of her time was spent at 
home helping her mother spin, weave, and in 
doing the general work of the household, until 
April 16, 1857, when she was united in mat- 
rimony to George E. Stokes, who was born 
November 24, 1834, and is a brother of Mor- 
gan Stokes. B3' this union, there were six 



children, two of whom are living — Thomas J. 
and Perc}' M. The names of the dead ones 
are W. D., Daniel J., an infant unnamed, and 
Sarah F. Mr. Stokes was a member of the A., 
F. & A. M., and I. 0. 0. F., which meet at 
Dongola. He died January 15, 1870. Mr. 
and Mrs. Stokes, when they commenced life, 
settled on a farm of 160 acres, which was then 
mostly in woods, but is now nearly all improved. 
On this old homestead, located in Section 33, 
southeast quai'ter, she now resides, and, assist- 
ed by her son, Thomas J., is running the farm. 
Mrs. Stokes is a member of the Methodist 
Church. 

PETER VERBLE, farmer, P. 0. Dongola, 
among the leading farmers of this count}', is 
Mr. Peter Verble, born here in 1816. His 
parents removed from North Carolina to this 
borough in about the year 1815 or 1816, set- 
tling in Dongola Precinct, on the land now 
owned by the Washington Brown heirs. The 
father erected a water-power grist mill at an 
early date on Big Creek, where many of the 
early settlers got their corn and wheat ground. 
The father was blessed with twenty-nine chil- 
dren by his four unions. The parents were 
members of the Lutheran Church. Peter at- 
tended school, as did the other members of 
the family, in the log cabin. He was married, 
in 1840, to Margaret Correll, the result being 
fourteen children, viz.: Eli, Susan, Betsey, 
Nancy, William, Peter, Ollie, Jane, Hiram, 
Daniel, George, John, Jackson and Phabe. 
His wife died and he was subsequentl}^ mar- 
ried to Mary (Penninger), the widow of George 
Otrich. By economy and hard labor, he has 
secured 210 acres of fine land. He has owned 
at one time 700 acres, which he has divided 
among his children. He votes the Democratic 
ticket. 

RICHARD WIGGS, farmer, P. 0. Mt. Pleas- 
ant, was born December 16, 1825, in North 
Carolina, is a son of Needhara and A. (Dixon) 
Wiggs. The famil}' came to Mt. Pleasant, 



SARATOGA PRECINCT. 



197 



this county, in 1839, by means of a three- 
horse wagon and cart, their journey was long 
and tedious, they being six weeks and three 
days on the way. Soon after arriving in this, 
then wild and almost unbroken countiy, the 
father bought 120 acres of Government land, 
where he at once settled. The mother died in 
1841. They had five children, three of whom 
are living, viz.: Richard, Caroline E., the wife 
of Miles L. Pender, Hannah, the wife of John 
Pickrell, of Anna. The father married subse- 
quentl}' three times, the latter two proving 
fruitless, and those of the second union are de- 
ceased. Richard was educated in the log 



cabin, and was brought up on the farm. Was 
married, 1849, to Mary F. Greer, and has l)een 
blessed with thx"ee children, two of whom are 
living — Sarah, the wife of Thomas H. McLane 
born October 6, 1849, is the son of John and 
J. P. (Standard) McLane, the parents of 
Thomas H., F. E., the (wife of Mr. Fitzgerald), 
Alexander, A. H., Viola C, and one deceased. 
The last child of our subject is Martha C. 
Mr. Wiggs has 120 acres of well improved 
land. He enlisted in Company E, One Hun- 
dred and Ninth Infantry, and was soon after 
transferred, where he remained for nearl}- three 
years ; was a sharpshooter ; is a Democrat. 



8AEATOGA PEE0I:N^CT. 



JOHN W. BOSTIAN, P. O. Anna, is a na- 
tive of North Carolina. Andrew Bostian, the 
grandfather of our subject, was a Captain in 
the Revolutionary war, and moved from Penn- 
sylvania to North Carolina when quite young. 
Here the father of our subject, John Bostian, 
was born in 1797 ; he was the youngest of six 
children, and was married, upon reaching man- 
hood, to Mary Duke. By this marriage, there 
were six children, of whom our subject was the 
oldest, and he was born April 26, 1821. His 
education was received in the old subscription 
school, and after finishing his schooling he 
commenced farming in that State. Mr. Bostian 
remained here until 1850, when he removed to 
this county, where he settled fii'st on a farm, 
about seven miles south of Jonesboro. 
Here he remained until the fall of 1853, when 
he removed to his present location, about five 
miles from Anna ; where he devotes most of 
his attention to farming. He also makes a 
specialt}' of fine cattle, dealing mostly in Dur- 
ham short-horn, and has about twenty head. 
Mr. Bostian has been married twice, and both 



of his wives are now dead. He was married 
first in North Carolina to Miss Margaret Good- 
man, daughter of John Goodman. She was 
the mother of seven children, of whom five are 
living, namely, Julius M., Susan S., William 
Walter, Charlotte E. and Laura A.; of these all 
but one are married, and have started out in 
life for themselves. Miss Susan now remains 
at home, and keeps house for her father, the 
first Mrs. Bostian having died November 30, 
1869, he was married tiie second time in this 
count}', to Mrs. Lucinda J. Crane, November 
9, 1869. This lady, who was the daughter of 
Judge William Eaves, of Anna Precinct, was 
the mother of four children, three of whom are 
living, namel}^, Jennie, George and Charles; 
she died April 6, 1879. Our subject is a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran Church in Anna, and is 
now acting as Elder in this demonination. In 
politics, Mr. Bostian is a Democrat. 

MATHIAS CARAKER, farmer and fruit- 
grower, P. 0. W^estern Saratoga. Jacob Car- 
aker, the grandfather of our subject, was born 
in North Carolina, and was married upon reach- 



198 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



ing manhood's estate to Phoebie Verble, and 
here Daniel Caraker, the father, was born in 
North Carolina, and came with his father, when 
quite young, to this county. He married Miss 
Nancy Hair, and the young couple first settled 
in Township 2. There were ten children, and of 
these subject was the oldest, and was born 
April 5, 1850. He attended school mainly in 
Saratoga Precinct, and took one term in Jones- 
boro. Following this, subject taught three 
winter schools in the Bromet Schoolhouse, in the 
Jonesboro Precinct, and one school in the Cob- 
den Precinct. He commenced the occupation 
of farming on a farm in Cobden Precinct in 
187G, and bought his present location in March, 
1881, a farm of about 120 acres, and of this 
about 100 acres are under cultivation. There is 
also about ten acres in apple trees. Subject 
was married, September 19, 1878, to Miss V. G. 
Stout, daughter of William and Minerva 
(Clutts) Stout. She is the mother of three 
children, two of whom are living — Oscar and 
Melvin. In politics, Mr. Caraker is a Demo- 
crat. 

JAMES CORBIT, farmer and fruit-grower, 
P. O. Lick Creek. Samuel Corbit, the grand- 
father of our subject, lived in North Carolina 
and here Phillip Corbit, the father, was born, 
attained manhood's estate and married Mar- 
garet Kean. They came to this State about 
1823, and first settled in Johnson County. 
From that place, the father came to this count}- 
about the time of the birth of our subject, which 
occurred October 8, 1835. The father dying 
soon after this, the education of our subject was 
but limited, and what there was of it was ob- 
tained at the subscription schools of his day. Hie 
assisted the surrounding farmers in their work 
until he was about nineteen. During the fol- 
lowing two years or more, he worked on the 
Illinois Central Railroad, which was then in 
progress of construction. About 1845, Mr. 
Corbit apprenticed himself to a cooper by the 
name of John C. Lee, whose shop was near 



Anna. After learning his trade, subject opened 
a shop for himself at Anna, and here he worked 
until the breaking-out of the war. In 1863, 
subject purchased a farm of forty acres near 
the place where his mother had lived before 
him. It was a tract of forty acres, and but 
little improved. This the subject has, by 
patient industry, now increased to a farm of 
164 acres, and of this about 100 acres are im- 
proved, he also has about six acres in fruit 
trees. Subject enlisted in One Hundred and 
Ninth Illinois Infantry, Col. Nimmo, Company 
H, Capt J. A. McElhany, on August 15, 1861, 
and remained in service about fifteen months, 
being honorably discharged on account of dis- 
ability, he having lost an eye in the service? 
during the siege of Vicksburg. Mr. Corbit 
was married in August. 1858, to Lucinda M. 
Brown, daughter of John T. and Hannah 
(Krethers) Brown. The result of this was six 
children, three of whom are living — Emma E., 
Mary J. and Anna I. Subject is a member of 
the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, and in 
politics Mr. Corbit is a Democrat. 

ABRAHAM COVER, farmer, merchant, etc.. 
Western Saratoga. One of the most influential 
and worthy people of this precinct is the gen- 
tleman whose name heads this brief biograph}'. 
Abraham Cover, the subject of our sketch, 
was born in Carroll County, Md., about two 
miles from Westminster, on the 29th day of 
September, 1825. His grandfather on his fa- 
ther's side was among the earliest English set- 
tlers in that section of the country. His father, 
Daniel Cover, married Susannah Hahn, whose 
parents were native Germans. She was the 
mother of nine children, of whom Abraham was 
the fifth. He started to school when he was 
about seven years of age, in Carroll Count}'. 
He continued attending school here until he 
was about sixteen years old, when his mother 
(his father having died some years before that) 
moved to Jonesboro, this county. Here he 
again entered school, and continued there un- 



SARATOGA PRECINCT. 



199 



til he was about twenty-one. During the sum- 
mer of his eighteenth year, however, he appren- 
ticed himself to a tanner, and during the springs, 
summers and falls of the succeeding three or 
four years he worked at the trade most of the 
time, and at the conclusion of his schooling, he 
devoted his whole time to it, until he was mas- 
ter of his vocation. In 1848, he opened a tan- 
nery of his own nearly opposite what is called 
the Grand Chain, on the Ohio River, in Pulaski 
County. He staid there about two years, then 
moved to a farm about a mile from West Sar- 
atoga, this count}', where he has kept his resi- 
idence most of the time since. Farming was 
the first vocation that he followed after his ar- 
rival in this county, and he has now a very 
large farm to show as the result of his labors 
here. In 1856, he built a steam flour and lum- 
ber mill combined, just on the southern edge of 
the village of Saratoga, and here Mr. Cover 
continued in business until 1875. In 1862, in 
connection with his other affairs, Mr. Cover 
opened a grocery and notion store, in the limits 
of Saratoga Village, and here he also continued 
in business until 1875, in which year he moved 
both his mill and store to Tunnell Hill, John- 
son County, but still kept his residence in this 
county. The mill still remains in Johnson 
County, under the title of A. Cover & Sons, 
but the store was transferred to this county in 
1881, and he now does business in the house 
built for that purpose on his place. The sub- 
ject of this sketch has been married twice. He 
was wedded to his first wife, Miss Sophia Mil- 
ler, whose parents came from North Carolina, in 
1849. By this union he had nine children, 
seven of whom are living : William, Mary Isa- 
bella (deceased), Albert (deceased), David M., 
Caleb W., Olie, Katie, Jeanette and Effie 
May. The lady who had been the companion 
of his joj'^s and sorrows for so man}' years, de- 
parted this life, and after this great bereavement, 
Mr. Cover remained single until December 14, 
1879, when he married Miss Emeline Grimes, a 



native of Tennessee. The result of this union 
is one bright-eyed little girl, who is the joy of 
the home. Of these children, all but the three 
youngest have left the parental roof, and have 
started out on life's voj'age for themselves. But 
few men were more faithful soldiers in the 
Mexican and the civil wars than the man 
whose life we are now attempting to sketch. In 
the first war, he was among the very first to vol- 
unteer, and started out with the rank of Corpo- 
ral in Company F, of the Second Illinois Infan- 
tr}'. Col. Bissel commanding, Capt. J. S. Hacker, 
commander of company. From this service 
he was honorably discharged in July, 1847. In 
the civil war he started out in October, 1861, 
as First Lieutenant in the Sixth Illinois Cav- 
alry, and served until January, 1863, when he 
was discharged, by order of the medical board, 
on account of disability from rheumatism. Dur- 
ing his service in this war, Mr. Cover acted as 
scout in Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, but 
was in no general battle. The subject of this 
sketch is a member in good standing of Union 
Lodge, No. 627, A., F. & A. M., which meets 
at Union Hall, about six miles northeast of 
Saratoga; is also a member of the Saratoga M. 
E. Church. During the history of this church, 
Mr. Cover has been one of its most earnest sup- 
porters and helpers, and is at present one of 
the trustees, and exhorter. (A full history of 
this church will be found in another part of 
this work.) In politics, Mr. Cover was an ante- 
bellum Democrat, but his experience in the 
war changed him into a Republican, and he 
has served his country faithfully and true most 
of the time during the last twenty-five years at 
Saratoga as Postmaster. 

SAMUEL JOHNSON, farmer and fruit- 
grower, P. 0. Cobden. Frederick Johnson, the 
father of our subject, was born in Tennessee, 
lived there until manhood, and was married to 
Darthula Ledgerwood. From Tennessee, the 
father went first to Missouri, from there to In- 
diana, and finally came to this count}' in 1844. 



200 



BIOGRAPHICAJ.: 



He located on the farm now occupied by the 
son, in Saratoga Precinct, about five miles from 
Cobden, and here subject was born, January 
24, 1847. In childhood and youth, subject at- 
tended the common schools of his county, 
goingmostofthetime to the Hair Schoolhouse. 
He assisted on the home place until the death 
of his father, and then finally took charge of 
the farm in 1871, which now numbers about 
150 acres, and of this about ninety acres are 
under cultivation. Mr. Johnson was married 
July 24, 1872, to Leslie Highland, daughter of 
John and Mary (Liebarger) Highland. By this 
union there were four children, three of whom 
are living — Idella, Oliver M. and Jeanette. In 
politics, Mr. Johnson is a Democrat. 

J. A. MUSGRAVE, plasterer and farmer, 
P. 0. Cobden. Joshua Musgrave, the grand- 
father, came from North Carolina and settled 
in Bedford County, Tenn. James Musgrave, 
the father of our subject, was born in North 
Carolina August 12, 1806, and came to Ten- 
nessee, when he was about eighteen years of 
age, and here he married Minerva Anderson, 
daughter of Livingston Anderson, of Bedford 
Count}'; Tenn. By this union there were eleven 
children, and of these the subject was the sixth, 
and was born September 5, 1843. His parents 
moved to this county when subject was about 
six years of age. They first settled in Stokes 
Precinct, about twelve miles from Anna, and 
from there the father moved to Anna in 1857. 
Our subject received most of his education in 
ihe schools of Anna, and started out in life 
as a clerk in Busbin's grocery. He then 
learned the trade of a plasterer, which vocation 
he followed for a number of years extensively, 
and one that he still works at in the fall. He 
entered the ranks of the farmers b}- renting a 
farm from Mr. Grillette, located about four miles 
east of Anna, and November 14, 1880, he came 
to his present location, where he now has a 
farm of sixty-three acx*es, and of this about 
forty acres are under cultivation. Subject en- 



listed in the One Hundred and Forty-third Illi- 
nois Infantry, Col. Smith, Company B, Capt. 
Bourn, in the spring of 1865, and remained 
until the close of the war. Mr. Musgrave was 
married to Victoria Baker, daughter of Jackson 
and Caroline (Saunders) Baker. She is the 
mother of six children, three of whom are living 
— Dora, John and Freddie. Subject is a mem- 
ber of the Missionary Baptist Church, which 
meets at the Hair Schoolhouse, and is at pres- 
ent one of the Deacons in that denomination. 
In politics, Mr. Musgrave is a Democrat 

ISAAC N. PHILLIPS, P. 0. Lick Creek. 
Of all the men now living, pei'haps no other 
man has done so much for the earl}' prosper- 
ity and growth of this county as the man 
whose name heads this sketch. Samuel Phil- 
lips, the great-great-grandfather of our sub- 
ject, came from Wales some time in the seven- 
teenth centur}', and settled in Massachusetts, 
probably near Plymouth Rock. Here Samuel 
Phillips, the grand-father of our subject, 
was born, and upon reaching manhood went 
to Virginia, married and settled. In this 
State John Phillips, the father of our subject 
was born in 1775. Upon reaching his majoritj-, 
this man removed to , Ohio and settled near 
Chillicothe. At this town, he married and set- 
tled down, and had one son, but his wife dying 
soon after the birth of this boy, he left that 
place and after some years spent in roving life, 
he came back to Tennessee, and from that 
State he removed to what was then known as 
Franklin Count}-, 111., but now known as Will- 
iamson County. This was about the year 
1810. In this county, in the year 1812. Mr. 
Phillips married Leanna Tippy, daughter of 
Abraham Tippy. This woman was the mother 
of thirteen children, of whom subject was the 
seventh. The father died when subject was 
about sixteen years old, and left the latter the 
sole support of the mother and the younger 
children. The family was poor, and Isaac was 
compelled to commence teaming. Soon, as- 



SARATOGA PRECINCT. 



201 



sisted by some of the old pioneers of that 
section, he procured enough horses to run a 
number of wagons from his home in Franldin 
County to the ferr}' opposite St. Louis. He 
continued this some 3'ears and was en- 
abled to give his 3'ounger brothers and sisters 
an education at the subscription schools of 
that period. Reverses came, though, and some 
of his horses having died. Mr. Phillips re- 
ceived the appointment as one of the toll-gate 
keepers on the toll road that was just then be- 
ing established from Belleville, St. Clair 
County, to St. Louis. His companion at this 
toll-gate was a half-breed Indian, and here at 
this toll-gate, when nothing else claimed their 
attention, the Indian taught Mr. Phillips, then 
a 3'oung man of twent^^-four, to read and write. 
Our subject remained at this point until No- 
vember, 1854, when he came to Jonesboro, 
this count}^ where his elder brother was acting 
as land agent for the Illinois Central Railroad 
Company-. The town of Anna was just then 
being established, and here, in the fall of 1854, 
the elder brother and our subject commenced 
the erection of what is now the European 
Hotel at Anna. In the early part of the win- 
ter of 1855, the elder Phillips was compelled 
to go out West, and in his absence our subject 
superintended the erection and the completion 
of this hotel. It was finished and occupied 
in the spring of the same 3'ear, and Mr. Phil- 
lips acted as landlord until the return of his 
brother in July ; he then started out West and 
remained there until 1858, when he retui-ned 
to this county-. From Jonesboro he went 
out to what is now Cobden, as agent for Phil- 
lips, Ashle}' & Compan}', who were the agents 
for the Illinois Central Railroad Companj^ 
Here he built the first log house in what is 
now Cobden, and remained here with a com- 
panion until the spring of 1859, before an}- 
other settlers joined them. As the town com- 
menced to grow he helped each and every un- 
dertaking that came there. He assisted the 



County' Surveyor in making the original plats 
for the town, and finally purchased all the un- 
sold interests of the firm of Phillips, Ashley 
& Company in the town of Cobden. He was 
one of the contractors for the railroad com- 
pany- at this point, for ties. He managed and 
controlled a grain elevator, and also ran a 
general mercantile store. As he became pros- 
perous, he purchased and cultivated a fruit 
farm just north of the town plat of Cobden, and 
in time owned four other farms, one of 400 
acres in Marion County, another of 340 acres 
known as the " forty-five farm," about two miles 
above Cobden, and two others of smaller di- 
mensions in the immediate vicinity of that vil- 
lage. About the close of the war, he accepted 
the position of general agent for the Belleville 
& Southern Illinois Railroad Company, which 
was being built from Duquoin to St. Louis, 
and as such officer he purchased the right of 
wa}', contracted for the ties and paid from 
funds in his hands for the labor and work on 
the whole road. He next accepted the agency 
for this State for the Safety Deposit Life In- 
surance Company of Chicago. He continued 
as agent for the compan}' for about a j^ear^ 
and then immediately after the great fire in 
Chicago he went to that city and engaged in 
business there. After two years spent at that 
ponit, he returned to this vicinity and spent 
the following 3'ears, until 1880, settling up his 
aflfairs and divided his time among the counties 
of Marion, Jackson and Johnson, and in the 
year 1880 he returned to this county and now 
resides upon a pleasant little farm about four 
miles from Saratoga. Mr. Phillips was first 
married in Marion Count3", on May 6, 1858, 
to Nancy E. Phillips, daughter of Jonathan 
and Sarah Phillips. By this Union, there was 
one child, Alice, now the wife of A. J. Miller, 
of Cobden. He was married the second time 
to Elizabeth Lance, daughter of Henry Lance, 
a former resident of Franklin Count3', on 
December 7, 1875. Subject has played an im- 



202 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



portant role in official life in this vicinity. 
He was the first police magistrate for the 
town of Cobden, also acted as Justice of the 
Peace in the early days there ; was appointed 
Postmaster for that point in 1858, and held 
that office until 1872. In 1861, he was ap- 
pointed Deputy United States Marshal, which 
position he occupied seven years. In 1863, 
he was, in connection with his other office, 
appointed " Provost Marshal under the En- 
rolling Act," and he served faithfully and 
well in this arduous position for two years 
and five months. In politics, Mr. Phillips is 
a Republican, also a member of Cobden Lodge, 
No. 464, A., F. & A. M., Anna Royal Arch 
Chapter Masons and Cobden Odd Fellows 
Lodge. 

DR. THOMAS J. RICH, West Sara- 
toga. Among the people who were born and 
raised in this county, none bear any better rep- 
utation or are more widely thought of than 
this rising young physician of Saratoga. The 
birth of our subject took place on his father's 
farm, in Rich Precinct, about four miles north- 
east of Saratoga, on March 20, 1845. Thomas 
J. Rich, the grandfather of the Doctor, and his 
namesake, was of English descent, and was 
born in North Carolina in 1781. His boyhood 
was spent here, and upon reaching manhood he 
moved to Georgia. From there he moved to 
Jonesboro, this county, reaching here about 
1840. He was one of the pioneers of this 
county, and died at a ripe old age only a few 
years ago. Our subject's father was born in 
Georgia, about 1820, and lived there until he 
reached manhood, and it was here that he mar- 
ried Sarah Owen, daughter of William and 
Susan Owen. From there George Rich moved 
to Tennessee and thence to this county, reach- 
ing here about 1840. He settled on a farm 
about four miles north of Saratoga, in the Rich 
Precinct. Here he died December 3, 1882. 
His wife still survives him and lives upon the 
home place. The Doctor was the seventh of 



ten children, six of whom are still living. The 
Doctor received his first education at the Pleas- 
ant Ridge School, in this precinct. He attend- 
ed school here most of the time until he was 
twent3--one, and then taught two terms of 
school at the Elmore School in Rich Precinct. 
While he was teaching his last term of school 
at this point, he began studying during his 
spare time at the office of Dr. F. M. Agnew, of 
Makanda, Johnson County. At the close of 
his school, he still continued his studies at the 
office, remaining at the office until October, 
1870. Dr. Rich then went to Cincinnati, where 
he entered the Miami Medical College. Here 
he attended lectures two years, graduating from 
the school with honor in the class of 1873. 
After leaving Cincinnati, the Doctor located at 
Western Saratoga, and entered in partnership 
with Dr. J. A. C. Allan, now at Grand Chain, 
Pulaski County. His partnership remained in- 
tact one year, when it was dissolved by mutual 
consent, the Doctor continuing in business for 
himself at this point. Here he has since resid- 
ed, and at present has all that he has time to 
attend to, as he is the only physician in this 
part of the precinct. Dr. Rich was married on 
November 18, 1876, to Mary Cladora Miller, 
daughter of Moses (a sketch of whose life 
appears in this volume) and Mary (Miller) 
Miller. By this union there were four children, 
two of whom are living, namely, Lela and 
Dennis, ages, respectively three years and 
seventeen months. Our subject was a faithful 
soldier in the war, enlisting in the Thirteenth 
Illinois Cavalry, in December, 1863, and con- 
tinuing in this regiment until the close of the 
war. The Doctor was in no regular battle, but 
his services and those of his regiment were 
spent in scouting, principally in Missouri and 
Arkansas. The Doctor is a member of Union 
Lodge, No. 627, A., F. & A. M. Also a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of 
Western Saratoga, he is Trustee of this denom- 
ination, and Superintendent of the Sunday 



SARATOGA PKECINCT. 



203 



school. In politics, the Doctor is a strong 
Republican. 

DR. FRANK E. SCARSDALE, physician, P. 
O. Lick Creek ; born in Ashtabula, Ashtabula 
Co., Ohio, April 9, 1838. William Edward 
Scarsdale, his father, born in Stafford, Stafford- 
shire, England, in 1807 ; came to this country 
in 1829, settling first in Maryland, then moving 
to Kentucky, stayed there about a year, and 
then moved to Ashtabula, Ohio, about 1832. 
Here he married Amanda, daughter of Brastus 
and Jerusha Cook, of Ashtabula County. B}- 
this union, there were two children ; of these, 
the elder is Mrs. Lilly Pierce, living at Ells- 
worth, Pierce Co., Wis., and the younger, our 
subject. The Doctor was educated at Kings- 
ville Academy, remaining there until he was 
sixteen years of age ; from there he went to 
Minnesota, and remained there one summer 
and then came to Marion County, 111., about 
the year 1858, where he taught in the country 
schools for three years ; from there, he next went 
to Johnson County, where he again taught school 
for a year. It was here that he commenced the 
study of medicine in 1860, in the office of Dr. 
C. L. Yi hitnel ; after completing here, he at- 
tended lectures in 1862 and 1863, at the Rush 
Medical College, Chicago. Doctor Scarsdale 
then came back and entered into partnership 
with his old precepter, and remained in John- 
son County for about two years ; in January, 
1865, he came to Union County, 111., where he 
located about three miles from Saratoga, at 
what was then Bradshaw Post Office. Here he 
has remained all of the time since, except 
when he attended medical lectures, at Pope's 



Medical College, St. Louis, in 1870-71, and 
also a post-graduate course in the spring of 
1882. He was married, April 9, 1865, in 
Union County, to a Miss Louisa P. Hastings, 
daughter of Westley and Mary Leadbetter 
Hastings. B}' this union, he has had nine chil- 
dren, six of whom are living. 

J. O. TYEGET, P. 0. Cobden. Among the 
oldest settlers in this part of the section, is the 
man whose name heads this biography. Mr. Tye- 
get was born in Amherst Count}', Va., December 
17, 1817. His father, Hugh Tyeget, came from 
Ireland, and landed at Philadelphia in 1801. 
Soon after his arrival in this countuy, he went to 
Virginia, and here he married Nancy Sands, the 
mother of our subject. Hugh Tyeget moved 
from Virginia to Tennessee when our subject was 
about nine years old, and in this State it was 
that the latter received his education. Mr. Tye- 
get came to Illinois in 1839, and settled first in 
Williamson County, and in the spring of 1853 
he came to this county, settling about five 
miles east of Cobden, where he has since re- 
sided. Our subject has been married twice. 
He was married first to Astina Gutherie, 
daughter of Anslom Gutherie, who lives near 
Cobden. She was the mother of four chil- 
dren, two of whom are living. His lady 
died November 24, 1862, and he was married 
a second time to Mrs. Jane Culp, on January 13, 
1864. She is the mother of six children, five 
of whom are living. The names of Mr. Tye- 
get's living children are: William, Hugh, Mary, 
Lucy, John, Ida and Cora. In politics, Mr. 
Tyeget is a Democrat. 



204 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



EICH PEEOINOT. 



J. C. BRADING, farmer, P. 0. Lick Creek, 
was born in Davidson Count}-, Tenn., January 
13, 1729, to E. M. and Nancy (Stuart) Brading. 
She was born in Tennessee of Scotcli parents, 
he in Georgia, of English parents. They 
were married in Tennessee. In 1850, came 
to Illinois, settled in Johnson County and died 
there, he in 1857, Oct. 3, she died in 1874, in 
her seventy-ninth year. They were the par- 
ents of seven children, all but two of whom are 
now living. His occupation was always that 
of farming. Our subject was educated in the 
common schools of Tennessee, and came to 
this State with his parents in 1850, and has 
been engaged in farming since. In 1853, he 
was married in Johnson County, 111., to Eliza 
Scott. She was born in Kentuck}-. She died 
in 1855. The result of this union was two 
children, both of whom died in infancy. In 
1857, he was again married, in Johnson Coun- 
ty, to Miss D. M. Harreld. She was born in 
Johnson County to John and Patient (John- 
son) Harreld. By this marriage, there are five 
children dead and four living — Sarah L., Will- 
iam, Ann and Finis. Mr. Brading is a member 
of the Evergreen Lodge of I. 0. 0. F. at Lick 
Ci'eek. He has been a member of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church since he was twenty- 
four years of age ; she, since she was sixteen. 
In politics, he is Republican. His farm, which 
consists of 280 acres, with 175 in cultivation, 
is one of the best in this section of the county. 

C. M. GOURLEY, merchant and farmer, P. 
O. Lick Creek, was born in Saratoga, Union 
County, 111., Januar\' 14, 1849, to Thomas 
and Nancy A. (Simons) Gourley. When our 
subject was three 3^ears old, his parents moved 
to Lick Creek, and this has been his home ever 
since. He received his education in the district 



schools of this county, and remained on his 
father's farm till he was twenty-four years of 
age, and then entered the mercantile business 
at Lick Creek, buying out Casper, of the firm 
of Mangum & Casper. He and Mangum con- 
tinued in partnership for about two 3'ears 
when Mangum sold his interest to Thomas 
Gourley, the father of our subject. After the 
new firm had been in business for onlj' four 
months, the entire stock and building was 
burned, making a total loss to them of about 
$5,000. Our subject then engaged in farming 
for two 3'ears, but again began in business at 
the same stand with his father in 1877, and has 
continued since. They carry a general stock, 
averaging about $4,000 and including every- 
thing needed by the farmers. Their annual 
sales average about $12,000. Mr. Gourley 
also has a farm which he oversees. In No- 
vember, 1873, in Tennessee, he was married 
to Miss Nannie C. Haggard. She was born in 
Tennessee in 1853, to James and Naomi 
Haggard. Mrs. Haggard is dead, but he is still 
living in Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Gourley 
have two sons living — Ii'a Andrew and James 
Thomas, also three children dead — Rosetta D., 
Walter R. and an infant. Mr. Gourley is a 
member of the Masonic fraternity. Union Lodge, 
No. 627. In politics, he is Republican. He is 
also Notary Public. Thomas Gourley, the 
father of our subject, was born in Cai'ter 
Count}', Tenn., January 11, 1822, to Samuel 
and Dorothy (Wiseman) Gourley. Samuel 
was born in Carter County, Tenn., and his wife 
in Burk Count}', N. C. She died in Tennessee 
in 1831, and in 1840 he moved to Arkansas, 
and died there in 1859. In Tennessee in March, 
1841, our subject's father was married to 
Nancy A. Simons, who was born in Monroe 



RICH PRECINCT. 



205 



County, Tenn., to John and Ruth (Carson) 
Simons. She died about 1831. In 1844, he 
moved to Arkansas in the spring, and died in the 
fall of same year, Thomas and his family also 
moved to Arkansas in 1844, and remained there 
till 1847, and then came to this county, and has 
made this his home since, and has been very 
successful in his occupation of farmer. They 
are the parents of seven children, the oldest of 
whom, Mary, died in April 1877. Charles M., 
Lucinda, Elizabeth, John L., William T. and 
Andrew J. are the living. In politics, Mr. 
Gourley is Republican. 

WALTER HUNSAKER, farmer, P. 0. Lick 
Creek, was born in this precinct August 5, 
1858, son of J. Z. and Polly Ann (Treese) 
Hunsaker ; he born near Cobden September 15, 
1836 ; she also in this county February 16, 
1840. She died here November 8, 1881. He 
died February 8, 1883. He was the son of 
Andrew Hunsaker and Nancy (Cruthers) Hun- 
saker. He was of the family of Hunsakers 
who settled in this county at an early date. 
She was born in Tennessee, and is still living 
at the age of eighty-three years. Mrs. J. Z. 
Hunsaker's parents were also early settlers in 
the county. Her father, David Treese, was a 
native of South Carolina, and was a minister in 
the Christian order. When he first came here, 
he was very poor. His first tax receipt, which 
was for 25 cents, is now in the possession of 
our subject. Mr. Treese was quite successful 
in business, and left quite a property at the 
time of his death, but had given a good farm 
previous to each of his five children. The 
father of our subject was always engaged in 
farming. He was married October, 8, 1857, 
and moved on to a farm one and a half miles 
north of the present homestead of the family, 
and in 1871 to the home at which he died. He 
left a farm of about 400 acres, and personal 
property to the amount of over §2,000. Our sub- 
ject being the only child of age, was appointed 
administrator, and now has charge ot the farm. 



In the family, there were eight children, five of 
whom are still living — Walter, David, Joanna, 
William F. and Charles A. Our subject was 
educated first in the district schools of this 
county, but afterward he attended a terra of 
eight months in Anna ; then three months at 
the State Normal at Carbondale, 111. His oc- 
cupation has been that of a farmer and teacher. 
When he was eighteen years old, he began 
teaching in this county, and for the winters 
since he has taught in the same school. In 
politics, he is Democratic. February 13, 1881, 
he was married in this county to Miss Mary J. 
Watson ; she was born in this county Septem- 
ber 13, 1860, and is daughter of Jesse Watson. 
Mr. and Mrs. H. have one little daughter, 
Annie L. 

THOMAS J. JOLLY, farmer, P. 0. Lick 
Creek, was born in Wilson County, Tenn., 
November 18, 1826, to Frederick and Nicy 
(Ames) Jolly. He was a native of North Caro- 
lina. She died when our subject was small, so 
he knows but little of her or her ancestr3\ He 
came to Union County, in 1856, and died here 
in 1871. Our subject was raised on a farm, 
and was educated in his native county, in the 
subscription schools. June 8, 1847, he was 
married in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to Mary C. 
McCulloch ; she was born within seven miles 
of Murfreesboro, Tenn., to William and Cass- 
andra McCulloch. They were both boi'u and 
raised and he died near Murfreesboro, Tenn. 
She however, died in Pulaski County, 111. In 
1854, Mr. and Mrs. Jolly came to Union Coun- 
ty, 111., and settled at Sai'atoga, where he had a 
brother. Until this time, our subject had fol- 
lowed his trade of carpenter, but after coming 
to this county, he began farming and trading. 
He, in partnership with his brother, John W., 
run farm, tavern, store and blacksmith shop at 
Saratoga, and bought and shipped horses and 
mules to the South, our subject tending to 
the farm, buying stock, and helping to get it 
shipped, while his brother would tend to the 



2C6 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



store, etc., and selling of stock, each then re- 
ceiving such a part of the profits, or suffering 
the losses proportionateh'. Their last venture 
was the building of a boat, at the mouth of 
Big Mudd}' River, loading it with 4,500 bushels 
of corn; this they had engaged in Louisiana at 
$1 per bushel, but the troubles between the 
North and South had begun, and when they 
got to Vicksburg, the Confederates captured the 
boat and cargo, allowed them 40 cents per bushel 
for corn, nothing for boat, and gave them ten 
days notice to leave the city; this they did, but 
it took about all they had to meet their losses. 
March, 1861, they returned home, and August 
26, following, our subject enlisted in the service 
of his countr}', in Company E, Thirty-First 
Illinois Infantry. Col. John A. Logan, and 
served till August 2, 1865, when he returned 
home. During his service, he again saw the 
Mayor of Vicksburg, who had read the orders 
for them to leave the city in ten days, but this 
time the Mayor was a ca^Aive, and they had 
entered Vicksburg to sta}' as long as they de- 
sired. Mr. J0II3' was in the engagement at 
Bellmont, Mo., siege of Corinth, Vicksburg, Ft. 
Donnelson, Atlanta and was with Sherman on 
his march to the sea, and to Richmond. Dur- 
ing the first day's fight before Atlanta, he was 
seriousl}' wounded by a ball striking him on 
the top of the head and injuring the skull. 
This, together with what they call the break- 
bone fever, which he had, has injured his eyes 
and constitution, until he is unable to do work 
requiring much physical exertion. Mr. Jolly's 
experience in the army was dearly bought, but 
his wife at home, with a family of eight small 
children had to endure almost as much ; the}' 
liad a farm with only fortj'-five acres in culti- 
vation, and considerable indebtedness, but she 
supported the family and paid off the debt. He, 
of course, sending her all his money as he drew 
it. Their farm now consists of 200 acres ; 
wheat-raising receiving the most attention. 
They also have a house and lot in Lick Creek. 



Mr. Jolly deals in stock to some extent. In 
politics, he is Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Jolly 
are the parents of thirteen children, eleven of 
whom are now living, and five are at home ; of 
the remaining six, three are in this countj' ; one 
over in Johnson County ; one in Missouri and 
one in Arkansas. 

LUKE M. JONES, physician. Lick 
Creek. There are few men of the present day, 
whom the world acknowledge as successful, 
more worthy of honorable mention in this 
volume or whose life history' affords a better 
example of what may be accomplished b}' 
steady perseverance, in spite of the most dis- 
couraging circumstances, than he whose name 
heads this sketch. He is a native of Tennes- 
see, born April 15, 1827, in Jackson County. 
His father, Samuel, was born in 1791, in A^'ir- 
ginia, and his mother, Eleanor (Mathena) Jones, 
was born in 1796, in the same State. The 
parents settled in Tennessee, in 1824, and 
finally in Arkansas, where they died. Eleven 
children was the fruit of their union, viz.: 
Nanc}', Elizabeth, Thomas, Samuel, Permela, 
John, Luke M., Larkin, Eleanor, Sarah and 
Arminta. Our subject's paternal ancestors 
were of Irish origin, while his maternal ances- 
tors were of English parentage. -His grand- 
father, Luke M. Mathena, served seven 3-ears 
in the Revolutionar}- war and drew a pension 
from the clo.se of this great struggle until death 
at the age of one hundred and four years six 
months and four da5's ; he was elected and 
served as SheriflT of Monroe Count}-, Ky., in 
1830, and was for awhile Probate Judge. 
Our subject treasures a set of coat buttons as a 
namesake gift from the above named ancestor, 
which were carried through the war. Luke 
M. Jones was brought up on the farm and re- 
ceived but three months' education in the 
countr}' schools. At the age of twelve years 
he decided upon the practice of medicine, as 
his future occupation, and concentrated every 
thing in his power toward such an end. He 



RICH PRECINCT. 



207 



earl}- engaged as a laborer at $8 per month, 
and in that wa}- saved means b}' which he could 
advance his future plans. At the age of nine- 
teen years, he began the stud}' of his chosen pro- 
fession under the tutorship of Dr. S. Lee, of 
Wayne County, Tenn. One year later, he pur- 
sued the same with E. L. Duncan, of Jackson 
County, Tenn. In less than two years, or in 
1853, he came to Moscow, Union County, 111., 
and entered the office of Dr. D. M. Jones (no 
relative), where he remained five j'ears. In 
1858, he began the practice in Rich Precinct, 
where he met with good success for two years, 
and then located in Stokes Precinct, where he 
I'emained for eighteen years, after which he re- 
turned to Rich Precinct. He will shortly lo- 
cate at Lick Creek. He was married, July 13, 
1847, to Sarah, born February 25, 1827, a 
daughter of Joshua Hall, a native of Vii'ginia. 
She died June 14, 1883, in Johnson County, 
after having blessed her husband with James 
I., John H., W. L., Ruth A. and Lovena R. 
She was a consistent member of the Methodist 
Church. The 'Doctor belongs to no church 
organization, yet has alwaj's given liberal 
financial support to the ministry, having for 
many consecutive 3ears given $50, and for the 
last fifteen years, he has donated $100 per 
3'ear to various churches. He began his career 
on the battle-field of life with really nothing, 
and by frugal dealings he has accumulated 
a nice little fortune. In his professional labors, 
he has been very successful, mostly due to his 
ambition and venturesomeness. He has 
often been consulted by physicians who live 
many miles from him relative to cases of 
dropsy, and has ventured to perform an opera- 
tion and thereb}' save the patient, when all 
other consulting phj'sicians declined. He is a 
mamber of Jonesboro Lodge, A., F. & A. M.; 
is an energetic worker in the Democratic 
party. 

REY. J. L. MILLER, minister and physi- 
cian, Makanda, was born in Tuscarawas Coun- 



t}-, Ohio, September 17, 1839, to John D. and 
Jane (Lashley) Miller. He was born in Mary- 
land, in 1800, just after his parents had arrived 
in America from the German fatherland. She 
was born in Ohio in 1813. Her parents were 
also German ; they had come to America at 
the same time as her husband's. His occupa- 
tion has always been that of farming, but is 
also a minister of the United Brethren faith. 
Our subject remained at home till he was fifteen 
years of age. He then began his studies for 
medicine, and also began to exhort and preach. 
About two years later, he was licensed to preach 
the Gospel, at Marietta, Ohio. He continued 
his studies at Cincinnati for three 3'ears, also 
studied the sciences at Westville, Ohio. Since 
about eighteen years of age, he has been engaged 
in the ministry and the practice of medicine, 
practicing his profession as physician only in 
connection with the ministry. Until 1877, his 
field of labor lay in Ohio. He then came to 
Illinois, and for the last three years has had his 
present charge of the United Brethren Church 
in this precinct. He also has the Worthington 
appointment, in Jackson County, and preaches 
at each appointment alternate Sundays. Our 
subject has purchased for himself a farm in this 
township, and for the future will give more 
attention to the practice of medicine and over- 
seeing his farm. In politics, he is Republican. 
F. H. RAUCH, farmer, P. 0. Makanda, was 
born in Lebanon County, Penn., June 15, 
1828, to Jacob and Catherine (Boeshore) 
Ranch. They were both born and raised 
in the same count}' as our subject, and 
she died there in 1879. He, however, 
died in Pittsburgh, Penn., in April, 1883. His 
occupation was that of farmer. They were 
the parents of eight children, our subject being 
the oldest. Six of the number are still living. 
Our subject was educated in the common schools 
of his native county. At the age of fourteen, he 
began driving a team hauling iron ore from 
the mines to the furnace, and continued at the 



208 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



same employment almost all the time till he 
was about thirty years of age. He thea began 
farming, and has continued in his present occu- 
pation since. In 1856, he moved from Penn- 
sylvania to Ohio, and in the spring of 1865, to 
his present farm in Rich Precinct, where he is 
engaged in farming, fruit and vegetable-raising. 
In 1849, he was married in Pennsj'lvania to Sa- 
rah Artz. She was also born in Lebanon Coun- 
t}', Penn.. to John and Sarah Artz. They were 
also natives of the same county as our subject, 
but moved to Richland County, Ohio, 1856, and 
died there. Mr. and Mrs. Ranch have nine 
children, all of whom are now living — Amanda, 
Aaron, Rosa, L3'dia, Frank, Laura, Clara, Will- 
iam and Morton. Mr. and Mrs. Ranch are mem- 
bers of the United Brethren Church. In poli- 
tics, he has always been Republican. 

EDWIN WIGGS, farmer, P. 0. Lick Creek, 
was born in Wayne Count}", N. C, July 18, 
1826, to Lazarus and Sarah (Brewer) Wiggs. 
They were both born and raised in the same 
county as our subject ; he June 10, 1802, she 
January 8, 1802 ; he died in this count}- May 
13,1865; she is still living. They moved from 
Wayne County, N. C, to Union County, 111., 
in 1841, where he continued his occupation of 
farming. They were the parents of thirteen 
children, four of whom are now living — our 
subject, who is the oldest ; William, now of 
Franklin County, III; Mary (Penninger) and 
Martha (Menees). Our subject never had the 
opportunities of a school education, never at- 
tending but three months, but has studied and 
taught himself He has always been engaged 
in farming, and from 1862 to 1866 he ran a 



cotton-gin which he put up on his farm, and 
obtained cotton from the surrounding country. 
His best year's work he put up 111 bales o 
cotton that averaged 400 pounds lint cotton. 
As soon as peace had come and cotton-raising 
resumed in the South, he quit the business. 
His farm consists of 300 acres, 240 of which 
are in cultivation and well improved, with good 
farm buildings, etc. The clearing and improv- 
ing on the farm he has done since Coming to it 
in 1849. He was married in Johnson County, 
III, April 5, 1849, to Rhoda Bird. She was 
born August 25, 1828, in Washington County, 
111., to John and Tabitha Bird. They were 
from South Carolina, he born March 30, 1780, 
she October 1, 1795 ; he died September 5, 
1863, she March 2, 1870. He was with Gen. 
Jackson in the war of 1812, and two of his 
sons, Thomas and William, were in the Mexi- 
can war, and were wounded at the battle of 
Buena Vista. Mr. and Mrs. Wiggs have never 
been blest with a child of their own, but raised 
a son of her brother's, Christopher Columbus 
Bird. He is now married and lives near them, 
having a family of three children. Mr. W. is 
a member of the Masonic fraternity. Union 
Lodge, ]\o. 627, and has held all the offices in 
the lodge, and has been Master for ten years. 
He first joined a lodge in Johnson County in 
1863, and was a charter member in Union 
Lodge. In politics, he has always beeu Dem- 
ocratic- With the exception of a five months' 
trip through the Southwest to San Antonio, 
Texas., etc., he has remained on his present 
farm since first settlino- there. 



UNION PRECINCT. 



209 



UlS'ION PREOINOT. 



ROBERT B. GOODMAN, farmer and stock- 
raiser, P. 0. Anna, was born in Wayne County, 
111., October 24, 1832, and is a son of Robert and 
Mary (Lacy) Goodman. Tliey were the par- 
ents of nine children, of whom our subject is 
the youngest. He went to school but a few 
days, his father having died when he was onty 
five years of age, leaving his mother in lim- 
ited circumstances. In 1837, he came with his 
mother to Union County, whei*e he worked for 
different people as he could obtain employ- 
ment, and has plowed man}^ a da}' where the 
flourishing town of Anna now stands. He 
married Miss Malinda Anderson, by whom he 
had six children. After the death of his wife, 
he married a second time to Miss Martha 
Johnson, a native of North Carolina and a 
daughter of William H. and Sarah (Patrick) 
Johnson. She is the mother of six children, of 
whom there are now three living, viz. : Robert 
N., born September 15, 1869 ; Martha E., born 
December 25, 1876, and Lula M., born Septem- 
ber 2, 1882. Mr. Goodman is a self-made 
man. He has now a farm of about 500 acres, 
in a good state of cultivation and well im- 
proved. He is a Democrat, but always votes 
for the best man. 

A. LENCE, merchant, Willard's Landing, 
was born in this county, December 1, 1835, 
and is a grandson of Peter Lence, who was born 
in North Carolina. Jacob Lence, the father, 
was also born there, and came to this count}- in 
1818. He was married to Miss Barbara Klutts. 
also a native of North Carolina. She was the 
mother of six children, of whom Alfred Lence, 
our subject, was the youngest. Mr. Lence re- 
ceived his education from the schools of his 
county, and in early life farmed some. In 1862, 
he commenced clerking in a general store at 



Vancils Landing, Mo. He remained at that 
place for about one year, and then commenced 
running the ferry at Green's old ferry, and fol- 
lowed his vocation for about seven years. In 
1 87 1 , he opened a general store at Willard's Land- 
ing, which he still continues in operation. He is 
at present also acting as Postmaster at that point. 
He has quite a farm of 560 acres, that claims 
part of his attention, too. He first married So- 
phia Rheinhart, who died in 1864, and he was 
married the second time to Martha Hardin, a 
native of Missouri, born Januar\' 30, 1849. She 
is the mother of four children, all of whom are 
living — Anna, born March 13, 1870; Emma, 
born Februar}' 12, 1872 ; Birda, born Septem- 
ber 14, 1874 ; Effle, born July 27, 1876. Sub- 
ject is a member of Jonesboro Lodge A., F. and 
A. M., and of the Jonesboro K. of P. fraternity. 
In politics, Mr. Lence is a Democrat, and as 
such has been elected to the office of Count}- 
Commissioner for six years. 

CALEB M. LYERLE, farmer, P. 0. Jones- 
boro, was born in North Cai'olina, July 17, 
1820, and is a son of John and Susanna (Walk- 
er) Lyerle. His father was Christopher Ly- 
erle, who came from North Carolina in 1821, 
in company with him. John was married twice 
while he lived in North Carolina, and before 
emigrating to this county. His first wife was 
Miss Lence, who died after giving birth to four 
children — three boys, now deceased, and one 
girl named Nancy. He was married a second 
time to Miss Susanna Walker, who is the mother 
of five children, viz. : Caleb (our subject), Dan- 
iel, John, Isaac and Polly Ann, the latter, de- 
ceased. Our subject went to school in the pio- 
neer schoolhouse, and to the old-fashioned sub- 
scription school. He has paid considerable at- 
tention to farming, and bought out the interests 



210 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



of the heirs in his father's farm. He married 
Miss Catherine Hilemau, born Ma}- 10, 1821. 
She died in December, 1875. She was the 
mother of six children now living — Elizabeth, 
Louisa, Sarah, Malinda, Lucinda and Matilda. 
Mr. L. was married a second time to Mrs. 
Mary E. Humphries, a daughter of Alfred and 
Betse}^ (Weaver) Meisenheimer. She is the 
mother of three children— Martha Humphries, 
Cynthia Ann Humphries, and Alfred M. Ly- 
erle. Mr. and Mrs. L. are both members of St. 
John's Lutheran Church. He was originally a 
Democrat, but since the firing upon Fort Sum- 
ter has been a Republican. 

R. S. REYNOLDS, farmer. P. 0. Cape Girar- 
deau, Mo., was born in Hagerstown, Washington 
Co., Md., December 15, 1815, and is a son of 
John hnd Mary (Woltz) Reynolds, both natives 
of Maryland. The grandfather of subject was 
John Reynolds, Sr., who was a Captain in the 
Maryland Line, in the war of the Revolution. 
He was on his way to Kentucky with his fam- 
ily, where he designed making his future home, 
when he was killed b}^ the Indians and his fam- 
ily captured. They were held as prisoners and 
then liberated. John (subject's father) was a 
jeweller in Hagerstown, Md., and served as 
Major in the war of 1812. Both he and his 
wife died in Maryland, she on the battle-field of 
Antietam. She was a daughter of George and 
Charity (Shugart) Woltz, of Holland descent. 
She was the mother of twelve children, of whom 
only our subject and his sister, Elizabeth Clark, 



mother of Samuel Clark, the editor of the Gate 
Cityi Keokuk, Iowa, are living. Subject was 
educated in Hagerstown and in Chambersburg, 
Penn., and early in life studied law with Hon. 
Samson Mason. He was admitted to the bar 
in the Supreme Cqurt of Ohio, at Xenia, in the 
spring of 1838, and practiced there for two 
years, when he went to Iowa and practiced in 
that State for two years. After this, he came to 
Union Countj', 111., and engaged in business. 
He farmed about five years south of Jonesboro. 
In 1849, he came to the Mississippi bottoms, 
in Union Precinct, this county, where he has 
farmed ever since, and now owns 1 ,600 acres 
of land in this county, but lives in Cape Girar- 
deau, Mo. He was married, April 19, 1861, in 
Alexander County, 111., to Miss Amanda 
Greenly, born in Kentucky, and a daughter of 
James Greenl3\ She is the mother of five 
children, four of whom are now living, viz.: 
Robert S., William R. S., James G. and Joseph 
LeRoy. His eldest son (John) died in 1882. 
Mr. Re^^iolds has never been an oflflee seeker. 
He is wholly a self-made man, beginning in the 
world with but little, and winning his way by 
his own energy and industr}'. He was identi- 
fied with the old Whig part}', and afterward 
became a Free-Soiler. In 1860, he was almost 
mobbed, because he wished to vote for Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Since then he has been some- 
thing of an Independent, voting for the candi- 
dates he deems best qualified for the positions 
to be filled. 



PRESTON PRECINCT. 



511 



PEESTOI^ PRECIE"0T. 



THOMAS L. ALDRIDGE, farmer, P. 0. 
Grand Tower. Those of the Aldridge name 
now living in this County are descendants of 
Isaac Aldridge, who was a G-erman who settled 
in North Carolina. From North Carolina they 
moved to Kentuek}-, and then to this State, at 
an early date ; but when first coming, their 
thoughts were not of selecting a good place 
for a future home, but the place where game 
was the most plentiful, so they made numerous 
moves, and it was not till 1825 that James Al- 
dridge made a permanent settlement on Sec- 
tion 20, Town 11 south, Range 3 west. He 
died in 1855, near the bluffs. In 1826, Joseph, 
Elizabeth and William Aldridge all settled in 
the bottom on the Big Muddy River, and had 
permanent homes from this time on till their 
death. Although the descendants of these early 
members of the family were quite numerous, 
there are now but very few left to claim the 
name, James and Thomas L. being the only 
males now in maturity, and they reside in this 
precinct. William Aldridge, the father of our 
subject, died October 8, 1877, at the age of about 
sixty-eight years. He was married in this 
county to Adaline Johnson, daughter of James 
Johnson ; she was born in Alabama, but moved 
with her father to Tennessee, and then to Illi- 
nois. He died in this county. Our subject is 
the onh' son now living, but has three sisters. 
He was born February 28, 1850, in this pre- 
cinct, and has made it his home ever since, and 
in early life attended such schools as were in 
reach. His occupation has always been that of 
farming, and in this he has been very success- 
ful. He started in life for himself when only 
sixteen years of age, having a two-year old 
colt and forty acres of heavy timbered land. 
He now owns over 1,300 acres, about 250 be- 



ing in cultivation. His attention is given to 
corn, cattle and hogs. x\pril 12, 1874:, he was 
married to Miss Nancy Lyefle ; she was born 
in this county, daughter of Zachariah Lyerle, 
also one of the early settlers of the county, 
coming from North Carolina. Both her par- 
ents are dead, he dying in 1874. Mr. and Mrs 
Aldridge have two children dead and three liv- 
ing — Permelia Belle, Thomas Franklin and 
James Monroe. In politics, our subject is Dem- 
ocratic, but was a Republican during the war. 
On his farm is an old Indian bur3ing-ground, 
and often his plow turns up skulls and other 
bones, some of great size. 

GEORGE BARRINGER, farmer, P. O. 
Union Point, was born in Union County. 111., 
January 2, 1849, to Charles and Matilda (Hile- 
man) Barringer, both of whom were born in 
this county, and are still living (see sketch of 
Charles Barringer). Our subject was educated 
in the Jonesboro schools, and when seventeen 
years old, he began teaching school and con- 
tinued for five 3'ears in Union County, and one 
year in Alexander Count}-. Then, for a num- 
ber of years, he held diflferent offices of trust, 
being Deputy SheriflT, Deputy- Circuit Clerk, etc., 
and took an active part in local politics. In 
1878, he was elected Sheriff of Union County, 
but when his term expired he retired to his 
farm on account of ill health, and has since 
avoided politics. His home farm consists of 
300 acres of splendid bottom land lying along 
the Mississippi River, most all of which is in 
cultivation. He also owns another 200 acre 
farm farther down the river. He is engaged in 
grain and stock-raising, and experimenting on 
clover-raising. In Missouri, November 21, 1877, 
he was married to Miss Belle Byrd. She was 
born and raised in Cape Girardeau County, 



212 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Mo., daughter of Stephen Byrd ; both of her 
parents dying when she was small. They were 
both born in the same county as their daughter, 
the B3'rd homestead having been in the family 
for 100 years. Mr. and Mrs. Barringer have 
two children — Georgia Belle and Byrd Polk. 
Ma^ 8. 1879. the Hileman family had a family 
reunion, the grandmother of our subject, her 
eight children, their husbands and wives, her 
grandchildren and great-grandchildren all 
were numbered, and made eighty-five ; since that 
time her descendents have increased till they 
now will number about 100. Mr. Barringer 
has always been Democratic in politics, and is 
also a member of the Knights of Honor. Jones- 
boro Lodge, No. 1891, and has represented the 
lodge in the Grand Lodge of the State. 

GEORGE W. BEAN, farmer, P. 0. Union 
Point, was born in Union County, near Cobden, 
March 28. 1852, to' T. H. and Mary (Brown) 
Bean. He was born in Tennessee, about 1827, 
she in this county, about 1835. He came to 
this county, when but a boy, and they have 
made it their home up to the present. They 
are now residing on their farm near Cobden. 
They are the parents of ten children, only four 



of whom are now living, our subject is the old- 
est of the family. He was educated in the 
schools of this county, first in the country 
schools but afterward attended the schools of 
Anna, Jonesboro and Cobden. His occupation 
is that of a farmer, but has taught three terms 
of school. In 1875, he came to the Mississippi 
River bottom with nothing, but has since 
bought and paid for a farm of 200 acres, 125 
of which are in cultivation. Stock and grain 
are his main dependance. So successful has 
he been in farming, that in 1882 his gross re- 
ceipts from his farm were $3,500, having raised 
about 2,000 bushels of wheat, 3,000 of corn and 
900 of oats, besides stock, etc. For two sea- 
sons past, he and Mr. R. E. Seeley have run a 
threshing machine during the season and made 
it another source of income. Mr. Bean's farm is 
well situated for stock-raising, and he is 
turning his attention toward stock more all 
the time- September 2, 1880, he was married 
in this county to Miss Bernice Caroline Wilkins, 
daughter of Jerre and Martha Jane (Parmle}-) 
Wilkins. Mr. and Mrs. Bean had one child — 
Elmer Bernard, who died in 1882, In politics, 
he is Democrat. 



MILL CREEK PREOHSTOT. 



JOHN CRUSE, farmer, P. 0. Mill Creek, 
was born February 16, 1827, in Union County, 
111. His grandfather, Peter Cruse, was a na- 
tive of North Carolina, a farmer b}- occupa- 
tion, who emigrated to Illinois and settled in 
Mill Creek Township, Union County, in 1819 ; 
here he and his faithful wife died after experi- 
encing the hardships of the pioneers' life, and 
seeing the country where the}' settled turned 
from a wilderness to productive gardens. The}- 
raised eight children whose descendants are nu- 
merous in Southern Illinois. Their son, Henry 



Cruse, was a native of North Carolina, where he 
married Miss Elizabeth Lippard, who was born 
in North Carolina, and died in 1863 in Union 
County. Henry Cruse, who came to the county 
with his parents, and with them experienced 
the hardships of life in a new countrj-, died in 
1868, leaving man}- friends to mourn his death. 
Our subject was raised on the farm, and re- 
ceived such an education as the subscription 
schools of the period afforded. He began life 
for himself as a farmer, an occupation he lias 
since been engaged in, with the exception of 



MILL CREEK PRECINCT. 



213 



about five 3 ears spent in mercantile pursuits. 
On the 9th of February, 1851, he married Miss 
Maria Smith, a daughter of James and Hariiet 
(Weaver) Smrth, early settlers of southern 
Illinois. Mrs. Cruse was born in Pulaski 
County, III, March 16, 1833. She is the 
mother of the following children : James H., 
born December 15, 1854 ; Martha J., wife of 
John Miller, born April 8, 1853 ; Laura, born 
December 27, 1862, and Henry S., born April 
15, 1869. Mr. Cruse is the owner of an eighty- 
one-acre farm ; he was formerly a Democrat, 
but is now identified with the principles of the 
Republican party. Mrs. Cruse is a member of 
the Lutheran Church. Mr. Cruse is a reading 
man, and has filled school offices. 

PETER CRUSE, farmer, P. 0. Mill Creek, 
is a native of this county ; was 'born October 
20, 1829, and is a son of Henry and Elizabeth 
(Lippard) Cruse ; he was born in North Caro- 
lina, and died here. He was the son of Peter 
Cruse, Sr.. who was of German descent, and 
came to this State several years in advance of 
Henr}', probabl}- about 1815-16, and is dead, 
but has many descendants living here. The 
parents of our subject had nine children, of whom 
he was the fifth. His education was limited to 
the common schools of this community. In 
early life, he embarked in farming, and, in the 
spring of 1854, he, in company with Solomon 
Lingle, crossed the plains to California with 
cattle. While there, he mined with varied suc- 
cess, and returned home in 1856, via Panama. 
He was married in 1858 to Miss Catherine 
Poole, daughter of Jacob Poole, also a North 
Carolinian. They have three children now 
living — Elizabeth, Minta and Dacota. Mr. C. 



has a farm of 200 acres ; in politics, he is a 
Democrat ; is a liberal-minded, wide-awake man. 
and favors px-ohibition. 

T. LAWRENCE, physician, Mill Creek, was 
born July 17, 1830, in Swedesboro, Gloucester 
Co., N. J., and is a son of Job and Elizabeth 
(Tallman) Lawrence. He was born April 3, 
1803, and received his medical education in 
the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. 
He is yet living, but has not practiced since 
1862, owing to an injury received by a fall 
from his horse while going on a visit to a 
patient. His wife was born in 1803, and was 
the mother of six children — all boys — of whom 
Charles, Edward and Thomas (our subject), 
are now living, and all are physicians. Charles 
is located at Neola, Iowa, and Edward at 
Osceola, Iowa. She died in December, 1879, 
in Randolph County, 111. Our subject was 
educated principall}' at the Medical College at 
St. Louis, where he graduated in March, 1856. 
He was married in Api'il of the same year in 
St. Genevieve, Mo., to Miss Mildred W. Eades, 
born in Albemarle County, Va. She is the 
mother of five children now living : George T. 
Joseph M., Samuel S., Arthur W. and Albert S. 
J. Dr. Lawrence, prior to his marriage, moved to 
Bollinger County, Mo., where he remained un- 
til August, 1861, when he entered the United 
States Army as Assistant Surgeon, serving un- 
til May, 1865. He then located in Alexander 
County, 111., following his profession there for 
about ten years. He came to Union Count)- 
and settled in Mill Creek in 1875, soon after 
the building of the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad. 
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and 
politically is a Democrat. 



214 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



Biographies Received too late forlnsertion in ProperPlace. 

ANNA PKEOINCT. 



D. W. BROWN, farmer, P. 0. Anna. 
Prominent among the leading farmers of this 
count}' is D. W. Brown, born July 15, 1841, in 
Alexander County, 111. His father, Daniel 
Brown, was born January- 26, 1797, in Panton, 
Vt.. and was a son of Warhem Brown, a native 
of Ireland. Daniel removed from his native 
heath to Alexander County, 111., in 1832, and 
entered forty acres of land along the Missis- 
sippi River, which tract has never been trans- 
ferred from the Brown family, and is the 
property of our subject. Daniel was married 
in Alexander County to Elizabeth P. Hoop- 
paw, and born in 1803, in Charleston, S. C. 
She was a daughter of Ralph Hooppaw, a na- 
tive of Ireland. She removed with her parents 
to Tennessee some time prior to the year 1817, 
where her father died and her mother subse- 
quently married Absalom Heady, and with 
whom she came with her family to Alexander 
County, 111., in 1817. The Union of Daniel 
and Elizabeth (Hooppaw) Brown resulted in 
four children, viz. : Mary A., deceased ; Eliza- 
beth, the wife of M. J. Inscore ; D. W. ; and 
William M., a grocer of Murph^-sboro, 111. 
The father of our subject died on January 16, 
1845, having, at his decease, about 400 acres 
of land as a result of his industry and frugal 
dealings. The mother was afterward married 
to Dr. E. N. Edwards, of Kentucky, the result 
of which was one child, viz. : James E. N. 
She died January 9, 1879, in Anna, fifteen 
years after her second husband departed this 
life. We clip the following from an obituary 
of her, published in the Mound Cit}- Journal : 
" At the age of nineteen years, she united with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for fifty- 



seven years had lived as she has died, a con- 
sistent Christian. She was ever a fond, in- 
dulgent mother, obliging neighbor and true 
friend, full of charity with her fellows, with 
which greatest of all good gifts her pathway of 
life was ever strewn. Although she had lived 
beyond the allotted age, she retained her men- 
tal and physical faculties to a remarkable de- 
gree, when she was attacked with that dread 
disease, pneumonia, and died after an illness of 
a few days. She was taken while attending 
the sick bed of one of her family. Thus fell 
one of the real mothers of Israel, with her har- 
ness on, fulfilling the injunction, ' Do good and 
not evil all the days of your life.' It is meet 
that when a person passes away so ripe in 
years, full of usefulness, that they deserve more 
than a passing notice. The old pioneers of 
this comparatively new land are nearly all 
gone, and when they take a farewell look 
around upon the great advancement and 
progress of their adopted homes in so few 
short years, how truly they can say, ' We 
have not lived in vain.' D. W., of whom we 
write, received such an education as the sub- 
scription schools of the country aflforded, within 
the time he could be spared from the duties 
devolving upon him on his father's farm. In 
1851, he engaged in a telegraph office under 
the management of Thomas Ellis, at Caledonia, 
where he remained two years and became 
pretty well acquainted with the art of teleg- 
raphy. About the 3'ear 1863, he engaged 
with S. Fenton & Co., of New York, as gen- 
eral agent at Cairo, bu3'ing grain and cotton, 
and cultivating the latter in the Mississippi 
Valley. This he continued for two years at 



ANNA PRECINCT. 



215 



Cairo, and theu located at Anna, Union County, 
where, in one 3'ear, he withdrew from said firm 
and entered the store of Winstead Davie as a 
clerk, continuing about one year. October 10, 
1867, he was married to Nancy Davie, who has 
blessed him with six children, viz. : Warren T., 
William H., Nancy A., Marj- A., Anna S. and 
Zury, deceased. He settled at marriage in Anna, 
where he has since remained. Soon after 
leaving Mr. Davie's store, Mr. Brown engaged 
in a grist mill in Anna, as sole proprietor, 
which he followed for two years with good suc- 
cess. He then farmed for some time. In 1876, 
he entered the general mercantile business in 
the room now occupied by Green & Brooks, 
grocers, of Anna, and continued the same for 
two years with his usual good luck. Since 
closing his merchandise business, he has given 
his attention to rural pursuits on his 2,120 
acres of land in this and Alexander Counties, 
and like all who love* their avocation, is suc- 
cessful. He is a member of the I. O. 0. F., 
A., F. & A. M., and K. of H. fraternities of 
Anna. He was elected Count}' Commissioner 
of Union County in 1866, and served the peo- 
ple of his adopted borough with credit for one 
term. He is now in his second term as Road 
Commissioner, and is an Alderman of this 
city. Was Vice President of the Jonesboro 
Fair Association for two years, and has held all 
other offices of the same, save that of Presi- 
dent. He and wife are members of the Baptist 
Church. 

JOHN W. HESS, clerk, Anna. One of 
the most distinguished and successful young 
business men in this part of the county is the 
gentleman whose name heads this biography. 



He descended from a long line of ancestors, 
all tillers of the soil, and is the son of John 
Hess, whose portrait appears in this volume. 
He was born December 28, 1857. His early 
days were spent on his father's farm. His 
parents being in affluent circumstances, he was 
allowed to attend the country schools at Anna, 
and Ewing College in Franklin County, this 
State. At an early period of his life, he 
planned his future as that of a pedagogue. 
From this time his ambition did not slumber, 
and his zeal for his anticipated profession did not 
abate, and, of course, prosperity crowned his 
efforts. At the early age of seventeen years, 
he was awarded a certificate, and at once he 
began teaching in the common schools, at S40 
per month. His reputation soon became wide- 
spread, and every year increased the demand 
for his services, and added laurels to his pro- 
fessional career, and, consequent!}- , his wages 
grew with his labors. In 1882, he withdrew 
from the duties he loved so well, and engaged 
as a clerk for Mr. William Rhodes, a hardware 
merchant of Anna, and has since remained, 
doing good service. He was married, April 27 
1881, to Eliza Emory, a daughter of John and 
Mary F. (Landrith) Emory, natives of Union 
County. Her father enlisted in Company K, 
Eleventh Illinois Infantry, and was killed in 
the battle of Fort Donelson. The mother 
died three years later, mostly from grief for 
her unfortunate consort. Mrs. Hess was the 
only child ; was well educated, and is worthy 
the subject of her choice for a life-long com- 
panion in the person of Mr. Hess. He is an 
active member of the Democratic party. 



!16 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



JONESBORO PRECINCT. 



WINSTEAD DAVIE,* retired merchant, 
Jonesboro. As the subject of this biography 
is prominently mentioned in various parts of 
this volume, the writer will only present a brief 
outline 6f his useful life in the present writing. 
He was born January 3, 1797, in Preston 
County, N. C His parents, John and Eliz- 
abeth (Winstead) Davie, were natives of 
North Carolina and removed to Tennessee, 
where the father died. The mother came to 
Jonesboro, 111., on horseback, after she was 
over eighty years old, and subsequently died 
at the residence of her son, Winstead. She 
was the mother of four children, all of whom 
are dead save our subject — Ashborn, Winstead, 
James and John. The former was a teacher 
while in this county, the latter was married 
and has two children living — Napoleon, in 
Jackson County, this State, and Mrs. Elizabeth 
Hughes, of Jonesboro. Winstead Davie was 
unfortunate in being born badly deformed in 
the lower extremities, consequently could not 
attend school as much as even the meager 
chances for obtaining an education in those 
daj'S afforded. However, at the age of sixteen 
years, he became qualified to teach school, and 
so applied himself in Tennessee until 1820. 
when he came on horseback to Jonesboro, this 
county, and soon entered upon the duty of a 
pedagogue. Later, he was employed as a clerk 
by the firm of Davidson & Outlaw, general 
merchants of that village. Here he progressed 
rapidly, and laid the foundation for his future 
prosperity. He afterward gathered together 
what means he could, and entered the general 
mercantile business, forming a partnership- 
His business included general dry goods, etc., 
tailor shop, shoe shop, tan-yard, saddler and 

*TbiB sketch ie inserted by J. K. Walton and D. W. Brown. 



harness shop, and a travelers' hotel. In a re- 
cent period, he transferred his business of mer- 
chandising to Anna, and there had his usual 
success. He and son Daniel were for awhile 
engaged in operating a grist mill in Anna. Mr. 
Davie put up some of the best buildings of 
Anna, among which we mention the Otrich 
Hotel, and the brick in which Brooks & Grreen 
are engaged. In 1878, or about that time, he 
withdrew entirely from all business and con- 
signed to his children and relatives about 
1200,000. Since then, he has been cared for 
and sustained by J. K. Walton and D. W. 
Brown and families, and through the generosi- 
t}' of the above two families, was his portrait 
inserted in this work, the other son-in-law, a 
merchant of Anna, being too ungrateful to 
assist. Mr. Davie is the father of ten children, 
by his union with Anna Willard, born Novem- 
ber 28, 1809, in Windsor, Vt. Mrs. Davie's 
mother, Nancy (Atkins) Willard, was born 
March, 1777, in Boston County, Mass., and 
died January 12, 1874. We clip the follow- 
ing from an obituary notice, published in the 
Jonesboro Gazette : " Died, Anna Davie, wife 
of Winstead Davie, at her residence in Jones- 
boro, 111., December 5, 1880. Her parents, 
Jonathan W. and Nanc}' Willard, removed from 
Vermont, West, when she was a mere girl, and 
lived for awhile in Cape Girardeau, Mo., where 
her father died. Her mother being left alone 
with her four children, moved to Jonesboro, 
then a village of not more than a half dozen 
houses, where she resided till her death. Mrs. 
Davie, her only daughter was married to Win- 
stead Davie in 1824. She was the mother of 
ten children — Daniel F., born October 5, 1827 ; 
Emily, born March 6, 1830 ; Serena, born 
June 24, 1833 ; William, born June 12, 1836 ; 



JONESBOEO PRECINCT. 



217 



Mary A., born October 18, 1838 ; Nancy A., 
born April 18, 18-J:4: Thomas, born April, 
1841 ; Amanda and Elizabeth twins, born Au- 
gust 14, 1846; John, born September, 1847. 
She professed hope in Christ some thirty years 
ago, but for reasons best known to herself 
never united with any church, though in sen- 
timent was a Baptist, her mother having be- 
longed to that church for more than half a 
centur3^ As a lad}', she was absolutely with- 
out fault, as a mother, kind and indulgent, yet 
possessing those rare qualities that enabled her 
to command from her children obedience, rev- 
erence, confidence and love. As a wife, she 
was a helpmate indeed ; standing by her com- 
panion in adversity as well as in prosperity, 
ever filling the family circle with light, joy and 
hope. To know her was to love her, and no 
citizen of Jonesboro ever had a larger circle of 
friends." The subject of these notes is now 
living in Jonesboro. He has served the people 
faithfully as County Clerk, and Probate Jus- 
tice ; was for a long time a Notary Public and 
a Justice of the Peace. The one prominent ele- 
ment in the character of the subject of this sketch 
that is above the rest, whei'e there ai'e many 
prominent ones, is his kindness and goodness in 
caring for and rendering assistance to the suf- 
fering. No trouble too irksome, no undertak- 
ing too severe, where the suffering of a fellow- 
mortal was to be alleviated or in an^'w ay ben- 
efited. He always had time for these duties, 
and duties he regarded them, and with him 
duty was law. In his intercourse with his fel- 
low-man, he has alwa3's been dignified and cour- 



teous, never turning his back on a friend or 
avoiding an enem}'. He would alwaj's help 
those in need if they were willing when in 
health to help themselves. On one occasion, a 
certain man called on Mr. D. for assistance, 
saying his family was in need, and suffering for 
the bread of life. With a childlike attentive- 
ness, he listened to the man's stor}", and then 
said to one of the boys, " Go to the meat house, 
and get this man a ham." It was quickly 
brought. The begger remarked : " Now Mr. 
Davie, I am as bad off as ever, for I don't know 
how to get this home." Mr. D. looked at the 
fine physical features of the man, and then said 
to the son : •' Take that ham and hang it again 
in our meat house." The begger went home 
without any meat. Mr. Davie realized the mis- 
fortune of being born a cripple, yet rejoiced in 
the fact that the deficiency in the lower exti-em- 
ities was fully made up in mental powers. 
As an illustration of his own self-confidence, we 
mention that, on a time a fine foppish looking 
gentleman called on him, with the view of pub- 
lishing a little notice of this wonderful man 
among men. The said gentleman in his con- 
versation remarked: " It is very sad, Mr. Davie, 
that 3'ou were so unfortunately constituted." 
Mr. D. was not at all favorably impressed with 
the fellow, and in a quick, emphatic tone, said : 
" Why, sir, you are greater deformed than I." 
"How," interrogated the stranger. Says Mr. D., 
" I am ci'ippled in the legs, while you are serious- 
ly deformed in the head." No report was pub- 
lished of the interview. Mr. D. is identified 
with the Democratic party. 




218 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



ALEXANDER COUNTY. 



ELCO PEEOINOT. 



MARSHALL AUGUSTINE, general store- 
keeper, P. 0. Eleo. John Augustine, the 
grandfather of our subject, was born in Ohio 
and there followed the occupation of drover 
and farmer. In that State, also, George 
Augus.tine, the father of Marshall, was born 
in 1811. When about twenty years of age, 
the father went to Missouri and from there he 
soon after came to Illinois and settled in this 
count}', where he married Rachel Cauble 
daughter of Jacob Cauble. Soon after his 
marriage, he moved to Dongola, Union County, 
and there our subject was born December 11, 
1840, and was the second of four children. 
The father, who was a physician, soon after 
subject was born, came to Wetaug, Pulaski 
County, and again soon after moved to a farm 
near Ullin, in the same county where he 
both farmed and followed his profession. Our 
subject attended the schools of Pulaski County 
until about twenty years old and then attended 
McKendree College in St. Clair County. After 
he had returned home, he spent the next four 
or five years partly at home, and in teaching 
schools, following the latter for about five 
terms. In 1866, he commenced life for himself 
on a rented farm near Ullin, where he re- 
mained for only two years. He next com- 
menced working at the saw mill of Morris, 
Rood & Company, acting as lumber clerk. 
There he remained for about twelve years. In 
1881, he came to Elco and, purchasing the 
stock of dry goods and groceries then owned 
by a Dr Gibbs, at this place, he now keeps a 



general store. Subject was married, May 6, 
1866, to Susan Norman, daughter of Richard 
and Elizabeth (Short) Norman. She is the 
mother of four children, two of whom are liv- 
ing — Alice and Lena. In politics, he is a Re- 
publican and is at present serving as Town- 
ship Treasurer. Subject is also a member of 
the Elco Lodge, No. 643, I. 0. 0. F. 

SAMUEL BRILEY, insurance agent, 
Elco. Dempsey Briley, the grandfather of 
Samuel, came from France about 1810, and 
settled in the State of Mississippi, near Jack- 
son, on the Pearl River. Here John Briley, 
the father of subject, was born in 1811, and 
soon after came with his father to West Ten- 
nessee. When the war of 1812 broke out, the 
grandfather enlisted in the armj', and was one 
of the soldiers wounded in the battle of New 
Orleans, being shot through the lungs. From 
the effects of that wound, he died a few years 
later. The father was raised in Tennessee, and 
after his father's death he was taken by the 
noted David Crocket, who was living there 
then, with whom he remained until a young 
man. When about twenty, he came to Ken- 
tucky, and there married Lavina Anderson, 
daughter of James M. and Mary (Carter) An- 
derson. There were four children born to bless 
that home, and of that number our subject was 
the oldest, and was born September 21, 1831, 
at Mayfield, Ky. His father came to Illinois 
in 1833, settling in Massac Count}', and there 
the education of our subject was received, most- 
ly at the old subscription schools of the da}'. 



ELCO PKECINCT. 



219 



In his seventeenth 3'ear, he commenced learning 
the trade of a house carpenter. He came to 
Jonesboro in 1852, and in that and other towns 
he followed his trade until the breaking-out of 
the war. In 1864, he returned to this county, 
and settled near Dongola, where he worked 
at his trade for a short time, and then opened 
a general store, and remained there until 1872, 
when he came to the new town of Elco, which 
was then being founded. He built the first 
store in the place, and there carried on a general 
store. From that time, he engaged in several 
enterprises of public utility, building a large 
number of different buildings, and cai'ried on 
the grocer}-, dr^- goods, drugs and cabinet busi- 
ness in turn. At present he is acting as agent 
for the Racine School Furniture Company and 
the Burlington (Iowa) Life Insurance Company. 
He was married, April 13, 1851, to Charlotte 
Allen, daughter of James M. and Minerva Al- 
len of Johnson County, 111. She is the mother 
of five children, two of whom are living — Ele- 
nora (wife of William H. Ralls of Thebes) and 
Laura (wife of F. M. Carter). He enlisted in 
the Eighty-first Illinois Infantry, Col. DoUans, 
Company F, Capt. Campbell, in August, 1862. 
Remained out seventeen months ; was wounded 
at the battle of Champion Hills, Miss., and was 
honorabh' discharged in December, 1863. In 
politics, he is a Republican, and has served 
three terms as Postmaster. He was elected 
Justice of the Peace in the fall of 1872, and 
has served in that capacit}' since, with the ex- 
ception of one term. He was elected Count}' 
Commissioner in 1878, and served there one 
term. Subject is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church South, but is connected now 
with the church at Elco. 

HENRY BUTTS, farmer, P. 0. Elco, is a 
native of Gallatin County, 111. His grandfather, 
John H. Butts, was a native of Georgia, and 
thei-e, also, James Butts, the father of our sub- 
ject, was born, and came with his parents 
when quite small to Gallatin County, 111. In 



that county the father lived until manhood, 
and married a Miss Julia Ann Webb. By this 
union there were eleven children, and of this 
number our subject was the third, and was 
born April 8, 1837. His father died when he 
was about thirteen years of age, and he had to 
assume the cares of the farm, he being the 
eldest son ; but during the falls and winters he 
was permitted to go to school some, and ob- 
tained a fair education. He remained at home 
with his mother until 1864, when, having mar- 
ried, he started out in life for himself, first 
renting a farm of forty acres. He next pur- 
chased a farm of 130 acres in that same count}'. 
He came to this county in 1879, and settled 
first near Goose Island. In October. 1882, he 
purchased his present location, a farm of eighty 
acres, of which forty acres are cleared. Mr. 
Butts was married in Gallatin County, October 
4, 1864, to Mary Catherine Holt, who was born 
January 8, 1844, and is the daughter of Thomas 
and Artemesia (Goldsmith) Holt. She is the 
mother of seven children, four of whom are 
living — Margaret Ann, born December 23, 1866; 
William Edgar, born February 20, 1874 ; 
Walter Henry, born April 14, 1876 ; Charles 
Pickney, born June 27, 1878. Our subject en-, 
listed in the Twenty-ninth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, Col. Ferril, Capt. Stone, in August, 
1862, and remained out until April 21, 1863, 
when he was honorably discharged on account 
of disability. Both Mr. and Mrs. Butts are 
members of the M. E. Church at Elco. In 
politics, subject is a Democrat. 

MILES CAUBLE, farmer and stock-raiser, 
P. 0. Elco, is a grandson of Jacob Cauble, who 
was a native of North Carolina, as was also his 
son, Peter Cauble, the father of subject. The 
grandfather came to Union County when the 
father was about twenty-one. but remained 
there only a short time and then moved to Al- 
exander County, where he settled near Mill 
Creek. Peter married a Miss Catherine Cau- 
ble, a cousin of his. She was the mother of 



220 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



nine children, and of that number subject was 
the oldest, and w'as born October 4, 1842. He 
attended the subscription schools of his county 
until he was about seventeen, and then bought 
a farm of forty acres about one-half a mile 
from Elco, near his present location. This 
piece has now been increased to a farm of 367 
acres, located in Sections 12, 13 and 18 ; also 
107 acres in Section 1. Has abou'^ 300 acres 
in cultivation, and about fifteen acres in or- 
chard. Also follows the raising of cattle and 
hogs, for market, quite extensively. Subject 
was married, December 4, 1859, to Frances 
Hazlewood, born October 12, 1843. She is the 
daughter of Joshua and Harriet Hazlewood, 
and is the mother of nine children, seven of 
whom are living — Ezekial, born December 8, 
1860 ; Evelena, April 3, 1863 ; Robert, Sep- 
tember 8, 1868 ; Benjamin, December 25, 1870 ; 
Fredoline, December 6, 1873 ; Hattie, March 
16, 1878 ; Dellie, June 25, 1882. Mr. Cauble 
enlisted in the Sixtieth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, Col. Owens, Company E, Capt. Foggarty, 
in August, 1862, remaining out three years, and 
was honorably discharged in July, 1865. Is a 
member of the Elco Methodist Church. Also 
of Elco Lodge, No. 643, 1. 0. 0. F. In politics, 
he is a Republican. 

JAMES CRUSE, farmer, P. 0. Mill Creek, 
Union County. Grrandfather Cruse came from 
Ireland and located in Georgia, where Moses 
Cruse, the father of subject, was born. The lat- 
ter remained there until a young man, and then 
came to what was then Johnson Count}-, now 
Union County. There he married a Miss Rebecca 
Miller, a native of North Carolina, some of 
whose ancestors came from Germany. She 
was the mother of seven children, four of whom 
are living, and of that number subject was the 
third, and was born February 7, 1846. When 
subject was about five years old, his father 
moved to a farm about a mile and a half east 
of Mill Creek, in Union County, where he re- 
sided until his death. Our subject attended 



the subscription schools but little, and received 
but a slight education. When he was about 
eighteen years of age, he went to Jonesboro 
and apprenticed himself to learn the blacksmith 
trade. He worked for about a year and a half, 
when, finding that the trade did not agree with 
him, he came back to the home farm and helped 
his father there until he was about twenty-five 
years of age. At that age, he purchased his first 
farm, a tract of fort}' acres situated about a 
mile from Mill Creek, in Section 5, Township 
14 south. Range 1 west, Alexander County. 
This place has since been increased to a farm 
of 116 acres, which he devotes chiefly to farm- 
ing. Our subject was married in 1826 to Mary 
Freeze, daughter of Daniel aud Elizabeth 
Freeze, both natives of North Carolina. She 
was the mother of one child. Peter, born Feb- 
ruary 12, 1859. This lady died in 1861, and 
Mr. Cruse was married the second time, to 
Lydia 0. Freeze, a sister of his first wife. This 
lady is the mother of five children — Josephine, 
James J., Norwood, Melissa and Mattie. In 
politics, Mr. Cruse is a Democrat. 

JAMES DEXTER, farmer, P. 0. Ullin, 
Pulaski County. Silas Dexter, the father of 
James Dexter, was born in Pulaski County and 
resided there until manhood and then married 
Miss Sallie Rhodes. The twain then settled in 
Alexander Count}', about three miles from 
Sandusky, and there our subject, the youngest 
of ten children, was born, February 6, 1852. 
His father died when he was about six years 
of age, and his mother there married a Mr. 
Holmes, but she only lived about a year after 
her second marriage. Mr. JeflTerson Holmes 
then took our subject and raised him and 
young Dexter remained with Mr. Holmes until 
the latter died in the array, and during that 
time was probably permitted to go to school 
about three months. Subject next went to 
live with a brother of his former foster father, 
and remained thei-e about three years. Dur- 
ing the next eight or nine yeai's, he worked for 



ELCO PRECINCT. 



231 



different farmers, and when he was twenty-four 
years of age made his first purchase of land, a 
farm of eighty acres in Section 15, Township 
14. Range 1 west. Of the original place, about 
forty acres were cleared ; his farm has since 
been increased to one of 130 acres, seventy of 
which are cultivated. Subject was married, 
August 9, 1874, to Malinda J. Mowry, daugh- 
ter of David and Betsey (Dillow) Mowrj'. She* 
is the mother of five children, four of whom 
are living— Silas Edward, born March 2, 1877 ; 
Sarah Jane, born March 2, 1879 ; Cora Levina, 
born January 22. 1881, and a baby boy No- 
vember 26. 1882. Mr. Dexter is a member of 
the German Reformed Church, and in polities 
is a Democrat. 

ELI DOUGLAS, farmer, P. 0. Clear 
Creek Landing, is a son of Alexander Doug- 
las, who was born in North Carolina, in 1811, 
and came to Union County when quite young, 
and with a famil}' by the name of Yost. He 
attended the subscription schools of his countj^ 
in his youth, and married Margaret Hinkle, of 
Dongola Township. She was the daughter of 
Henr^- Hinkle, also a ijative of North Carolina 
and the mother of eleven children. Of that 
number, subject was the fourth, and was born 
April 21, 1831. His father was then living 
in Jonesboro Precinct, and there our subject 
remained until he was seventeen, attending 
the schools of his township. He then left 
home, when he came to Jonesboro, where 
he learned the blacksmith trade under a Mr. 
Wingate, and then after an apprenticeship of 
two years and eleven months he opened a shop 
of his own on the home place. In Januarj-, 1855, 
he went to California, where he carried on his 
trade in one of the mining districts there. In 
1859. he returned to Union County and again 
followed blacksmithing at Jonesboro. In 
1871, he retired to the life of a farmer, and 
came to his pi'esent location in Alexander 
County, in Section 19, Township 14, Range 3 
west. He first purchased 360 acres, of which 



about 100 were cultivated. He has since pur- 
chased eighty acres more, and now has about 
125 acres improved. Mr. Douglas was married 
January 31. 1863, to Mary DeWitt, born Octo- 
ber 24, 1844. She is the daughter of John, 
and Margaret (Cruse) DeWitt, and is the 
mother of two children — Fred, born February 
10, 1865, and Stanley, born December 8, 1866. 
Subject was a soldier in the One Hundred and 
Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry 
and in politics is a Democrat. 

J. WARREN DURHAM, farmer, P. 0. 
Elco, Alexander County. The ancestors of 
the gentleman whose name heads this sketch 
were among the earl}' settlers of this ^county. 
The grandfather, William Durham, who was a 
native of North Carolina, came to this count}- 
in 1830, and resided there until his death in 
1847. Thomas Durham, the father of subject, 
was born in North Carolina in 1800, remained 
there until manhood, and then went to Todd 
County, Ky., where he married Mary Brizen- 
dine, daughter of William Brizendine. Came 
from there to Union County in 1831, settling 
near Mill Creek, where subject was born 
December 24, 1838, the fourth of seven chil- 
dren. Wai'ren received his education in the 
subscription schools of his county, attending 
there until about eighteen years of age, and 
then worked on the home place. In November, 
1865, he purchased a farm of eight}' acres, 
where he now resides, in Section 12, Town 14, 
Range 2 west. Twenty acres of the farm were 
cultivated when he bought it, and he now owns 
a farm of 120 acres, of which about sixty acres 
are cultivated. Subject was married, January 
22, 1860, to Sarah Bass, born in November, 
1842, and daughter of Matthew and Zeolody 
(Hutson) Bass. Mr. Durham enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Ninth Regiment Illinois 
Infantry August 15, 1862, but was transferred 
to the Eleventh, and was dischai'ged at Baton 
Rouge, La., August 15, 1865. Is a member of 



222 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Elco Lodge, No. 643, I. 0. 0. F., and in poli- 
tics is a Democrat. 

PETER N. GOLDEN, farmer, P. 0. Elco. 
Thomas Golden, the grandfather of subject, 
was a native of France, and came to this coun- 
tr}' when his son Stephen Golden was about 
twelve years old. He settled in Virginia, and 
there the father of our subject, Stephen, re- 
mained until he was eighteen, then came to 
Indiana and settled in Leavenworth. Here he 
studied for a physician, and at the age of 
twenty-four married Ann Newton, daughter of 
Peter and Hannah Newton. She was the 
mother of nine children, Peter N. being the 
fifth, and was born November 11, 1848. When 
he was about two years old, his father moved to 
St. Louis, and there subject received his educa- 
tion, and in his eleventh year he started out 
for himself,, and went first to Georgetown, K}'., 
where he worked in a distillery. At the age of 
fifteen, he went to Perrj' County, Ind., and 
there learned the cooper's trade, and followed 
it for a number of years. At the age of 
twenty-two, he commenced farming, and located 
first in Hamilton County. After residing on 
several different farms in this and Union 
County, he came to his present location in 
Elco, where he now owns a farm of fifty-three 
acres, twenty of which are cultivated. He was 
married, in 1869, to Sarah P. Gohlson, daugh- 
ter of Edward and Elizabeth Gholson, of Padu- 
cah, Ky. She is the mother of three children, 
all living — Halla, born November 9, 1871 ; 
William, born Januar}' 4, 1874 ; Belle, born 
June 8. 1879. Mr. Golden was elected Justice 
of the Peace for Elco Precinct April 17, 1873, 
and is now serving his first term. He is a 
member of the Elco Lodge, No. 643, I. 0. 0. 
F., and in politics is a Democrat. 

MOSES GOODMAN, blacksmith, Elco. 
Grandfather Goodman lived in North Carolina, 
and there Paul Goodman, the father of our 
subject, was born in 1813 ; lived there until he 
reached manhood, and then married a Miss 



Williams. The twain, soon after they were 
made one, came West and settled near Jones- 
boro. Union Co., 111., where the father soon after 
his arrival began running a saw mill. Mrs. 
Goodman died soon after her arrival at that 
place, and the father was married the second 
time to Chrissie Earnhart, daughter of Phillip 
Earnhart. She was the mother of five children, 
^nd of that number subject was the second and 
was born January 25, 1855. When he was 
about eight years of age, his father moved to 
Cape Girardeau County, Mo. Here he received 
his first education in a German school at that 
point. After about a year's residence there^ 
his father died, and our subject, accompanied 
b\' his mother, came back to Alexander County 
and settled near Mill Creek. He earl}- com- 
menced to carry on aflTaii'S on the home place, 
but although having to take care of things 
generally', he managed to attend school some 
and obtained a fair education. He remained 
at home until his mother's death, which oc- 
curred in 1874. After that he rented the farm 
and hired out himself the following summer. 
The next fall, having married, he took charge 
again of the home place and remained there 
about one year. He next moved to a farm on 
Sandy Creek and there he remained until the 
3-ear 1879, when he also sold out that farm and 
came to his present location at Elco. On this 
place he first obtained a livelihood by working 
at the saw mill of Durham & Cauble, and also 
followed teaming. In 1880, he purchased his 
present shop from Warren Durham. At this 
place he now does blacksmith work, and also 
does a general wagon repairing business. Mr. 
Goodman was married, December 18, 1874. to 
Rosana E. Dills, daughter of Wiley Dills, 
of Union County. She is the mother of 
five children — Henry C, Laura J., Dora 
E., Earnest L. and Lloyd E. Subject is a 
member of Elco Lodge, No. 643, 1. 0. 0. F., 
and of the Methodist Episcopal Church of 
Elco. In politics, he is a Democrat. 



ELCO PRECINCT. 



223 



JOHN Z. J. N. HAIL, millwright and 
farmer, P. 0. Mill Creek, Union County. 
Elias Hail, the father of our subject, was 
born in North Carolina in 1791 ; reached 
manhood and- married Nancy Strand, daugh- 
ter of A. Strand. She was the mother of 
seven children. Of that number, our subject is 
the youngest, and was born July 3, 1851. The 
father, when subject was about four years of 
age, left North Carolina and came to Newton 
County, Ga., where he died the next year. Our 
subject attended school but three months, and 
obtained most of his education in after life, by 
the light of the back-log. As soon as he was 
old enough, he learned the trade of a carpenter 
and millwright, under a man b}' the name of 
James Ke^', of Jonesboro, Ga. When he 
reached manhood, he married, August 20, 1856, 
Margaret Ann Hurdle, a native of North Caro- 
lina. She was the mother of four children, 
all of whom are dead. Our subject moved to 
Montgomery, Ala., in the fallof 1856, and there 
commenced operations by working at the trade 
of a journeyman carpenter for about a year 
and a half. In the fall of 1857, he again moved, 
this time to Marion County, in the same State, 
where, under the homestead law, he entered a 
farm of 320 acres. At this point, he had hardly 
become settled, when the troubles of the war 
commenced to make things ver}' unpleasant. 
Although born in the South, and at that time 
living in the heart of the Southern Confederacy, 
he did not believe that secession was right, 
and would not enlist on that side. He was 
compelled, finally, to fly for safety, and so one 
night he and his Union neighbors formed them- 
selves into a body and started north toward 
the Union lines. There were 108 men in the 
compan}' when it left Marion County, but their 
journey was beset everywhere bj' difficulties. 
The exact position of the Union forces could 
not be ascertained, and guerrillas and rebels 
fought them on every hand, and when at last, 
on September 7, 1862, the company reached 



the Union lines, at Tunnel Creek Bridge, on the 
Memphis & Charleston Railroad, in Tennessee, 
where the Seventh Illinois Cavalry was sta- 
tioned, there were but eight men left. Among 
that number was our subject, and he immedi- 
ately enlisted in that regiment, and remained 
there until January, 1864, when he was honor- 
ably discharged on account of disability. When 
Mr. Hail went away from his Southern home, 
he left his wife on the old place to take care of 
the property, and one night, after the husband 
had been gone about nine months, she received 
news that a band of rebels were coming to burn 
down the property. She and her mother, gath- 
ering together a little clothing, fled the same 
night, to Tuscumbia, Ala., where a brother of 
Mr. Hail was engaged in running a bakerj^ and 
the next night the house and outbuildings were 
burned to the ground. At that town, Mrs. 
Hail remained until some time in June, 1863, 
when Gen. Dodge, at the head of a large body 
of Union cavalry, made a raid through that 
section, and routed the Southern forces in and 
around Tuscumbia. When the victorious force 
came North again, Mrs. Hail placed herself 
under the soldiers' care and came North, as far 
as Corinth with the soldiers, and from there she 
was sent to Jackson, Tenn., where Mr. Hail 
came to see her, he having obtained a seven 
days' leave of absence from LaGrange, Tenn., 
where the soldiers were then stationed. When 
the husband parted from his wife at the end of 
his furlough, it was their last parting. Mrs. 
Hail, from that place came to Richview, Wash- 
ington Co., 111., and there she died, July 7, 
1863. When Mr. Hail came North the next 
January, he came to that town, but there only 
found the silent tomb as a remembrance of his 
wife. He had been discharged from a hospital, 
and he remained in that town until he had par- 
tially recovered his health, and then came to 
UUin, Pulaski County, where he hired to a Mr. 
Bell, who was then repairing his flouring mill 
at that point. Here our subject remained till 



224 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



March, 1865 ; then moved to a farm near Don- 
gola, Union County. In 1872, he purchased his 
present location, a farm of 100 acres in Section 
5, Township 14 south, Range 1 west ; also owns 
a half interest in the Hail's point water mill, 
on Mill Creek. Our subject was married the 
second time, Februarj' 20, 1867, to Mrs. Isa- 
bella Anna Woodley. a daughter of Diewault 
and Sallie Miller. By this union there have 
been eight children, four of whom are living — 
Elraira, John, Calvin and Fleta May. In poli- 
tics, Mr. Hail is a Republican, and is a member 
of Elco Lodge, No. 643. 

SALMON HAZLEWOOD, farmer, P. 0. 
Elco. Cliff Hazlewood, the grandfather of our 
subject, was a native of England. He came to 
America and fii'st settled in Virginia, about 
1758. Here he lived to manhood, and married 
Nancy Axley, and to them was born in 1801 
Joshua Hazlewood. The grandfather then re- 
moved to Kentuck}', where he lived a number 
of years, and about 1812 he came to what is 
now Union County, 111., then a vast wilderness, 
and located where Springville now stands. 
The father of our subject, Joshua, married 
Harriet Standard, a daughter of William and 
Sarah (Carter) Standard, shortl}' after his 
marriage he moved to Alexander Count}^, lo- 
cating near what is now the site of Elco. The 
parents were blessed with four children, of 
whom the subject of these lines was the third, 
and was born April 8, 1833. He received his 
education mostly- in the old subscription 
schools, attending one that stood near the 
present location of his own house. He re- 
mained with his father until the latter died, at 
the age of fifty-three 3'ears, when our subject 
being about twenty years of age, took charge 
of the home place. He followed stock-dealing 
for about five years, when, with his hard-earned 
savings, he purchased a farm of fortj' acres 
lying in Section 24. He has made subsequent 
additions, having now 100 acres in cultivation, 
•besides five aci-es of orchard. August 20, 



1862, he enlisted in the Sixtieth Illinois Vol- 
unteer Infantry, Col. Toler, Company E, Capt. 
G. W. Evans. He took part in many hot en- 
gagements, and was mustered out of service 
June 5, 1865. In 1870, a post office was es- 
tablished in what was then called the Hazle- 
wood settlement, and was named Hazlewood 
Post Office, in honor of our subject's grand- 
father. Salmon Hazlewood was appointed the 
first Postmaster. He was united in marriage 
July 24, 1856, to Louisa Ann McRaven, born 
September 16, 1837, a daughter of Louis and 
Nancy (White) McRaven. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hazlewood are the parents of twelve children 
— Francis J., born June 20, 1857 ; Louis P., 
November 22, 1858 ; Levi S., March 18, 1860 ; 
James A., August 11, 1866 ; Mahuldah, Febru- 
ary 18, 1868 ; Charles F., March 4, 1872 ; 
Minnie L., September 20, 1873 ; Samuel R., 
February 16, 1876; Rollie F., November 21, 
1877, and Thomas, September 1, 1880. Mr. 
Hazlewood is a member of the M. E. Church 
of Elco. 

A. J. LOLLESS, farmer, P. 0. Elco. Ben- 
jamin LoUess, the grandfather of subject, was 
born in Virginia, and his son, Benjamin Lolless. 
Jr., the father of A. J. Lolless, was also born 
there, and went to Tennessee when a young 
man, where he married Betsey Ann Berndrum, 
daughter of Clayborn Berndrum, also a native 
of Virginia. She was the mother of sixteen 
children, and of that number, subject was the 
ninth, and was born March 30. 1833. When 
subject was seven years old, he moved with his 
father to Alabama, where he remained until he 
was sixteen years of age, when he left that 
State and went to Western Tennessee, having 
in the meantime attended school but slightly. 
Here he remained until about twenty, and 
then came with his father to this State, settling 
first in Williamson Count}', where the father 
died in 1875, at the advanced age of ninetj'-two. 
Our subject remained in Williamson County 
the first year he was in the State, and then came 



ELCO PRECINCT. 



225 



to this county, where he worked for numer- 
ous farmers in Clear Creek Precinct. After his 
marriage, he commenced life on his own account 
on a rented farm near Clear Creek. He rented 
one or two other farms in succession, and in 
1876 he purchased his present location of 160 
acres, in Section 20, Town 14, Range 1 west, 
of which about seventy are now in cultivation. 
Mr. LoUess was married the first time to Fan- 
nie Walker, daughter of John Walker, of Clear 
Creek Precinct. This lady died one year 
after her marriage, leaving a little one, who, 
too, soon followed her to the other shore. The 
second time, he was married to Amanda Lang- 
le}', daughter of Mrs. Marj- A. Phillips, nee 
Langle3\ She is the mother of ten children, all 
living — Mary Alice, Franklin, Virginia, Craig, 
Edward, William, Ulysses, Florence, Thomas 
and Luella. Was a soldier in the One Hundred 
and Thirtieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and 
in politics is a Democrat. 

JAMES E. McCRITE, farmer, P. 0. Elco. 
James McCrite, the grandfather of our subject, 
came from Ireland, and located in South Caro- 
lina, where he married Margaret Anderson, 
also a native of Ireland, coming to this country 
when a little girl. There John McCrite, the 
father of James E., was born June 17, 1778. 
This gentleman lived in that State some ^^ears, 
and then removed with his parents to Georgia, 
where he married a Miss Jane Callahon, a daugh- 
ter of Edward and Polly Callahon ; the father 
was a native of Ireland, coming to this country 
when a young man, and the mother was a na- 
tive of New Jerse}'. 'Ry this union, there were 
seven children, four of whom are now living, 
and of this number our subject was the eldest, 
and was born March 22, 1813, in Jackson 
County, Ga. In 1814, his father moved to 
Murray County, Tenn., where he remained 
until October, 1829, when he came to Union 
County, settling near what is now Mt. Pleas- 
ant ; at that place, he only remained a year, 
and came to Alexander Count}^, where he set- 



tled on Sandy Creek, about seven miles from 
what is now Elco Station. Our subject was now 
about seventeen years old, and had, until this 
time, probably attended school at the old sub- 
scription schools, altogether, about five months. 
After his arrival in this county, he attended 
school exactly eleven days. This was the ex- 
tent of his learning in the schoolhouse, and he 
is truly what can be called a self-made man. 
Most of his learning was obtained after he had 
reached manhood, by the light of the fire- 
place, after night. He remained most of the 
time at the home place until 1836. workin<y at 
odd jobs for the neighbors at wood-choppino-, 
rail- splitting, etc. In the fall of 1837, he lo- 
cated on his first farm. It was a forty-acre 
tract of Government land, and was entirely in 
timber. This has been increased, by patient 
toil and industry, to a farm of 480 acres, of 
which eighty acres are improved. Mr. McCrite 
was married, September 29, 1836, to Miss 
Edna Baughn, daughter of Reuben and Nancy 
Baughn, both natives of Tennessee. She was 
born September 15, 1815, and was the mother 
of eleven children, eight of whom are now liv- 
ing — Reuben V., Joseph L., Robert W., Nancy 
J. (wife of John A. Morris), Polly I. (wife of 
R. B. Wilson), Margaret A. (wife of George 
W. Vick) and Martha J. (wife of Jesse G. Wil- 
son). This lady died April 15, 1872, and sub- 
ject was married, April 8, 1874, to Mrs. Mary 
E. Miles, who was born May 12, 1829, and is a 
daughter of John and Nancy Jones, both na- 
tives of North Carolina, but raised in Ken- 
tucky. In politics, our subject is a Democrat, 
and he has served his county faithfully' in nu- 
merous capacities. In his time, he has been 
Justice of the Peace, being elected to this of- 
fice first in 1841 and serving continually until 
November, 1881. He was appointed Township 
Treasurer in 1846, and served in that office for 
a number of years. He was elected Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Peace in 1852, first to fill 
the vacancy caused b}' the resignation of Silas 



236 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Dexter ; was elected the next terra, and served 
for sixteen consecutive years, retiring in 1873, 
and he has also served his district as School 
Commissioner for a number of years. Mr. and 
Mrs. McCrite are both members of the Mis- 
sionary Baptist Church that holds its services 
on Sandy Creek. Mr. McCrite is a member of 
the Jonesboro Lodge. 

RICHARD PALMER, farmer, P. 0. Elco. 
William Palmer, the grand-father of our 
subject, was probably born and raised in 
North Carolina, and there John Palmer, 
his son, the father of Richard, was born. 
The former came to Tennessee when the 
latter was a young man. There John married, 
in Smith County, Miss Piety Vick, daughter of 
Joshua Vick. She was the mother of nine 
children, and of this number our subject was 
the third, and was born October 8, 1817. 
When our subject was about twelve years of 
age, his parents came to this county and settled 
about three miles northwest of Elco, where 
they resided until their demise, the father dying 
August 7, 1850, and the mother July 2, 1852. 
In this county subject received his education, 
attending mostl}^ the old Hazlewood subscrip- 
tion school. After his schooling, he helped his 
father on the old home place until he was 
twenty- four, when he started out in life for 
himself, first settling about five miles south- 
west of Elco, on a tract of eighty acres. Here 
he remained about twelve years, and then 
moved to his present location in Section 16, 
Town 14, Range 2 west. His first purchase 
was a farm of 120 acres, of which about twelve 
acres were in cultivation. This has since been 
increased to a farm of 240 acres, of which about 
100 acres is in cultivation. Subject was mar- 
ried August 19, 1841, to Irena Vaughn, 
daughter of Reuben and Nancy Vaughn of this 
county. She was born December 27, 1821, in 
Perry County, Tenn., and the mother of nine 
children, six of whom are living — Louis, born 
February 16, 1844 ; Piety, born July 2, 1849 ; 



James R., born September 2, 1851 ; Elizabeth, 
born November 21, 1855, wife of Jacob 
Mitchell ; Enda, born June 27, 1858, wife of 
James Harrell ; John, born July 22, 1863. 
The three dead children are Nathaniel, born 
November 16, 1842, died April 22, 1844; 
Nancy, born October 8, 1845, died September 
20, 1846; Reuben, born September 10, 1847, 
died October 6, 1848. This lady died October 
30, 1881. Subject is a Democrat and is a mem- 
ber of the Southern Methodist Church. 

HIRAM F. PUTNAM, merchant, Elco. 
The grandfather of Mr. Putnam emigrated 
from England and located in Vermont, where 
to him was born a son, whom he named Hiram, 
who married Sallie Black, the result being our 
subject. The parents of Hiram settled in 
Otsego County, N. Y., where their son was 
born Ma}' 12, 1825. He attended the country 
schools as much as was convenient, and be- 
came qualified to teach, at which he applied 
himself for a few terms. He went to Cattar- 
augus County, N. Y., where he carpentered for 
three years. After having spent some time at 
different places, he, in 1854, came to Illinois 
and clerked in a store in the town of Warren. 
In two 3' ears, he went to Howard County, Iowa, 
and at once entered upon a traveling tour 
which lasted six years, and finally decided to 
locate at Memphis, Tenn., but, on account of 
the breaking-out of the war, he only remained 
six months. He then came to Anna, this 
count}', and in one vear he went to Charleston, 
Mo., following all the time the trade of a car- 
penter. In 1862, he made his final settlement 
in Alexander Count}-, at the present site of 
Elco. Here he farmed for awhile on some 
rented patches, after which he clerked and kept 
books for A. A. Soule & Co., of Pulaski County. 
In 1866, he returned to Alexander County, 
where he purchased a farm of forty acres, 
where he remained about six years. When 
the town of Elco was laid out he clerked for 
Leavenworth & Duncan, subsequently for 



ELCO PRECINCT. 



237 



Durham & Cauble, the successors to the above 
firm. In February, 1878, he was appointed 
agent for the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad at 
Elco, which position he held for five years. In 
1880, he formed a partnership under the firm 
name of Putnam & Standard, general druggists 
and grocers. He was elected Justice of the 
Peace in 1869 ; re-elected in 1877, serving in 
all two terms. Was married, April 6, 1865, to 
Elizabeth Stacey, the result being five children, 
two of whom survive — Flora A. and Mary F. 
She died Februar}-, 1875, and he subsequently 
married Mrs. Ellen Barnett, a daughter of Dr. 
Victor, of UUin, Pulaski County. She died in 
November, 1877, and he was married the third 
time, to Mrs. B. J. Standard, May 27, 1880. 
Her maiden name was Henderson. He is a 
Methodist, and an Elder of that organization 
at Elco. 

JOHN J. REAMS, farmer, P. 0. Clear 
Creek Landing, is a grandson of Edward 
Reams, who was born in Virginia and settled 
in North Carolina, where Jesse Reams, the 
father of our subject was born. The father 
remained there until a young man, and then 
went to Tennessee, settling in Stewart Count}', 
where he married Anna McGree, daughter of 
Thomas and Betsey (Whiteside) McGee. This 
lad}' was the mother of nine children, and of 
that number subject was the third and was 
born August 15, 1833. His parents came to 
Illinois when he was about ten years old, set- 
tling in Pope County, where they remained 
until their death. Subject received his educa- 
tion entirel}- in the subscription schools, and 
went to them but little. He remained at home 
until he was about twenty-one, and then 
bought a farm in that county. There he re- 
mained until 1870, when he came to this 
count}' and first rented a farm of Washing- 
ton ^IcRavens. He is now living on a farm 
belonging to Pilgrim McRavens, about five 
miles east of Clear Creek. He was mai-ried 
December 10, 1854, to Mary Jane Jaco, daugh- 



ter of John and Polly Jaco, of Pope County. 
This lady was born in Tennessee in 1836, and 
was the motlier of four children, two of whom 
are living— Polly Ann (wife of James Wood- 
ward, of Clear Creek), and Washington Reams. 
She died in July, 1861, and December 12, 
1863, Mr. Reams married the second time, 
Matilda Caroline Castleman, daughter of Will- 
iam and Maria (Bush) Castleman. She is the 
mother of five children, three of wliom are 
living— Mary Jane (wife of James Hill), Char- 
ity and William J. Subject is a member of 
the Baptist Church, which meets at Clear 
Creek. In politics, he is a Democrat. 

JAMES L. SACKETT, farmer, P. 0. Elco. 
Isaac Sacket, the grandfather of our subject, 
was born in England and came to this country 
some time before the Revolutionary war. He 
settled in Connecticut, and was a soldier in 
that war. In the same State, Isaac Sacket, Jr., 
the father of James L., was born in 1808, lived 
there until he reached manhood, and then mar- 
ried, in 1827, Sophronia Richards, daughter of 
Charles Richards, whose forefathers were also 
of English descent. She was the mother of 
ten children, and of that number subject was 
the youngest, and was boi-u December 20, 1831. 
When he was about nine years of age, his par- 
ents moved with him to Illinois and settled in 
Marine, Madison County. Subject received 
his education partially in the schools of Con- 
necticut, and also in the schools of Illinois. 
When about fifteen years old, he commenced 
working at the carpenter's trade, and followed 
that vocation until about nineteen. At that 
age, he undertook business for himself, and 
commenced contracting for jobs. This voca- 
tion he followed for about six years, working 
at it in St. Louis, also in Monroe and St. Clair 
Counties. In 1860, he came to Alexander 
County, and first settled on Sand}' Creek, but 
only remained there about three years, and 
then came to his present location in 1863. He 
first purchased a farm of fifty acres, and now 



228 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



owns about 118 acres in Sections 18 and 19, 
Township 14, Range 1 west. He was married, 
March 24, 1858, in Belleville, 111., to Eliza An- 
son, daughter of Fred and Lucinda Anson. 
She is the mother of ten children, seven of 
whom are now living — Rosala, Montie, George 
R., Minnie, Clara, Mattie and Louis. He en- 
listed in the One Hundred and Fifty-third Illi- 
nois Infantrj', Col. Bronson, Company F, Capt. 
Johnson, February 12, 1865, and was dis- 
charged May 29, 1865, on account of disability. 
In politics, Mr. Sacket is a Republican. 

WILLIAM SKILES, farmer, P. 0. Elco, is 
a grandson of William Skiles, who was a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war, having come to this 
country some time before that conflict, and 
settled in Maryland. Soon after the war ended, 
he went to what is now Green County, Tenn., 
and there Henry Skiles, the father of our sub- 
ject, was born. He remained there until man- 
hood and then married Margaret Bunch, a 
daughter of Jonas Bunch, who was also a soldier 
in the Revolution, having come from England 
and settled in Virginia, and there the gentle- 



man whose name heads this, was boi'n October 
20, 1835, being the third of eight children. 
He received his education in the schools of his 
county, then worked on the home place until 
1858, .when he went to Western Missouri, 
settling near Springfield. In that State, he 
farmed until April, 1865, when he came to 
Union County, where he settled about six 
miles east of Jonesboro. In 1870, he pur- 
chased forty acres in Section 8, Town 14, Range 
2 west, in Alexander County. He now owns a 
farm of eight}^ acres, of which about half is 
improved. Subject was married, April 7, 1858, 
to Mary Ann Gann, daughter of Allan and 
Sarah (Myers) Gann. The result of this union 
was thirteen children, seven of whom are liv- 
ing — William, born February 28, 1859; Amanda 
J., born March 18, 1862 ; James, born Janu- 
ary 4, 1864 ; Henry, born Januaiy 22, 1867 ; 
Mary Ann, born August 20, 1871 ; Thomas J., 
born February 20, 1872 ; Benjamin F., born 
February 28, 1874. Mr. Skiles is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church south, and in 
politics is a Democrat. 



THEBES PRECINCT. 



DR. H. C. BARKHAUSEN, physician, 
Thebes. Prominently identified among the old 
physicians of this county is Dr. H. C. Bark- 
hausen, born April 1, 1819, in Prussia, and ed- 
ucated in his native countr}-. In 1835, he came 
with his parents to this country, where the fa- 
ther, H. A., engaged in farming in Pulaski 
County. This was a new business for the elder 
B.. as he had always been an architect. In one 
year the family removed to Jonesboro precinct, 
I Union County, where they continued rural pur- 
suits until 1845, when they went to Thebes 
Precinct, Alexander County. Soon after, the 
father took a contract to construct the Alexan- 
der County Court House at Thebes, then the 



count}' seat of said County. This structure 
he completed in 1848. The subject, at the age 
of twenty-six years, began the study of medi- 
cine with Dr. Fisher, of Thebes, with whom he 
remained two years, and began practice in 
Stoddard County, Mo., and in two years he re- 
turned to Thebes, where he enjoyed a lucrative 
practice until 1875, when he retired to his 
country residence about one-half mile from 
town, where he i-esides. He was married June 
18, 1844, to Catherine Hunsaker, daughter of 
John and Annie (Shaw) Hunsaker, the result of 
which union being three children — Adeline, 
wife of Henry A. Phanert, of New Mexico ; 
Louise, wife of Dr. J. A. M. Gibbs. She is Su- 



THEBES PRECINCT. 



229 



perintendent of Alexander County Public 
Schools. The third child is dead. Our sub- 
ject is a member of the A., F. & A. M., and is a 
stanch Democrat. 

WILLIAM BRACKEN, farmer, P. 0. 
Thebes, was born December 2, 1853, in Alex- 
ander Count}', 111. He is a son of William and 
Martha (Witt) Bracken, natives of South Caro- 
lina, and early settlers in this county. Our 
subject received his educational advantages at 
the countr}' schools. His time, aside from that 
consumed in the school room, was devoted to 
the farm. When he was about twenty-four 
years old, his father died, and he inherited a 
small piece of land. He subsequenth^ pur- 
chased the rest of the heirs' part, and now pos- 
sesses the entire home place of 240 acres in 
Section 15, Range 16, 3 west. He was married 
August 13, 1878, to Mattie, a daughter of Mar- 
tin Brown. He is a Republican. On the farm 
an iron mine exists which has been noticed in 
the township history. 

MARTIN BROWN, farmer, P. 0. Thebes. 
Probably the oldest native born resident in 
Thebes Precinct is the gentleman of whom this 
is a brief sketch, and who was born September 
9, 1834, in this county, the fourth of thirteen 
children. He is a son of David and Rebecca 
Brown, who were among the earliest settlers in 
that section of the county, coming to Alexander 
County about 1830. The father died in 1865, 
at an advanced age. Mr. Brown received his 
education in the schools of this" count}'. He 
helped his father at home until his twentieth 
birthday, and then commenced life on a tract 
of Congress land in Section 7, Township 15, 
Range 2. On that farm he lived until 1876, 
and then came to his present location of 160 
acres in Section 15, Range 15, Township 3. 
Besides the home farm, he also owns 140 acres 
in Section 14 and 11, Township 15, Range 3; 
forty acres in Section 15, Township 15, Range 
3 ; 200 acres in Section 2, Township 15, Range 
3, and 320 acres in Section 27, Township 15, 



Range 3. He has about 350 acres in cultiva- 
tion. Besides his large farms, he is also asso- 
ciated with his son Alfred, in a large saw mill 
about four miles from Thebes, and with his son 
William in a steam flouring mill in Thebes. 
Mr. Brown was married, April 30, 1851, to 
Elizabeth Durham, a native of this county, and 
a daughter of John Durham, also one of the 
pioneers of that section. This lady was born 
February 22, 1834, and is the mother of Al- 
fred, William, Martha (wife of William Bracken, 
of Thebes Precinct), Henry, Ul3^sses S., Martin 
and Thomas L. Mr. Brown was County Com- 
missioner from 1876 to 1879, and has also 
served as Township Treasurer and Trustee, and 
School Director. In politics, he is a Repub- 
lican. 

WILLIAM BROWN, miller, Thebes. This 
gentleman is a son of Martin Brown (whose 
sketch appears in this volume), and was born 
in this county September 10, 1856. He at- 
tended school until about nineteen ye'drs old, 
and then, after farming for about two years, 
came to Thebes and with his father commenced 
the erection of a large steam flouring mill, at a 
cost of $8,000, which is now in operation under 
the firm name of M. & W. Brown. June 14, 
1883, our subject was married to Miss Ella 
Walcott, an orphan girl raised by Mrs. S. 
Marchildon. In politics, Mr. Brown is a Re- 
publican, and is at present acting as School 
Trustee. 

THOMAS A. BROWN, druggist, Thebes. 
David Brown, the grandfather of our subject 
was a native of North Carolina, and came to 
Union County, 111., where Calvin Brown, the 
father, was born. The latter lived there until 
manhood, and then married Caroline Urv, of 
Jonesboro. The father, after a short residence 
in Jonesboro Precinct, came to Alexander 
County and settled in Thebes Precinct, where 
our subject was born, November 29, 1841, and 
was the second of four children. After attend- 
ing school until about twenty, he farmed for 



230 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



eight years ; then moved to Thebes in 1867. 
His first venture was in a saloon, where he re- 
mained about two years, and was then ap- 
pointed keeper of the Alexander County In- 
firmary, which he held for three years. He 
then returned to Thebes, and opened his pres- 
ent drug store. In that line he now carries a 
stock of about $1,000. In December, 1882, he 
was again appointed to his former position. 
Subject was married, April 22, 1866, to Sarah 
E. Dollman, a daughter of John DoUman, a 
native of Holland. This lady was born De- 
cember 16, 1846, and is the mother of four 
children, two of whom are living — Thomas A., 
borii September 27, 1871, and Pruella Ettie, 
born August 29, 1876. In politics, Mr. Brown 
is a Republican. 

A. CORZINB, farmer and hotel, Thebes, 
was born in Dongola Precinct, Union County, 
111., November 19, 1837 ; is a son of Evans and 
Margaret Corzine, natives of North Carolina. 
The father died when the subject was small, 
and he with his mother removed to Alexander 
Count}', where young Corzine attended the 
country schools, aside from the duties of a fai'm 
life, that he was compelled to attend to. Upon 
reaching his majority, he improved eighty acres 
of land on Section 11, where he resided until 
October, 1882, when he bought property at 
Thebes and opened a hotel, which he contin- 
ues at this writing. He was married, October 
25, 1856, to Caroline, a daughter of James 
and Nancy C. Miller, of Union County. The 
following children have been born to him : Mar- 
garet, Wesley, Nora, Amy. Mr. C. enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, and served till the close of the war. 
He is a member of the Baptist Church, and is 
a stanch Republican. 

0. G. FORD, farmer, P. O. Thebes, was born 
in Randolph County, 111., August 8, 1850, and 
is a son of Benjamin and Julia Ford, natives, 
the former of Ohio, and the latter of Kentucky. 
Our subject attended school in the country. 



When eighteen years old, he went to Idaho 
Territor}', where he farmed for fourteen j-ears, 
and then returned to his native heath, where he 
remained some time and then located where he 
now resides, purchasing a small farm at that 
time. He now possesses eighty acres in Sec- 
tion 16, Township 13, Range 3 west. Was mar- 
ried, August 8, 1872, to Rosa, a daughter of 
Thomas and Matilda Pettitt. The result of this 
union is five children, four living, viz. : Hattie 
M., Amzi, Walter and Mary B. Mrs. Ford is 
a Methodist. He is a Republican. 

DR. J. A. M. GIBBS, physician, Thebes. 
One of the best-known practitioners of Alexan- 
der Count}' is the gentleman whose name heads 
this sketch. He is a native of Vienna, Johnson 
County ; was born June 23, 1843, and is a son 
of Dr. W. J. and Caroline Gibbs, natives of Vir- 
ginia. Our subject attended the schools of his 
native town until nineteen, and then com- 
menced reading medicine in the office of his 
father, and then in the office of Dr. George Brat- 
ton, also of Vienna. In 1866, '67 and '68, he at- 
tended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chi- 
cago, and in the last named year, graduated from 
that institution and immediately settled in 
Thebes, where he has since become a leading 
physician of that section. In 1868, the Doctor 
was married to Miss L. C. Barkhauseu, a daugh- 
ter of Dr. Barkhauseu, of Thebes Precinct. She 
was born May 23, 1845, and is the mother of 
one child — Harry, born October 5, 1869. Our 
subject enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Twentieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, August 
13, 1862^ and remained out until September, 
1865, having been promoted to a Captaincy for 
gallant service. In politics, our subject is a 
Republican. Mrs. Gibbs was elected Novem- 
ber, 1882, to the office of County School Su- 
perintendent. The Doctor is a member of Elco 
Lodge, No. 643, I. O. 0. F., and served his 
county as Commissioner from 1878 to 1882. 
Is now living on a farm of twenty acres in Sec- 
tion 9, Township 15, Range 9. 



THEBES PRECINCT. 



231 



JUDGE LEVI L. LIGHTXER, deceased. 
Probably no one of the earl}* settlers of Alex- 
ander County has done more for the good of 
the county or taken a dee^per interest in the 
welfare of this section than the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch. Judge Lightner was 
born in Lancaster, Penn., December 15, 1793, 
and received his education in the schools of 
that cit}'. At the age of twenty-one, he left 
the parental roof, and came down the Ohio on 
the first steamboat that ever came to Cairo. 
He landed in that town, and described it as 
*' one log house filled with about five hundred 
negi'oes." The looks of the place not striking 
him very favorabl}', he went in a short time to 
Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he engaged in the 
mercantile business, and there remained until 
about 1835, when he came to Clear Creek, Al- 
exander County, where he ran a saw mill and 
was engaged extensively in farming. In 1844, 
when the county of Pulaski was taken off and 
the capital moved to Thebes, our subject moved 
to that place also, and was elected the first 
County Judge after the new county was made. 
In the following ten years or more, he served 
his county in various positions, such as Justice 
of the Peace, School Commissioner, County 
Clerk and Probate Judge. When in 1859 the 
seat of justice was moved to Cairo, the Judge, 
not liking the change, resigned his numerous 
oflfices and decided to give his help to the town 
that he had chosen for his residence. In 1860, 
he was, however, appointed to the office of Re- 
ceiver of Public Entry for Cairo, and went 
there to assume his position. This he held 
until 1862, when, his health failing, he returned 
to his former home in Thebes. Judge Light- 
ner was married three times. First, to a Miss 
Lizzie Goodouer, of Cape Gii'ardeau, Mo., who 
was the mother of five children, one only of 
whom is living — Louise, wife of Washington 
McRaven, of Clear Creek Precinct. His second 
wife was a Mrs. Eleanor DeShay, the former 
wife of ex-Gov. DeShay, of Ky. This lady 



was the mother of two children, one only, 
Shelby, now living, who is engaged in business 
in Cairo. He was married the third time to 
Mrs. Susan E. Wilkinson, November 2, 1848. 
She was born in Todd County, Ky., and 
is a daughter of James and Mary Mansfield. 
This lady is the mother of five living children 
— Julia, wife of Morrison Breeze, of Pinckney- 
ville. Perry County ; James, now in business 
in Barnard, Alexander County ; Eugenia, wife 
of Albert Brown, of Thebes Precinct ; William, 
now farming in same Precinct ; and Lilly L., 
at home with her mother, and now one of the 
most successful teachers in the county. Judge 
-Lightner was a member of the Cape Girardeau, 
Mo., A., F.&A. M. Lodge, and of the Lutheran 
Church. After his return to Thebes, the 
Judge's health continued to fail until his death, 
which occurred November 17, 1869. His 
widow is now living at home in Thebes, and 
owns an excellent farm of 320 acres in Section 
12, Township 15, Range 3. 

JACOB LIGHT, farmer, P. O. Thebes, is a 
native of Union County, and was born March 
10, 1827. He is a son of John and Leah 
(Meisenheimer) Light, both are natives of 
Rowan County, N. C. Subject received his 
education in the schools of his township, and 
when he reached his majority he purchased a 
farm of 120 acres in Meisenheimer Precinct. 
At his father's death, some j-ears afterward, he 
inherited the home farm, and there he resided 
until 1868, when he came to Alexander Couut}^ 
and purchased his present home in Section 14, 
Township 15, Range 3. It is a piece 
of 160, and was entirely in the woods 
when he came. He now has about sixt}^- 
five acres in cultivation, and about seven 
acres in orchard. He was married November 
1, 1846, in Union Count}', to Sophia Weaver, a 
native of Union County, and a daughter of 
John and Sarah Weaver of Meisenheimer Pre- 
cinct, Union Count}-. This lady was the mother 
of six children, three of whom are living — Sarah, 



232 



BIOGKAPHICAL : 



wife of Henry Weibking, of Thebes Precinct ; 
Amanda, wife of Andrew Hone}', of Sante Fe 
Precinct, and Adam, a farmer of Sante Fe Pre- 
cinct. Mrs. Light sank to rest in Novem- 
ber, 1859, and Mr. Light was married the 
second time, February 27, 1866, to Sarah Dur- 
ham, a daugliter of Thomas Durham, of Union 
County ; she was also the mother of six chil- 
dren, and of this number five are living — 
Henr}-, Alfred, Wilson, George and Mary. 
This lady died February 29, 1880. In politics, 
Mr. Light is a Democrat. 

S. MARCHILDON, farmer, P. 0. Thebes, 
was born August 4, 1816, in Canada East, 
about sixty miles from Quebec, on the 
St. Lawrence River. His parents were of 
French descent, and his early education was 
in that language. When subject was about 
fourteen, he went to Quebec, where, after a 
clerkship of five years, he became partner in 
one of the largest stores, and remained nntil 
1859, when he came to Thebes, where he 
opened a general store. This he carried on for 
about four years, and has since then devoted 
most of his attention to farming, and as a land 
agent. He now owns about 1,250 acres, situ- 
ated in the following sections : 4, 17, 2 ; 33, 
34, 27 ; 14, 3, and 4, 5, 24, 28, 30 and 35 ; 15, 
2. He has about 400 acres in cultivation. 
May 10, 1842, Mr. Marchildon married a Miss 
Emille Tessie, a native of Quebec, but of French 
descent. She was the mother of seven chil- 
dren, five of whom are living — ^^Mary I., wife of 
J. G. Rolwing, of Thebes ; Eugenie, wife of J. 
Culley, of Clear Creek; Mary J., wife of J. 
Marchildon, of Canada East ; Cj'rille, now in 
business in Thebes ; Annie, wife of Mr. Mor- 
row, of Quebec. This lady died December 18, 
1854, and he was married the second time, Octo- 
ber 2, 1 862, to Miss Miranda Massey, a daughter 
of Benjamin and Elizabeth Dexter. In politics, 
he is a Democrat. He has served his township in 
various ways, having been Justice of the Peace 
ten years, School Director eighteen years, and 



as an Associate Justice four years. He is a 
member of the Roman Catholic Church. 

JOHN MILLER, farmer, P. 0. Thebes, was 
born in Alexander County August 5, 1839 ; is 
a son of Peter and Catharine Miller, who died 
when he was nine years old. Young Miller 
was therefore thrown out on life's sea to battle 
for himself. He applied himself at an3'thing 
he could get to do, for different persons. At 
the age of fifteen years, he began learning the 
tx'ade of a lumber sawyer, with H. S. & E. E. 
Walbridge, with whom he remained until reach- 
ing his majorit}'. In 1876, he began merchan- 
dising in the countr}', and subsequently re- 
moved to Oran, Scott Co., Mo., following the 
same business, where he remained until 1877, 
when he went to Butler Count}', Mo., where he 
continued the mercantile business and also en- 
gaged in a saw mill, and in a short time lost 
both enterprises by fire. 3Ir. Miller then went 
to Dallas, Texas, but not liking the country he 
returned to St. Louis, and thence to Cairo, 
where he acted as lumber agent for some time. 
He subsequently located in Jeflferson County, 
Mo., and in 1881 he came to Thebes Precinct, 
Alexander County, where he purchased ten 
lots, which he cultivates. He is head sawyer 
for M. & A. Brown. He was married, March 
1, 1866, at Cape Girardeau, Mo., to Miss S. S. 
Hancock, a daughter of Henderson and Rebec- 
ca Hancock, natives of Kentucky. She was 
born September 29, 1846. She is a member of 
the Baptist Church at Thebes. He is a Re- 
publican and a member of the Villa Ridge 
Lodge, A., F. & A. M. 

JAMES MILLER, farmer, P. 0. Thebes, 
was born February 2, 1843, in Alexander 
County ; is a son of Moses and Matilda Miller, 
who were among the earliest settlers in this 
county, coming from North Carolina. Our 
subject's education was but slight, and was re- 
ceived in the county schools. His father hav- 
ing died when he was ten years of age, he was 
early compelled to lend a helping hand on the 



THEBES PRECINCT. 



233 



farm. Upon reaching manhood, he inherited his 
share of the home farm, and has since then 
purchased the remainder, and now owns a tract 
of 200 acres in Section 14, Township 15, Range 
3. He has about ninety-five acres in cultiva- 
tion, and about five acres in orchard. Mi\ Miller 
was married in January, 1867, to Mary Clutts, 
a daughter of John Clutts, whose sketch ap- 
pears elsewhere in this work, and Eliza Clutts. 
As yet no children have come to bless their 
union. Our subject enlisted in the Twenty- 
. ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
Col. Rareden, Company B, Capt. G. B. Mc- 
Kinsey, on August 12, 1861, and was discharged 
in September, 1865. In politics, he is a Re- 
publican. His mother is still living, and is 
staying at the old homestead. 

WILLIAM L. PETITT, farmer, P. 0. 
Thebes. The gentleman whose name heads 
this sketch is a native of Randolph County, 
111., and was born March 20, 18-13. He is a 
son of Richard C. and Catharine Petitt, both na- 
tives of Tennessee. Our subject attended 
school in his native county, but left home when 
sixteen 3'ears old, with his father, and came to 
Alexander County in 1857, and settled near 
where the son now lives. After remaining at 
home with his father for a number of years, 
Mr. Petitt made a start in life on a rented 
farm of sixty acres. He only remained there 
one year. When his father died, he bought 
out the remaining heirs, and came back to the 
home farm. He now owns eighty acres in Sec- 
tion 16, Town 15, Range 3, of which forty- 
acres are in cultivation. Subject married Miss 
Melissa Moore, daughter of Preston and Sallie 
(Overton) Moore, on March 25, 1866. This 
lady is the mother of eight children, five of 
whom are living — Richard, Hiram, Sarah, Levy 
and Zola. In politics, Mr. Petitt is a Repub- 
lican, and is a member of the Methodist 
Church at Thebes. 

W. H. RALLS, undertaker and wagon-maker, 
Thebes, is a native of Henry County) 



Tenn., and was born June 27, 1847, a son of 
James and Nancy Ralls, natives of Illinois. 
In that county, subject received the rudiments 
of his education, but when ten years of 
age, moved with his parents to Johnson Count\% 
111., where the father settled near Vienna, and 
there the son attended school until seventeen. 
He started out in life as a farmer and followed 
it until he was twenty-one, and then com- 
menced work in a saw mill, in Union Count}^, 
owned by B. F. Livingston and H. B. Hubbard ; 
here he remained for about eight years and 
then went to Elco, Alexander County, where he 
opened a carpenter shop. Soon after his arrival 
in this place, he commenced to learn the trade 
of a wagon-maker under Samuel Briley. He 
remained in that town until 1882, when he 
came to Thebes, where he has since carried on 
the trade of a wagon-maker. About a year 
ago, he also opened an undertaker's shop. 
Subject was married, Decembers, 1871, to Miss 
Elenora Briley, daughter of Samuel Briley 
(whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work). 
She is the mother of six children, three of 
whom are living — Oscar Francis, Olive lonie, 
and William Henry. He enlisted in the One 
Hundred and Twentieth Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry, Col. McCabe, Company H, Capt. Porter, 
November 15, 1864, and was honorabl}' dis- 
charged December 16, 1865. In politics, Mr. 
Ralls is a Republican. Is a member of Elco 
Lodge, No. 643, I. 0. 0. F., and is a member 
of the Thebes M. E. Church. 

J. G. ROLWINCJ, merchant, Thebes. The 
gentleman whose name heads this sketch is a 
native of Prussia. The family name is the 
one borne by his mother, who was of a famil}' 
standing high in that country. The father, 
Kutine, was compelled to change his name, 
according to the existing laws of that country. 
The parents came with subject to this country', 
when the latter was about ten years of age. 
The father first settled at Evansville, Ind., but 
only remained about three years, when he moved 



234 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



to Texas Bend, Mo., where he commenced 
farming. The education of our subject was 
principally German, having opportunity only to 
attend an English school one month. He has 
since, however, obtained a fair knowledge of the 
English language. Mr. Rolwing made his start 
in life in 1850, at Hunt's Landing, Mo., whei'e 
he clerked at the leading store there. In two 
years he left that place, and come to Charleston, 
Mo., where he onl}' remained a short time, and 
then came to Thebes. At this point he first 
clerked for McClure & Overby, who were then 
(1854) doing business at that point. After a 
two years' stand at this point, he again sought 
a new place to make a fortune. In the next 
four years he clerked at different points, with 
varying success, but b}- 1860 he had accumu- 
lated enough to return to Thebes and purchase 
an interest in the store of T. J. McClure at that 
point. The firm became known as McClure & 
Rolwing. This partnership existed until 1863, 
when the head of the firm retired, and our sub- 
ject has since carried on the business alone. 
He now carries a stock of about $3,000. Mr. 
Rolwing was married. May 25, 1864, to Mary I. 
Marchildon. She is a native of Canada East, 
and is the mother of seven children, five of 
whom are living — Emma M., born April 20, 
1865 ; Henry S., born January 27, 1867 ; Eddie 
G., born March 10, 1874 ; Jennie E., born 
July 31, 1876 ; Myrta J., born June 2, 1880. 
The departed ones are C. A., born July 30, 
1871, died August 17, 1872 ; Zelia E., born 
August 15, 1869, died December, 1876. In 
politics, Mr. Rolwing is a Democrat. In church 
affiliations he holds to the Roman Catholic 
Church. 

GEORGE SAMMONS, farmer, P. 0. Thebes, 
was born in Jonesboro, Union Co., Ill, March 
10, 1826 ; is a son of John and Dicy (White- 
lock) Sammons. He attended school at his 
native village, and labored for awhile with Seth 
Chandler in making fanning mills. At the 
age of twenty 3'ears, he left Jonesboro and 



went to Marion County, Ark., where he re- 
mained but a short time. In 1848, he settled 
at Goose Island, Alexander County, where he 
remained until 1865, and then located where 
he now resides, in Section 10. He was married, 
January 12, 1844, to Susan James, born in Oc- 
tober, 1829, which union has resulted in four 
children, one only of whom survives — D. W. 
His wife died December 2, 1858, and he was 
subsequently married to Mrs. Emily Durham, 
the I'esult being two children — Joel D., born 
September 18, 1868, and Emma, born August 
6, 1870. In 1876, he was elected County Com- 
missioner. He has served as a Justice of the 
Peace at Thebes for twenty-four years. Is a 
member of the Baptist Church, and is a Dem- 
ocrat. 

JOHN R.WALLACE, farmer, P. 0. Thebes, 
was born January 19, 1830, in Hardin County, 
111., son of Oliver and Elizabeth (Winchester) 
Wallace. His parents removed to Wayne 
County, Mo., when he was small. In 1847, 
they came to Jonesboro Precinct, Union Coun- 
ty, 111. Here he attended the country schools. 
At the age of twenty-one years, he engaged in 
farming in Clear Creek Precinct. He contin- 
ued farming in said precinct until 1881, when 
he came to Thebes, where he now resides. He 
was married, January 20, 1860, to Mary Par- 
rett, daughter of John and Elizabeth Parrett. 
His union has given him eight children, six of 
whom survive — Barsheba A., Logan, Harriet 
E., Samuel W., Sarah J., Olive E. and Mary E. 
She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He enlisted September 7, 1864, in 
Company I of the One Hundred and Forty- 
sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry and was dis- 
charged July 7, 1865. 

HENRY WEIMANN, farmer, P. 0. Thebes, 
was born November 4, 1857, in Alexander 
County, 111. His father, Henrj' Weimann, emi- 
grated from Germany to this countr}- in 1830, set- 
tling at Baltimore, and later at St. Louis and Cin- 
cinnati, and in 1844 finally in Thebes Precinct, 



EAST CAPE GIRAEDEAU PRECINCT. 



235 



and was known as one of the leading farmers 
of his section. He was one of the masons 
who constructed the stone court house at 
Thebes. Henry Weimann, Jr., was educated in 
the count}^ schools. His father having died 
when he was small, he helped his mother to 
obtain the necessaries of life, and upon reach- 
ing his majority, he inherited the home place, 
being the onl}- child. He has 160 acres of 
good land in Sections 9, 10 and 11. He is un- 
married and is a Democrat. 

CAPT. JOHN WHITE, steamboat pilot, 
P. O. Thebes, was born in Paducah, McCracken 
Co.. K3\, August 42, 1832, a son of William and 
Martha White, both of whom died when our 
subject was quite young, probabl}' about 
seven years of age. From his birthplace, he 
made his way to Bayou Sara, La., and worked 
around for different people. He was also per- 
mitted to attend the poor-school for about a 
year. After living in that place for a num- 
ber of years, he returned to his birthplace, 
where he had a sister living. When about 



eighteen years of age, he ' commenced follow- 
ing his profession, first piloting boats on the 
Tennessee River as early as 1853. Next he 
piloted on the Ohio, from Cincinnnti to the 
mouth of Tennessee River, and afterward was 
transferred to the Mississippi, and ran between 
New Orleans and St. Louis, over which waste 
of waters he still directs the course of his 
vessel. His residence, until 1876, was at 
Cairo, but in that 5^ear he came to Thebes, 
where he has since purchased a tract of forty 
acres in Section 4, Town 15, and now gives his 
spare attention to farming. The Captain was 
married in Januaiy, 1858, to Miss Sallie Clutch- 
field. This lady died in 1868. The second 
time, he was married to Rosa Kalesy, in 1876, 
who died in 1877. His third marriage was 
solemnized August 2, 1880, to Miss Eugenia 
Wagner. He enlisted in a Kentucky regiment 
enrolled at Paducah by Capt. King in 1861, 
and served three years. In politics, he is a 
Democrat. 



EAST CAPE GlEARDEAU PRECINCT. 



GEORGE CHERRY, farmer, P. 0. East 
Cape Girardeau. The gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch is a native of Bedfordshire, 
England, and was born October 29, 1821. He 
is the son of Charles and Sophia Cherry, the 
second of eight children, and the only one that 
came to this countr}-. When sixteen years of 
age he landed at New Orleans and made his 
wa}- to St. Louis, and from there to Quincy, 
111. At the latter place he only remained one 
week and then went back to St. Louis. Here 
he apprenticed himself to a plumber, and after 
he had learned his trade he followed it for 
about three years. He remained about four- 
teen years in that citj-, and part of the time 
superintended the building of a college. In 



1857, he went to California, where he followed 
mining for three 3-ears. Returning to St. 
Louis he remained only about a year, and then 
came to Alexander County. He first rented a 
tract of twent}" acres, but in 1864, he purchased 
forty acres, part of which was improved ; since 
then he has bought forty acres more, all of 
which lies in Section 12, Town 16, Range 3 
west. He was married March 18, 1845, to 
Elizabeth Frances Saunders, daughter of John 
Saunders, a native of Tennessee. The result 
of this union was two children, one of whom, 
Charles, born November 7, 1873, is now living. 
Subject enlisted in the Second Illinois Light 
Artillery, Company F, October 13, 1861, and 
remained out until August, 1865. In politics, 



236 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Mr. Cherry is a Kepublican, and is now acting 
as School Trustee. 

JOHN COTNER,. farmer, P. 0. Clear Creek 
Landing. His grandparents were natives of 
Missouri, and there David Cotner, the father 
of our subject, was born. From there he came 
to Alexander County when a young man, and 
married Mary Clapp, a daughter of Audey 
Clapp, and settled down in the south part 
of the count}', from which place he soon 
went to Jonesboro Precinct, Union Count}-, 
where he carried on the trade of a hatter, and 
also farmed. Here subject was born in June 
1815, and was the third of seven children. He 
received his education in the old subscription 
schools, walking backward and forward three 
miles a da}-. His father died when he was 
about ten years old, and his mother, soon after 
her husband's death, came to Alexander 
County, and settled in North Caii'o Precinct. 
There she died when subject was about sixteen 
years old, and after that the latter commenced 
working out. After six years' experience as a 
farm hand, he commenced life for himself on a 
rented farm, in North Cairo Precinct. After- 
ward he rented, at different times, other farms 
until 1860, when he purchased his present 
farm, a tract of 100 acres, in Sections 8 and 5, 
Town 16, Range 3 west. Mr. Cotner was mar- 
ried March 11, 1833, to Rosanna Gattling, who 
died in 1838. His second marriage was to a 
Miss Rachael Thompson, in 1840. This lady 
also died in 1846. He was married the third 
time to Eliza Wright, who was born April 8, 
1829. This lady is the mother of ten children 
six of whom are living, viz.: William, born 
November 9, 1849 ; David, born December 23, 
1854; John, born September 8, 1860; Louis, 
born February 25, 1864 ; Edward, born Sep- 
tember 14, 1868; and Charles, born October 
14, 1870. Mrs. Cotner died July 14, 1879. 
He is a member of the Missionary Baptist 
Chui'ch, and is a Republican in politics, and 
has served his township as School Director for 
twelve years. 



R M. EDMUNDSON, farmer, P. 0. East Cape 
Girardeau. The father of the gentleman of 
whose life this is a brief sketch, William Ed- 
mundson, was born in Buncombe County, N. C. 
Remained there until manhood, and then went 
to Gibson County, Tenn., where he married 
Sallie Redgeway, a native of Virginia. There 
were eight children, and of that number sub- 
ject was the sixth, and was born February 14, 
1836. When he was twelve years old, his 
parents removed to Island No. Eight, in the 
Mississippi River, opposite Fulton County, Kv., 
where they remained about four years. In the 
fall of 1848, his parents .moved to Alexander 
County, and settled near where our subject now 
resides. Mr. Edmundson, when a youth, did 
not have a chance to attend school, but was 
compelled to work on the home place. When 
he reached his majority, he purchased a farm 
of 160 acres in Section 30, now occupied by A. 
C. Jaynes, but only kept it until 1858. From 
that time until 1873, he lived on a number, of 
rented farms, in both this county and across 
the river in Missouri. In that year, however, 
he purchased his present farm, a tract of eighty 
acres in Section 18, Township 14, Range 3 
west. Our subject was married in April, 1868, 
to Cassandra Dameron. The result of this 
union was eight children, three of whom are 
living — Edward, born September 20, 1869 ; 
and a pair of twin brothers, Richard .Allan and 
John Alexander, born August 15, 1875. This la- 
dy died in January, 1878. He was niari'ied next 
to Mrs. Sarah Dameron, nee Jordan, a daugh- 
ter of Alexander Jordan, a native of North 
Carolina. He was a soldier in the late war, 
having enlisted December 10, 1862, in the Illi- 
nois Volunteer Cavalry, Sixth Regiment, Col. 
Grierson, Company M, Capt. Sperry. Remained 
out until x\ugust 30, 1864. In politics, he is 
a Republican. 

GALE BROTHERS, farmers, P. 0. Thebes. 
Among the better class of farmers of Alexan- 
der County, none stand higher than the gentle- 
men whose names head this sketch. They are 



EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU PRECINCT. 



237 



four in number, G. W., Lawrence, Bernard and 
G. N., sons of James and Mary Gale, and were 
born in Lincoln County, Mo.: George in 1826, 
Lawrence in 1831, Bernard in 1835, and Nor- 
man in 1837. All received the education their 
native county afforded, and when manhood's 
estate was reached, the brothers took different 
directions and vocations in life. The two older 
went to California in 185Q, and there followed 
mining. Bernard remained at home upon the 
farm, and Norman, the youngest of them all, 
followed different vocations ; first sold mer- 
chandise at Charleston, Mo., and also ran a saw 
mill near that town. In 1867, he purchased part 
of the present farm — a tract of 200 acres in 
Section 34. His brother, Bernard, joined him 
a j-ear or two after, and in 1878 the two older 
brothers returned from California, and the 
four together undertook the management of the 
place. They have since purchased 300 acres 
in Sections 32 and 33, and now have about 
250 acres in cultivation. All still remain in 
the state of single blessedness. A sister, Leah, 
acts as housekeeper. All are members of St. 
Vincent Catholic Church at Cape Girardeau, 
and in politics, are true to the Democratic party. 
E. B. GARAGHTY, farmer and grocer. East 
Cape Girardeau. The father of the gentleman 
whose name heads this sketch is a son of Eu- 
gene Garaghty,a native of Westmeath, Ireland. 
He came to this country when a j'oung man, 
settled in Ohio and there married Louisiana 
Burke, a daughter of Col. William Burke, a sol- 
dier under Gen. Harrison in the Indian wars. 
The twain came to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where 
the father carried on a dr}' goods store. There 
our subject was born February 18, 1840, and 
was the third of six children. His education 
was received in St. Vincent's College, and at 
its conclusion he clerked in his father's store. 
He next went to St. Louis, where he clerked 
for White, Billingsley & Co., and Adamantine, 
Johnson & Co. From there he came to Alex- 
ander Countv, and there commenced the life 



of a farmer on a tract of land given him by his 
father in Sections 32 and 33, Town 14, Range 3 
west. It was originally 900 acres, but he now 
owns about 700 acres, 150 of which are in culti- 
vation. In 1882, he commenced running a 
grocery and saloon at East Cape Girardeau, 
and now carries a stock of about S400. Mr. 
Garaghty was married, February 22, 1873, to 
Josephine Hutchinson, daughter of Vachael 
Hutchinson. She was the mother of five chil- 
dren, two of whom are living — Laura, born 
April 27, 1876, and Alice, born October 29, 
1879. Mrs. Garaghty died December 18. 1881. 
He entered the service of the Missouri Volun- 
teer Infantiy, Twenty-ninth Regiment, in the 
fall of 1862, as Captain of Company B. Re- 
signed in 1863 on account of sickness. He is 
a member of St. Vincent Catholic Church. 

A. C. JAYNES, farmer, P. 0. East Cape Girar- 
deau. One of the most prosperous 3'oung farm- 
ers of Alexander Count}- is the gentleman 
whose name heads this brief sketch. Valentine 
Ja3'nes. his father, was born in Madison, Ind., 
and came to Massac County, III., when a young 
man. He there married Hester Parker, the re- 
sult of which marriage was five children. Of 
this number, subject was the oldest, and was 
born December 3, 1853. His education was 
but limited, and he only atte'nded a public 
school about four months. His father died 
when he was about fourteen, and he was sent 
to Decatur, III., where he remained for seven 
years, working around at different farms. 
From there, he returned to his native county, 
but onl}^ remained a year. He came to Alex- 
ander County in 1878, and first farmed on a 
tract that he rented from the widow Shrieber. 
There he remained for one year, and then 
came to his present location. He now owns 
160 acres in Section 30, Town 14, Range 3 
west, of which about 130 acres are cultivated. 
Subject was married, September 17, 1877, to 
Allie Rice, daughter of John and Nancy Rice, 
of Metropolis, Massac County. She is the 



238 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



mother of three children, two of whom are liv- 
ing— Mahala J., born March 6, 1879, and Al- 
vin, born October 24, 1882. In politics, he is 
a Republican. 

S. A. McGEE, farmer, P. O. Clear Creek 
Landing. The father of our subject was A. N. 
McGee, a native of Kentuck}^, and born in 1822. 
He came with his parents when young to Pu- 
laski County, this State. In that county the 
father remained until sixteen. Being of a rov- 
ing disposition, he started out in life, and fol- 
lowed for some time whatever his inclination 
led him. He finally drifted into the practice 
of medicine, and settled down in Mexico, 
Adrian Co., Mo., where he married Sarah J. 
Burns, a daughter of Richard Burns, a native 
of Virginia. Here subject was born March 9, 
1847. The father, soon after our subject was 
born, went to Putnam Count}', Mo., and he rep- 
resented that county two terms in the Missouri 
Legislature. Our subject received his educa- 
tion from the schools of Unionville, that coun- 
t}'. When about fifteen, his mother having 
died, he commenced working out by the da\^ 
for farmers. In 1864, he began life for him- 
self in this county, on a farm which he rented 
from Pilgrim McRaven. In 1872, he purchased 
his present place, a farm of eighty acres, in 
Section 7, Town 14, Range 3 west. Mr. McG-ee 
was married, August 10, 1868, to Eliza Giles, 
daughter of Alfred Giles, of Clear Creek Pre- 
cinct. She is the mother of one child, Alfred 
W., born December 6, 1870. He enlisted in 
the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, Maj. Carraichael, 
Company H, Capt. Ezra King, on December 6, 
1863, and was honorably discharged in June, 
1864. 

J. H. SAMS, farmer, P. 0. Clear Creek 
Landing. One of the oldest families that set- 
tled in Union County was that from which our 
subject springs. His grandfather, Thomas 
Sams, emigrated from Kentucky in an early 
da}', and settled near Jonesboro, Union County, 
and there Nathan Sams, the father of J. H.. 



was born in 1813. The father re.sided in that 
county until a young man, and then went to 
Butler County, Ky., where he married Melinda 
Elliott. In that State he did not remain long, 
but came from there to Union County, and 
settled about three miles from what is now 
Jonesboro. There subject was born November 

7, 1844, the fifth of six ciiildi'en. His parents 
came to Alexander County when he was about 
two years old, and settled about two miles 
northeast of Clear Creek. Subject's education 
was received in this count}', and he early com- 
menced working on the home place. When 
twenty-one, he started out in life on a farm be- 
longing to his father, in Union Precinct, Union 
County. There he resided onh^ two years, and 
then came to his present residence. Here he 
first bought a farm of eighty acres in Section 

8, Town 14, Range 3 west. He now has eighty 
acres more in same section, and twenty-three 
acres in Section 5, also forty acres in Section 
35, Town 13, Range 3 west, of Union Count}'. 
Has 200 acres in cultivation. He was married, 
May 8, 1866, to Eliza A. McClure, a daughter 
of Matthew and Eliza McClure. This lady 
was born September 28, 1847, and was the 
mother of two children — Clara, born September 
15, 1869, and Clarence, born November 29, 
1871. Mrs. Sams died March 13, 1883. 

JAMES L. SANDERS, farmer, P. 0. East 
Cape Girardeau. One of the most extensive 
farmers of Alexander County is the gentleman 
whose name heads this brief sketch. His 
grandfather, John Sanders, was a native of 
Jefferson County, Tenn., and there William 
Sanders, the father of subject, was born, grew 
to manhood's estate, and there married Maria 
Jane Thompson, daughter of Ephraim Thomp- 
son. The twain remained in their native State 
for a few years, and then moved to Jefterson 
County, Mo., where our subject was born No- 
vember 13, 1834, the fifth of eleven children. 
The father, when subject was about twelve 
years old, came to this county and settled on 



UNITY PRECINCT. 



239 



the farm now owned b}- his son. The educa- 
tional advantages of our subject were but lim- 
ited, but he made the best of these. When his 
father died in 1860, Mr. Sanders, then in his 
twenty-sixth year, assumed charge of the place, 
and now has a farm of 560 acres, situated in 
Section 19, Range 3 west. Of the whole tract, 
about 530 acres are improved. There are also 
about five acres in orchard. Mr. Sanders 
was married the first time, March 4, 1869, to 
Miss Hattie B. Steward, daughter of Chester 
Steward, of Cobden. One child, Albert Stew- 
ard Sanders, who w^as born November 3, 1870, 
was the result of this union. This lad}^ died 
November 14, 1870. He was married the sec- 
ond time, April 1, 1881, to Miss Virginia B. 
Tibbetts, daughter of Mrs. Martha Tibbetts. 
She is the mother of one child, Helen, born 
February 20, 1883. In politics, Mr. Sanders 
is a Republican. Has served one term as 
County Commissioner ; has also been Justice 
of the Peace. 

W. 0. SANDERS, farmer, P. 0. East Cape 
Girardeau. John Sanders, the grandfather 
of the gentleman whose name heads this brief 
sketch, was a native of Jefferson County, East 
Tenn., and there William Sanders, the father, 
was bor , grew to manhood and married Miss 
Jane Thompson, a daughter of Ephraim 



Thompson. The father followed farming in 
that State until he was thirty years of age, 
and then moved to JeflTerson County, Mo., and 
remained there about twelve years, and then 
came to Alexander County, and settled on the 
farm now owned by J. S. Sanders. There 
our subject was born July 17,1849, attended 
school in his native county until he was sev- 
enteen, and then, his father having died, he 
farmed the old homestead in connection with 
his brother James. At the age of twenty-one, 
having married, he took part of the home 
place, and farmed it himself There he re- 
mained until 1880, when he came to his pres- 
ent farm, a tract of fifty-two acres in Section 
12, Town 14, Range 4 west. Mr. Sanders 
was married, August 22, 1870, to Amanda J. 
West, daughter of Mrs. Nancy West. Mrs. 
Sanders was the mother of two children, Wil- 
burn West, born January 12, 1872, and Clar- 
ence E., born September 2, 1871. This lady 
died February 6, 1876. He was married the 
second time, August 17, 1876, to Mrs. Ellen 
DeWitt, nee King, daughter of Capt. Ezra 
King. The result of this union was three chil- 
dren, one of whom is living — Gertrude, born 
January 13, 1882. In politics, he is a Repub- 
lican, and is now serving as Deputy Sheriff 
and Collector. 



UNITY PEEOINOT 



ASA C. ATHERTON, saw milling and mer- 
chant. Hodge's Park. One of the leading business 
men in this precinct is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch. He was born in what is 
now Pulaski County, November 21, 1832. He 
was the second of six children, and the son of 
Aaron and Elizabeth (Atherton) Atherton, botli 
natives of Kentuck}-. His scholastic education 
was but slight, his father, who was a soldier in 
the Mexican war, being killed in the battle of 



Buena Vista, February 27, 1847. After his 
father's death, our subject carried on the home 
until eighteen years of age, and then embarked 
in the mercantile trade, ■ n what was then known 
as Vallc}^ Forge, Pulaski Count}-, and acted as 
Postmaster at what is now known as Villa 
Ridge, before the Illinois Central grading was 
done. In that business he remained about six 
years, and then went back to the old home 
farm, where he remained content with his hon- 



240 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



est lot for upward of twenty years. Soon af- 
ter Hodge's Park was started, he came to his 
present location, where he erected a steam saw 
mill about a quarter of a mile from town, at a 
cost of $2,000. The engine used is about 
thirty horse-power, and the mill gives employ- 
ment to about ten hands. About a year after 
he came to Hodge's Park, he opened a store 
adjoining the mill, and there carried a stock of 
about $1,000. In the spring of 1883, he moved 
the store to Hodge's Park, and now carries a 
stock of $2,500. He also owns a farm of 100 
acres in Unity Precinct, situated mostly in Sec- 
tion 35, Town 15, Range 2 west. The farm 
is mostly under cultivation. Mr. Athertonwas 
married, December 16, 1856, to Elizabeth Jane 
Kelly. This lady was born in February, 1841, 
and is a daughter of John and Elizabeth (An- 
yon) Kelly, natives of Missouri. She was the 
mother of six living children — John H., a 
farmer in Pulaski County ; Ellen Elizabeth, 
wife of James P. Matthas, of Johnson County ; 
Edward J., Gracie, Fannie and Vida. This 
lady died March 22, 1883. He was married the 
second time to Mrs. Emily Brown, nee Musie, 
June 27, 1883. This lady is the daughter of 
Samuel Musie, of Missouri, and the mother of 
one living child, William Harrison Brown. Our 
subject, is a member of the Shiloh Baptist 
Church, and is a Democrat in politics. 

JOSEPH BUNDSCHUH, farmer, P. O. 
Hodge's Park, is a native of Baden, Grermany, 
where he was born January 4, 1833. He at- 
tended the schools of his fatherland, and re- 
ceived a libei-al education there, and^has, since 
his residence in this country, obtained a fair 
knowledge of the English language. He land- 
ed in New York when twenty-one years old, 
and came to Cincinnati, where he worked on 
one of the suburban farms, and also acted as a 
hotel porter. In 1857, he came to Mound 
City, when the town was just^being started, and 
remained until he saw the city assume its pres- 
ent stand. Taking a humble position in the 



place, he lent a helping hand to many of the 
undertakings. He left the city in 1871, and 
came to his present farm, a farm of forty acres 
in Section 32, Town 15, Range 2 west. Mr. 
Bundschuh was married, in 1861, to Theresa 
Painter, a daughter of Alban Painter, of Mound 
City. She is the mother of four children, two 
of whom are now living — Oderwalder and Will- 
iam Alban. In politics, he is Republican. 

^Y. N. EMERSON, merchant and express 
agent, Hodge's Park, was born in Delaware 
County, Ohio, June 25, 1843. He is a son of 
Benjamin and Mary (Allan) Emerson. The 
former was a native of New Hampshire, and 
the latter of Pennsylvania. He received his 
education partially in Ohio, and in 1852 came 
with his father to Massac County, 111., where he 
followed farming. The son helped his father 
on the farm until about twentj'-two, and then 
commenced learning a trade of A. C. Atherton. 
He soon commenced in a mill of his own in 
Pulaski County, and remained there until 1880, 
when he came to this county and worked in 
the saw mill of A. C. Atherton until July, 
1882. His health failing, he opened a store at 
Hodge's Park. He is also acting as Express 
Agent for the Adams Express Compan3^ Our 
subject was married, February 15, 1872, in 
America, Pulaski County, to Melinda Combey, 
a daugh*:er of James and Jane (Granton) Com- 
bey, natives of Tennessee. She is the mother 
of three living children — Lucie May, Crowie 
Neilson and Effie Eudora. He enlisted in the 
Twenty-ninth Illinois Volunteers, Company H, 
on August 17, 1861, and was out until August 
27, 1864. He was shot in the left arm and 
left leg in the battle of Fort Donelson. He is 
a member of the I. O. G. T., and in politics is 
a Republican. 

F. M. HARGROVES, merchant, Hodge's 
Park, was boi-n in Pulaski County July 29, 
1845. He is a son of John and Lucinda (Pal- 
mer) Hargroves, and is the youngest of six 
children. He received a fair education in the 



UNITY PRECINCT. 



241 



schools of his native county, and then helped 
on his father's farm until he was twenty-eight. 
He then settled on a farm in Caledonia Pre- 
cinct, and there remained until about 1880, 
when he came to Hodge's Park and opened a 
general store. He now carries a stock of 
about $500. Mr. Hargroves was married May 
1, 1873, to Elizabeth Lynch. She was a 
daughter of John and Mary L3''nch, natives of 
Ireland. This lady was the mother of four 
children, three of whom are now living — Effle 
May, Mary Alma and Oscar. Besides his store, 
he also owHs a farm of fort}' acres in Pulaski 
County, situated in Section 12, Town 15, Range 
1 east. He is a Democrat in politics. 

WILLIAM IRELAND, carpenter and hotel 
keeper, Hodge's Park, was born in Western 
Virginia April 10, 1815, and is a son of Alex- 
ander and Betse}' (Ragin) Ireland. He at- 
tended the schools of his native State, and at 
the age of nineteen went to Guernsey Count}-, 
Ohio, where he followed farming. In 1848, he 
went to Missouri and settled in West Prairie, 
Stoddard County, but only remained there one 
year, and then came to Alexander Count}'. He 
settled first at Clear Creek, but only remained 
there a few months, when he came to Santa Fe 
and there followed the trade of a carpenter, 
also bought and sol4 lumber. At this point, he 
remained twenty-seven years, and in 1877 he 
came to Hodge's Park, where he has since run 
a hotel. He also has an undertaking estab- 
lishment. Our subject was married February 
5, 1835, in Gruernsey County, Ohio, to Minnie 
Hutton, a daughter of William and Catharine 
(Peters) Hutton. She is the mother of ten 
children, eight of whom are living, viz. : Jesse 
and John F. (both following the carpenter's 
trade in Hodge's Park), Sarah (wife of William 
B. Anderson, St. Louis), Amanda (wife of Eli 
Sowers, of Pulaski County), Nancy (wife of 
John Cook, Hodge's Park), Alexander (now in 
business in Santa F^), W. W. and Alonzo 
(now in Commerce, Mo.). Mr. Ireland is a 



member of the Olive Branch Methodist Church. 
He has acted as Justice of the Peace most of 
the time since 1851, and is at present serving 
in that capacity. He was Postmaster for fif- 
teen years at Santa Fc. In politics, he is a 
Republican. 

W. J. MILFORD, farmer, P. 0. Hodges 
Park, was born in Steward County, Tenn., 
September 25, 1821. He is a son of William 
and Elizabeth (Lumous) MilFord, and was the 
fifth of seven children. When eight years old, 
his father came with him to Clinton County, 
111., and there the father lived until 1838, when 
he went back to Alabama. The education of 
subject was received mainly by his own eflEbrts, 
his first schooling being obtained when he was 
seventeen years of age, when he paid his way 
to the subscription schools. He worked around 
on diflferent farms of Clinton County until 
1844. and then came to Franklin County and 
remained there until February, 1845, when he 
came to this county and first worked on the farm 
of William Clapp, of Sandusky Precinct, and 
then for Jack Hodges, Sr., of Unity Precinct. 
In 1852, he settled on his present farm, then 
Congress land ; it contained eighty acres, and 
was situated in Section 35, Town 15, Range 2. 
He now has the place in cultivation. Subject 
was married, August 5, 1847, to Eliza Caro- 
line Howard, a daughter of Rev. Thomas 
Howard, Pulaski County. She was the mother 
of seven children, three of whom are now 
living, viz. : Sai-ah Elizabeth (wife of John S. 
Ryal, of Dogtooth Precinct), Martha Ann 
(wife of William Minton, of Unity Precinct), 
and Frances Decatur. His wife died Septem- 
ber 16, 1861, and he was married the second 
time, October 7, 1861. to Mrs. Martha Caro- 
line Atherton, nee Childers. She was the 
daughter of James Childers, and was the 
mother of three children — John A. (now in 
Davenport, Iowa), Eliza Melvina and Willie. 
This lady died January 29. 1875, and a third 
time he wedded Mary F. Kelsey, a daughter 



242 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



of Naman and Sarah Jane (Barber) Kelsey ; 
she is also the mother of three children — 
Laura lone, George Edward and Jefferson 
Eugene. Mr. Milford is a Democrat in pol- 
itics, and is a member of the Baptist Church. 
DR. JOHN I. NOWOTNY, physician and 
druggist, Hodge's Park, was born in the 
city of New York July 4, 1833, and is a son 
of John I. and Eliza (Haskett) Nowotny. 
The father was a native of Prague, and the 
mother was a native of South Carolina, but of 
Irish descent. The father died when subject 
was but six years old, and he early became 
able to take care of himself He followed a 
roving disposition. When quite a boy, he 
came West and worked on a farm in Warren 
County, Ohio. In 1847, however, he went 
back to New York and entered a drug store, 
where he soon learned the trade of a prescrip- 
tion clerk. He followed that vocation in several 
States, and finally, in 1857, he graduated from 
the Keokuk (Iowa) Medical College, and com- 
menced his practice in Southern Illinois. In 
1871, he came to Illinois and settled at what is 
now known as Beech Ridge, Alexander County. 
He cut the first stick of timber in that section 
of the country, and besides following his pro- 
fession, farming occupied a good deal of his 
attention. In this region, he practiced medi- 
cine until 1880, and then went to Minnesota, 
where he intended to settle down as a farmer. 
Becoming dissatisfied with the climate, he took 
a trip West and finally in June, 1883, he came 
to Illinois again and settled at Hodge's Park, 
where he purchased the drug store of W. W. 
Ireland. He will also practice his profession 
there. Mr. Nowotny was married in Brown 
County, Ohio, May 22, 1856, to Miss Harriet 
Wall, a daughter of Maj. William Wall (a sol- 



dier of the Mexican war), and Elizabeth 
(Thompson) Wall, a native of New Jersey. 
She was the mother of four sons — William W- 
(now in Cairo with the Express Company), 
Charles (now a farmer in Dakota), John 
(working for the Commercial Electric Light 
Company of Cincinnati), and Harry (now as- 
sisting his father in the drug store). This 
lady died April 17, 1876, and he was married 
on February 14, 1880, to Miss Mary Hodges, 
a daughter of John Hodges, of Unity Precinct. 
He enlisted in the Thirty-seventh Indiana Vol- 
unteer Infantry, in September, 1861, and was 
out six months. He is a member of Allens- 
ville Lodge, No. 81, A., F. & A. M., and a 
Democrat in politics. 

CREDELLAS STEWART, merchant, 
Hodge's Park. One of the youngest merchants 
in Alexander Count}' is the gentleman of 
whom this is a brief sketch. He was born iu 
Choctaw County, Miss., March 2, 1857 ; he is a 
son of W. W. Stewart, who is a native of North 
Carolina. When our subject was about seven 
years of age, his father came with him to Illi- 
nois, where he settled in Thebes Precinct. 
Here be farmed for a number of years, and 
then came to LTnity Precinct, where he is at 
present farming. Our subject attended school 
at Thebes until he was about eighteen, and 
then commenced clerking for B. F. Brown & 
Co. In 1880, he came to Hodge's Park, and 
opened a store with B. F. Brown, under the 
title of Brown & Stewart. They now carry 
a stock of about $2,500. Mr. Stewart was 
married. May 28, 1882, to Miss Nancy Ziegler, 
a daughter of Willard and Kate (Yount) Zieg- 
ler, natives of Pennsj'lvania. He is now serv- 
ing as Postmaster at Hodge's Park ; in politics, 
he is a Republican. 



CLEAK CREEK PRECINCT. 



243 



CLEAE CHEEK PRECiE'OT. 



A. J. BUNCH, farmer, P. 0. Clear Creek 
Landing. The grandparents of our subject 
were natives of Christian County, Ky., and 
there Cater Bunch, the father, was born. His 
father having died soon after he was born, his 
mother came with him and his brothers and 
sisters to this count}'', and settled close to 
where Elco now stands. There the father grew 
to manhood and married Maria Landers, of 
that precinct. There also our subject, the sixth 
of seven children, was born Januar}* 31, 1837. 
His parents died when he was young, and he 
was taken to Jonesboro Precinct, Union Coun- 
ty, where he was raised. At the age of seven- 
teen, he commenced learning the trade of a 
blacksmith, under Adam Cruse, of Jonesboro. 
He next worked for a man by the name of 
Matthew Stokes. In time, Mr. Stokes took 
our subject in as a partner, and they continued 
in business for some time. The latter, how- 
ever, finally purchased his partner's interest 
and continued by himself. After working for 
several years there, our subject came to Clear 
Creek and erected a blacksmith shop on the 
McClure place. He remained there four vears, 
and then embarked on the life of a farmer, and 
purchased a farm of sixty acres in Section 9, 
Town 14, Range 3 west. He also owns fifty 
acres in Meisenheimer Precinct, Union County. 
Our subject was married, March 12, 1862, to 
Minerva I. Sams, a daughter of Nathan Saras. 
She is the mother of five children — Joseph, 
born December 24, 1863 ; Norma, born October 
29, 1874; Eunice, born Octobers, 1876; 
Herman, born January 25, 1879 ; Rodney, 
born December 30, 1880. In politics, he was j 
a Democrat until the breaking-out of the war, j 
but since that time he has been a Republican, j 
He has served in numerous township offices, j 



and is a member of Jonesboro Lodge, No. 241, 
I. 0. 0. F. 

MRS. SARAH J. CRAIG, farmer, P. 0. 
Clear Creek Landing. The husband of this lady 
was John Craig, a native of Tennessee. He 
was born July 29, 1828, and was a son of Leon 
and Letitia Craig. From that State he came 
to this county when he was about seventeen, 
and commenced life as a farm hand for Wash- 
ington McRaven. Our subject's maiden name 
was Sarah J. Palmer, and is a native of Bun- 
combe County, N. C. She was a daughter of 
John Palmer, and was born January 14, 1833. 
When young her parents brought her to Illi- 
nois and first settled in Alton. From there 
they came to this county and settled near 
Clear Creek. Mr. Craig, in 1854, on his twen- 
ty-fourth birthday, was united in marriage to 
our subject, and the next 3-ear after they came 
to the farm upon which Mrs. Craig now resides. 
The original purchase was forty acres in Sec- 
tion 16, Town 14, Range 3 west. This has 
since been increased to 360 acres, of which 185 
acres are in cultivation. To the twain were born 
four children ; one onl}-, W. S.. is now living. 
He was born June 12, 1864. Mr. Craig died 
March 13, 1877, and our subject now carries 
on the farm, assisted by her son. She is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
North. 

JASPER CULLEY, merchant, Clear Creek 
Landing. Among the stores scattered over 
Alexander County at the different cross roads 
and in the man}' country towns, none are pre- 
sided over by a more genial man, and none of 
better business qualities, than the one at Clear 
Creek, to which the gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch presides. His grandparents 
were natives of Massachusetts, and there the 



244 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



father, M. M. Culley, was born in 1796. From 
that State he came to McCracken County, Ky., 
when a young man, and there married Huldah 
J. Moore. In that county our subject was born 
August 24. 1833. the seventh of eight children. 
His parents moved to Franklin County, 111., 
when subject was about ten years old, and from 
there soon after to Thebes, this county. In 
this town Mr. Culley received his education, 
and commenced doing for himself at the car- 
penter's bench. He worked at that for about 
six years, and then, in 1859, he embarked in 
the grocery business at Thebes. There he re- 
mained eight 3'ears, and then came to Clear 
Creek Landing, where he now has a general 
store and carries a stock of about $5,000. He 
has associated with him C. A. Marchildon, of 
Thebes, under the firm name of Jasper Culley 
& Co. He was married, Ma^' 1, 1863, to 
Eugenie Marchildon, a daughter of S. M. 
Marchildon, of Thebes, but a native of Canada. 
She is the mother of eight children, six of whom 
are living — Alice, Marian, Henr}', Leon, Mat- 
tie and Beulah. In politics, he is a Repub- 
lican, and is now serving as Postmaster. 

MRS. CAROLINE V. McCLURE, farmer, 
P. 0. Clear Creek Landing. Our subject was 
a daughter of A. H. and Susan Overba}', and 
was born in Mecklenburg County, Va., July 
29,1833. Her parents came to this county 
when she was about eight years of age, and 
settled at Cairo, where the father carried on a 
general store. Here she received the rudi- 
ments of her education, going until she was 
sixteen years of age. Thomas J. McClure was 
born in Boonville, Mo., September 8, 1823, a 
son of James McClure, a farmer and stock- 
raiser of that county. In his youth, he attended 
school some, but left his father when about six- 
Teen to start for himself, and went to New Or- 
leans, where he remained about two years, as 
wharf clerk. He then came to this county, 
and worked first for Matthew McClure, his un- 
cle. After working there for about three years 



he started for himself, and rented a farm of 
twenty acres, and there "bached it" for about 
two 3'ears. Improving his circumstances 
slightly, he wedded Miss Polly Phillips in the 
spring of 1847. This lady was the mother of 
two children, both of whom are dead ; the eld- 
est, Mary, was born October 24, 1851, and was 
the wife of Mr. C. L. Otrich, of Anna. She 
died March 11, 1880. Mr. McClure was mar- 
ried the second time, to our subject, February 
24, 1853. The farm then contained about 300 
acres, and the homestead was about seven miles 
from the present location, to which they re- 
moved in June, 1853. That farm originally- 
contained 120 acres, which has since been in- 
creased to 1,700 acres, most of which lies in 
Sections 10, 14 and 15, Town 14, Range 3 
west. There are at present about 1,100 acres 
under cultivation. Mrs. McClure is the mother 
six of children — Logan, born September 27, 
1854, died November 19,1854; Virginia, born 
February 23, 1856, wife of A. J. Findley, of 
Clear Creek ; Henry C, born i\.pril 28, 1858. 
and drowned in Clear Creek, August 30, 1879 ; 
Caroline, ■ born October 18, 1861 ; James T., 
born November 8, 1864, and Claude, born Feb- 
ruary 5, 1871. In 1854, Mr. McClure went to 
Thebes, where he devoted his attention to the 
mercantile business in connection with Mr. A. 
H. Overbey. He remained there about twelve 
3'ears, and then returned to his farm at Thebes. 
He was a member of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian Church. He died Wednesday, August 
23, 1882, and was buried in the cemeterj- near 
his home. Since her husband's death, Mrs. 
McClure has carried on the farm, assisted by 
her son, James T. 

PILGRIxM McRAVEN, farmer. P. 0. Clear 
Creek Landing. One of the leading farmers in 
Clear Creek Precinct is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch. Benjamin McRaven. 
the father, was a native of North Carolina, and 
lived there until he reached manhood, and then 
came to Tennessee, where he married Millie 



CLEAR CREEK PRECINCT. 



2^5 



Vick. Soon after his marriage, lie came to Il- 
linois and settled in Dongola Precinct, Union 
County, being one of the earliest settlers in 
that section. There subject was born October 
15, 1830. His father came to Alexander Coun- 
ty when subject was about seven years old, 
first settling about four miles northeast of Clear 
Creek ; then, four years after, he came to the 
farm now occupied by subject, where he lived 
until his death in 1845. Subject received his 
education in the subscription schools of his 
county. After his father's death, he remained 
on the farm with his mother until 1849, when 
she died. He then took charge of the place 
himself It was first a farm of sixty-six acres 
in Section 9. This has been increased since 
by ninety -four acres in same section, 120 acres 
in Section 16, 320 acres in Section 15, 165 
acres in Section 25, and forty acres in Section 
26. Of this about 350 are cleared. He also 
pays some attention to the raising of fine stock. 
Subject was married, in 1851, to Elizabeth N. 
Phillips, of Alexander County. She is the 
mother of eight living children — P. H., J. S., 
Thomas W., Nellie Jane, Luelja, Benjamin, El- 
mer E. and Mary. In politics, Mr. McRaven 
is a Republican, voting that ticket first in 1865. 
J. P. WALKER, farmer, P. 0. Clear Creek 
Landing. Probably the oldest native resident 
of this precinct is the gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch. The grandparents of our 
subject were natives of Tennessee, and there 
William Walker, his son, was born, grew to 
manhood, and married Priscilla Hannah, also a 
native of Tennessee. Tlie twain immediately 
after marriage came to Missouri, where the}' re- 
mained for some years. They came to this 
county some time before the year 1811, and lo- 
cated in the bottom land near Clear Creek. 
In the earthquake of that year, the land Mr. 
Walker was living' on sunk, and he took his 
family to the hills near Rifle Creek, in the 



northern part of the county. From there the 
family came to part of the farm now owned by 
subject. There subject was born February 22, 
1818, and was the youngest of a large family 
of children. His father died in 1823, when he 
was but five years old. But he was permitted 
to attend the subscription schools of his county 
some. Being the only boy at home, he early 
commenced the life of a farmer and helped 
support his mother and sisters. As soon as he 
reached his majorit}-, he took entire charge of 
the place, his mother having died in 1844. On 
this place he has since lived. The piece in- 
herited from his father, was a farm of sixty 
acres in Section 9. He has since purchased 
sixty acres more in same Section, and eighty 
acres in Section 16. He has about 140 acres 
under cultivation. Mr. Walker was married 
in 1840 to Miss Sabra Hall, daughter of 
Thomas Hall. She was the mother of eight 
children, three of whom are living — Samuel E., 
born January 29. 1849. now assisting his 
father on the home place ; Sallie Ann Priscilla, 
born March 7, 1853, the wife of Riley Price, of 
Duncan County, Mo. ; and Sabra, born April 
28, 1856, married to Edward Perr}', of Cape 
Grirardeau Count3\ Mrs. Walker died August 
16, 1857. He was married the second time to 
Mrs. Louisa Griles, who was the mother of 
three children, two of whom are living : Mary 
A., born January 1, 1S59, and George W., born 
November 18, 1861. This wife died Novem- 
ber 1, 1864. The third time he was married, 
May 15, 1865, to Eliza Pucket, daughter of 
Asa Pucket ; one child of this union now lives, 
Asa, born February 23, 1870. This wife died 
in April, 1874. He was married the fourth 
time, June 3, 1878, to Mrs. Caroline E. Bracken, 
nee Kennel, who died May 17, 1883, without 
issue. He is a member, as was also his wife, 
of the Clear Creek Baptist Church, and in 
politics Mr. Walker is a Republican. 



246 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



SAI^DUSKY PKEOINCT. 



C APT. B. S. CRANE, steamboat pilot and far- 
mer, P. 0. Sandusky, was born in Louisville, K3\, 
Jul}' 24, 1824, and is a son of William and Han- 
nah (Johnson) Crane, both natives of Virginia, 
from which State they emigrated to Kentucky 
about 1795. His school days were but few, 
but since manhood he has taught himself. At 
tlie age of twelve, he was apprenticed to a rope- 
maker, and remained with him four years. He 
then went on to the river, first as a knife- 
scourer, and has since become one of the fore- 
most pilots of the Mississippi. He commenced 
piloting about 1840, and ran first from Louis- 
ville to New Orleans. Over that route, he di- 
rected vessels until after the war, and has since 
ran over the same course, and also taken in St. 
Louis. For several years past, he has been 
acting as pilot on the Government boat "Will- 
iam Stone." While at home for a number of 
years, he stopped at Cairo, but in March, 1883, 
he purchased a farm in Sandusky Precinct, 
which his wife now directs. It is situated in 
Section 13, Town 15, Range 2 west. It is a 
farm of 120 acres, of which about thirty acres 
are in cultivation. In the war, he rendered good 
service as pilot on Admiral Porter's flag-ship, 
and was all through the siege and fall of Vicks- 
burg. Mr. Crane was married, April 8, 1871, 
to Mrs. Myra Josephine Ken3^on, nee Nathans. 
This lad}' is the daughter of William and Re- 
becca (Boliet) Nathans. The father was one 
of the leading lawyers in Richmond, Va., and 
the mother was a native of Port Canton, in the 
Bay of Biscay, France. Mrs. Crane was born 
April 16, 1836, at Laporte, R. I., and is the 
mother of one child, Ralph M. Kenyon, now in 
business in Custer Cit}', D. T. In politics, 
Mr. Crane is a Democrat. 

D. D. C. HARGIS, farmer, P. 0. Sandusky, 



was born in Pike County, Tenn., July 29, 1829 
and is a son of Dennis and Drucilla Ann (Shaw) 
Hargis. Our subject received his education 
in the old subscription schools, and when 
twenty, he and his father moved to Alexander 
County, where the father lived until his death, 
in 1858. The son settled down on a tract 
of land in Section 19, Town 15, Range 2 
west. He now owns about 300 Ucres, of 
which ninety are in cultivation. Mr. Hargis 
was married on June 10, 1849, to Ann Eliza- 
beth Lancaster, a daughter of William Lancas- 
ter, who was a native of Virginia. She was the 
mother of four children, two of whom are now 
living — Loniel D. and Francis M. This lady 
died in 1857, and he was married the second 
time, in March, 1858, to Arzilla Nelson, a 
daughter of James and Susan Nelson. She is 
the mother of four children, two of whom are 
living — Sydney S. and Webster. Our subject 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Ninth Regi- 
ment, Company B, Capt. McClure, but was 
transferred to the Eleventh, where he remained 
until the close of the war. In politics, Mr. 
Hargis is a Democrat. 

GEOR(^E McLBAN, farmer, P. 0. San- 
dusky, was born in Wilkesbarre, Penn., March 
19, 1839. He was a son of Alexander and Eliz- 
abeth (Swan) McLean. Our subject received 
a liberal education, and when old enough to 
work, assisted his father, who was a coal oper- 
ator. In the fall of 1859, he crossed the coun- 
try to Colorado, and worked for two years in 
the mines there. When the war broke out, he 
enlisted September 1 9, 1861, in what was known 
as the Nebraska Battalion of the Fifth Iowa 
Volunteer Infantry. During the service, he 
served as Orderly Sergeant. He was honora- 
bly discharged November 19, 1864. He was 



SANTA FE PRECINCT. 



L'47 



wounded in both arms, and also lost the hear- 
ing in his left ear by being dragged some dis- 
tance through some iron filings that had been 
thrown on the road bed. Immediately after 
the close of the war, he was tendered and ac- 
cepted the position of United States Land Of- 
fice Receiver and Disbursing Agent for Mon- 
tana, with headquarters at Helena. He remained 
at his post of duty until 1871, and then went 
to Nevada, where he engaged in ranching and 
mining for one j-ear. His health failing, he 
came to Cairo, 111. In 1877, desiring a West- 
ern trip again, he went to the Black Hills, 
where he again mined for a season. In 1878, 
he returned to his old home in Wilkesbarre, 
Luzerne Co., Penn. In 1880, he returned to 
Illinois, and purchased his present farm in Al- 
exander Count}-. It is situated in Section 13, 
Town 15. Range 2 west, and contains 160 acres, 
of which about 110 are in cultivation, and about 
three and one-half acres in orchard. Mr. Mc- 
Lean was married on December 24, 1 873, to Mrs. 
Clementine McGee. a daughter of Luther Sten- 
cil, of Cairo. She is the mother of one child, 
William Q. McGee. Our subject is a member 
of Morning Star Lodge, No 5, A., F. & A. M., of 



Helena, M. T., and also of Eli Post, No. 97, G. 
A. R. In politics, he is an Independent. 

WILLIAM POWLES, farmer, P. 0. San- 
dusk}^ was born August 26, 1839, in Union 
County, 111., and is a son of Peter and Amelia 
(Holtzhouser) Powles, natives of North Caro- 
lina. They both lived until a good old age, 
and died about eight years ago in Mill Creek 
Precinct, Union Count}-. Our subject received 
his education in the schools of his native coun- 
ty, and at the age of twenty he came to his 
present location. He first purchased 120 acres 
in Section 5, Town 15, Range 2 west, and has 
since added to that eighty acres in same sec- 
tion. He has about seventy -five acres in cul- 
tivation, and about two acres in orchard. Mr. 
Powles was married in 185U to Eliza Jane 
Miller, a daughter of Charles Miller, of Union 
County. She is the mother of ten children, 
nine of whom are now living — David, Henry, 
Adeline, Amanda, Alice, Mattie Ann, Viola, 
Leola and Hollie. Our subject has served in 
many petty olfices, and is now serving as 
Township Trustee. I)i politics, he is a Demo- 
crat, and is a member of the Methodist 
Church. 



SAJ^TA FE PRECIKOT. 



FRENCH JONES, farmer, P. 0. Santa Fe, 
was born in Scott County, Mo., October 28, 
1832, and is a son of Washington and Sophia 
(Overton) Jones. The father was a native of 
Illinois, the mother of Orange County, Va. 
Our subject's education was received in the 
old subscription schools of his native county, 
and he then helped his father on the home 
tarm until about twenty, when he commenced 
life as a farmer. In 1869, he came to his 
present farm in Sante Fe Precinct. It is a 
tract of 400 acres, situated mostly in Sections 



35 and 36 south. Town 15, Range 3 west, and 
now there are about 150 acres in cultivation. 
Mr. Jones was married in Scott County, Mo., 
on January 25, 1862, to Telitha J. Evans, a 
daughter of Rollie E. and Sarah G. (Barnes) 
Evans ; the former was born in Missouri, and 
the latter in Kentucky. She is the mother of 
eight children, six of whom are now living — 
Amos W., born January 9, 1863 ; Sarah S., 
March 17, 1866 ; Margaret A., January 3, 
1871; Telitha Alice, April^ll, 1874; Lindsy 
F., August 23, 1876 ; Earnest W., November 



248 



BIOCxRAPHlCAL : 



2, 1881. Of the two depai'ted ones, Mary A. 
was born October 24. 1868. and died October 
10, 1872 ; the other was born September 18, 
1879, and died the same da}-. Our subject en- 
listed in the late rebellion in a Missouri regi- 
ment, commanded by Gen. Watkins. Went 
out in 1861, and only served six months. Has 
served his township as School Trustee and 
Director. In politics, he generally votes the 
Democratic ticket. 

RANSOM THOMPSON, hotel landlord, 
Santa Fe. One of the oldest settlers in Alex- 
ander Count}' is the gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch. He was born Januaiy 16, 
1815, in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., and was 
a son of Isaac and Mary (Patterson) Thomp- 
son. The former was a native of Pennsylvania, 
the latter of Georgia. Our subject attended 
the Cape Girardeau schools until fourteen, and 
then came with his uncle to this county in 1829, 
where the latter settled in what is now Clear 
Creek Precinct. At the age of eighteen, our 
subject went on the Mississippi River, as clerk 
on a store boat, but still considered his uncle's 
house his home until that gentleman died in 
1835. Subject remained on the Mississippi 
until twenty-four, and then settled down as a 
farmer, on land about a mile south of what is 
now East Cape Girardeau. On that farm he only 
remained three years, and then removed to 
Thebes Precinct, where he settled on a farm of 
sixty-five acres. In that precinct he lived un- 
til September, 1882. when he came to Santa 
Fe, he having become too old to farm. There 
he purchased property, and runs the hotel of 
the place. He also spends quite a good deal 
of time on bee culture. Mr. Thompson was 
married the first time, in 1841, to Sarah Witt. 
This lady was the mother of three children ; 
one only, Martha, wife of James Bracken, is 
now living. She died in the fall of 1847. In 
the spring of 1848, our subject wedded Rachel 
Austin as his second wife. This lady was the 
daughter of Joseph and Serena (Baldwing) 



Austin, and was the mother of five children^ 
three of whom are now living — Thomas J., now 
in Scott Count3\ Mo.; Rachel, wife of James 
Johnson, of Duncan Count}', Mo.; and Benja- 
min R., now in business in Hickman, Ky. 
This lad}' died in 1860, and he was united in 
marriage to his present wife in February, 1861. 
She was a Mrs. Sarah Kelly, nee Moody, and a 
native of Tennessee. To her were born two 
children, both of whom are now dead. Our 
subject has been Justice of the Peace almost 
continuously since 1856, and is now serving in 
that capacity. He is a member of the Thebes 
Baptist Church, and generally votes the Re- 
publican ticket. 

W. E. WOODS, farming and milling. P. O. 
Santa Fe, was born in Sabine County, Texas, 
May 24, 1835, and is a son of John and Pauline 
(De Wild) Woods. When our subject was 
ten years old, his father came to Cape Girar- 
deau County, Mo., where the former attended 
school at the St. Vincent College. Finishing 
his education, he began helping his father 
around the saw mill, and at the age of seven- 
teen was taken in as a partner. They ran a 
mill for a number of years in Mfsssouri, and 
then came to Thebes Precinct, this county, 
where they put up a saw and shingle mill, and 
also ran a store for the accommodation of the 
people in that vicinity ; next ran one on what is 
known as Rock Island, in the Mississippi. In 
1875, the firm of Woods & Son, purchased 
about 700 acres of a special claim in Santa Fe 
Precinct, lying in Town 16, Range 3 west, and 
established a saw mill. This mill was in oper- 
ation until 1879, when the mill was removed 
and the partnership dissolved. Our subject 
retained 320 acres, and has since put over 
100 into cultivation. His next venture was in 
Scott County, Mo., where he ran a saw mill. 
In May, 1883, he sold out that mill and re- 
turned to Santa Fe Precinct, where he has 
since given his attention. Before January, 
1884, however, he expects to have another 



BEECH RIDGE PRECINCT. 



240 



mill in operation near where the one owned b}" 
himself and his father stood. Mr. Woods was 
married, May 21, 1866, to Lina H. Johnson, a 
daughter of G. M. and Harriet (Glower) John- 
son. This lady is the mother of eight children, 
six of whom are now living — Drucilla H., Gus- 



sie. Will E., Jr., Olive, Beatrice and Carl. He 
enlisted in 1861, in the Marble City Guards of 
Cape Girardeau, Mo., but was only out about 
one year. In his regiment he served mostly 
in the Quartermaster's Department. In poli- 
tics, he is a Democrat. 



BEECH RIDGE PEEOIKCT. 



H. M. McKEMIE, farmer, P. 0. Beech 
Ridge, is a native of Perry County, Tenn., and 
was born May 17, 1840. His father's name was 
Ryal McKemie, and he was born in 1814. 
The mother was Mary Skaggs, and was born in 
1815. The father moved to Alexander County, 
and settled in Section 28, Town 16, Range 2, 
when our subject was only eleven years old, 
and there the father resided until his death in 
1861. The mother lived until a ripe old age, 
and died at the residence of her son in Febru- 
ary, 1882. Our subject received his education 
partiall}' in the schools of this county, and par- 
tially in Tennessee. He remained at home with 
his father until his death, and then went into the 
army, enlisting in the One Hundred and Thir- 
tieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. Niles, Com- 
any C, Capt. John H. Robinson ; remained out 
three years, and was then honorably discharged 
as First Sergeant. In the service he contracted 
the er^^sipelas, which eventually cost him his 



hearing. Returning from the war, he took 
charge of the home place, but did not feel sat- 
isfied with it. Becoming tired of the farm, he 
bought another one, and again sold that for a 
better one. Finally, in 1870, he went to Texas, 
where he remained only a year. Returning, he 
purchased a farm of forty acres in Section 32, 
Township 16, Range 2. He is now renting 
ninety acres in Section 25, Township 16, Range 
2. He was married June 30, 1867, to Mrs. Mary 
E. Journigan, a daughter of Siforous and Jane 
Delaney. This lad}^ lived only about seven 
months after her marriage, and Mr. McKemie 
was married the second time to Mrs. Mar3' E. 
Berry, nee Phillips, on August 16, 1878. She is 
the daughter of James and Martha Phillips, 
was born March 27, 1851, and is the mother of 
one child, Charles Berry, who was born Febru- 
ary 6, 1873. In politics, Mr. McKemie is a 
Republican. His wife is a member of the Bap- 
tist Church. 




250 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



LAKE MILLIKlIlT PREOIJSTOT. 



NICHOLAS HUNSAKER, farmer, P. 0. 
Commercial Point. The gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch was born in Union 
County, 111., two miles southwest of Jonesboro, 
on August 15, 1826. He was a son of Abner 
and Rachel (Montgomery) Hunsaker. The 
father was one of the oldest settlers of Union 
County, was born on Green River, Ky., 1801, 
and died at his farm in Jonesboro Precinct 
in Union Count}^ July 11, 1849. The mother 
was born near the same place as her husband, 
in the j-ear 1802, and died two days after her 
husband. The death of both parents was from 
cholera, which was then epidemic in that section 
of the country'. Our subject had seven 
brothers and three sisters, and consequently as 
he was compelled to assist at home his educa- 
tion was obtained in the subscription schools 



of his count}-. Soon after his marriage our 
subject came to Alexander County, and has 
since become one of the foremost citizens of 
that county. He has served his county in 
numerous capacities, was elected Sheriff in 
1858, and served two years, and in 1863, was 
elected to the office of County Treasurer, and 
served in that capacity two terms and a half. 
Mr. Hunsaker was married in Union County, 
on March 22, 1849, to Adelia Worthington, 
who was born in the southwest part of Union 
County, December 12, 1824, and was a daugh- 
ter of Benjamin and Nancy Worthington. 
This lady is the mother of eight children, viz.: 
Henry Harrison, Laura Catharine, John 
Hodges, Julia Alice, William Charles, Ro- 
sanna May, Florence and Dora. In politics, 
Mr. Hunsaker is a Democrat. 




MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



PULASKI COUNTY. 



MOUI^D CITY PREOn^CT. 



GEOPiaE W. ARMSTRONG, first mate of 
" H. G. Wright," Mound City. This gentleman 
is a native of New Albany, Ind., born Februaiy 
17. 1844. His father, John Armstrong, was 
born in Shelbyville, Ky., in 1807, and died in 
New Albany, Ind., October 3, 1863. During 
his life was principally engaged as a ship car- 
penter. His wife and subject's mother was 
Ann (Want) Armstrong, a native of London, 
England, born in 1812. She is a daughter of 
John T. Want, who was an officer in the 
construction department of the British Navy, 
principall}' located in Canada; when she was 
twelve years of age she was brought to Amer- 
ica b}^ her parents, who settled near Louisville, 
K3\, where he had bought land. She was mar- 
ried in New Albany, the result of the marriage 
being thirteen children, of whom six are now 
iving, viz. : James, John W., Mary, Susan 
George W., the subject of this biograph}', and 
Mrs. Henrietta Colesta. Our subject was edu- 
cated and reared at New Albany, Ind., and in 
early life was apprenticed at the carpenter and 
ship-builder's trade for a term of foul* years, 
but, becoming an efficient workman, he was 
allowed journeyman's wages after the third 
year. In March, 1862, he removed from New 
Albany to Mound Citj', and here engaged work- 
ing at his trade until February, 1882, when 
he was appointed first mate of the United 
States Snag Boat " H. G. Wright," a position 
he at present fills with tact and ability. In 
Caledonia, 111., on the 1st of November, 1863, 
he married Miss Louisa Conway, a native of 



Union County, 111., born March 20, 1842 ; she 
is a daughter of Charles and Sarah (Auberts) 
Conway. This union has been blessed with 
the following children : Ida R., born February 
17, 1865 ; John T., born December 15, 1867; 
Georgia, born October 6, 1870, who died Octo- 
ber 14, 1872 ; Charles, born September 30, 
1874. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong are religously 
connected with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; he is an active member of the order of 
K. of H., Mound City Lodge, No. 1847, and a 
self-made man in every respect. 

SAMUEL BACK, merchant, Mound City, 
born November 8, 1838, in Obernitzka, Prussia, 
Germany. Son of Israel Back, a native of 
Germany, where he was a baker by occupation. 
The mother of our subject was Hanna (Saul) 
Back, also a native of Germany. Our subject 
was educated in Germany, where he studied 
the mercantile business, and was engaged in 
business there till 1866, when he came to the 
United States, landing in New York City. 
From there he went to Dubuque, Iowa, and 
after six months went to Nebraska City ; and, 
finally, m 1870 he came to Mound City, where 
he opened a dry goods store in partnership 
with his brother-in-law. After one year, they 
dissolved partnership, and our subject went to 
Anna, 111., where he kept a dry goods store, re- 
turning to this place in 1874, when he opened 
a dry goods store, in which he has continued 
till the present time, carrying also a stock of 
hats, caps, boots and shoes, and a stock worth 
from $8,000 to $10,000. He was married in 



352 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



St. Louis to Miss Fannie Blum, who is a native 
of Auflaausen, Wurtemberg, Germany. She is 
the mother of Gabriel Back, who was born 
December 3, 1873. Mr. Back is a wide-awake 
business man. He is an active member of the 
Knights of Honor, Mound City Lodge, No. 
1847. In politics, he is a Democrat. 

C. N. BELL, merchant, Mound City, was 
born April 19, 1825, in Virginia ; son of Jacob 
and Martha (Talliafero) Bell. Jacob Bell emi- 
grated from Virginia to Todd County, Ky.,but 
died in Graves County, aged sixty-six years. 
He was a teacher and a minister of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church by profession, follow- 
ing the ministry exclusively in Virginia. In 
Kentucky, he followed teaching mainly, al- 
though he acted as local minister, following the 
ministry for forty years. His whole life was 
worth}^ of imitation. At an early date, three 
brothers came to the United States from Italy, 
and the Talliaferos now residing in this coun- 
try are their descendants. Mrs. Martha Bell 
died aged sixty-six years ; she was the mother 
of seven children, of whom our subject and two 
sisters are now living. Our subject, C. N. Bell, 
received his education from his father, whose 
occupation he chose, teaching several 3'ears in 
Massac and Pope Counties, 111. Our subject 
was a soldier in the Mexican war, and in Au- 
gust, 1862, he enlisted in the Fifteenth Reg- 
iment Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry, of which 
he was made Quartermaster Sergeant. While 
out on a scout, he was captured by Forrest's men, 
near Spring Creek College, Tenn., and was taken 
to the Libby Prison pen, where he was one of the 
last exchanged prisoners, his regiment having 
been mustered out before his release. His oc- 
cupation since the war has been varied : 
teaching, farming, photographing, etc. In 
1872, he came to Mound City, and in the fall 
of 1882 he became engaged in the family 
grocery business. Before the war, he was a 
Whig in politics, but since then he has been a 
Republican. He is now a member of the City 



Councikin Mound City. Our subject was mar- 
ried twice ; his first wife was Jane Crotchett, 
who died in 1 867. The following year, he was 
married to Henrietta C. Stall, a native of 
Ohio. She is the mother of four children, viz. : 
Susan T., Sallie A., Nellie E. and Ida K. 

LOUIS BLUM, dry goods merchant, Mound 
City. Of the energetic business men of Mound 
City who have the interest of the town as well 
as their own at heart, is he whose name heads 
this sketch. He was born August 25, 1835, in 
Wurtemberg, Germany. His father, also a na- 
tive of Wurtemberg, was born 1803, and is yet 
living. He was a stock-dealer, and a man 
whose reputation for honest}' and square deal- 
ing was well known. The mother of our sub- 
ject was Ida (Neuburger) Blum. She was the 
mother of five children, of whom Abraham and 
Sarah Kohn are now living in the old countr}', 
and Fannie Back, Joe Blum, of St. Louis, and 
Louis, our subject, are living in this county. 
Our subject was educated in Germany, where 
he engaged in the stock business with his fa- 
ther till 1854, when he came to the United 
States, landing in New York City. He mer- 
chandized in Lebanon, N. J., till 1863, when he 
came to Cairo, where he commenced to mer- 
chandise on a small scale, two horses hauling 
all the goods with which he opened his store. 
But with that indomitable persevei^ance com- 
mon to the race from which he sprung, and 
through his honesty and energy, he enjoyed in 
1865 the best retail trade in Cairo, employing 
eight cterks. He continued to do business there 
till 1870, when he came to Mound City, where 
he has been mostly a general merchant. He 
now carries principally a stock of dry goods 
and clothing, including boots, shoes, hats, caps, 
carpets, oil cloth, wall paper, etc. Our subject 
was joined in matrimon}- July 12, 1868, in 
New York, and took a wedding trip to Europe, 
returning the same year. He is a member of 
the " Sons of the Hebrew Brotherhood, " Egypt 
Lodge, Cairo, 111. He is also a Knight of 



MOUND CITY PKECINCT. 



253 



Honor, Mound Citj- Lodge, No. 1847. In pol- 
ities, he is a Democrat. Mrs. Blum is a native 
of Wurtemberg, Germany, where she was born 
April 13, 1845. Her maiden name was Sophia 
Hirsh, of a prominent famil}- in Grermany. She 
is the mother of six children now living, viz. : 
Clara, born November 30, 1870; Jacob, born Sep- 
tember 14, 1872 ; Samuel, born July 24, 1874; 
Zilli, born September 17, 1877 ; Benjamin, No- 
vember 12, 1879, and Ida, born May 13, 1883. 

C. L. BOEKENKAMP, merchant. Mound 
City. This enterprising business man was born 
May 16, 1853, in Petershagen, Westphalia, Grer- 
many-. He is a son of Prof. Herman Boeken- 
kamp, wiio was Superintendent of a deaf and 
dumb asylum in Minden, Germany. He was 
born in Brackwede, Germany, and died Octo- 
ber 10. 1881. The mother of our subject was 
Emilie (Hoepke) Boekenkamp, born May 21, 
1812. in Minden, Germany. She is j-et living 
where our subject was born, and is the daugh- 
ter of a large and well-known grain bu3'er in Ger- 
many. She was the mother of two boys — Au. 
gust F. and Charles L., our subject. The former 
was born March 6, 1848 ; he was Lieutenant in 
the Prussian arm3% and died 1870 from wounds 
received in the war between Prussia and Aus- 
tria. At the time of his death he was acting as 
Mayor of Ibbenbueren, German}'. Our subject 
was 'educated at Minden, Germany. In 1869 he 
left his native country and emigrated to the Unit- 
ed States, landing in New York. After roam- 
ing one year he clerked in Chicago ; from there 
he went to St. Louis, and after one year's stay 
came to Mound City. Here he worked one year 
and then returned to St. Louis, where he worked 
for the old firm of Herman Koste till 1872, when 
he again returned to this place, where he clerked 
for G. F. Meyer till 1874, when he again went to 
St. Louis, where, after clerking one 3'ear in a 
])rewery, he entered E. Hilger& Co.'s wholesale 
hardware business, where he clerked two years. 
In 1878 he once more returned to Mound City, 
where he worked for Mever till 1881, when he 



went into business for himself in partnership 
with Ed. Schuler, keeping a general store. He 
was joined in matrimony January 14, 1879, in 
this place, to Miss Mary Schuler, who was born 
December 23, 1856, in Paducah, Ky. She is a 
daughter of George Schuler. and is the mother 
of one bo}' — Herman, born December 23, 1880. 
Mr. Boekenkamp is a member of the Knights 
of Honor, and in politics is a Democrat. 

C. BOREN. pilot. Mound City, is a native 
of Pulaski County, 111., born February 28, 1828, 
near Fort Wilkinson, and a son of Morgan and 
Anna (Lathum) Boren, he born in Tennessee 
in 1795, and died in Pulaski County, III, in 
January, 1851. He was one of the first set- 
tlers of the count}', having emigrated from 
his native State in 1827, and settled in this 
county near Fort Wilkinson, where he had 
been stationed as a soldier in the Black 
Hawk war, and engaged in farming to the 
time of his death. His wife (subject's mother) 
was also a native of Tennessee. She died in 
this county, leaving twelve children, of whom 
but three are now living, viz. : Lewis W., Mrs. 
Mary L. Collins and Coleman, our subject. 
His earl}' life was spent at home on the farm, 
and at such time as the work of the farm 
would permit, he attended the subscription 
schools, common in his day. At nineteen 
years of age, he left his home and engaged 
in boating on the rivers ; he has since fol- 
lowed this for a livelihood, and has been 
principally engaged as Captain and pilot, hav- 
ing been Captain of the following well known 
steamers : Pocahontas, Ohio Belle, Alexander 
Scott, Cumberland, Catawba and St. Louis. 
At present he is acting as pilot of the Mis- 
sissippi, from St. Louis to New Orleans, up 
the Red River to Shreeveport, and on the 
Ohio from Cairo to Paducah. In Vienna, John- 
son Co., 111., on the 8th of August, 1852, 
he was married to Miss Caroline F. McDon- 
ald, who was born June 12, 1834, in Ohio. 
She is a daughter of Richard and Mary J. 



854 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



(Craven) McDonald. Mr. and Mrs. Boren have 
been blessed with six children, of whom five 
are now living, viz. : Lady A., born January 29, 
1854 ; Mar}' A., born Nov'ember 16, 1856 , 
Carrie F., born December 17, 1858 ; Georgia 
Anna, November 3, 1861 ; she died March 22, 
1862 ; Richard M., born Ma}^ 30, 1868, and 
Henrietta B., September 7, 1870. Mr. Boren is 
an active member of the I. 0. 0. F., and in 
politics he is identified with the Republican 
party. 

THOMAS BOYD, attorney at law, Mound 
City. The Boyd family on the paternal side is 
of Scotch ancestry, and on the maternal En- 
glish. William Boyd, the great-grandfather of 
Thomas, was a native of Ireland, and emigrat- 
ed to America during the Revolutionary was 
espoused the cause of the patriots, joined the 
army under Washington and fought for the in- 
dependence of his adopted country. After the 
close of the war, he married and settled in 
Greorgia, where his son John, the grandfather 
of the present family, was born in 1818. John 
Boyd moved to North Carolina, and from 
thence to Tennessee, and in 1823 came to H- 
linois and settled in Washington County, but 
soon after removed to Randolph Count}-, to a 
point then known as Heacock's Prairie, now 
known as Dutch Hill Prairie, and there re- 
mained till his death, which occurred about 
1837. During the war of 1812, he enlisted and 
was a soldier under Jackson in the Southern 
army. His son William, father of Thomas, 
was born in Georgia in 1806, and came with 
his father to Illinois, and here married Isabel 
Douglass, daughter of Isaac L. Douglass. She 
was a native of Scotland, though partiall}' 
reared in Illinois. She survived her husband, 
who died in 1854, and she in 1880. By this 
union there were eight children, five of whom 
are living. Thomas, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Randolph County September 6, 
1847. He was reared upon his father's form, 
and received his education in the district 



schools of his neighborhood. At the age of 
nineteen, he left home and worked at his trade 
of carpenter ; subsequently taught school, 
which he continued till 1870, when he entered 
the law office of Murph}- & Boyd, at Pinkney- 
ville, and commenced the study of law. He. 
however, continued to follow teaching in the 
winter months, returning to his studies during 
vacation. At the January term of the Supreme 
Court, held at Springfield in 1875, he passed a 
successful examination and was admitted to 
the bar ; he then formed a law partnership 
with his preceptors, and became a member of the 
well-known law firm of Murphy & Boyd Bros., 
which continued until July. 1882, when John 
Boyd withdrew, and Thomas Boyd remained a 
law partner with Mr. Murphy until the latter 
part of November, 1882, when the dissolution 
of the firm took place by mutual consent. Our 
subject was joined in matrimony, March 13, 
1878, to Mrs. Sarah J. Hight, nee Hughes, 
daughter of William A. and Sarah (Moore) 
Hughes, who were counted among our most 
esteemed citizens. Mrs. Sarah J. Boyd, born 
August 8, 1852. in this county, at Old Cale- 
donia, is the mother of three children — Maud 
S., deceased ; Loren H., born August 15, 1880 ; 
and Pearl Hope, born February 7, 1-^83. Our 
subject was always a reliable Democrat, true 
to his principles, and without doubt or shadow 
of turning. He is an honored member of the 
A., F. & A. M., and also of the high degree of 
R. A. M. As a practitioner, he has had reason 
to be gratified with his success. He brought 
to the pi'ofession studious habits, industry and 
an earnest desire to excel. While compara- 
tively on the threshold of his professional life, 
he has given undoubted evidence of his fitness 
and ability to cope with the subtle intricacies 
of the law, and in good time, we hope, will be- 
come eminent and learned in his chosen pro- 
fession. 

L. M. BRADLEY, attorney at law, Mound 
City, was born October 14, 1852. in Jackson 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



25.> 



Count}', 111. ; grandson of James H. Brad- 
ley, Sr., whose son, James H., was born 
August 21, 1821, in Jackson County, 111. 
He was a farmer by occupation. He was joined 
in matrimony to Rutha CuUey, born February 
28, 1828, in Mount Vernon, Ind. She was a 
daughter of Josiah and Martha (Hogue) Culle}*, 
and is the mother of a large family, of whom 
seven children are now living — Harriet E. 
Carter, C3nithia C. Davis, Charles M., Lewis 
M. (our subject), Samuel U., George B. and 
OUey. Our subject received a common school 
education in Jackson County, 111., and in De 
S ota. 111. In 1873, he opened a general store 
in the latter place with a partner, and con- 
tinued in the business till 1880, hiring a clerk 
in his place when he was at school. The 
store paid his expenses while fitting him- 
self for his profession. After attending 
the State Normal School at Carbondale for 
almost two years, he commenced the study 
of law with A. R. Pugh, of Murphysboro, as his 
preceptor. In 1878, he entered the law depart- 
ment of the Washington University, St. Louis, 
Mo., never missing a lesson during two 3'ears, 
graduating in 1880. Since then he has followed 
his profession one 3'ear at Murphysboro, and, 
since the fall of 1881 in Mound Cit}', where he 
is also Notary Public, one of the publishers of 
the Pulaski Patriot, and since April 7, 1883, 
State's Attorne}'. He is a member of the A., 
F. & A. M., De Soto Lodge, No. 287. In poli- 
tics, he is a Republican. 

DANIEL J. BRITT, farmer, P. 0. America, 
was born February 18, 1836, in Chatham 
County, N. C Son of Green Britt, born in 
Chatham County, N. C, a tanner by occupa- 
tion. He went to Arkansas, where he lived till 
the fall of 1863, when he came to Pulaski 
County, 111., where he now resides. The moth- 
er was a native of Chatham County, N. C. 
Her maiden name was Martha Martin, daughter 
of Henry and Mary Martin, natives of Paducah, 
Ky. She died in Pulaski County, Ky., leav- 



ing three children, of whom Daniel was the 
youngest. The names of the children were 
Julia A. Sanders (deceased), and William A., 
now living in this county. Daniel enjoyed 
only about six months of schooling, but 
through reading and observation he has ac- 
quired a fund of knowledge. In early life he 
learned the shoe-maker's trade, following it and 
farming till the spring of 1862, when he en- 
listed in the Fourth Regiment of Arkansas 
Volunteers, Company K He was promoted a 
few days before the battle of Cain Hill, to 
Captain of the Infirmary Corps. Surrendering 
at Helena, Ark., he came North and settled in 
Pulaski County. He has been married twice, 
and is the father of four boys — William R., 
born June 15, 1862; Middleton H., born Oc- 
tober, 1866; Grant, born 1808; George W., 
born August, 1872. Mr. Britt is a member of 
the A., F. & A. M. fraternity, Caledonia Lodge, 
No. 47. He has been County Treasurer and 
Assessor for two years, has filled school offices, 
and has been Township Trustee for sixteen 
years. In politics, he is a Republican. The 
past life of our subject needs no comment, as 
the confidence the people put in him speaks 
highly in his favor. 

PETER BURGESS, farmer, P. 0. Mound 
City, was born April 6, 1843, in Cheshire, Eng- 
land, son of Peter Burgess, born July 14, 1803, 
in England, where he died June 6, 1846. a 
farmer by occupation. The mother of our sub- 
ject was Hannah (Reade) Burgess, born Sep- 
tember 20, 1809, in England, where she died 
April 7, 1852, daughter of Joseph Reade, a 
farmer by occupation ; she was the mother of 
eight children, of whom Maria, Samuel, Ann 
and Peter are now living. Our subject was 
educated in England, where he worked in a silk 
factory till 1863, when he came to the United 
States, landing in New York June 12. From New 
York he went to Connecticut, where he farmed 
till the fall of 1863. He then went to Mound 
City, where he worked in the ship-yards, and 



256 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



then settled down on a farm in Pulaski County. 
He has now a farm of about 300 acres. He 
was joined in matrimon}^ May 17, 1865. in this 
county, to Miss Christina E. Storm, born in 
Pulaski County. She is a daughter of Dr. 
Lawrence F. and Elizabeth (Cook) Storm, and is 
the mother of two children, viz. : Hannah E., 
born March 25, 1866 ; Samuel L., infant, de- 
ceased. Mrs. Burgess died October, 1869, in 
this county. Mr. Burgess is religiously con- 
nected with the Episcopalian Church, was for- 
merly a member of the Ancient Order of Fores- 
ters of England. In politics he is a Democrat. 
HENRY G. CARTER, lawyer. Mound City, 
was born March 24, 1840, in Versailles, Wood- 
ford Co., Ky. His father, George W. Carter, was 
boi-n at Versailles, Ky., January 19, 1819, and 
died March 2, 1877, in Mound City, HI. In early 
life, he was a merchant in Versailles ; was Sher- 
iff of Woodford County, Ky., for twelve years, 
and during that time hung five men of whom 
three were colored. In June, 1856, he came to 
Mound City, and invested largelj' in stock of the 
old " Emporium " Real Estate and Manufactur- 
ing Compan}'. The same year he removed to 
Champaign Count}^ and there bought 640 acres 
of land and engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
ing, stocking his farm with fine Durham 
cattle from Kentucky. In 1858, he returned 
to Mound City, 111., and engaged in running the 
Mound City Hotel, and was also President of 
the Emporium Real Estate Company. About 
this time, he was a member of the City Council 
and County Commissioner. He met many ups 
and downs during his career, and at one time 
lost by security $22,000. His wife, and mother 
of our subject, was Rosana (Wallace) Carter, a 
native of Kentucky, and the mother of ten 
children, of whom five are now living. Henry 
G. Carter, our subject, was educated in Ken- 
tucky ; in early life, was Deputy Sheriff of 
Woodford County, Ky., and taught school, 
and in the meantime studied law ; he gradu- 
ated in Louisville, Ky., in 1860. In the spring 



of 1861, he located permanently at Mound 
City, and engaged in the real estate business, 
and was manager of the Mound City Railroad 
for two years, and at the same time continued 
the practice of his profession. In 1863, he was 
elected City Attorney, an office he still retains. 
He was the last President of Emporium Com- 
pany. In St. Louis, in 1871, he married Miss 
Maggie Bi'own, a native of Kentucky. She 
died in 1880, leaving the following children as 
the result of their union — Charlotte, born Feb- 
ruary, 1872 ; Hai'ry, born December, 1874, and 
Frederick, born in August, 1875. He is a Knight 
of Honor and a Democrat. 

DR. N. R. CASEY, physician and surgeon. 
Mound Cit}', whose portrait appears in this 
volume, was born in Jefferson County, 111., 
January 27, 1826. His father, Gov. Zadok 
Casey, was a native of Georgia ; when quite a 
youth he moved to Tennessee ; there he was 
married to Rachel King, and in 1817, with his 
wife and one child six months old, the late 
Hon. S. K. Casey, moved to what is now 
Jefferson County, 111. N. R. Casey's first 
school teacher was Uncle Neddy Maxey, as he 
was familiarly called ; he was not a man of 
much learning, having obtained what he had 
without a teacher. There were no schools or 
schoolhouses in that immediate neighborhood. 
Consequently a room of small dimensions was 
set apart in his father's house, where the old 
man taught his two older brothers, and an 
older sister, with himself In a few years 
afterward, a log schoolhouse was built ; one end 
of the building was taken up bythe fire-place, 
while the floor was the original mother earth. 
The seats were made of split and hewed timber, 
their ends resting on blocks. The teacher's 
name was Tally ; he was a large stout man ; his 
own education was limited to spelling, reading 
and writing. His armory, of which he kept a 
good suppl}', consisted of long strips of tan 
oak bark, that had been peeled from oak trees 
near by, to be used for tanning animals' hides 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



257 



(not human's) ; it was neatly corded up near 
the schoolhouse, and every morning the 
teacher brought and laid an arm full of it near 
where he sat. The bark was not dry, hence 
each strip, about three feet long and six inches 
wide, made a formidable weapon, and in the 
hands of an able-bodied man, did a wonderful 
amount of execution before it broke up in 
small peices over a boy's back. After this 
academic course, his father, in 1838, sent him 
to the Hillsboro Academy, at Hillsboro, 111. 
In 1840, he attended the Mount Vernon Acad- 
emy, that had just been built ; while it was of 
no great proportions for that day and time, it 
was considered quite an institution. In 1842, 
his father sent him to the Ohio University, at 
Athens, Ohio, where McGuffy, the great school 
book author, was President. He remained 
there until 1845, when he returned to Mount 
Vernon, and commenced the study of medicine 
with Dr. John W. Grathrum, a gentleman of 
fine acquirements, both as a surgeon and phy- 
sician. He had come a few years before from 
Baltimore, Md., after one year's study, he at- 
tended, in 1846, a course of lectures at the 
Louisville Medical Institute. It was in the 
da}-* of Gri'oss, Professor of Surgery, Drake, of 
Practice, Colt, of Anatomy, Yondell, Chemistxy, 
Charlie Colwell, etc. He continued his studies 
after his return from the lectures, and at the 
same time doing some practice under the 
supervision of his preceptor, until the summer 
of 1847, when he moved to Benton, 111., and 
became a partner in the practice of medicine 
with Dr. Towns, of that place. Dr. Towns 
was an educated physician, some years before 
he had emigrated from Virginia to Franklin 
Count}^, 111.; his bearing and mit^iners were 
that of the old-time Virginia gentleman. He 
had an extensive practice. Benton was 
the count}' seat of Franklin County. 
On the 4th of December, 1847, he manned 
Miss Florida Rawlings, of Louisville, Ky., 
daughter of Gen. M. M. Rawlings, a young 



lady of education and superior accomplish- 
ments. She had but recentl}' graduated with 
honors at the Nazareth Academy, near Bards- 
town, Ky., a Catholic school then, and still 
maintaining a high reputation. He returned 
from Louisville to Benton with his bride, and 
continued the practice of medicine until 1848, 
when he moved back to Mount Vernon, 111., his 
native place, and there continuing the practice. 
The winter of 1856-57 he attended his second 
course of lectures at the Missouri Medical 
College, at St. Louis, receiving his diploma . 
The late Dr. McDowell at that time was the 
leading spirit of the institution. In June, 1857, 
he moved to Mound City, 111., at the earnest 
request of his father-in-law. Gen. Rawlings, 
who had in 1854 laid out Mound City. In 1858, 
he was elected one of the City Councilman. In 
1859, he was elected Mayor of the city, and was 
elected Mayor annually until 1874, a period of 
fifteen years. At the end of which time, he de- 
clined to be a candidate again. In 1860, he was a 
delegate to the National Convention at Charles- 
ton, and was an ardent admirer and supporter 
of Stephen A. Douglas. When the U. S. G. 
Hospital was established in 1861, at Mound 
City, he volunteered his services for quite 
awhile, and aided in treating the sick and 
wounded. Afterward he was appointed assist- 
ant Surgeon ; and for a long time occupied 
that position in the hospital. In 186Q, Union, 
Alexander and Pulaski Counties were entitled 
to one member in the State Legislature. There 
was an understanding that Pulaski should name 
the candidate, Union and Alexander Counties, 
having had the member for some j^ears. N. R. 
Casey and the late Col. E. B. Watkins were the 
Democrat candidates for the nomination both 
of Pulaski County. The contest in Pulaski 
County, between Casey and Watkins, was an 
active one. An unpleasant state of aflEairs ex- 
isted in the county, resulting from the removal 
of the county seat from Caledonia to Mound 
City. Case}' had taken an active part in favor 



258 



BIOGRAPHICAL; 



of the removal, while Watkins had taken an 
active part against the removal. The result 
was two sets of delegates were sent to the Dis- 
trict Convention, which met in Jonesboro. 
After two da3'S spent b}' the convention in try- 
ing to determine the claims of the contending 
delegates from Pulaski, the}' referred the matter 
back to the people of the district, and adjourned. 
New county conventions were held, new dele- 
gates appointed, but the same difficulty pre- 
sented itself in Pulaski County, there being a 
Casey, and a Watkin's delegation, but with con- 
vincing evidence, that Casey's delegation repre- 
sented a majorit}- of the Democrats of the county 
The district convention met in Cairo, and after 
two more days spent without making a nomina- 
tion, the convention adjourned for one week. 
Union Count}^ had seven delegates, Alexander 
four, and Pulaski three delegates. Before the 
convention adjourned, Watkins withdrew from 
the contest. When Union County cast her seven 
votes for Judge Naill, of Union, Alexander and 
Pulaski, having seven votes between them, 
cast their votes for Case}', which made a tie. 
Upon re-assembling, after the expiration of the 
week, balloting commenced and continued until 
late in the day, seven votes being cast for Naill, 
and seven for Casey, when Casey requested 
his name withdrawn from the Convention, 
which was done, when Judge Naill's name 
was also withdrawn, and Union County placed 
N. R. Casey again in nomination, when he re- 
ceived the unanimous vote of the convention, 
and thus ended one of the hottest contested 
scrambles for the Legislature that ever occurred 
in the State. Casey was elected by some 
1,500 majority, his Republican opponent being 
a young man by the name of Cleser. When 
the Legislature met the following winter, it con- 
tained only twenty-four Democratic members, 
but going upon that promise, " Where two or 
three are gathered together," etc., they met be- 
•fore the organization of the house and nominat- 
ed N. R. Casey, of Pulaski County, as the 



Democratic candidate for Speaker. He received 
twenty-four votes and Franklin Cronin, the 
Republican candidate, forty-eight, Casey voting 
for Cronin and Cronin for Casey. In the formfi- 
tion of the committees, Casey was placed upon 
the most important ones. In 1868, he was 
nominated by the Democratic Convention, 
without opposition, his Republican opponent 
being Dr. Taggert, of Cairo, but he was elected 
by a large majority. When the Legislature 
met in the winter of 1868-69, the Democratic 
members again nominated him for Speaker of 
the House ; but he was again defeated by 
Franklin Cronin, the Republican candidate. 
The redistrictinir of the State and the new 
Constitution of 1870, giving each Representa- 
tive District three members, of which the mi- 
nority would be entitled to one, placed Pulaski 
County with Johnson, Massac, Pope and Har- 
din Counties. The district in 1873 was thought 
to be in some doubt as to its political character, 
and when the Democratic Convention naet at 
Golconda, they nominated two candidates for 
the Lower House, N. R. Casey and Dr. Low, 
both from Pulaski County. Casey was elected 
and two Republicans. When the General As- 
sembly met, the Republicans nominated Shelby 
M. Cullum, of Sangamon, for Speaker of the 
House, since Governor and now United States 
Senator. The Democrats nominated N. R. 
Casey, of Pulaski, for Speaker. Each candi- 
date received the full vote of his party, Cul- 
lum's majority being twenty. N. R. Casey 
made an active and an influential member, and 
enjoyed the confidence and good will not only 
of the Democratic members but the Repub- 
licans. During each term of the Legislature of 
which he was a member, he served upon the 
most important committees of the House. He 
made but few speeches, was not addicted to 
much talking when his constituents were not 
interested. He introduced but few bills, but 
passed those he did introduce. Among them, 
during his last term in the Legislature, was the 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



259 



one appropriating $25,000 to build a monu- 
ment at the national cemeter}- at Mound City. 
When introduced, the idea of passing it was 
scouted pretty generally among the members, 
but it became a law. The subject of this brief 
sketch has been frequently spoken of as a fit 
Democratic candidate for Governor. Pulaski 
and other southern counties have, upon several 
occasions, instructed their delegates to State 
Conventions, to vote for him. His name has 
often been used in connection with other 
Democrats as a proper candidate for Con- 
gress. While he is not a politician, still he 
keeps himself posted upon the politics of the 
country, and never swerves ft'om the Demo- 
cratic teaching of the fathers. In August, 
1878, his wife died, having been stricken with 
paralysis more than two yeai's before. This was 
a great loss to him. Five years have elapsed 
since her death, and he still keenly' feels 
her loss. He has three children. His oldest, 
Ida M., married, in 1870, Col. D. B. Djer, of 
Baxter Springs, Kan.; Dyer is now United 
States Indian Agent at the Quapaw Agency, 
Indian Territor}-, and the}- reside at the Agency; 
Frank K., a 3'oung man, who has reached 
his majorit)', and is now City Clerk of Mound 
City ; and Maude H. Casey, who will finish her 
education m another vear. For more than a 
quarter of a century that he has lived in 
Mound City, he has taken and occupied a 
prominent position in everything that had for 
its object the interest of the place. Since 
1874, the Doctor has been in the active practice 
of his profession, ignoring offers of offices. 

L. F. CRAIN, Sheriff. Mound City, was born 
May 18, 1839, in Clark County, Ohio, near 
Springfield. His father Joseph M. Crain, a native 
of thesame county, was born September 2, 1807. 
He was a farmer, came to Pulaski County, 'Hi., 
in 1870, and died in 1876. He was a son of 
John Crain, a native of Ii-eland, born in 1774, 
and died in Ohio in 1848, whei'ehe had settled 
in an early day. He was a participant in the 



war of 1812. The mother of our subject was 
Delcenia A. (Donovan) Crain, a native of Clark 
Count}-, Ohio, born 1812, and died in 1853. 
She was a daughter of William Donovan, and 
the mother of seven children, of whom six are 
now living. Our subject spent his early life at 
home, assisting to till the soil of his father's 
farm, and receiving such an education as could 
be obtained in the common schools of his na- 
tive count}' ; arriving at his majority, he em- 
barked on his career in life as a farmer and 
fruit-grower, and continued the same uninter- 
ruptedly until Ma}-, 1861, when he enlisted in 
the late war, serving in Company I, of the 
Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was 
appointed recruiting officer after serving his 
term of enlistment. He was wounded in the 
arm, and from its cause was honorably dis- 
charged from the service, and returned to his 
home in Pulaski County, and again engaged in 
farming, continuing thesame until 1880, when 
he was elected Sheriff of the county, whicli he is 
now filling. Mr. Crain has been twice mar- 
ried ; first in 1870, to Miss Annis Murphy, 
who died in 1875, leaving one child, viz.: Nel- 
lie, born April 6, 1872. He married a second 
time Miss Dora Kennedy, who was born in 
1853, in Pulaski County, 111. This union has 
been blessed with one child, viz. : Earnest, 
born September, 20, 1880. Mr. Crain has 
served the county in many of its offices ; among 
them may be mentioned County Assessor and 
Treasurer. He is an active member of the or- 
der A., F. & A. M., Villa Ridge Lodge, No. 562, 
and a Republican in politics. 

JAMES B. CRAXDALL, attorney at law. 

Mound City, is a grandson of Ezekiel Crandall, 

a native of New York, who died in Ohio, aged 

almost one hundred and two years. lie was of 

j a long-lived race, and his eight children are yet 

living — Horace (aged one hundred and two 

years), Russell. James, Asief (the father of our 

' subject), Saphrona, Lyman, Fannie and John. 

I Thev have all been married, and have numer- 



260 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



ous descendants. Ezekiel Crandall cut bis way 
with an ax from Cleveland, Ohio, to a place in 
Lorain County, a distance of twenty-four miles, 
through a dense forest. He settled on the land 
which was afterward occupied by Elyria, the 
county seat of Lorain County, where our sub- 
ject, James B. Crandall, was born April 10,1 837. 
His father, Asief Crandall, was born September 
30, 1796, in New York. His wife, Eliza Ferris, 
was the mother of seven children — Edwin, De- 
villow, LucretiaC, James B. our subject, Lu- 
sella C, Lorenzo and Frank, a niei-chant in 
Chicago. Our subject was educated in Ober- 
lin, Ohio. In early life, he taught school 
for many years in Ohio and Illinois. In 1856, 
he commenced the study of law with Clark ^ 
Burk, of Elyria, as his preceptors. After two 
years of study, he returned to Illinois, where he 
had previously taught school in 1855. July 3, 
1858, he came to Pulaski County, where he 
taught in Grand Chain and Caledonia. In 1860, 
he was admitted to the bar at Mount Vernon, 
and commenced to practice in Caledonia. He 
came to Mound City in 1863 ; here he followed 
the mercantile business till 1865, when he once 
more took up his profession. The following 
year, he formed a partnership with D. W. Munn. 
now of Chicago. In 1871, he formed a part- 
nership with John Linegar, which continues to 
the present day. Mr. C. was married March 5, 

1861, to Victoria Rigby, daughter of Capt. John 
W. Bigby of Caledonia. She died November 29, 

1862, leaving two boys — Rolo A., born May 5. 
1862, and Ernest A., born March 5, 1865 ; he 
died August 23, 1882, at Gray's Ridge, Mo., 
where he was a telegraph operator. Mr. Cran- 
dall was married a second time, March 5, 1869, 
in Delaware Count}', Penn., to Rebecca J. Craig, 
born Jul}^ 29, 1840, in Pennsylvania, daughter 
of James Craig, and is the mother of Robert 
L., born July 29, 1870 ; Alpha B., born Novem- 
ber 23, 1872, and Bell P., born February 27, 
1876. Mrs. Crandall is a member of the 3Ieth- 
odist Episcopal Church. Mr. Crandall is an A., 



F. & A. M., Cairo Lodge, No. 237. Has been 
County Treasurer of Pulaski County from 
1865 to 1868 ; and for several years was a mem- 
ber of the City Council. Has also been City At- 
torney'. In politics, he is a Democrat. 

MRS. SARAH. J. DEAHL, P. 0. America, 
born Jul}' 17, 1823, at America, Pulaski 
County. She is a daughter of William and 
Catherine (French) Wilson. The former was 
born 1789 in Harrisburg, Penn., and died De- 
cember 29, 1856. The latter was a native of 
Pennsylvania, born March 9, 1777 ; she died 
March 7, 1877. They are mentioned in our 
general histor3\ She was the mother of seven 
children, of whom four are living — Sarah J. 
(our subject), Eler}' P., William K. and Wash- 
ington B. ; the other three died in infanc}'. 
Our subject is the only one living. She went 
to the old subscription schools in this county. 
Here she was married, January 30, 1845, to 
Jacob Deahl, a native of Prussia, Germany, 
born February 20, 1809 ; he died in America 
June 2, 1876. He was a farmer and the father 
of seven children, viz. : Winifred (deceased), 
William R. (deceased), Washington L., Julia 
A. (deceased), Mar^- Jane (wife of John W. 
Boren, of Cairo), Catherine and Martha M. 
Mrs. Deahl and two of her daughters are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church, as was also 
her husband. Mr. Deahl was a man t;hat stood 
high in the estimation of his fellow-men. 
Mrs. Deahl has a farm of 120 acres, provided 
b}^ her exemplary husband. 

W. L. DEAHL, farmer, P. 0. America, 
was born February 9, 1850, in Pulaski Count}'. 
He is a son of Jacob Deahl, born February 20, 
1809, in Germany, a farmer b}' occupation. 
He came to the United States when a 3'oung 
man. He worked a few years in North Caro- 
lina, and then settled in this county, following 
farming. Here he married and was identified 
with the county moi'e or less until his death, 
which occurred June 2, 1876. The mother of 
our subject was Sarah J. (Wilson) Deahl, born 



MOUND CITY PKECINCT. 



261 



Jul}' 17, 1823, in this county. Slie was a daughter 
of William and Catharine (French) Wilson, who 
may be classed among our old pioneers. They 
are mentioned in our general history-. Our 
subject was educated in the common schools 
of this county. He has made farming his vo- 
cation. He was joined in matrimony here, 
June 28, 1877, to Mi.ss Anna Dunn, born 
June 28, 1848, in this county, daughter of 
Benjamin F. and Jane (Bowman) Dunn. Mrs- 
Anna Deahl is the mother of one child now 
living, Lafayette Deahl, born September 10, 
1881. Mr. Deahl has been Constable in this 
precinct for four years, and is one of our wide- 
awake young farmers. 

JOHN DISHINGER, mechanic, Mound 
Cit3', was born May 5, 1830, in Strasbourg, 
France. His grandfather, John Dishinger, 
was a native of Baden, German}-, born in 1798. 
He was reared and educated in his native 
place, and there learned the wagon- maker's 
trade and worked at the same until 1843, when 
he emigrated to America, and settled in Jas- 
per, Dubois Co., Ind., and there died in 1858. 
His wife, our subject's mother, was a native of 
France. She was burned to death in a house, 
at the age of ninety-five j-ears, in Indiana. 
John Dishinger, our subject, was educated in 
Baden-Baden, Germany, and Louisville, Ky. 
and at the latter place learned the wagon-mak- 
er's and blacksmith's trades, and worked there 
until 1853, when he removed to Jasper, Ind., 
and there remained three years. In 1857, he 
came to Mound City, 111., where he has since 
conducted a carpenter, wagon and blacksmith 
shop. In Jasper, Ind., in 1853, he married 
Miss Frederika Bachtel, a native of Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, born in 1830. They have five 
children — Joseph, Lizzie, John, Mary and 
Charle}-. Mr. and Mrs. Dishinger are members 
of the Catholic Church. 

A. J. DOUGHERTY, manufacturer. Mound 
Cit}-, is a native of Trinity, 111., born Septem- 
ber 4, 1843, and a son of James Dougherty, a 



native of the East. Our subject was reared 
and educated in Mound City, and after com- 
pleting his education engaged in merchandis- 
ing business from 1860 until 1869, the first 
four 3'ears as clerk and afterward on his own 
account. In 1869, in partnership with his 
uncle, William Doughert}-, he engaged in the 
saw mill business, and in 1870 began the manu- 
facture of staves, in which he has since continued. 
Mr. Dougherty has been twice married ; in 
1867, to Miss Albertine Hurd, who died the 
following year, leaving one son, W^illiam A., 
who was born June 8, 1868. In 1873, he mar- 
ried Miss Fannie Cheek, born January 12, 
1852, in Aurora, Ind., a daughter of George 
and Alta (BailejO Cheek. She is the mother 
of the following children : Andrew J., born 
April 28, 1874; Fannie M., born March 10, 
1879; and Ethel, born September 9, 1881. 
Mr. Dougherty and wife are exemplar}- mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He 
is a member of the orders A., F. & A. M., K. 
of H. and Good Templars. In politics, he is 
Democratic. He is an enterprising, industri- 
ous man, who is honored and respected by all, 
and who is never laggard in promoting good caus- 
es and general enterprises. In 1870, he employed 
about ten men. Since then he has developed 
the business to such an extent that at present, 
under the head of the Mound City Stave Fac- 
tory, he employs about 100 men in the woods 
and factory, adding machinery from time to 
time till at present it is one of the largest fac- 
tories of its kind in Southern Illinois. Mr. 
Dougherty was one of the first to introduce the 
building of gravel roads, and for the last three 
years has been instrumental in building them 
by subscription. He is a strong Prohibitionist, 
and an active worker in the public and Sunda}' 
Schools, of which latter he is a faithful Superin- 
tendent. 

F. A- FAIR, Mound City, contractor and 
builder, was born June 13, 1823, on Ches- 
apeake Bay, Maryland, son of Charles 



282 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Fair, born 1787, in Taney town, Md. When 
quite 3-oung, he removed to Pennsylvania, 
where he stayed with his parents, who were 
natives of Germany, till he was sixteen 3'ears 
old. He then went to Baltimore, where he 
learned the carpenter's trade, following it ten 
3'ears. Since then he has been engaged raostl3' 
in farming and stock-raising in Maryland and 
Ohio. He died in 1838. The mother of our 
subject was Elizabeth (Marr) Fair, born 1790 
in Baltimore. She died 1854 in Da3-ton, Ohio. 
She was a daughter of Walter Marr, grandson 
of the Earl of Marr, of Scotland. John Marr, 
father of Walter Marr, was captured while 
crossing the ocean, and was put to death, to- 
gether with the crew. The heirs of the Marr 
family for the last fort3' years have made 
researches for the old Earl's will and testament- 
al papers. Mrs. Elizabeth Marr was the mother 
of thirteen children, of whom six are now liv- 
ing. Our subject only enjoyed one winter term 
of school. At the age of fifteen, he began to 
learn the mason trade in Dayton, Ohio, which 
he has followed most of his life. He has worked 
at his trade in New Orleans, Madison, Indiana 
and Missouri. In 1856, he settled in Mound 
City, where he followed his occupation most of 
his time. He was also owner and keeper of 
wharf and steamboats, and during the war sur- 
veyor of the port. His last wharf boat burned 
in 1875. He kept hotel for two years, and since 
then has followed his trade. Mr. Fair was mar- 
ried, January 4, 1853, in New Albany, Ind., to 
Miss Sophia Kopp, born December 4, 1832, in 
Steubenville, Ohio, daughter of George and Bar- 
bara (Genther) Kopp. The result of this union 
was five children, now living, viz. : xinna E., 
wife of Loren D. Stophlet ; Dora F., wife of Will- 
iam Biggerstaff ; Katie, wife L. J. Mall ; Frank 
A. and Eddie. Mr. Fair has been a Democrat 
since Horace Greeley ran for President. 

W. T. FREEZE, lawyer. Mound City, is 
one of the most prominent of his profession in 
Pulaski County. He is of German descent, a 



native of Tennessee, born December 1, 1844. 
His father, John L. Freeze, is a native of same 
State, born in Januar3% 1824, he came to 
Illinois in 1848, and settled in Union Count3', 
and was engaged as contractor for the stone 
work of the Illinois Central Railroad Company 
for five 3'ears. In 1870, he removed to Howell 
County, Mo., where he now resides. His wife, 
and mother of our subject, Mary E. (Campbell) 
Freeze, was also a native of Tennessee, she was 
born February 27, 1821; she was a daughter 
of William and Mar3' (Stone) Campbell, and 
was the mother of nine children, of whom five 
are now living. She died January 10, 1865. 
Our subject was raised on a farm and educated 
in the common schools of Union Count3' ; when 
a young man learned the carpenter trade of his 
father. August 19, 1862, at seventeen 
3'ears of age, he enlisted in the late war, serv- 
ing in Company H, of the Eighteenth Illinois 
Volunteer Infantr3', and was mustered out of 
the service at Little Rock, Ark., July 10, 1865, 
at the time was Hospital Steward, a position he 
had held for thirteen months. He was in the 
following battles : Parker's Cross Roads, where 
he was wounded in the leg, and still carries the 
bullet, was also in the battles of Mount Elbe 
and siege of Vicksburg. After the war, he 
attended for a short time the Universit3' of 
Michigan, and then engaged in farming in Union 
County on the old home farm. In 1870, he 
gave up farming, and began teaching schools 
during the winter seasons, and working at his 
trade in the summer. In 1866, he began the 
study of law, and in August, 1881, passed his 
examination before the Appellate Court of 
Mount Vei'non, 111., and was admitted to the 
bar. He had previousl3' been Police Magis- 
trate of Dongola, 111., but resigned the oflBce 
on being admitted to the bar. In September, 
1881, he came to Mound City, and entered 
upon the practice of his profession, which he 
has followed in connection with duties as 
Deputy County Clerk. In 1867, on the 22d 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



263 



of October, he mamed Emma Hoffner, a native 
of Pulaski Count}', born Jul}' 26, 1845 ; she is 
a daughter of Judge Caleb and Melia (Knupp) 
Hoffner. He is a member of the Christian 
Church, and she of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; he is an active member of Masons, 
Villa Ridge Lodge, No. 250, and in politics is 
a, Republican. 

F. G. FRICKE, druggist, Mound City, born 
April 6, 1846, in Brunswick, Germany, son of 
August F. G. Fricke, born 1812, in Hanover. 
He is yet living in Brunswick, where he was a 
custom house officer ; he is now retired from 
active service and receives a pension. The 
mother of our subject was Caroline Buchring ; 
she was born February 23, 1820. in Germany, 
where she yet resides, being the mother of ten 
children, of whom six are now living, viz.: 
Louis, George, Albert, Dora, Newkirch, Her- 
mine and Frederick G., (^ur subject, who is the 
oldest. He was educated in Germany, where 
he also learned the drug business. In Janu- 
ary, 1866, he emigrated to the United States, 
landing in New York. From there he went to 
Richmond, Va., where he clerked in a drug 
store, until the fall of 1867, when he left for 
St. Louis, where he clerked till April, 1869. 
He then came to Mound City, where he bought 
Frank Tourelle's drug store. In 1880, he 
built a two-story brick building, in which he 
keeps the only drug store in town. He was 
joined in matrimony, in Williamsport, Penn., 
September 3, 1871, to Miss Emma Niemej'er, 
born Februar}^ 22, 1849, in Gr. Schwuelper, 
Hanover, Germany. She is a daughter of 
Charles Niemeyer, a former pastor of a Lu- 
theran Church, but now retired, living in 
Brunswick. Her mother was Sophia Gade, 
who died in April, 1883. Mrs. Emma Fricke 
is the mother of four children, viz.: Dora, born 
October 2, 1872 ; Carl, born October 2, 1875 ; 
Albert, born November 12, 1878, and Fred- 
erick, born June 20, 1881. Mr. and Mrs. 
Fricke are religiously connected with the Lu- 



therian Church. He has been a member of 
the school board, is a wide-awake, free minded 
man, and in politics is identified with the 
Democratic part}'. 

ROMEO FRIGANZA, merchant. Mound 
City, was born October 17, 1815, on Minocar 
Island, one of the Balearic group, in the Medi- 
terranean Sea, subject to Spain. His life has 
been a checkered one, almost romantic. His 
fathei', Salvador Friganza, was a native of Mal- 
ta, in the Mediterranean. He died in Minocar, 
where he had been married to Juanna Pons, a 
descendant of one of the oldest and most re- 
nowned families on the island, members of 
which occupy positions of the highest trust. She 
died on the island after giving birth to thirteen 
children, of whom only two sons are now liv- 
ing — Joseph, who never left his native island, 
and is now living on the estate of his parents, 
and Romeo, our subject, who was partly educat- 
ed on his native island, but received most of 
his education on board the United States man- 
of-wai', " Constitution," the commodore ship of 
the Mediterranean squadron, on which he had 
embarked without the knowledge of his parents, 
and on which he stayed two years, when he was 
ti-ansferred to the " North Carolinian," who re- 
lieved the old " Constitution." He stayed on 
her till 1827, when he was transferred with the 
Paymaster, N. H. Perry, to the United States 
sloop-of-war, "Lexington," on which he remained 
till his arrival in New York in 1830. He was 
then transferred by Commodore Isaac Chauncy, 
to the New York navy yard, for the purpose of 
learning the trade of ship joiner, there to re- 
main till the age of twenty-one. Through his 
industry and efficiency, he was, at the breaking- 
out of the Mexican war, made foreman of the 
joiners in the navy yard, continuing as such till 
1856, when he was promoted to master joiner 
a position of high trust, which he held till the 
breaking-out of the civil war, when he was or- 
dered to St. Louis, there to aid Admiral Foote 
in building and equipping gun-boats for the Mis- 



'2CA 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



sissippi Squadron. He remained in the service 
till July 1, 1874, which was after the abandon- 
ment of the naval service at Mound City. After 
a continual service of fort3'-six years, he retired 
from the public service, and for the last two 
3ears has been keeping a book store. His rec- 
cord in the navy is one of the very best, and 
should deserve a better reward. During the 
years from 1861 to 1865, while acting as 
Naval Constructor, $3,000,000 passed though 
his hands, yet no questions were asked at Wash- 
ington. His was the only office of that kind that 
was not investigated after the war. Admiral 
Porter in a letter, says : " You ought to feel 
highly honored, as yours is the only office that 
does not need investigation." He is also hon- 
orably mentioned in naval histories. Our sub- 
ject has been married twice. His first wife was 
Delilah Boardman, who died in 1856, leaving 
eight children — Joseph, Henr}-, Romeo, John 
Margaret, Eliza, Sarah and Charles (deceased). 
Joseph was in '^the navy during the war, and 
Henry and Romeo were in the army. His sec- 
ond wife, Mrs. Anna Huckleberry, whose maiden 
name was Harrington, is the mother of six 
children — Allen, Ira, Ida and Charles Huckle- 
berry, from her first husband, and Archy and 
Willie Friganza, with our subject. Mr. Friganza 
is Democratic in politics. He has been Mayor 
of Mound Cit}' for the last ten 3-ears, also Count}' 
Commissioner for two years. Is now President 
of the School Board, in which he served twelve 
years. He is also an active member of the A., 
F. «fe A. M. 

S. H. GRAVES, County Coroner. Mound City, 
was born November 22, 1837, in Alexander 
County, 111., son of Edward Graves, a native of 
Tennessee, who died July 6, 1851, of the Asiatic 
cholera. He was a farmer b}' occupation. The 
mother of our subject was Elizabeth (Mirron) 
Graves, a native of Pennsylvania. She died in 
Scott County, Mo. She was the mother of four 
children, of whom two, the oldest and youngest, 
ai'e now living, viz. : Samuel H., our subject. 



and his sister, Amanda M. Devouch. Samuel 
H. is mainl}' self-educated. In early life he 
followed farming. He enlisted August 22, 1861, 
in the Thirty-first Illinois Regiment Volunteers, 
Company F, and was promoted to Orderly Ser- 
geant. He served three years under the stars 
and stripes, and was then honorably discharged 
in East Point, Ga., having participated in the 
battles of Belmont, Mo., Fort Donelson, battle 
and siege of Vicksburg, and others. He was 
wounded at the battle of Fort Donelson by a 
minnie ball shattering his right hand. He 
draws a pension now. After the war, he re- 
turned to Pulaski Count}', where he was joined 
in matrimony, October 20, 1864, at old Amer- 
ica, to Miss Mary C. Littlejohn, born May 22, 
1839, in Mason County, Ky., daughter of Daniel 
and Cynthia A. Thompson. Mrs. Graves is 
the mother of six children, now living, viz. : 
Minnie, born Januar^y 27, 1866 ; Edward F., 
born January 27, 1868 ; Lilie D., born Decem- 
ber 2, 1869 ; Nettie B., born October 9, 1871 ; 
Flora, born April 13, 1876 ; and William 0., 
born October 13, 1878. After marriage 
Mr. Graves engaged in the lumber business 
for two 3'ears, when he turned his attention to 
farming. He has filled school oflSces, and in 
the fall of 1882, was elected Coroner of Pulaski 
Count}'. He is a member of the A.. F. & A. 
M. fraternity, Villa Ridge Lodge, No. 562. In 
politics, he is a Republican. 

WILLIAM L. HAMBLETON, deceased. 
In writing the history of this County, and 
especially that of Mound City, the writers 
have endeavored to preserve the history 
of some deserving men — men who have done 
something f©r the people, perhaps done more 
for the people than for themselves ; self-made 
men, who practically commenced life with their 
own resources, with less than a limited educa- 
tion, with no long list of crowned ancestry, 
but who were endowed with pluck, persever- 
ance, a vitality and nerve which overcomes all 
obstacles, that break down the weak but that 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



265 



aid in strengthening the will and character of 
the self-made man. Man}' of our successful 
business men have accumulated fortunes, while 
others that toiled just as hard, bore the same 
or more hardships, have not been as successful, 
owing to their large heartedness, their readi- 
ness to aid those in trouble or distress, whose 
heart and purse were open to all, regardless of 
color, isms, or politics. To the latter class be- 
longs the subject of this sketch, whose portrait 
appears in this work. He was known only to 
be loved and respected. His name is spoken 
by the rough-and-ready river or railroad men, 
as one would speak of a friend that sticks 
closer than a brother. He has reared for him- 
self a monument in the hearts of his fellow-men, 
that rivals the one in the National Cemetery, 
in whose construction he was instrumental, 
being one of the Commissioners. His whole 
life has been more devoted to the interest and 
happiness of others than his own. In the simple, 
but expressive language of the people who 
knew him, he was called a •' man " in every 
sense of the word. He was born November 
15, 1825, in Maryland. His father, Thomas 
Hambleton, was a ship-carpenter b}' occupa- 
tion. He was of Scotch descent, the old family 
name being Hambledown. William L. Hamble- 
ton served his apprenticeship as ship-carpenter 
in Cincinnati, where he afterward, in company 
with his brother, Samuel T., started a ship- 
3'ard. In 1860, he permanently located in 
Mound City, where he and his brother operated 
a ship-yard, better known as the " marine 
ways." Here he was joined in matrimony, 
December 31, 1863, to Sarah E. Kain, born 
April 1, 1840, in Clermont Caunty, Ohio 
Her father, Daniel Kain, a farmer in Clermont 
County, was of German descent. Her mother, 
Jane Tate, a native of New Jersey, was a 
daughter of Thomas Tate, a native of Scotland, 
and a cooper by occupation. Jane Tate was 
the mother of nine children, of whom the last 
seven were children by her second husband. 



Nelson Applegate. Mrs. Sarah E. Hambleton 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Her life is devoted to the interest of her 
interesting family, which consists of six children 
now living, of whom the three oldest are 
children from her late husband's first wife, 
whose maiden name was Sarah Tate, who died 
June 9, 1862. The children are Adaline F., 
the wife of G. T. Whitlock ; Thomas H., born 
October 7, 1858 ; Sarah E., born November 
11, 1860 ; Lilie, born August 13, 1868 ; Jessie 
H., born March 31, 1870, and Alfred S., born 
August 15, 1873. William L. Hambleton was a 
man whose place has not been filled since his 
demise, which occurred January 29, 1883, in 
Mound City, which place he had also served as 
City Treasure!', member of the City Council, 
and was also appointed one of the Commission- 
ers for the building of the State House of 
Springfield, 111. His memoiy will be cherished 
by all with whom he came in contact. 

DAVID D. HARRIS, carpenter and builder, 
Mound City^ is a native of Versailles, Wood- 
ford Co., Ky , born September 8, 1831, to Da- 
vid H. and Margaret (Peters) Harris. He 
was born in Orange County, Va., in 1785, and 
died in Versailles, Ky., in 1847 ; he was a car- 
penter by occupation, a son of Linsej' Harris, 
a native of Virginia and a soldier of the Rev- 
olutionary war. Subject's mother was born in 
Franklin County, Va., in 1789, and died in 
Lexington, Ky., in 1856 ; she was the mother 
of five children, of whom the following are 
now living : William P., Mrs. Frances Hartje, 
Mrs. Ann Foushee, and David D., the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He was reared and edu- 
cated in his native county, and, when quite 
young, apprenticed himself at the carpenter's 
trade, with his brother, William P. Harris, and 
worked at his trade there until 1857, when he 
removed to Jackson County, Mo., and there en- 
gaged in farming until 1863, when he came to 
Mound City, 111., and has since been engaged 
at his trade. In Danville, Ky., October 13, 



•266 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



1857, he married Mary E. Fletcher, a native of 
Lincoln Count}-, Ky., born September 8, 1839. 
She is a daughter of John and Mary E. (Quin- 
tou) Fletcher and the mother of the following i 
children : William B., born February 15, 
1859 ; Davi'd D., born March 9, 1862, and 
Maggie P., born September 2, 1864. Mr. Har- 
ris is an active member of the I. 0. 0. F. ; is a 
Democi'at in politics, and has served the city 
as Alderman. 

EDWARD A. HAY, mechanic, Mound City, 
was born July 31, 1839, in Baltimore, Md., 
son of William H. Hay, born in 1800 in St. 
Mary's County, Md., a butclier by occupa- 
tion. He died in Baltimore in June, 1844. 
He married Jane Moran. born 1798 in Mary 
land ; she died, 1862 in Athens, Menard Co.? 
111. She was of French descent, and the 
mother of five boys and four girls, of whom four 
boys and three girls are now living. Our sub- 
ject was educated in Baltimore. In 1854, he 
came West, settling in Athens, Menard Co., 111., 
where he learned his trade with his brother 
James C. In the fall of 1861, he enlisted in the 
Twent3'-eighth Illinois Volunteers, Company 
F, serving till close of war. He was a drum- 
mer most of the time. He participated in the 
battles of Fort Henry, Shiloh Corinth, siegt^ of 
Vicksburg, Hatchee River, Jackson. Miss., and 
Spanish Fort, Ala. In Februaiy, 1865, 
he crossed the Gulf of Mexico with his regi- 
ment. After the war, he came to Mound City, 
where he has followed his trade. He was mar- 
ried here to Caroline W ilson, born December 7 
1 846, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a daughter 
of Jacob and America (Murphy) Wilson. Mrs. 
C aroline Hay is the mother of three children, 
viz. : Estella, deceased ; Willie, born June 14, 
1870, and Pearl May, born May 28, 1877. 
M r. Hay is a Republican, also a member of 
th e I. 0. 0. F., and a Knight of Honor. He 
h as been School Director, and also a member 
of the City Council for two terms. 

WILLIAM T. HAYDEN, farmer, P. 0. 



Mound City, was born November 1, 1839, in 
3Iontgomery County, Ind., son of Jonah T. 
Hayden, a native of Pennsylvania. He died 
in Champaign County, 111.; he was a farmer- 
The mother of our subject was Mary (Peters) 
Hayden, a native of Pennsylvania. She was 
the mother of nine children, of whom five are 
now living, viz.: Rebecca, Sarah A., James, 
Samuel and William T., our subject, who went 
to school in .Champaign County, 111. He de- 
voted himself to farming. He was married, 
September 20, 1860, to Miss Maria James, 
born February, 1842, daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Durham) James ; she is the mother 
of nine children, viz.: Douglas A., born No- 
vember 24, 1862 ; George W., born October 15, 
1864 ; Mary E., born March 21, 1867 ; William 
T., born October 24, 1869 ; Maria C, born 
October 27, 1871 ; John T., born November 2, 
1873 ; Romantha A., born December 10, 1875 ; 
Ida M., born July 21, 1878, and Samuel J., 
born December 11, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Hay- 
den are religiously connected with the Southern 
M. E. Church. He has a farm of 110 acres. 
He has served the people in his neighborhood 
in the capacity of School Director. In politics, 
he is Democratic, but votes for the best man. 

HON. DANIEL HOGAN, Mound City, was 
born in the county of Kilkenn}-, Ireland, July 4, 
1849. His" father was a respected and well-to- 
do farmer, whose ancestors had for generations 
been land-owners. His mother, a descendant 
of the O'Mahers, a family of title and distinc- 
tion, famous in the early and present history 
of Ireland. In 1852, when the subject of this 
sketch was but an infant, his father brought 
his family to America, and became one of the 
early settlers of Pulaski County, 111. The early 
days of Daniel were spent on a farm, and in at- 
tending the public schools of the district, finally 
taking the high school course at Cairo, 111., 
and studying the various branches of telegra- 
phy at night. This latter acquirement was of 
grreat benefit to him during: the war. The first 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



:67 



signal for the great civil conflict found him too 
joung to enlist, but he was smuggled b}- an 
elder brother into the camp of the Thirty-first 
Illinois Volunteers, commanded b}' Col. John 
A. Logan. Some months later, he was regu- 
larl)' enrolled in the telegraph corps of the 
United States Army, and attached to the bri- 
gade serving under Gren. U. S. Grant, as confi- 
dential cipher clerk, with the rank of Lieuten- 
ant, and afterward of Captain. He was present 
at the capture of Fort Henry, and Clarksville 
and Nashville, Tenn., and was under fire at Fort 
Donelson, Corinth, and luka. Miss. ; was with 
Gens. Hatch and Grierson, in their various caval- 
r}' raids and fights in Tennessee, Mississippi and 
Alabama. He was frequentl}' stationed at impor- 
tant and exposed posts in the enemy's country, 
and engaged in tapping his telegraph wires, 
man}' times narrowl}' escaping capture. He 
accompanied Gen. W. T. Sherman and staff to 
Chattanooga, Tenn., before starting on his 
" march to the sea, " as his confidential cipher 
clerk and telegrapher, but being urgentl}- 
wanted in Memphis, Tenn, was sent there as 
chief of the military lines. At the close of the 
war. Capt. Hogan was honorably mustered out 
for " faithful and important military services." 
He then entered and graduated from Brj-ant & 
Stratton's Business College, and took service 
under the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
in the principal cities of the United States. 
He came to Mound City. 111., in 1869, in order 
to be near his aged parents, who both died at 
an advanced age, the father at seventy-four, 
and the mother seventy-two, being affection- 
ately attended by their dutiful son. The ability 
and business integrity of Mr. Hogan soon at- 
tracted the attention of his neighbors, and al- 
though very young for the office, he was in 
1873 elected County Clerk, and re-elected at 
every ensuing election until 1882, when he was 
elected to the State Senate from the Fifty-first 
Senatorial District, comprising the counties of 
Franklin, Williams, Johnson and Pulaski, de- 



feating Mr. Youngblood, the Democratic candi- 
date, by nearly 1,000 votes. He at once took 
an active part in all important legislation, and 
was placed on manj' important committees, 
and proved himself a keen financier, and in the 
protracted legislative dead-lock of January, 
1883, and that finally elected Gov. S. M. Cul- 
lom to the United States Senate, Mr. Hogan 
contributed no small part of the result, and 
showed himself one of the shrewdest young pol- 
iticians and caucus managers in the State, and 
his friends predict for him a brilliant future. 
In 1876, Mr. Hogan married the daughter of 
the late Judge G. W. Carter, one of the wealthy 
and original founders of Mound City, and for 
man}- 3'ears President of the Mound City Rail- 
road Company, and of the Emporium Real Es- 
tate and Manufacturing Compan}-. The suc- 
cessful manner in which Mr. Hogan has man- 
aged his own and his wife's large interests 
proves him to be an able and safe man. 

A. HUTTON, farmer and mechanic, P. 0. 
Mound City, was born December 28. 1833. in 
Bannockburn, Scotland, son of David Hutton, 
born 1798 in Bannockburn, Scotland, where he 
was a merchant, but the latter part of his life 
he was a Jacquard machine-maker. He died 
there. The mother of our subject was Anna 
Garow, born in Oswego, N. Y. She died in Scot- 
land. Our subject was the only child. He re- 
ceived a common school education in Scotland, 
where he also learned the boiler- maker's trade, 
which he followed for three years in Egj'pt. In 
1856, became to the United States, having pre- 
viously been one j'ear in Quebec. Canada. He 
worked at his trade in many of the principal 
cities of that day, including St. Louis, Cincin- 
nati and New Orleans. In 1858, he came to 
Mound Cit}', where he worked at his trade for 
James Goodlow, in the foundry for two years. 
He finall}' settled on a farm in 1860, still work- 
ing at his trade until 1875. Since then, he has 
farmed exclusively. Our subject was married 
in Mound City, June 10, 1859, to Miss Martha 



2fi8 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Boothb}-, born January 10, 1841, in Philadel- 
phia, Penn., daughter of William and Mar}' 
(Gibson) Boothb}-, natives of England. Mrs. 
Hutton is the mother of Anna, born September 
7, 1861, wife of William Parker. She is the 
mother of Pearl Parker, born February 5, 1881. 
Our subject has been identified with the Demo- 
cratic party. 

W. H. JACKSOxV, farmer, P. 0. Mound City, 
was born February 22, 1829, in Henderson 
County, Tenn., son of Jesse Jackson, a native 
of North Carolina, where he learned the car- 
penter's trade ; followed it and farming through 
life. He lived one year where our subject was 
born, and then removed to Graves County, Ky., 
wliere he followed carpentering till his death, 
which occurred in 1834, being taken sick while 
building a house in Columbus, Ky. He was a 
quiet man, who never sought notoriety or office. 
The mother of our subject was Elizabeth (Ri- 
ley) Jackson, a native of North Carolina, and 
yet living. She was the mother of six children, 
of whom four are now living — Clark, Rebecca 
Atwood, Julia Duffel and William H., our sub- 
ject, who was educated in Graves County, Ky., 
where he taught school for three years, and 
then turned his attention to farming, which has 
been his occupation through life. He left Ken- 
tucky in the spring of 1867, settling in Pulaski 
County, where he bought thirty-one and one- 
third acres of Lots No. 1 and 2, of the old town 
of America, which once had about 1,600 in- 
habitants, but which is now only a field. Our 
subject was joined in matrimony twice. His 
first wife was Lucy E. Keeling, a native of Ken- 
tucky. She died in Noveml3er, 1866. She left 
two children — Thomas F., born November 23, 
1857 ; (he is now at the Pagosa Springs, Colo.), 
and Nancy E., wife of B. W. Jackson, born 
June 2, 1860, in White County, 111., son of 
Isaac and Rhoda (Storm) Jackson, the former 
a native of Kentucky, and the latter a native 
of Illinois. Our subject was married a second 
time to Mrs. Missouri Adams, daughter of 



George Mason, a native of Pennsylvania, a 
blacksmith doing the first iron work on the first 
jail house in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mrs. Jackson is 
a member of the Presbyterian Church. In 
1868, our subject was elected Justice of the 
Peace, serving four years. He served the peo- 
ple with abilitv, and was elected for another 
term in the fall of 1881. He is now Deputy 
Assessor. In politics, he has been identified 
with the Democratic party. 

WALTER JACKSON, farmer, P. 0. Mound 
Cit}', was born on June 6, 1857, in London, 
England, son of Henry Jackson, a native 
of London, England, where he yet resides. 
He is a compositor by occupation. The mother 
of our subject was Maria Keeble, a native of 
England, deceased. She was the mother of 
eleven childi'en, of whom three are now living 
— William, a machinist in San Francisco : 
Henry, a printer in San Francisco; and Walter, 
our subject, who was educated in England. 
He came to the United States in June, 1874, 
settling in Pulaski County, where he has been 
farming since. He has a farm of 330 acres. 
He was married here to Miss Fannie J. Peeler- 
born November 9, 1856, in Cairo. She is a 
daughter of Lindsey and Emilie (Cook) Peeler. 
The former is a native of the United States, 
the latter of England. Mrs. Fannie Jackson is 
the mother of two children now living — Horace, 
born July 6, 1880, and Walter S., born Septem- 
ber 6, 1882. Mr. Jackson is a member of the 
Knights of Honor, Mound City Lodge, No. 
1847. In politics, he is identified with the 
Democratic party. 

CHRISTIAN KELLER, barber, Mound 
City, was born near Worms, in Osthofen, Hes- 
se-Darmstadt, German}', April 1, 1843. His 
father, Peter Keller, is a native of Germany, 
and a cooper by occupation. His wife, mother 
of our subject, was Kate (Ratiracher) Keller, 
who died in Germany, her native State. Of 
the children born to her, five are now living. 
Christian Keller received a limited education 



MOUND CITT PKECINCT. 



269 



in German}', but by observation and business 
experience in America has become master of 
the English language. When he was fourteen 
years of age, he bade home and friends fare- 
well and sailed for America, landing at New 
Orleans, and located at St. Louis, where he ap- 
prenticed himself at the barber's trade. At 
the breaking-out of the late civil war, he en- 
listed in Company B of the Forty-third Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, and was wounded at the 
battle of Pittsburg Landing, which made the 
amputation of a limb necessary to save his 
life. He was honorably discharged in Jackson, 
Tenn., in the spring of 1863. He then went to 
his home in St. Clair 'Count}^ 111., from whei*e 
he had enlisted and where his relatives resid- 
ed. In the fall of the same year, he went to 
Cincinnati and again resumed working at his 
trade. In the fall of 1865. he came to Mound 
City, 111., where he has since remained. In 
1867, on the 27th of October, he mariied Miss 
Elizabeth Eevington, a native of Pulaski Coun- 
t}', 111., born September 2, 1849, and a daugh- 
ter of Peter and Sarah (Thomson) Revington, 
the former a native of Ireland and the latter of 
Pulaski Count}^, 111. This union has been 
blessed with the following children : George 
William, born March 23, 1869; Edward J., 
born November 12, 1871; Lucy A. F., born March 
26, 1876. Mr. Keller is a member of the 
Lutheran Church, and a Republican in politics. 
E. R. LEWIS, farmer, P. 0. Mound City, 
was born x\ugust 2, 1847, in Warren, Trumbull 
Co.. Ohio, son of Benjamin Lewis, born in 
Warren, Ohio. The father was a hotel keeper 
in earl}' life. In 1857, he went to Arkansas, 
where he farmed till his death, which occuri-ed 
in 1864. The mother of our subject was Bet- 
sey (Rappert) Lewis, born in Erie, Penn. She 
• lied in Pulaski County, III., in 1864. She was 
the mother of six children, of whom four are 
now living, viz.: Mary F. Vesse}', Emelia Jones, 
Matilda and Elisha R., who was educated 
parti}' in Ohio and partly in Illinois. In early 



life, he took to farming, which he has kept up 
ever since. He was joined in matrimony, 
April 29, 1870, in this county, to Miss Alice 
Beaver, born February 19, 1853, on the farm 
where she now resides. She was a daughter of 
Abraham and Malinda (Rhoden) Beaver, who 
are old settlers, and is the mother of five chil- 
dren, viz.: Pearl, born October 22, 1871 ; 
George, born March 29, 1873; Leona, born 
July 3, 1875 ; Mary A., born January 27, 
1878 ; Minnie, born August 24, 1882. Mr. 
Lewis has a farm of 106 acres. He is a mem- 
ber of the Knights of Honor fraternity ; he 
came to this county in 1863 ; has been a 
School Director for about seven years. In 
politics, he has been identified with the Demo- 
cratic party. 

J. M. LEWIS, station agent and operator. 
Mound City, was born January 2, 1850, in Law- 
rence County, 111. ; son of W. M. and Martha 
(Craven) Lewis, the former a native of Kentuckv. 
He and wife died in Lawrence County, 111. He, 
the father of our subject, was a millwright by 
occupation, but followed farming mostly ; he 
was the father of eight children, of whom six 
are now living, the youngest being our subject, 
who was educated in Lawrence County. In 
1871, he learned telegraphy at Lawrenceville, 
where he took the office of agent and operator 
the latter part of the same year. After six 
months, he took the office at Bridgeport, where 
he stayed four years and three months. In 
August, 1876, he went on a farm near Bridge- 
port. He was a tiller of the soil for two years, 
when he once more turned to his profession, re- 
maining six months on the Hannibal & St. Joe 
Railroad. In the spring of 1879, he moved 
back to Lawrenceville, 111. In the fjill of the 
same year, he went to Vincennes, Ind., M'here 
he worked one year for the C. & V. and I. & V. 
Railroad Companies, after which he was sta- 
tioned one year in Grand Chain and then, in 
September, 1881, he came to Mound City, 
where he holds the position of station agent. 



270 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



operator and express agent for the Adams & 
Pacific Express Compan}'. He was joined in 
matrimon}', in November, 1872, in Lawrence 
Count}', to Eliza J. Smitli, a native of Lawrence 
Count}', 111., and a daughter of Robert Smith. 
She is the mother of two children now living, 
viz., Floyd Lee and Carrie May. Mr. Lewis is 
an A.,F. & A. M., and in politics he is identified 
with the Democratic part3^ 

ANTON LUTZ, butcher. Mound City. 
Among the man}^ enterprising Germans who 
have made Mound Cit}- their permanent home, 
we class the subject of this sketch. He was 
born January 23, 1833, in Rulfingen, Hohen- 
zoUern, Germany. His father, Anton Lutz, Sr., 
was also a native of G-ermany, where he died. 
He was a farmer by occupation, and also a 
soldier fighting against Napoleon Bonaparte. 
The mother of our subject was Maria Stark, 
a native of Germany, where she died. Her 
father, Joseph Stark, was a miller in the old 
country. She was the mother of seven chil- 
dren, viz. : Anna M. Goobs, Kresenzia Messer- 
schmit, Mathias, Albert, Johan, Anton, our 
subject, and Carl. Mr. Lutz went to school in 
Germany, where he also learned his trade. He 
came to the United States in 1854, and lived 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, till I860, when he came to 
Mound City, where he has followed his trade 
ever since. He was joined in matrimony in 
Cincinnati, in 1858. to Miss Kresenzia Moser, 
born March 19, 1834, in Baden, Germany. She 
is a daughter of Mathias Moser, and is the 
mother of three children now living, viz., Bri- 
ma M.. born November 11, 1864 ; Louisa, born 
October 21, 1868, and Joseph, born September 
27, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Lutz are religiously 
connected with the Catholic Church. He has 
been a member of the City Council. He is 
also a member of the famous order of " Druids." 
In politics, he is a Republican. 

W. A. LYERLY, farmer, P. 0. America, was 
born November 17, 1823, in Jonesboro, Union 
Co., 111. He is a son of Jonathan Lyerl}-, who 



was born in North Carolina in 1795, and died in 
America, Pulaski Co., 111., in about 1853. He 
was one of the pioneers of Illinois ; he made 
his original settlement near Jonesboro, where 
he worked at the tanner's trade. In about 1 830 
he removed to near Caledonia, 111., where he 
remained several years, and during his stay 
served the people as Justice of the Peace ; he 
subsequently removed to America and there' 
engaged in farming and reared a large famil}' 
of children, consisting of nine boys and two 
girls, of whom five are now living, viz. : Will- 
iam A., James B., Robert J., Ellen N. Rooyak- 
kers and Jane A. Hutchens. Our subject re- 
ceived a limited education near Caledonia, and 
in early life followed farming, working seven 
years for Henry L. Webb. In 1846, he (!ame 
to Pulaski County, where he farmed on the 
same ground where the old town of America 
had once flourished. Here he has lived ever 
since, and is now, through his industry and 
perseverance, in the possession of one of the 
best farms in the township. He is a Democrat 
in politics, casting his first vote for James K 
Polk, and has served the people in the capacity 
of school officer. The mother of our subject 
was Nanc}' C. Lyerly, who died August 4, 1867. 
Our subject was joined in matrimony, January 
23, 1845, at America, to Ann E. Cloud, daugh- 
ter of George and Jemima (Bowman) Cloud, 
born September 20, 1828. She is the mother 
often children, of whom six are now living 
viz., James F., Juliet A., born July 29, 1849 
wife of Alexander Lawrence ; Jemimah, l)orn 
April 22, 1851 ; Eliza E., born January 3, 1866, 
George A., born January 2, 1 869, and Cornelia, 
born August 27, 1873. Maria A., William A., 
Harve}^ C. and Barton A. are deceased. 

J. F. LYERLY, farmer, P. 0. Mound City, 
was born February 2, 1847, in Pulaski County, 
where he received his education, also attending 
the Commercial College at Springfield, 111., for 
several months. He clerked some in early life, 
but followed farming principally, identifying, 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



himself witli the interest of his neighborhood, 
especially Sunda}' school work, having been 
Superintendent for the last five years. He has 
been married twice ; his first wife was iMiss Pet 
Thompson, who died August 4, 1867, leaving 
one daughter. Katie, born July 14, 1867. He 
was married a second time to Mrs. Nannie 
Minnich, born December 31, 1846, daughter of 
Daniel and Cynthia (Thompson) Littlejohn, 
natives of Northern Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lyerly are members of the Presbyterian Church. 
He is also a member of the " Grange," and a 
member of the A., F. & A. M. fraternity. Hav- 
ing represented his lodge twice at Chicago as 
Master. In politics he is Democratic. Has 
been Townsliip Treasurer "for twelve years. 

J. B. MATHIS, physician, P. 0. America^ 
was born January 5, 1840, in Trigg County, 
Ky., son of William Mathis, born 1814, 
in Trigg County, Ky., a farmer by occupa- 
tion, and died 1860, in Johnson County, 
111. His mother was Cynthia (Scott) Mathis, 
born 1818, in Trigg County, Ky. She is now 
living in Johnson Countj-, 111. Dr. Mathis was 
educated in Vienna, Johnson Count}', 111. He 
received his medicial education in the Eclectric 
Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating 
in March, 1866. Having previous to this read 
medicine for about three j'ears with Dr. A. B. 
Moore, of New Columbia, 111., as preceptor. 
After receiving his diploma, he settled in Mas- 
sac County, 111., where he followed his profes- 
sion about one year, when he removed to John- 
son County, 111. Here he practiced from 1867 
to 1873, when he came to Pulaski County He 
has tilled the soil for the last three j'cars, be- 
sides following his profession. He was joined 
in matrimony, July 23, 1865, in Johnson Count}-, 
111., to Miss Mary S. Mason, born September 
22, 1846, in Trigg County, Ky. She is a daugh- 
ter of James and Anna (Hester) Mason, and 
is the mother of six children now living, viz. : 
James William, born September 2, 1868 ; John 
B., September 24, 1871 ; Morse P., April 20, 



1873 ; Robert D., March 14 ; 1877 ; Archy, July 
13, 1880 ; and Nellie, October 10, 1877. Mr. 
and^Mrs. Mathis are members of the United 
Brethren Church. He has a farm of 90 acres ; 
has held school office. In politics, he is identi- 
fied with the Democratic party, all his life ; is a 
member of the I. 0. 0. F. 

W. T. McCOY, merchant. Mound City, is a 
son of Elisha and Mary E. (Bibb) McCoy. 
He was born in North Carolina, and came to 
Mound City from Marshall County, Ky., in 
March, 1872, and is now engaged at the car- 
penter trade. She is the mother of seven 
children, of whom two are now living — Lanzy 
J., a carpenter, and William T., our subject. 
He was born September 12, 1846, in North 
Carolina. He was raised on the farm and edu- 
cated in the common schools of Marshall 
County, Ky. When he became of age, he 
engaged in farming, for a time at Massac 
County, 111., and there, on the 11th of July, 
1869, he married Miss Mary E. Murphy, a 
native of near Paducah, Ky., born \n January, 
1848 ; she is a daughter of James H. and 
Rachel J. (Butler) Murphy. After Mr. McCoy 
came to Mound City he worked at the carpenter 
trade until August, 1882, where, in copartner- 
ship with Mr. C. N. Bell, he opened a grocery 
store, and also carries a full line of queens and 
tin ware. Mr. McCoy is a man of good busi- 
ness qualities, enjoying the highest esteem of 
the community in which he lives ; is a Demo- 
crat in politics, and an active member of the 
I. 0. 0. F., Mound City Lodge, No. 150. 

JOHN McDowell, saw and planing mill, 
lumber, etc.. Mound City, was born April 4. 
1831, in Allegheny County, Penn., nine miles 
south of Pittsburgh, and is a son of John and 
Jane (Coulter) McDowell. He was born near 
Steubenville, Ohio, and was a farmer and manu- 
facturer, the latter including woolen goods, lin- 
seed oil, milling, etc. He was a man of con- 
siderable prominence, and represented Alle- 
gheny County, whither he had removed in 1840, 



372 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



in tlie Legislature of 1846 and 1848 ; was 
County Commissioner for three years, and died 
in Franklin, Ind., in 1850. His wife, Jane 
Coulter, was a native of Allegheny Count}', and 
a daughter of Moses Coulter, a farmer and mil- 
ler, and one of the pioneers of Alleghen}^ County. 
He built the first flouring-mill in that county, 
and one of the first west of the Alleghany 
Mountains. Mrs. McDowell was the mother of 
four children, of whom only Mrs. Anna M. 
Alexander, and our subject, are now living. 
The latter was educated in his native county, 
and entered the mills early, where he obtained 
a practical business education. He remained 
with his father until he was nineteen yc^ars of 
age, when he came West and engaged in the 
lumber business in Franklin, Ind., where he re- 
mained until 1860, when he engaged in the 
milling business in Marion County, Ind. After 
one or two other changes, he went to Brazil, 
Ind., and engaged in the lumber and coal busi- 
ness, having a saw and planing mill and a coal 
shaft, and still resides and does business there. 
In 1877, he removed his saw-mill to Mound City, 
bringing several families with him. The fol- 
lowing year, he removed his planing-mill here* 
He combined the two mills, and employs thirty- 
three men the year round. He gets his logs 
mainly from the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumber- 
land rivers. They comprise poplar, ash, oak, 
walnut, S3'camore, cottonwood, cypress, maple, 
gum, etc. The poplar lumber is shipped to the 
principal towns on the Wabash River, and to 
his yards in Brazil ; the sycamore is shipped 
mostly to Louisville, Ky., and Detroit, Mich.; 
the ash and gum goes to Chicago, Toledo and 
other Eastern cities. Mr. McDowell has always 
been a live, wide-awake citizen, and in Brazil 
was a member of the City Council four years, 
in which body he was instrumental in getting 
water- works for the city, which cost, with other 
public and needed improvements, $70,000. He 
was married in Franklin, Ind., July 7, 1857, to 
Miss Eliza J. McCracken, born in New Madrid, 



Mo., in September, 1832. Her father, James 
McCracken, was a pilot of the Mississippi River. 
She is the mother of three sons now living — 
Elmer C, born in 1862 : John, born in 1864 ; 
Robert H., born in 1866. Mrs. McDowell's 
mother was Sarah Allen, whose brother, Gen. 
Robert Allen, was in the Mexican war, and in 
the late civil war. Col. James Allen, another 
brother, made the first improvement in the har- 
bor of Chicago ; both were graduates of West 
Point. Mound City is indebted to our subject 
for promoting the business interest of the place, 
and for bringing other energetic business men 
here. 

GEORGE MERTZ, Mayor of Mound City, 
was born in New Berlin, Union County, Penn., 
March 20, 1815, his father, Hon. Isaac Mertz, 
was a native of Pennsylvania, where he died. 
His occupation was that of a farmer, and was 
well worthy of the cohfidence of his fellow-men 
who elected him to many of the oflfiices, as 
Coroner, Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, and Rep- 
resentative of his district in the Legislature. 
His wife, Susan (Stahlnecker) Mertz, was also, 
a native of Pennsylvania, and was of German 
descent, and the mother of eight children. 
George Mertz was educated in the subscription 
schools of Penns3'lvania, common in his day 
and when a young man served an apprentice- 
ship at the carpenter and cabinet-maker's 
trades, and afterward worked at the same for a 
few years, and gave up his trade to engage as 
contractor for public works, at which he was 
engaged for several years. In about 1835, he 
was given the position of conductor on the 
Old Pennsylvania R. R., which at that time 
was under the superintendency of the State ; 
was also on the Pioneer line for about two 
years, and afterward engaged as contractor for 
the Cumberland Valley R. R., for a period of 
two years. He then entered the employ- of the 
Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Company as contrac- 
tor and superintendent of bridge building for 
three vears. In 1842, he made a general tour 



MOUND CITY PKECINCT. 



273 



through the West; returning East the same year 
he located at Cincinnati, Ohio, and engaged in 
the foundr}- business, continuing in the same 
until 1 856, when he came to Illinois and lo- 
cated in Mound City, and in company- with 
Mr. James Goodlove erected a foundry and 
ran it successfully until 1861, when the United 
States Government took possession of the 
building, using it for a depository of supplies. 
In 1861, he was appointed Postmaster, and 
still fills the same position, to the satisfaction 
of all Previous to the close of the war, he 
was express agent at Mound City, a position 
which at that time was of considerable impor- 
tance. He has been engaged in the mercantile 
business for about twenty years, first carrying 
on a drug store, and at the present time a 
grocery and general provision store. Mr. 
Mertz has been Police Magistrate for about 
fifteen years, and is now Mayor of Mound City, 
and also County Commissioner. He was mar- 
ried in Clear Spring, Md., to Miss Mary 
A. West, a native of the same State, born 
April 17, 1817 ; she is a daughter of the late 
Rev. John West, and is the mother of the fol- 
lowing children : Hemy .C, who was born 
July 1, 1843 ; he was educated in Cincinnati 
Ohio, and is engaged in mercantile pursuits at 
Carbondale, 111.; he was County Clerk of Pu- 
laski County from 1865 to 1869 ; he married 
Maria E. Boren, a native of Pulaski County, 
111., born December 15, 1847 ; she is a daughter 
of Hiram and Maria L. (Chapman) Boi'en, and 
is the mother of Dora L., George W. and Ber. 
tie B. George E. Mertz was born August 1, 
1845, and was educated in Mound Cit}^ and 
married Susan E., daughter of Robert J. Haw- 
ley. This union has been blessed with the 
following children : Ida, Willie and Jesse. He 
is now in the employ of the United States 
Mail Service on the Illinois Central R. R. 
Charles W. Mertz was born January 8, 1852, 
and arriving at his majority engaged in the 
grocery business at Mound City in partnership 



with Mr. Carrico, who was bought out by 
George E. Mertz, and he subsequently succeed- 
ed by George Mertz, our subject. Charles W. 
Mertz was united in matrimony to Miss Alice, 
daughter of George W. and Martha (Lusk) 
Streeter ; she was born March 17, 1853, and is 
the mother of three children, viz.: Albert C, 
born April 18, 1874; Josiah S., born April 26^ 
1876 ; Alice B., born March 18, 1881. 

G. F. MEYER. The Fatherland has con- 
tributed to American society many of the most 
valuable of our people. The poor boy of 
German^' listens at his father's fireside to the 
fascinating stories of the new world in the United 
States, and his young soul is fii'ed with an un- 
controllable desire to go and see that strange 
land of plenty and freedom. In the silent 
watches of the night, as he lies beneath the 
humble thatched roof of the home of his birth, 
his imagination calls up all the endearment of 
his home, of friends and the little green mounds 
that rest so peacefully upon the stilled bosoms 
of his loved ancestors, running back through 
almost unnumbered generations. Perhaps 
there comes to add to this love of home and the 
loved pla}- ground of infancy, the blue-eyed 
flaxen haired little German girl now budding 
into those sweet " teens " that send the youth's 
blood throbbing through his veins, and then 
the golden visions of the New. World are gone, 
onl^' to return again with greater force when he 
goes over the story of poverty, toil and hopeless 
suffering that is the alloted place in life if he 
remains upon the sacred spot where he was 
born. He re-resolves, heavA^ though it ma}' 
make his heart, and goes to sleep, and dreams 
of America, and in the morning his mind is 
made up, and he resolves to come to the wild 
strange land, and by hard work, econom}' and 
plodding and ceaseless energy to again lay the 
foundations of his family- fortune. He lands 
in a strange land, and hears a^strange language, 
and with a brave heart he commences the work 
of mastering a new language, and at the same 

R 



274 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



time laying the foundation for a little fortune 
that will some day enable him to return to 
Fatherland and bring with him to his new home 
that same flaxen-haired girl from whom he 
parted at the ship-landing with such a sad and 
heavy heart. This imaginary sketch will tell 
the story of many of the best citizens of our 
country. They came here with a great purpose 
of life and win the crown of success, by energy, 
integrity and perseverance. Of the many of 
this valuable class of citizens, we know of none 
in Southern Illinois who deserves more at our 
hand than does Gottlieb F. Meyer, merchant 
and business man of Mound City, 111. He was 
born in Bielefeld, Prussia, Germany, October 
26, 1835, and is a son ofG. F. Meyer, Sr., and 
Caroline (Homerson) Me) er, both of whom are 
dead, and who were the parents of four children. 
Our subject was educated in Germany, and 
graduated from an agricultural college at 
Bielefeld, at the age of eighteen years. After 
his father's death, he managed his estate for 
some two and a half j^ears, and, in 1858, came 
to America. He made his way direct to 
Illinois, came to Mound City, where he 
arrived on the 16th of April, and four weeks 
later he, in company with A. F. Hallerberg, 
started a grocery store, although he could not 
speak a word of English. This business was 
continued until 1867, when Mr. Meyer bought 
out Hallerberg. He commenced with a capital 
of $300, and now carries on a mercantile 
business, with $40,000 in stock. This serves as 
an example of what persevering industry, un- 
swerving honor and integrity, coupled with 
native business talent, will accomplish in this 
free country. His large and magnificent store 
building, one of the handsomest in Southern 
Illinois, and which costs $40,000, is divided 
into five diflferent departments, viz. : First, gro- 
ceries, queensware ; second, hardware and 
stoves ; third, boots, shoes, haLs, caps etc. ; 
fourth, furniture, paints and wall paper ; fifth, 
saddlery and harness. In addition to mer- 



chandising, Mr. Meyer carries on an extensive 
lumber business. In 1859, he commenced 
dealing in lumber and staves, and established 
and set to work several saw mills to supply 
the St. Louis and New Orleans markets, and in 
1865 he shipped the first barge load of long 
steamboat lumber to New Orleans, at a time 
when the market was clean, realizing an 
immense profit on it. During the war, he was 
Goverment contractor for the Marine Corps, 
and to a large extent furnished the Mississippi 
Squadron with stores. He lost about $12,000 
on the first three monitors, which where built 
at Cincinnati, and equipped through him. He 
never received a cent from the loss of the 
cargoes, as the Government was not responsible 
for that character of loss. In 1872, he made a 
specialty of furnishing brewers' cooper ma- 
terial in New York, Philadelphia, Boston 
and San Francisco, and in 1877 put in machin- 
ery at a cost of $10,000, and began dressing 
staves for brewers and coopers, taking in as a 
partner Mr. F. Nordman, from Indianapolis. 
They do a business in lumber amounting to 
about $150,000 annually, emplo3'ing in the 
factory and the woods together from forty to 
200 men. Most of their hauling is done in the 
fall, when they often employ 100 teams. They 
get their timber up the Ohio, Cumberland and 
Tennessee Rivers, and down the Mississippi 
as far as Memphis, and as far up as Cape 
Girardeau, owning large tracts of timber-land 
in Missouri and Arkansas, on the St. Louis & 
Iron Mountain Railroad, and also on the St. 
Louis & Cairo Narrow Gauge Railroad. Mr. 
Meyer is the owner of considerable real estate 
in Mound City. He was married in Bielefeld, 
Germany, in October, 1859, to Miss Lena 
Meyer, born in 1835, a native of the same 
place of himself, and a schoolmate. She is a 
daughter of Florence Meyer, and he returned 
to the old country, married her, and brought 
her to his new home. The}' have one child — 
Charles F., born December 23, 1862. Mr. and 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



275 



■Mrs. Meyer are Lutherans, but attend the 
Presbyterian Church. He is a Democrat in 
politics, but not an office-seeker. 

JAMES MULRONY, liveryman, Mound 
City, was born July 24, 1847, in County Kil- 
kenny, Ireland, son of Lawrence Mulrony, also 
a native of Ireland, where he died. The mother 
of our subject was Catharine (Noulan) Mulrony, 
also a native of Ireland. She was the mother 
of eight children; six are now living, of whom 
two brothers and one sister are living in Aus- 
tralia. Our subject received a common school 
education in the old country, which he left in 
1865 to seek his fortune in the new world, 
which was pictured so brightly in the old coun- 
try. He landed in New York City. He roamed 
for some eight years, living most of the time 
in Kenosha County, Wis.; he then came to 
Cairo, 111., where he stayed almost six years, 
and in May, 1879, he came to Mound City, 
where he started a livery stable, and now also 
keeps wine and liquors of all kinds. He is the 
only livery man in the town, and is accommo- 
dating at all times,?and has reasonable rates. 
He was married here to Mary Curren, a na- 
tive of Wisconsin. She was born in 1861, and 
is the daughter of Charles Curren, a native of 
Dublin, Ireland. She is the mother of two 
children, viz., Maggie and Catharine. Mr. and 
Mrs. Mulrony are religiously connected with 
the Catholic Church. In politics, he is a Dem- 
ocrat. 

FRED. NORDMAN, manufacturer. Mound 
City, is a native of Nienburg, Hanover, Grer- 
many, born February 16, 1834. His father, 
Freiderich Nordman. was born in Nienburg in 
1800 ; was a farmer, a soldier in the German 
Army and participated in the the battle of Wa- 
terloo. He died in 1880 ; he married Sophia 
Smith (subject's mother), who died in Germany, 
her native State, leaving five children as the 
result of their union, but two of whom are 
now living, viz., Diedrich, a farmer, residing 
in Germany on the old home farm, and Fred, 



our subject, who was educated in the schools 
of his native country. When he was eight- 
een years of age, he bade home and friends 
farewell, and set forth to gain his fortune in 
the new world; he landed at Baltimore on 
the 11th of November, 1852. In Baltimore, he 
learned the cooper's trade, and worked at the 
same until 1858, when the gold excitement at 
that time led him to California, where he fol- 
lowed mining for eighteen months, and at the 
expiration of that time returned to Baltimore, 
married and resumed working at his trade 
there until January, 1863, when he removed to 
Indianapolis and there divided his time in the 
cooper and stave factory business conducted on 
his own account. Having formed the acquaint- 
ance of some of the substantial business men 
of Mound City, III., he was induced by them 
to sell his business interests at Indianapolis, 
and to come to Mound City, which he did, and 
immediately started a white-oak stave factory 
in partnership with Mr. G. F. Meyer. Tiieir 
business has steadily increased until it has as- 
sumed large proportions, doing at the present 
time business to the amount of $150,000 per 
annum. Mrs. Nordman is a native of Saxony, 
Germany, born in 1835 ; she came to America 
with her parents when quite young. She is 
the ^mother of the following children — Louisa, 
born July 14, 1860, the wife of George Wild ; 
Katie, born November 2, 1862 ; Fred, born 
September 12, 1865 ; Anna, born x\pril 5, 1869 ; 
George, born November 2, 1871 ; Earnest, born 
April 27, 1877 ; Gotfried, born December 31, 
1879. Mr. Nordman is an enterprising man. 
well worthy of the high esteem of the com- 
munity in which he lives. He and wife are 
religiously connected with the Lutheran 
Church ; politically, he is identified with prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. 

WILLIAM PAINTER, Deputy Sheriff, 
Mound City, is one of our active, wide-awake 
young men. He was born December 26, 1852, 
in Clark County, Ohio, son of Albert Painter, 



276 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



a native of Baden, Grermany, a farmer by occu- 
pation. He came to the United States in 1847, 
settling in Clark County, Ohio. He came to 
Pulaski County in 1856, was a farmer here 
and died in 1861. The mother of our subject 
was Clara E. (Steckle) Painter, a native of 
Baden, Germany. She is yet living ; was born 
in 1813. She is the mother of four children 
now living — Clara, Mary. Tracy, William 
(our subject) and of Heni-y Painter, deceased. 
Our subject received a common school educa- 
tion in Mound City. In early life, he assisted 
his father in gardening ; he then clerked for 
Meyer about two years ; then worked in the 
handle factoi-y for three years ; then clerked 
for Browner over two years ; and then once 
more turned his attention to gardening, having 
bought a piece of land near xMound City. In 
1880, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff and 
Collector by Sheriff L. F. Crain, and holds the 
position to the present time. Our subject was 
married, October 21, 1877, near Villa Ridge, 
to Miss Anna M. Kennedy, born December 8, 
1852, in Pulaski County, daughter of Bazil 
B. and Ruth (Wright) Kennedy, old pioneei^s. 
She is the mother of three children— Ruth B., 
born June 21, 1879 ; Lewis A., born November 
22, 1881 ; and Grace Pearl, born May 8, 1883. 
Mr. Painter is religiously connected with the 
Catholic Church. In politics, he has been 
identified with the Republican party. Is also 
an active member of the Knights and Ladies 
of Honor, Mound City Lodge, No. 587. 

J. H. REEL, Miller, Mound City, is one of 
the enterprising business men who have come 
from Indiana and have thrown their fortunes 
in with that of Blound City, where their influ- 
ence in the development of business has been 
felt. He was born January 31, 1838, in Reels- 
ville, Putnam Co., Ind. His father, John Reel, 
born in 1793, was a native of Botetourt County, 
Va. He was also a miller by occupation. 
In early life he had lived in Ohio, and from 
there he went to Reelsville, Ind., which place 



was named in his honor, as he was one of the 
first settlers and a very prominent man, repre- 
senting his county in the Legislature for two 
terms, and serving as Magistrate till his death, 
which occurred July 2, 1858. He was also a 
soldier in the war of 1812. The mother of our 
subject was Sarah Beason, born in 1794, in 
North Carolina. She died in September, 1859, 
in Reelsville, Ind. She was the mother of eight 
children, of whom six are now living — -Daniel 
M., who runs the old water mill in Reelsville, 
which was built b}' his father ; John A., a 
farmer in Iowa ; Martha Wilson, Jane Hen- 
dricks, Elizabeth Athey and Joseph H., our 
subject, who received a common school educa- 
tion in the subscription schools in and around 
Reelsville. He learned his trade with his 
father. In 1868, he worked for the Sioux Cit}- 
& Pacific Railroad Compan}-, in Harrison Coun- 
t}-, Iowa, in the machine shop, till 1871, when 
he went to Brazil, Ind., where, for the first two 
3'ears, he was engineer in charge of the La 
Fayette Iron Company, and then helped to con- 
struct the Brazil water-works, of which he was, 
after its completion, made chief engineer. In 
April, 1878, he came to Mound City, where he 
put in mill machinery in one of the Govern- 
ment buildings. He operated the mill till 1880, 
when it was totally destroyed by fire. Shortly 
afterward, he put in new machinery in an- 
other Government building, which had former- 
ly been used as a machine shop, and continues 
to do business in that till the present time. 
The citizens of Mound Cit}' have honored the 
enterprise and integrity of our subject b}' twice 
electing him to the City Council. He is also a 
member of the United Workmen, Brazil Lodge, 
No. 65. In political affaii's, he is'independent. 
He was married, August 26, 1858, in Reelsville, 
Ind., to Mary McElroy, who was born Septem- 
ber 3, 1836, in Ohio. She is a daughter of 
William and Martha (Charlott) McElroy, na- 
tives of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Reel is the 
mother of two children— Dow L., born July 9 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



277 



1859, and Addie M., born April 12, 1862. 
The latter and her mother are religiously con- 
nected with the Presbyterian Church. 

J. P. ROBARTS, editor and publisher. 
Mound City, is of Welsh descent, born in Mad- 
ison County, 111, on the 2d of March, 1850, in 
the cit}' of Godfre}'. His father, Dr. James 
Robarts, was born in 1814 in Philadelphia, 
Penn., and graduated from the Jefferson Medi- 
cal College of that city, while in his minority ; at 
twenty-two 3'ears of age, he came to Illinois and 
located at Brownsville, Jackson County, where 
he engaged in the practiceof his profession. He 
is now located at Carbondale. 111. Our subject's 
mother was Sarah M. (Crandall) Robarts, a na- 
tive of Rochester, N. Y. She is the mother of 
six children, of whom subject is the oldest 
child. He was educated at Carbondale, and the 
Illinois Military Academ}- at Fulton, 111. When 
a young man, he served an apprenticeship as 
" devil " in a printing office at Carbondale, and 
after completing his trade, worked as. journey- 
man in several of the large cities. In 1873, he 
established a Republican paper at xMurphys- 
boro, Jackson Co., 111. It was the first Repub- 
lican paper of the town, and is now known as 
the Jackson County Era. In 1878, he be- 
gan the practice of law in Murphysboro, and 
the following year removed to Mound City, and 
followed the law practice. In 1880, in connec- 
tion with his law duties, he purchased the Pu- 
laski Patriot. In 1873, he was elected Assist- 
ant Door-Keeper of the Twent^^-eighth Illinois 
General Assembly. In 1881, he was elected 
State's Attorney of Pulaski County, filling the 
vacancy caused by the death of Hon. James 
Anderson, and resigned the office in February, 
1883, to accept the office of Commissioner 
of the Southern Illinois Penitentiary. He was 
married in October, 1875, to Miss Lillie Os- 
born, who was born in April, 1858, in Mur- 
physboro, 111. He is a member of the order 
I. 0. 0. F., and a Republican in politics. 

EDWARD SCHULER, merchant, Mound 



City. Among the enterprising young business 
men of this place, we must count him whose 
name heads this sketch. He is a native of St. 
Louis, Mo., where he was born December 22, 
1852. He is a son of George Schuler, born in 
1821, in France. He came to the United States 
when quite young, and here, after a useful life, 
he died June 22, 1875, in Mound City. He 
had been an active member of the I. O. 0. F. 
His wife was the mother of six children now 
living — George, John, Jacob, Edward, our sub- 
ject, Theodore, and Mary, who is now the wife 
of C. L. Boekenkamp. Our subject was edu- 
cated in the schools of this place, and here he 
learned the ship carpenter's trade, or more 
properly speaking, steamboat building, under 
Capt. William Hambleton. and followed it for 
about eleven years, till 1881, when he went 
into partnership with his brother-in-law, C. L. 
Boekenkamp. and has been engaged in the mer- 
cantile business ever since. Politicall}', Mr. 
Schuler is identified with the R publican party 
SAMUEL SHEETS, farmer and miller, P. 
0. America, who is one of our self-made 
men in this countj^, was born October 25, 
1834, in Philadelphia, Penn. His father, Jacob 
Sheets, was born in Philadelphia, and died 
in Mobile, Ala. He was a ship carpenter 
and contractor by occupation. His father, 
Jacob Sheets was a native of Germany. The 
mother of our subject, Mary (Lusely) Sheets, 
was also a native of Philadelphia, and died in 
Mobile, Ala. She was of Scotch descent, 
and the mother of a large family, of whom 
four are now living, viz. : Jacob, Franklin, 
Letitia and Samuel ; Samuel I'oamed for sev- 
eral years in earl}- life, and finally, while his 
parents were on their way to Mobile, Ala., 
in 1848, he stopped in Pulaski County. 111., 
working a great many days for 25 cents per 
da}^ working on the same place that he now 
owns. He first bought one acre in the old 
town of America, on which he built a small 
house ; since then he has, b}' his own exertion 



278 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



and perseverance, acquired a farm of 320 acres 
of land. He was married twice, the first time 
January 18, 1857, in Eockport, Ind., to Mary 
E. Stits, born October 1, 1837 ; died August 2, 

1 878. She was the mother of ten children, viz. : 
Sidne}', born January 11, 1858 ; Letitia L., de- 
ceased, former wife of Rev. L. F. Lawrence ; 
Edward J., born October 20, 1861 ; Mary B., 
deceased ; William B., born October 6, 1865 ; 
George W. and Benjamin F., deceased ; Harry, 
born September 5, 1871 ; Charles G., born May 
9, 1875. He married a second time, February 
4, 1879, to Mrs, Lizzie Thurtell, born February 
16, 1852, daughter of Edward B. and Mary 
(Riddle) Olmsted, and the mother of three chil- 
dren, viz. : Edward 0. Thurtell, born February 
6, 1873 ; Samuel Sheets, Jr., born October 29, 

1879, and John M., born October 5, 1881. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sheets are members of the Presbyte- 
rian Church. Mr. Sheets has a saw- mill on his 
farm. He has been no office seeking man, but 
rather attends to his own business. He 
serves the people in the capacity' of Township 
Trustee. In politics, he has been identified 
with the Democratic part}'. 

CESAR SHELLER, meat market. Mound 
City. Among the more active, upright and 
highly respected citizens of Mound City, who 
have carved out their success in life by their 
own indomitable energy, is Mr. Cesar Sheller, 
the subject of this sketch, a native of Germany, 
born November 11, 1856. He is the only one 
of his father's family now residing in the United 
States. He came to this country in the fall of 
1873, and the summer of the following year 
came West and settled in Cairo. In 1880, by 
his honesty, industry', close economy, and gen- 
ialit}', he was enabled to open his meat market 
in Mound City, which at the present time is 
doing a large and increasing business. He 
keeps constantlj' on hand a full supply of fresh 
and salt meats. After coming to this country, 
Mr. Sheller spent several years in looking over 
the country, having met many of the substan- 



tial business men of this city, he was induced 
to cast his fortunes among them, and is well 
worth}' of the high esteem in which he is held 
by the community at large. 

LEWIS C. SMITH, deceased. Among 
the men who have been identified with 
the business and social circles of Mound City, 
is he whose name heads this sketch. Although 
not an old settler, his memory is yet cherished 
by all who came in contact with him. He was 
born September 1, 1851, in Caledonia, Pulaski 
Co., 111. His father was Judge H. M. Smith 
of this county. Lewis C. Smith was educated 
principally at Louisville. He chose the law as 
his profession, and to it he devoted his whole 
attention, being admitted to the bar June 
15, 1874. He was afterward elected State's 
Attorney, which position he occupied at the 
time of his demise, which occurred May 7, 
1879. At the residence of the bride's father, 
he was joined in matrimony, December 31, 
1874, to Miss Hettie McGee. born December 
2, 1-852, in Pulaski County. She is a daughter 
of Judge Hugh McGee, Iwrn July 27, 1817, in 
Hopkinsville, Ky. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation, coming to this county in 1838, and set- 
tling near Grand Chain, where he yet resides. 
The mother of Mrs. Smith was Harriet S. (Met- 
calf) McGee, born December 5, 1824, in Ken- 
tucky, and died July 4, 1864, in this county. 
She was the daughter of Enoch Metcalf, a 
farmer by occupation, and is the mother of 
seven children, of whom three are living, viz. : 
Eliza E., Hettie M. and Ella Spence. Mrs. 
Hettie M. Smith was educated mainly in Car- 
bondale. 111. At the age of fifteen, she taught 
school at the " Ohio School, " in this county, 
and continued to instruct the young till she was 
married. She is the mother of three children, 
viz.: Ethel H., born October 14, 1875 ; Hugh 
H., born April 22, 1877. and Louis C, deceased. 
After the death of her devoted husband, she 
once more took to the noble profession of teach- 
ing, being in the schools of Mound City from 



MOUND CITY PKECINCT. 



279 



1880 to the preseut time. In 1882, the people 
of Pulaski County honored her by electing her 
to the office of Superintendent of Public Schools, 
which position she occupies with tact and abil- 
ity. 

L. D. STOPHLET, merchant. Mound City, 
one of the prominent business men of Mound 
City, wa3 born in Pulaski Count}', 111., Sep- 
tember 8, 1849, and is a son of P. W. and 
Sophia (Howell) Stophlet, the former a native 
of Ohio, born in 1812 and died in January, 
1864 ; a mechanic b}' occupation, who came to 
this count}' is 1832. The latter was born in 
New York in 1815, and died in Mound City in 
1869. She was the mother of nine children, of 
whom the following are now living : Mrs. Hen- 
riette Capoot, Loren D., Mrs. Mary E. Hughes, 
Frank W. and Mrs. Cora B. Kittle. Loren D. 
Stophlet, our subject, was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native county. At fifteen 
years of age, he engaged as clerk in a gen- 
eral merchandising store for J. J. Freeman, 
and remained with him for about three years. 
In 1871. he engaged in the grocery business 
on bis own account, and continued the same 
for one year. In 1872, he engaged in the 
Mound City Stave Factor}' business, in partner- 
ship with other gentlemen, for one year. In 
1873, he engaged in the present business, and 
has influenced a large and lucrative trade ; his 
stock is complete in gx'oceries, provisions, 
queens and glassware ; also a full line of tin 
and hardware. In 1873, he married, in Mound 
City, Miss Anna Fair, who was born near 
Charleston, Mo., September 9, 1856. She is a 
daughter of Frank A. and Sophia (Copp) Fair. 
Mr. Stophlet is a self-made man in every re- 
spect ; an independent man in political affairs, 
and the Treasurer of Mound City. 

B. C. TABER, M. D., Mound City. Among 
the able practitioners of '■ materia medica ' of 
Pulaski County is Dr. Taber, whose name heads 
this sketch. He was born in New Bedford, 
Mass., on the 3d of September, 1813. His 



father, Benjamin Taber, was also a native of 
Massachusetts, born February 2, 1766. He was 
of an old and noted family of his native State, 
a mechanic by occupation ; he died April 2, 
1846. He married Khoda Akins, who died, 
leaving one child, Henry Taber, who is now 
ninety years of age. He married a second time, 
Merab Coffin, who was born August 2, 1782, 
and died November 17, 1857. She was a daugh- 
ter of Bartimas Coffin, who was a cousin of Sir 
Isaac Coffin, Admiral of the British Navy, and 
a founder of the Coffin school of Nantucket, 
where his descendants are educated gratuit- 
ously. She was the mother of six children, of 
whom four are now living. Our subject was 
educated in the schools at Providence, R. I., 
and after graduating and arriving at his ma- 
jority, embarked in the drug business at New 
Bedford, Mass., and afterward engaged in the 
study of medicine, attended lectures at the Har- 
vard University near Boston, and after receiv- 
ing his diploma in 1838, came West and en- 
gaged in the practice of his profession near 
Peoria, 111., and remained there until 1845, when 
he removed to Hennepin, Putnam Co., 111., and 
after the close of the war moved to Cairo, III., 
and in 1875 removed to Bonson, Fla., and in 
1880 came to Mound City, where he is at pres- 
ent engaged in his profession. In 1850 he made 
a dangerous trip across the country to Califor- 
nia, with an ox team, being seven months en 
route, and in 1852 returned via Mexico and 
Central America. He was married, January 8, 
1833, in Massachusetts, to Miss Caroline A., 
daughter of Rev. John Briggs. She was born 
January 14, 1809, in New Bedford, Mass. This 
union has been blessed with seven children, of 
whom three are now living — John C. B. Taber, 
born November 27, 1837, who married Julia 
Meary, of St. Louis, who has borne him eight 
children ; Simpson H., a prominent jeweler, and 
Elizabeth B., born April 3, 1835, the wife of 
Joseph J. Thomas, a photographer of Gray- 
ville, 111. She is the mother of the following 



'J so 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



children — Ellen P., Julian M., Caroline and 
Simpson. Dr. Taber is a member of the 
A., F. & A. M., and a stanch Republican. 

B. L. ULEN, Circuit Clerk, Mound City, 
born February 5, 1837, in Greenup City, Ky., 
son of Samuel Ulen, of German descent, born 
December 20, 1798, in Virginia, where he was 
a well-to-do farmer. He moved to Scotland 
County, Mo., when our subject was quite 
young. There he lost everything by a great 
overflow and was compelled to encamp with 
about 300 other families in a small gulch 
back of the river. While there the cholera 
broke out, destroying whole families. They 
moved back into the hills near Steward's mill, 
where they worked for very small wages, 
gathering property around them, and finally 
coming to Pulaski County, 111., where he died 
April 6, 1866. The mother of our subject 
was a native of Mason Count}-, Ky., born No- 
vember 1, 1810. She died July 14, 1866. 
Her maiden name was Margaret Thompson, 
and she was the mother of eight boys and four 
girls, of whom only five boys are now living, 
viz., Hamilton C. a farmer and merchant in 
Dexter, Mo.; Frederick G., a farmer near 
Ullin, 111.; Matthew T., of Fort Laramie, Wy. 
Ter.; Thomas J., in partnership with his 
brother at Dexter, Mo.,' and Benjamin L., our 
subject, .who went to school in this county to 
Col. E. B. Watkins, who was afterward a 
Representative. He then taught school two 
winters, and finally, through the kindness of 
Lieut. Gov. Dougherty, obtained a scholar- 
ship to the Anna High School, where he studied 
till October, 1861, when he enlisted in 
the Ninth Illinois Infantry Volunteers, Com- 
pany K, as private ; from that, through his 
strict attention, ability and bravery, he was 
promoted to Corporal, Sergeant, Orderly Ser- 
geant and finally Second Lieutenant. He 
participated" in man}' thrilling scenes; was 
wounded twice, the last time in 1863, at Salem, 
Miss. He was finally mustered out in August, 



1864, at Springfield, 111. After the war, he 
taught school for several years, and then in 
1872, he was elected Circuit Clerk, filling the 
office with tact and ability to such an extent 
that he was re-elected twice. His majority in 
1876 was 1,144 votes. In 1876, he was also 
appointed Master in Chancery by Judge John 
Dougherty, and re-appointed by Judge D. J. 
Baker. He also holds the office of Public 
Administrator, being appointed by Gov. Cul- 
lom. He is also Township Treasui'er. Mr. 
Ulen was joined in matrimony, October 26, 
1867, in Jonesboro, LTnion County, 111., to Miss 
Ella Herrick, born May 16, 1850, in Bangor, 
Me, where she was also educated. She is 
the mother of four children now living, viz., 
George A., born September 24, 1871 ; Eva 
Maude, November 29, 1874 ; Olive Grace, 
born October 25, 1880 ; Lottie B., born Sep- 
tember 2, 1882. In 1863, she came West to 
join her parents, George R. and Mary C. 
(Nichols) Herrick. He was born May 10, 1812, 
in Hampden, Me. She was born in Noble- 
boro, Me. Although we deserve no credit 
nor are made better by what our parents have 
done, yet it is pleasant to know that our an- 
cestors for centuries back have endeavored to 
hand down to posterity an untarnished name. 
The Herrick family is of English descent, 
although its progenitor was one Henry Eyryk, 
a lineal descendant of Eric the forester, a great 
commander, who opposed William the Con- 
queror. His grandson, Robert Eyryk, died in 
1385. He was Chaplain to Edward, the Black 
Prince, LL. D., and finally Lord Bishop of 
Litchfield. The history of the Herrick family 
in the United States, commenced with Henerie 
Herrick, born in 1604, in England. He settled 
in Salem, June 24, 1629. The grandfather of 
Mrs. Ulen, Jedediah Herrick, settled in Hamp- 
den, Me., November 5, 1800, author of the 
Genealogical Register of the Herrick family, 
whose coat of arms is yet in existence. Mr. 
and Mrs. Ulen are members of the Methodist 



MOUND CITY PRECINCT. 



381 



Episcopal Chui-ch. He is Chaplin of the I. 0. 
0. F., is also a Good Templar and in politics 
a Republican. His office is in the same build- 
ing in which he lay after he was wounded at 
the battle of Fort Douelson. 

J. A. WAUGH, County Clerk, Mound 
City, is a native of Mercer County, Penn., 
born March 30, 1835. His father, Robert 
Waugh, was a native of Ireland, a farmer by 
occupation, who married Elizabeth Stuart, a 
native of Philadelphia, Penn., both now de- 
ceased. The}- were the parents of six children, 
of whom the following are now living : Will- 
iam S., Walter J. and John A., our subject. 
He was reared in his native county. Being 
thrown upon his own resources, his early edu- 
cation was very limited ; he has, however, by 
observation and practical experience, gained 
much more than a common English education. 
At sixteen years of age, he embarked on his 
life's career as a " devil " in a printing office 
in Mercer, and, after completing his trade, in 
1854 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and after a 
short time to Marietta, Ohio, and afterward to 
Conneautville, Penn., working at his trade a 
short time in each place. In 1856, he came to 
Pulaski County and bought out the interest of 
the National Emporium, which had just been 
started, and continued as editor and proprietor 
of this journal until 1861, when he entered 
the United States Navy as constructor's clerk, 
and continued in the same until the fall of 
1865. He then engaged as book-keeper for the 
Marine Ways, and remained thus engaged un- 
til the fall of 1882, when he was elected 
County Clerk of Pulaski County, which office 
he fills with credit to himself He was mar- 
ried, in 1863, to Miss Mary R., daughter of 
Hon. J. R. Emrie, formerly editor of the Hills- 
boro Gazette, who afterward was Judge, and 
subsequently represented his district in Con- 
gress. Mr. and Mrs. Waugh are members of 



the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a 
Knight Templar and member of the Masonic 
Lodge at Cairo, No. 237. 

F. J. WEHRFRITZ, furniture manufacturer, 
Mound City, is a son of Carl and Elizabeth 
Wehrfritz, both natives of Germany ; he, a 
paper manufacturer, was born in 1808 ; she 
was the mother of twelve children, of whom 
six are now living and two resides in the 
United States, Emil C. Wehrfritz, a machinist 
of Little Rock, Ark., and F. J. Wehrfritz, 
whose name heads this sketch. He was borU' 
September 6, 1845, in Bingen on the Rhine' 
and was principally educated at the Commer- 
cial College, in Belgium ; he was three years at 
Bielfeld, Germany, learning the mercantile 
business. At nineteen years of age, he sailed 
for America, landing at Hoboken, N. Y., on 
the 10th of October, 1864. He located at St. 
Louis, where he began woi'k as a clerk ; after 
four months he came to Mound City, and en- 
gaged as clerk for G. F. Meyer, and remained 
in his employ for one year, when he went to 
East St. Louis and clerked for two years. He 
then returned to Mound City via Chicago 
where he made a stop of about three months. 
April 9, 1868, he engaged with G. F. Meyer, as 
chief clerk and buyer, and is at present holding 
the same position. He is one of the incor- 
porators of the Mound City Furniture Com- 
pany, an enterprise which will give the city a 
boom. Mr. Wehrfritz was married in Mound 
City, 111., February 12, 1874, to Carolina 
Seidel, a native of Rock Island, 111., born April 
2, 1856 ; she is of German descent, and the 
mother of three children, viz.: Olga, who was 
born August 13, 1875 ; Lena, who was born 
April 6, 1879, and Emma, who was born Janu- 
ary 20, 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Wehrfritz are 
members of the Episcopalian Church ; politi- 
cally, he is Democratic. 



283 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



VILLA EIDGE PEECIKOT. 



E. J. AYRES, fruit-grower and merchant, 
Villa Ridge, was born in Utica, N. Y., October, 
1832. He is the son of E. J. and Mary Ayres, 
he, born in New Jersey, she in New York. 
Both died in New York. Up till 1848, our 
subject resided on the farm in New York ; he 
then came West, first to Ohio, where he 
clerked in his uncle's store. Since that time, 
his life has been spent most all the time in the 
West. In 1854, he went to Springfield, 111., 
where he remained till 1860, when he moved to 
Iowa. There he and his brother, 0. C. Ayres, 
were in the mercantile business in partnership. 
At his country's call, 0. C. entered the service, 
while our subject attended to the business. 
At the battle of Allatooua Pass he was killed. 
In fall of 1866, our subject came to Illinois, 
and for one year remained at Cairo, and in 
1867 bought his present farm near Villa Ridge. 
At the time of his purchase, but little of the 
farm was improved, but Mr. Ayres gave his 
time and energy to the improving and develop- 
ing of the farm. He now has 170 acres of 
laud, and of this about sixty acres are in 
fruits of various kinds. Previous to coming 
to his farm, Mr. Ayres had been engaged in 
the mercantile business most of his life, so he 
had to begin by experimenting in order to 
make fruit-growing a success ; but through his 
close attention to business he has succeeded. 
For some years past he has also been engaged 
in the mercantile business, in partnership with 
Mr. E. M. Titus, of Villa Ridge, but still gives 
most of his thought and care to the fruit 
culture. In Springfield, 111., December 14, 
1858, he was married to Miss S. Ardelia 
Wheelock. She was born in Grafton, Mass., 
March 31, 1841, to Solomon B., and Ruth 
(Hall) Wheelock. He was born in Grafton, 



Mass., September 1, 1817, died May 3, 1858. 
She was born in Rhode Island JMarch 20, 1820, 
and still survives. They were married in 
Grafton, Mass., February 18, 1840. Mr. and 
Mrs. Ayres have three children — Phillip W., 
Minnie and Jennie. In religion, Mr. Ayres is 
Baptist, and in politics. Republican. 

A. D. BUTLER, merchant, Villa Ridge, was 
born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 26, 1842, to L- 
D. and Penina (Whidden) Butler. She was 
born in Clermont County, Ohio ; he in Maine. 
By trade he was a carpenter. In the spring 
of 1861, they moved from Cincinnati to Villa 
Ridge, and he died here. She is still living. 
To them ten children were born, seven of whom 
are still living. Our subject received his edu- 
cation in Cincinnati. In 1861, he enlisted in 
the service, Company F, Eighteenth Illinois 
Infantry ; served for three years ; then re-en- 
listed in the Hancock Veteran Corps for one 
year. He was in some of the hardest fought 
battles during the war. being at Fort Henry, 
Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vlcksburg, and many 
others of less importance. When returning 
from the army, he came to Villa Ridge, and 
began clerking in a store, and continued as 
clerk for some yeai's ; then engaged in mercan- 
tile business for himself, first at Elco, Alexan- 
der County, but soon moved his stock of goods 
to Villa Ridge, and has been here since. Mr. 
Butler has met with heavy losses since Novem- 
ber 14. 1881, lost his store building and goods 
from fire, and again July 8, 1882. Each time 
his actual losses were from $1,300 to $1,700. 
April 1, 1883, he again opened up business 
with a complete stock of general merchandise, 
which averages about $4,500,and, since starting, 
his daily sales have averaged about $80. May 
28, 1871, he was married to Miss Nannie J. 



YILLA RIDGE PRECmCT. 



283 



Beaty. She was born in Pulaski County, 111., 
May 24, 1846, daughter of David and Phoebe 
A. (Kennedy) Beaty, both of whom were born 
in Hamilton Count}, Ohio, he in 1812, she 
October 28, 1815. They were married Jul}- 15, 
1841. He died of cholera, in Cairo, .Jul}' 11, 
1849. Mr. and Mrs. Butler have two children 
— Cecil G., born November 15, 1873, and Myr- 
tle May, born March 29, 1876. In politics, he 
is Republican. Is a member of the I. 0. of G. 
T. ; also of the G. A. R. 

S. A. COLWELL, fruit and vegetable grower, 
P. 0. Mound City, was born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y., November 28, 1842, to Archi- 
bald and Sarah (Seaman) Colwell. Both were 
born in Dutchess Count}-, N. Y., and still reside 
there, and he still continues to follow his occu- 
pation of boot and shoe maker. They are the 
parents of five children, four of whom are still 
living, S. A. being the oldest child. Our sub- 
ject received his education in the State Normal 
school at Albany, N. Y., completing with the 
class of 1860. He began teaching during his 
course at school. After graduating, he was in 
the employ of the New York & Erie R. R. Com- 
pany for about one year. Then to Nashville, 
Tenn., where he was in a railroad office for about 
eighteen months in the employ of the Govern- 
ment. He still followed railroading, and the 
express business till coming West in 1866. In 
1869, he settled in this county, and commenced 
teaching and fruit farming. August 1, 1869, 
he was married in Jackson County, 111., to Nan- 
nie Norman. She was born in Franklin County, 
111., April 1, 1846, to John and Nancy (Hall) 
Norman. She was born in North Carolina, but 
moved to Franklin County when only about 
five years old, and is now about seventy-nine 
years of age. He died when Mrs. Colwell 
was only about four years of age. They were 
the parents of nine children, three now living. 
In politics, he is Republician. November, 1876, 
he was elected County Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, and served his terra with credit to 
himself and county. 



J. P. CONYERS, farmer, P. 0. Villa Ridge, 
was born in Pulaski County, 111., October 10, 
1827. He is the son of John Conyers, who 
was born in Tennessee, 1792, but who was one 
of the earliest settlers in Pulaski County, com- 
ing when thei-e were but about four families in 
what is now Alexander and Pulaski Counties. 
The Conyers family settled about four miles 
above the mouth of Cache River. John Con- 
yers was one of a family of five girls and three 
boys ; only one of the family now living, Bart- 
lett Conyers, who was born April 14, 1795, and 
lives now near Springfield. 111. John Conyers 
was married in this county to Catherine x\th- 
erton. She was born near Green River, Ky., 
and her parents came to this State in 1816, 
settling one and a half miles west of Villa 
Ridge. Mr. Conyers died, 1844, in Missouri. 
She died about two years previous. They were 
the parents of eight children ; but by a previous 
marriage he had three children ; his first wife 
died in Tennessee, previous to his removal to 
Illinois. His occupation was that of farming 
and stock-raising. When our subject was 
about eighteen months old he moved to Mis- 
souri, and it was there he died. In his seven- 
teenth year, our subject returned to this county. 
September 12, 1850, he was married to Diana 
L. Atherton. She was born in this county, 
1825, to John and Eunice Atherton, both of 
whom are dead. Mrs. C. is the only one of a 
family of ten children who are now living. 
When first married they settled near Goose Is- 
land, Alexander County, but in 1863 came 
to his present farm, which contains 170 acres- 
He has besides this two other fai'ms, containing 
respectively 80 and 160 acres. About 240 
acres ai'e in cultivation; general farming receives 
his attention. Mr. and Mrs. Conyers have five 
children dead ; and only one son, Francis Marion, 
living. In politics, he is Democratic. 

C. C. DAVIDSON, fruit farmer and black- 
smith. Villa Ridge, was born in Wyoming 
County, N. Y., October 16, 1852, to James J. 
and Lucy (Corastock) Davidson, he a native of 



284 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



New Jersey, she of New England. He is still 
living and in Cairo, 111. He is a carpenter. 
To them eight children were born, seven of 
whom are still living. Our subject was reared 
in New York and received his education there, 
and also learned the trade of blacksmith. Com- 
pleting his term as apprentice, he came to this 
count}' in 1870, and has been in Southern Illi- 
nois since, working at his trade in Cairo with 
J. Gamble for some time, also at Villa Ridge ; 
then again at Cairo, where he had a shop of 
his own for a short time. In 1873, he again 
returned to Villa Ridge Precinct, and worked 
at fruit raising. In 1880, he built a shop on 
his farm, and works at his trade part of his 
time, but is also engaged in fruit and vegetable 
growing, and has been quite successful in rais- 
ing strawberries. October 16, 1878, he was 
married to Maggie Scheirick, daughter of B. H. 
Scheirick, whose sketch appears elsewhere. 
Mr. and Mrs. Davidson have two children — Min- 
nie Laura and Annie Elizabeth. He is a mem- 
ber of Villa Ridge Patrons of Husbandr^^, also 
I. 0. G. T. In politics, he is a Greenbacker. 

W. B. EDSON, druggist Villa Ridge, was 
born on Chautauqua Lake, New York, Novem- 
ber 16, 1820, to Obed and Sarah (Scott) Edson. 
She was born on the east of the Green Mount- 
ains, Vei"mont, and was one of a family of thir- 
teen children, all of whom reached maturity. 
He was a native of Madison Count}', N. Y., 
and was a descendant of one of three brothers 
who came to America previous to the Revolu- 
tionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Edson lived to cel- 
ebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their mar- 
riage. They were the parents of six sons and 
four daughters — two sons and three daughters 
still survive. During his life he had been en- 
gaged in different occupations, and resided in 
several States. While in Pennsylvania he rep- 
resented his district in the State Legislature 
for some time. Was a member of the Board of 
County Commissioners in this (Pulaski) county. 
He died in his eighty-second year, and she in 



her sevent3^-eighth. When our subject was 
seven 3'njars of age, he moved with his parents 
to Pennsylvania, settling on the Conewaugo 
River. When he was nineteen years of age, he 
began the study of medicine. He attended one 
course of lectures at Geneva, N. Y., but did not 
like the profession, so never completed the 
course, but has been engaged in different busi- 
ness occupations since. In 1843, he began 
farming in Chautauqua County, N. Y. In 1852, 
went to California to mine, but remained only 
for a short time, and in the spring of 1853 en- 
gaged in the drug business at McHenry, 111., 
also in general mercantile business, etc. March 
10, 1863, he enlisted in the army for three 
yearsor during the war, and joined the Third Ill- 
inois Cavalry at Germantown, Tenn, as Hospital 
Steward. He remained only for about three 
months, when he was selected as First Lieuten- 
ant of a colored regiment, he being among the 
first to answer Gen. Thomas' call for men to 
officer a colored regiment. Mr. Edson was af- 
terward promoted to the captaincy of his com- 
pany, and all but twenty men in his company 
were killed at Fort Pillow. After coming from 
the service in 1865, he located in Pulaski 
County, and engaged in fruit-growing till 1870, 
when he again embai'ked in the drug trade, 
but still has a fruit farm on the west of the vil- 
lage. He was one of the charter members of 
the McHenry Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., one of the 
early lodges in the State, and is Lodge Deputy 
of I. 0. of G. T. In politics, is Republican, 
and has held different offices in the county, be- 
ing County Commissioner, and yvhen his pres- 
ent term of office shall have expired, he will 
have completed fifteen years as Justice of the 
Peace. In religion, he is a member of the M. 
E. Church. In 1843, in Chautauqua County, 
N. Y., he was married to Cordelia Curtis. She 
was born in that count}', daughter of Ransom 
Curtis, a native of New York. Mi'S. Edson 
died in Pulaski County, 111., August, 1866, the 
result of this union being two children, viz. : 



VILLA RIDGE PRECINCT. 



285 



Ransom Curtis (deceased), and Mary, now Mrs. 
Henry Weaver, of Chautauqua County, N. Y. 
September 11, 1867, Mr. Edson was married to 
his present wife, Mrs. Catherine (Hosmer) Stod- 
dard. She was born at Avon Springs, N. Y., 
daughter of George Hosmer. (See sketch of 
C. A. Hosmer.) By her first husband she has 
one son and one daughter, viz. : Edwin B. 
Stoddard, Villa Ridge ; and Elizabeth, now 
Mrs. Charles Fosdick — " Harry Castleman," a 
writer of note. 

GEORGE W. ENDICOTT, farmer and fruit 
grower, P. 0. Villa Ridge, whose portrait ap- 
pears in this volume, was born in Belmont 
County, Ohio, July 25, 1839, and is a son of 
Charles and Lucinda (Snedeker) Endicott. She 
was born in Loudoun County, Va., August 15, 
1819, and he in Berks County, Penn., August 16, 
1813. The Endicott family are all descended 
from old Gov. Endicott, of Massachusetts, 
and his brother, Mark Endicott. Many of 
them were soldiers, and those who were not 
able to bear arms, attained considerable note 
as horticulturists. Mark Endicott planted the 
Endicott pears at Salem, Mass., which are still 
fruiting, after two hundred and fift}' j-ears. 
The grandfather of our subject, and all his 
brothers, served in the United States Navy 
and he and two brothers were in our war with 
Tripoli, under Commodore Decatur. He after- 
wa,rd settled in Pennsylvania, and devoted his 
attention to horticulture, but some years later 
moved to Ohio, and was one of the first men 
to plant out a grafted orchard, and to introduce 
the science of. grafting fruit in that State. 
Charles Endicott followed in the footsteps of 
his father, and was a farmer and fruit-grower ; 
his health being delicate he was i-efused admis- 
sion into the army during our war with Mexico. 
He continued a resident of Ohio until' 1864, 
when he came to Illinois, and died soon after 
(September 18, 1864)', at the home of his son 
(our subject) in this county. His wife died 
May 29, 1864. They were the parents of four 



sons and two daughters ; two of the sons and 
one daughter died in childhood. The other 
brother of our subject served in the late civil 
war, and returned home just in time to die 
from exposure while performing his dut}- as a 
soldier. He was one of the command sent to 
spike the enemy's cannon at Island No. 10, 
and took cold from which he never recovered. 
Our subject's only living sister Mrs. N. W- 
Galbraith, resides in Wayne County, 111. Mr. 
Endicott (subject) had but few educational ad- 
vantages. At the age of seventeen years, he 
went on the river for the purpose of learning 
the duties of a pilot, and was engaged on a 
steamboat running between Cincinnati and 
Pittsburgh ; but disliking river life, he left it, 
and September 15, 1861, he enlisted in Com- 
pany I, of the Forty-eighth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, in which he served for two years and 
ten months, and then was discharged on ac- 
count of wounds received. He was at Fort 
Henr}', Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Vicks- 
burg, Arkansas Post, Black River Bridge, 
Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and with 
Sherman in his " march to the sea ;" partici- 
pating in forty-six battles and skirmishes, 
and receiving twelve wounds ; he still carries 
rebel lead in his bod}'. After returning from 
the army he settled down to farming in Wayne 
County, 111., and continued there until Decem- 
ber 2^, 1867, when he removed to this count}-, 
and began the improvement of his present 
farm, which was then all in the woods. He 
has since been engaged extensively in horticult- 
ure, and is one of the most successful fruit- 
growers in Pulaski County. His farm consists 
of 140 acres, in a good state of cultivation and 
with excellent farm buildings and improve- 
ments. He has fift3'-five acres in fruits, as 
follows : Seven and a half acres in vineyard ; 
twent^'-three acres in peaches ; thirteen in 
strawberries ; three in Bartlett pears ; four in 
apples, etc. He has been very successful in 
all his fruit-raising, except with apples, which 



286 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



have not paid in a commercial point of view. 
Mr. Endicott is a good writer and has con- 
tributed some excellent articles on horticult- 
ure, his best effort, perhaps, being the chapter 
in this work devoted to agriculture and horti- 
culture of Pulaski County. He was married 
April 29, 1863, to Miss Martha Galbraith, of 
Wayne County, 111., born April 9, 1841, and a 
daughter of Wiley and Elizabeth Galbraith. 
Mr. and Mrs. Endicott have seven children, 
four boys and three girls, viz.: Ed C, Louis 
E., Charles W., Georgianna, Maud, Mary and 
Robert B. Mr. Endicott is a member of the 
Villa Ridge Grange, and in politics, is perfect- 
ly independent, supporting the men he deems 
best fitted for the offices they seek. 

JOSEPH ESSEX, farmer, P. 0. Villa Ridge, 
was born in Davidson County, N. C, March 23, 
1817, to Joseph and Susan Essex, he born in 
Kentucky. His father (the grandftither of our 
subject) was one of the early explorers of Ken- 
tucky, but the Indians becoming so bad, had to 
leave the State, and on his return to North Caro- 
Ihia Joseph Essex, Sr., was born. The mother 
of our subject died in North Carolina, but his 
father came to Illinois, and died in Union 
County. They were the parents of five chil- 
dren who reached maturity, our subject and 
one brother and sister now living. September, 
1839, he came to Illinois, and settled in We- 
taug Pulaski County, but in the spring of 
1847 came to his present farm, which contains 
105 acres, nearly all in cultivation ; on this he 
does general farming and fruit-growing. By 
trade, Mr. Essex is a tanner and shoe-maker, 
and while at Wetaug had a small tannery. At 
Wetaug, December 25, 1842, he wa^ married to 
his first wife, Catherine Sowers, daughter of 
David and Margaret Sowers. They were from 
North Carolina, but came to this State at an 
early date, and died here. Mrs. Essex died 
January 18, 1866. By her, he had nine chil- 
dren, Alexander (deceased), Amanda Jane, 
James W., Mary E. (deceased), Charlotte L., 



Madora Ann, Emma Adelia, Joseph Warren 
and Thomas D. August, 1867, he was mar- 
ried to Jane Elizabeth Parker, widow of Will- 
iam Parker. She was born in this county to 
Joseph and Lucinda Lackey. Four children 
have been the result of this union — Ida Lucinda, 
George Harrison, Catherine T. and Noah H. 
(deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Essex are members 
of the Baptist Church. 

H. C. FEARNSIDE, box-manufacturer, Villa • 
Ridge, was born in Wood Count}'^, Ohio, No- 
vember 15, 1858, to William and Elizabeth 
(Crain) Fearnside ; he, born in New York ; she 
in Ohio. She died in this county in 1879. He 
is still living, and by trade is a carpenter. To 
them, two sons and one daughter were born, who 
are now living. When our subject was two 
years of age, his parents moved to New York, 
and lived at Albany and Catskill on the Hud- 
son till 1874, when the}' removed to Delaware, 
but in 1875 came to Villa Ridge. Our subject 
received his education in the High School of 
Albany, and gx'ammar school of Catskill, N. Y. 
Since coming to Villa Ridge he has been en- 
gaged in the manufacturing of fruit boxes. Up 
till 1880 he worked with his uncle, L. F. Crain. 
He then bought out the establishment. He has 
capacit}' for the dail}' manufacture of about 
1,000 24-quart crates, and during the busiest 
season employs about twenty-four hands. He 
buys the material read}' sawed, then manufact- 
ures and sells, his sales for 1883 being about 
550,000 quart boxes. 40,000 one-third bushel 
boxes, and 5,000 bushel boxes ; the sales being 
about $6,000. His building is two-stories, 
24x60 feet. He also has cooling rooms ; main 
building, 24x45 feet ; loading room, 10x45 
feet ; capacity, twelve cars per day. He uses 
the condensed steam ice. Mr. Fearnside's 
father is also with him in the business, and they 
are engaged in fruit raising, especially of straw- 
berries. As soon as the fruit shipping season 
is over, they engage in buying apples, poultry, 
etc., through Southern Illinois, and ship to 



VILLA KIDGE PRECINCT. 



381 



northern markets. In politics, they are Repub- 
licans. 

JOSEPH GAMBLE, station agent, Villa 
Ridge, was born in Perry County, 111., Mai'ch 
28, 1844, to William and Rebecca (Hood) Gam- 
ble. They were both boi'n in the north of Ire- 
land, and came to America in early life, she 
when about fourteen years of age, and he sev- 
enteen. He died in Perrj^ County, 111., August 
19, 1879. She is still living, and in Tamaroa, 
111. His occupation was that of farmer. Of 
their family of three sons and one daughter, 
only Joseph and Robert now survive. Robert 
is living at Tamaroa. September 3, 1867, our 
subject began learning telegraphy in the I. C. 
R. R. office at Tamaroa, under Mr. Holt. He re- 
mained there till October2,1872,when he became 
agent at Chester, 111., for the St. Louis Coal 
Road. At Chester, he remained for two years. 
April 5, 1875, he took his present position at 
Villa Ridge. He is now station and express 
agent and operator at Tamaroa. October 24, 
1870, he was married to Alice Price. She was 
born in Wilmington, Del., daughter of Edwin 
and Sarah A. Price. Thej' came to Perr}', 111., 
when she was quite small. His occupation 
was that of druggist. He died at Tamaroa, 
April 7, 1873 ; she, April, 1880. Mr. and 3Irs. 
Gamble have one son — James C, living ; one 
son and one daughter dead. He and wife are 
membei's of the Presb3terian Church. In poli- 
tics, he is Republican. 

W. H. GOE, fruit and vegetable grower, P. 
0. Villa Ridge, was born in Greene County, 
Ohio, November, 1840, to John and Catherine 
(Crawford) Goe. He was born in Virginia, she 
in Kentucky, but both had come to Illinois in 
early life. She died in Greene County, Ohio ; he 
in this county, in 1873. His occupation was 
that of a farmer. They were the parents of ten 
children, six of whom are now living. Our 
subject has devoted his time to farming and 
fruit-growing. August. 1862, he enlisted in 
Company H, Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer 



Infantry, as non-commissioned officer. Ho 
served for nearly three j-ears, being mustered 
out at Columbus, Ohio, June, 1865. He was- 
at Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Stone 
River, etc., and with Sherman on the march to 
the sea. September 7, 1870, he was married 
in Cairo, 111., to Luciuda Brigham. She was 
born in Pennsylvania, to George and Amy 
Brigham. He is dead, but she is now living, 
and about seveny-three years of age. When 
sixty-five years of age, she was married to her 
present husband, who then was seventy-five, 
Mrs. Goe came to Illinois, when about sixteen 
years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Goe have three 
children, viz. : Nina, Reader and Julia. He 
is Republican in politics, and a member of the 
order Patrons of Husbandry. In 1872, Mr- 
Goe came to Pulaski County, and settled ou 
his present farm, which, at the time was but 
partiall}' improved. Now he has the farm in a 
high state of cultivation. 

GEORGE GOULD, fruit grower, P.O. Villa 
Ridge, was born in Ireland July 8, 1837, to 
Richard and Ann (Adams) Gould. They were 
both natives of Ireland, but moved to Canada, 
when our subject was about seven years of age. 
She died in Canada, at the age of eighty-four 
years ; he in Mississippi, at about the same age 
His trade was that of miller. They were the 
parents of eight children, six of whom still 
survive. Our subject received his education in 
the free schools of Canada. When seventeeri 
years of age, he began learning the carpenter 
trade, and followed that occupation till 1868, 
when he came to his present farm, which was 
then all in the woods, but now is in a high 
state of cultivation. He gives most of his 
attention to the growing of peaches, grapes and 
strawberries, and in this he has been very 
successful, but his success has been attained 
through his own energy and application to the 
business in hand. In 1860, Mr. Gould left 
Canada and came to Cairo, 111., and made that 
his home till coming to the farm. November 



288 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



7, 1863, he was married in Canada, to Anna 
L. Clitherow. Siie was born in Canada, August 
18, 1846, to Robert and Anna Clitherow. He 
died when Mrs. Gould was small, but she is 
still living in Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Gould 
have four children living — William E., Lillie 
M., George W. and Bertha M. Mr. G. is a 
member of the Villa Ridge Lodge, A., F. & 
A. M. In politics, he is Democratic. 

W. R. HOOPPAW. Sr., retired, Villa Ridge, 
was born in Pulaski County June 13, 1830. 
He is the son of M. R. Hooppaw, who came 
from South Carolina to this county about 1820. 
He was a man who delighted in hunting, but 
did not give his whole time to the sport. He 
opened up a farm, and was Sheriff of Alexander 
County for eight years. (That was before Pu- 
laski was cut off.) While Sheriff of the county, 
he sold the land on which Cairo now stands. 
He was, in later life, County Judge of Pulaski 
Count}'. Up to the time' of his settlement in 
this county, he had followed steamboating. 
Was married in Pulaski County to Malinda 
Kennedy. She was born in Ohio, sister of T. 
C. Kennedy, an old resident of the county. 
The}' were the parents of eight children, three 
of whom are still living — W. R., Thomas and 
David. Our subject has resided in the imme- 
diate vicinity of Villa Ridge all his life, and for 
thirty-two years has been in the mercantile 
business in different towns in Southern Illinois 
— Pulaski, Hodge's Park, Cairo, but most of 
the time at Villa Ridge. In the fall of 1882, 
he sold out his store to Mr. G. H. Lufkin, and 
so is out of the mercantile business for the pres- 
ent. He has a farm of eighty acres near town, 
but resides in Vil.a Ridge. September 19, 
1850, he was married in this county to Miss E. 
J. Lewis. She was born in Mississippi, daugh- 
ter of A. E. Lewis, deceased. (See sketch of 
A. W. Lewis, Pulaski Precinct.) Mr. and Mrs. 
Hooppaw have had twelve children, nine of 
whom are living — M. L. (deceased), Almira G., j 
Lenora A., Maranett V., W. R., Warren C, Ida | 



Belle, George W., Walter T., Laura M. (de- 
ceased), Oscar, Bartie C. (deceased). He is a 
member of Villa Ridge Lodge, A., F. & A. M. 
He and wife are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Chui'ch. In politics, he is Repub- 
lican. 

W. R. HOOPPAW, Jr., lumberman, Villa 
Ridge. Among the energetic business men of 
this precinct, we find the gentleman whose 
name appears at the head of this sketch. He 
was born in Pulaski County January 7, 1860, 
and is the sou of W. R. Hooppaw, Sr., whose 
sketch appears in this work. Our subject was 
reared and educated in this county. Most of 
his eai'ly life was spent in his father's store. 
In 1881 and 1882, he was engaged in the man- 
ufacture of fruit boxes- in Villa Ridge. Late 
in the summer of 1882, his factory and material 
were all burned. In the spring of 1883, he en- 
gaged in his present business of saw milling 
with Mr. G. A. Pavey. Their mill is located 
about one mile north of Villa Ridge, and was 
erected in 1882 for the purpose of sawing gum 
timber. The mill has a capacity of about 
5,000 feet daily, and Messrs. Pavey & Hooppaw 
have a contract for furnishing 1,000,000 feet of 
gum lumber to the Singer Sewing Machine 
Company of Cairo, at $12 per 1,000 feet, at the 
yard in Villa Ridge. August 28, 1882, he was 
married to Miss Lucy Codle. Mr. Hooppaw is 
a member of no society, and takes but little 
part in politics. 

T. S. HOSLER, horticulturist. P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, was born in Lancaster County, Penn., 
April 12, 1840, to Israel and Sarah (Everet) 
Hosier. Both died in Pickaway County, Ohio, 
where they moved when our subject was small. 
In 1861, Mr. Hosier enlisted in Company K, 
Fifty-fifth Ohio Infantry, Col. Lee. He went out 
as a private, but was promoted successivel}- to 
First Lieutenantcy. He veteranized and served 
for four years and three months. He was in 
some of the hardest fights that .occurred during 
the war. At the battles of Bull Run and at 



YILLA RIDGE PRECINCT. 



289 



Chancellorsville, Va., and was there captured 
and taken to Libby Prison, but after thirty 
days got out on an exchange. He was in Gen. 
Hooker's Corps that charged the summit of 
Lookout Mountain in the fog, and was with 
Sherman on the march to the sea, and at the 
grand review in Washington at the close of the 
war. During a transfer from Louisville to 
Nashville, he was severely injured by falling 
under the cars, and the injury resulted in the 
loss of sight in the left eye. His occupa- 
tion since being mustered out of the serv- 
ice has been quite changeable, for four 
3^ears in the grocery and feed business at Up- 
per Sandusky, Ohio, then as builder and con- 
tractor at Ft. Waj'ne, Ohio, such being his 
trade ; afterward doing carpenter work in the 
car shops at Terre Haute, Ind. and Mattoon, 
111. He then went to Chicago, where he again 
engaged in contracting and building. After 
the last big fire in Chicago, he came to this 
count}' and bought his present farm, and has 
been engaged in fruit and vegetable growing 
since, and has been very successful. He has 
twice been married, first in Upper Sandusky. 
Ohio, in 1861, to Martha Midlam. She was 
born in Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg. Two 
sons were the result of this union, viz., Har- 
land and Pliny. In Chicago, he was married 
to his second wife, Mrs. F. W. Savage. Mr. 
Savage was a son of F. W. Savage, commis- 
sion merchant of Chicago. By her first hus- 
band, she had one daughter, Lottie Belle. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hosier have four children — Daisy 
May, Ernest Hayes, Nellie and Gracie. He 
and wife are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. In politics, he is Republican, 
casting his first vote for A. Lincoln. 

C. A. HOSMER, retired attornej' and coun- 
selor at law. Villa Ridge, was born at Avon, N. 
Y., June 14, 1818, and is the only surviving 
son of Hon. George Hosmer, who at the time 
of his death was one of the oldest and most 
prominent members of the bar in Western New 



York. He served for two terms in the New 
York State Legislature. Our subject is a lineal 
descendent of Revolutionary stock — one of his 
family and name, Rufus Hosmer, being among 
the first whose blood was shed at Concord. In 
Mr. Hosmer's parlor hangs the certificate of his 
grandfather, Hon. Timothy Hosmer, who was 
a surgeon in the Sixth Connecticut Regiment. 
He was a member of the society of the Cin- 
cinnati, a society formed at the close of 
the Revolution, by officers who had served 
during the war. George Hosmer, the father of 
our subject, was a Major in the war of 1812, 
and took part in the defense at the time Bufialo 
was burned. During the late unhappy rebellion, 
several of our subject's nearest kin shed their 
blood on the field of battle, in defense of the 
Union, and one brother was sacrificed, being 
made a prisoner at the time of Wilson's Cavalry 
Raid upon Richmond, in 1862. He died after 
months of suffering in Andersonville Prison. 
Mr. Hosmer studied law under his father, and 
was admitted to the practice in the courts of 
the State, and also of the United States. In 
1855, he removed west and located at Lock- 
port, Will Co., 111., but soon found that the 
climate was too changeable and severe on him- 
self and wife, so removed to his present resi- 
dence in 1856. They soon found that the 
genial climate of Southern Illinois was bene- 
ficial, and they have both entirely recovered 
from their catarrhal troubles, with which they 
had been afflicted for years. Mr. Hosmer re- 
sides on a farm one mile west of Villa Ridge, 
on the place formerly the residence of Dr. 
Daniel Arter, known and distinguished forty 
years ago as the house with the " glass 
windows." This place is situated on the Thebes 
and Caledonia road, the finest continuous high- 
way north of Cairo, running across the State 
from river to river, and is near enough to each 
river so that the whistle can often be heard 
from the boats. Mr. H. has long since I'etired 
from the arduous duties of his profession, and 



290 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



is trying to enjoy the latter days of an active 
life on a small fruit farm, where he can better 
rest from professional duties. He can now 
realize the words of the poet as applying to the 
pleasant clime he has chosen for his home : 

" Look now abroad, the scene how changed! 
Where fifty fleeting years ago, 
Clad in their savage costumes, ranged 
The belted lords of shaft and bow. 

" In praise of pomp let fawning art 
Carve rocks to triumph over years. 
The grateful incense of the heart 
We give our living pioneers. 

" For our undaunted pioneers. 

Have conquest most enduring won. 
In scattering the night of years. 
And opening forests to the sun." 

HALLECK JOHNSON, fruit-grower, P. 0. 
Villa Ridge. Among the young men in this pre- 
cinct who have engaged in fruit-growing, and 
have made a success of it, we find the gentleman 
whose name appears at the head of this sketch. 
He was born in Wayne County, 111., October 
28, 1861, to Dr. William M. and Mary A. (Gal- 
braith) Johnson. She was born in Illinois ; he 
in Tennessee, but when about five years 
old he left Tennessee and came to Jefferson i 
County, 111., where he resided till the fall of 
1861, thence to Wayne County, and has made 
that his home since. He has been engaged in 
the practice of medicine for about twenty-eight 
years. They are the parents of nine children, 
eight of whom are now living. Our subject 
was educated in the graded schools of Johnson- 
ville, and remained at home till March, 1880, 
when he came to Villa Ridge, and stayed with 
his uncle, G-. W. Endicott, the first year, learn- 
ing all he could of the fruit business. Al- 
though starting with nothing, he now has a 
nice farm in a good state of cultivation. He 
is member of the Villa Ridge Lodge, Patrons 
of Husbandry, also Meridian Lodge I. 0. G. T. 
and of the A., F. & A. M., of Johnsonville. In 
politics, he is a Republican. 



I. H. KELLY, physician. Villa Ridge, was 
born in Ohio in 1853, to H. S. and Gemima M. 
(Moore) Kelly. They were both natives of 
Ohio, she born in Portsmouth, he in Scioto 
County. He died in Pope County, 111., in 
1869 ; she, however, still survives. To them 
eight children were born, seven of whom are 
still living, our subject being the youngest of 
the family. He was reared on a farm, and re- 
ceived his common school education in Pope 
County, 111., and at Duquoin. In 1873, he 
began the study of medicine, and completed 
the medical course in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, in 1880. In 
1878, he began practicing his profession in 
Pope County, 111., under Dr. Lewis, and after 
graduation continued in the practice in Pope 
County till November, 1882, when he came to 
Villa Ridge, where he has begun to build up a 
practice, and meets with encouraging success 
in his chosen school, that of the Regular. 
The Doctor resides about one mile east 
of the village, where he is also engaged in 
the fruit and vegetable business. Previ- 
ous to beginning the practice of medicine, the 
Doctor had been engaged in teaching and 
clerking. April, 1878, he was married in Sa- 
line, 111., to Henrietta Lewis. She was born in 
Saline, daughter of Robert Lewis, farmer and 
school teacher. She has also engaged in teach- 
ing. Dr. Kelly is a member of the I. 0. G. T 
He and wife are members of the Baptist- 
Church. The fathers of each were ministers in 
the same church. He takes but little part in 
politics, but is Independent. 

J. H. KINKER, fruit grower, P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, was born in Franklin County, Ind., Oct. 
23, 1836, to J. H. and Mary Ann (Boehmer) 
Kinker. They were both born in the Kingdom of 
Hanover, came to America in 1832, and both 
died in Indiana. To them seven children were 
born, five of whom are still living. Our sub- 
ject was reared in a small village, where his 
father kept a family grocery store and was also 



VILLA RIDGE PRECINCT. 



291 



engaged in farming. Our subject received 
most of his education in the public schools of 
his native village, then attended college for one 
year at Vincennes, Ind. In early life, he began 
school teaching, and followed that for three 
years, when he engaged in farming and contin- 
ued till 1868, when he sold his farm and re- 
moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was en- 
gaged in the family grocery business for six 
3'^ear8. In 1874, he came to Illinois and en- 
gaged in farming and fruit growing. His farm 
contains 120 acres, in good state of cultivation. 
November 23, 1858, he was married in Indiana 
to Catherine Walker. She was born in the 
Kingdom of Hanover, but came to the United 
States of America when she was small. She is 
daughter of Anthony Walker. Mr. Kinker is 
a member of Patrons of Husbandry, also of 
Villa Ridge Lodge, A., F. & A. M. In politics, 
he is Independent. 

N. N. KOONCE, farmer and fruit grower, 
P. 0. Villa Ridge, was born at Harper's Ferry, 
Va., October 24, 1830, to Nicholas and Elizabeth 
(Shriver) Koonce. Both were born in Loudoun 
County, Va., he in 1788, she, in 1792. He 
died in 1859, she, May 7, 1883, at the age of 
ninety years and six months. They were the 
parents of ten children, seven of whom are 
living. The oldest son is conductor on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and has been for 
over forty years. In the fall of 1840, part of 
the famil}^ moved to Bond Count}', 111., and the 
remainder in 1841. Our subject was educated 
in Bond County. His occupation has most of 
his life been that of farming. September, 1864, 
he moved to Pulaski County, 111., and settled 
on his present farm then in the woods. His farm 
contains eighty acres all in cultivation. He 
gives his attention to fruit and vegetable grow- 
ing. When first coming here, he engaged the 
lumber business, and continued in that for six 
years, doing considerable shipping. He was 
married November 20, 1854, to Margaret 
Phillips. She was born in Uniontown, Penn., 



to D. H. and Elizabeth Phillips, who moved 
to Bond County, III, in 1852, the mother died 
there soon afterwards. The father died in Vir- 
ginia, while on a visit there. Mr. and Mrs. 
Koonce have seven children, Eliza, L! H., Ida 
N., Dasie, Harry E., Allie E. and J. Elmer. 
Mr. Koonce is member of the Pations of Hus- 
bandr}', and is greenback in politics. 

JOSEPH LUFKIN, fruit grower, P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, was born in North Yarmouth, Cumber- 
land County, Me., 1805, to Jacob B. and Betsie 
(Ludden) Lufkin. They both died in Maine. 
They were the parents of twelve children, eight 
of whom are still living, the youngest being 
sixty-four 3'ears of age. Our subject remembers 
many incidents of the war of 1812. He was 
reared on a farm, farming being his father's occu- 
pation. He remained at home till 1825, and 
during that year he was present at the laying of 
the corner stone of Bunker Hill monument, and 
saw Lafayette there. For three years then he 
worked at ship carpentering. In 1828, was 
married to Mar}' C. Merrill. She was born in 
Falmouth, Me. After marriage, he engaged in 
the mercantile business at Auburn, Me., and 
continued for about seventeen 3'ears. In 1860, 
he came to Union Count}-, 111., where he re- 
mained till November, 1863, when he came to 
Pulaski County, and for two years was station 
agent at Villa Ridge, he then moved on to his 
farm, and has been engaged in fruit and vege- 
table growing since. In politics, he is Repub- 
lican,' but was Democratic till after moving to 
Union County. Mr. and Mrs. Lufkin have five 
children, viz. : John I]., Joseph H., Mary, 0. A. 
and G. H. The daughter now resides at La 
Grange, Mo., her husband W. H. Thomas, being 
proprietor of River View Fruit Farm. The 
sons are all engaged in business in this State, 
the oldest being in family grocery business 
at Anna, 111., the second for eighteen years was 
connected with the I. C. R. R., but now fruit 
raising. The other sons are in Villa Ridge, en- 
gaged in mercantile business and carpentering. 



29S 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



(t. H. LUFKIN, fruit-grower and merchant, 
Villa Ridge, was born in Auburn, Me., June 
5, 1851, son of Josepli Lufkin. (See sketch.) 
Our subject is the youngest of the family. He 
received his education in Auburn, Me., and in 
Villa Ridge, and then attended the Illinois 
State University at Champaign, taking the civil 
engineer course, but quit school when he lacked 
but two terms of graduation. He then taught 
school for one year, when he bought an interest 
in a saw mill in Missouri, which he kept for a 
year. In 1877, he engaged in the fruit culture 
at Villa Ridge, and has been very successful. 
His fruit farm is one mile west of the village. 
He has in vineyard 8,000 vines, this being one 
of the largest in the State. Also grows straw- 
berries quite extensively'. In 1882, he engaged 
in the mercantile business in Villa Ridge, car- 
rying a general stock of about $6,000, with 
sales for the year reaching about $15,000. But 
Mr. Lufkin remains on his farm most of his 
time, giving it his personal attention. October 
15, 1882, he was married to Miss Nettie V. 
Hooppaw, daughter of W. R. Hooppaw. (See 
sketch.) In politics, he is Republican. 

J. P. MATHIS, lumber and farming, P. 0. 
Villa Ridge, was born in Johnson County, 111., 
April 5, 1851, to William and Cynthia (Scott) 
Mathis. They were from Trigg Count}^, Ky. 
Moved to Johnson County, 111., in 1849, and 
settled on the farm where our subject was born 
and reared. He died December, 1860, at the 
age of forty-five. She is still living on the old 
homestead. Our subject received his educa- 
tion in Johnson County, first in the common 
schools, then in select schools of Vienna. When 
starting out for himself he began b}^ teaching, 
and continued for eleven terms. He has since 
been engaged in farming, saw-milling, etc. At 
present he is in partnership with his brother- 
in-law, John H. Atherton. They have a saw- 
mill near Vienna, which has a capacity of about 
8,000 feet daily. They have a farm near Villa 
Ridge, of 240 acres, 120 of which are under 



cultivation, and it is here our subject resides. 
They are also engaged in dealing in agricult- 
ural implements, their headquarters for imple- 
ments being at Vienna, where they carry all 
kinds of farm machinery. Jul}^ 7, 1878, Mr. 
Mathis was married to Ellen E. Atherton. She 
was born at their present home, daughter of A. 
C. and Elizabeth J. Atherton. He was also born 
and reared on the same farm, but now resides 
at Hodge's Park, Alexander County, engaged in 
mercantile and saw-mill business. Mr. and 
Mrs. Mathis have two children — Alice Eliza- 
beth and Earnest Coleman. He is member of 
Vienna Lodge, No. 150, A., F. & A. M., and 
Vienna Chapter, No. 67. In politics, he is Re- 
publican. 

W. P. MINNICH, farmer, P. 0. Villa Ridge, 
was born in Ohio July 23, 1851. He is the son of 
Greorge Minnich, who was born in Clark County, 
Ohio, 1825, and came to Pulaski, 111., 1856, 
when the county was but little improved, the 
logging and milling business being the leading 
industry at the time. Mr. Minnich has since 
held prominent positions in the county, 
Sheriff, Surveyor, etc. Our subject was edu- 
cated in the common schools of the county, 
then attended one year at the State University 
at Champaign, 111. When commencing for 
himself it was by clerking in the store of W. 
R. Hooppaw in Villa Ridge, then he was with 
E. M. Titus, having one-fourth interest in the 
store. In 1876, he came to the farm and has 
been engaged in horticulture and agriculture 
since, he and his brother having charge of 
the home farm. He owns a farm of eighty 
acres north of Villa Ridge, fifty of which are in 
cultivation. He is member of the Villa Ridge 
Lodge, A., F. & A. M. In politics, he is Re- 
publican. November, 1882, he was elected a 
member of the County Board of Commissioners. 
December 5, 1881, he was married to Miss 
Emma Gr. Brown. She was born in Kentuck}', 
daughter of Judge A. M. Brown. Mr. and Mrs. 
Minnich have one child — Scott B. Judge A. 



VILLA RIDGE PRECINCT. 



293 



M. Brown was born in Bourbon Count}^, Ky., 
in 1818. By profession, he was an attorney. 
For some time he practiced his profession at 
Paris, Ky., and was editor of the Western 
Citizen, a Whig paper. For some time he had 
desired to move to a fruit-growing country ; 
so, in March, 1861, he came to this county, 
having bought land before. Here he resided 
till the time of his death, June 27, 1879. For 
years, he held the office of County Judge, and 
was one of the Trustees of the State Universit}^ 
at Champaign, from its origin till the time of 
his death. He also had been President of the 
State Horticultural Society. He was a member 
of the orders. A., F. & A. M. and I. 0. 0. F., 
and in politics always was a strong Republican, 
and always took an active part in helping to 
develop the count3^ In early life he had 
graduated at Hanover College, Hanover, Ind., 
and afterward read law with Judge Quarls, of 
Indianapolis, and for some time was in partner- 
ship with him. He was married, at Madison, 
Ind., 1841, to Mary A. Maxwell. She was 
born in Indiana, near Hanover. To them five 
children were born — Elizabeth (deceased), Ed- 
ward M., died at Jackson, Tenn., a member of 
Company I, Eighty -first Illinois Infantry ; 
Jennie T., A. B., and Emma Gr. Mi's. Brown 
still lives on the old homestead. 

W. F. PARKER, farmer, P. 0. Villa Ridge, 
born March 3, 1852, near Villa Ridge, Pulaski 
Co., 111. ; son of Thomas Parker, a native of Vir- 
ginia. He came to this county with his father 
when he was quite young, and here he followed 
farming till his death, which occurred in 1864. 
The mother of our subject was Elizabeth 
(Sheppard) Parker, yet living. She was the 
mother of ten children. Our subject received 
a common school education at the old Valley 
Forge school house near Villa Ridge. In early 
life he turned his attention to farming, and has 
made that his vocation through life. Our sub- 
ject was joined in matrimony October 4, 1874, 
in Alexander County, near Goose Island, to 



Miss Martha M. Berry, born January 12, 1857, 
in Missouri, near Charleston. She is a daugh- 
ter of David B. Berry, a native of Kentucky. 
Mrs. Martha M Parker is the mother of three 
children now living, viz., Nellie E., born June 
23, 1875 ; William 0., born December 1, 1878, 
and Jenette May, born May 3, 1881. Mr. 
Parker has a fruit fai-m two miles east of Villa 
Ridge. He is a member of the Independent 
Order of Good Templars. In politics, he is in- 
dependent. 

G. A. PAVEY, saw mill and fruit-grower. 
Villa Ridge, was born in Buffalo, N. Y., May 5, 
1847. In 1849, his father went to California, 
and in 1852 his mother also went, but our sub- 
ject remained in New York till 1856, when he 
also was sent to California. His father vvas 
engaged in hotel business, supply store, ranch, 
and he ran a stage line from Placerville to 
Stockton via Dry Town, Jackson, etc. Our 
subject assisted his father in his business after 
he was old enough, and attended the public 
schools of El Dorado, then two 3'ears at Santa 
Clara College, Santa Clara, Cal. In 1868, his 
mother died and he returned to New York, 
where he remained for a short time and then 
came to this count}', which has been his home 
most of the time since. His occupation has 
been quite general since coming here, teaching, 
clerking, saw-milling, fruit-growing, etc. For 
six years he clerked for W. R. Hooppaw, Sr., 
at Villa Ridge and Pulaski, also in the New 
York store of Patier & Wolf, of Cairo, leaving 
their employ in 1881, to go to California to 
attend to business after his father's death. He 
remained in California for one \'ear, then re- 
turned to this county and has been in saw mill 
since, also fruit-raising on his farm of thirty- 
three acres. September 1st, 1872, he was mar- 
ried to Miss E. J. Hooppaw, eldest daughter of 
W. R. Hooppaw, Sr. Two sons and one daugh- 
ter are the result of this union, viz., Charles 
William Barton, George Paul and Anna Laura. 
Mr. Pavey is a member of Villa Ridge Lodge. 



294 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



No. 562. A. F. & A. M., and for years of the ! 
I. 0. of Gr. T. He and wife are merabers of i 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of Villa Ridge, j 
In politics, he is Republican, and was Deputy 
Sheriff of this county under H. H. Spencer, for \ 
two years. 

A. POLLOCK, farmer, P. 0. Villa Ridge, was 
born in Renfrewshire, Scotland, near the city of 
Glasgow, on the 10th of March, 1831, to Rob- 
ert and Agnes (Campbell) Pollock, both of 
whom died in Scotland, their native State. Of 
their children, Mr. Pollock, our subject, is the 
only one residing in America. He came to the 
United States in 1851, and in 1856 came to 
Pulaski County and engaged in farming and 
lumbering, making the latter a specialty. His 
first operation in the lumber business was at 
Villa Ridge, and afterward moved his mill as 
the scarcity of the timber demanded. He was 
for a time the partner of S. 0. Lewis, but is 
now alone in business, running a mill at San- 
dusky, Alexander Co., 111. In 1860, he married 
Miss Mary Ann Barnett, a native of the coun- 
ty. They have five children — Robert L., Mary 
Agnes, William, Jesse and Walter. Mr. P. is 
a good citizen, enjoying the confidence and es- 
teem of all who know him, is an active mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity, and a Republican, 
politically. 

LEWIS REDDEN, fruit-grower, P. 0. A^lla 
Ridge, was born in Nova Scotia, to Patrick and 
Elizabeth (Schofille) Redden. They were both 
born in Nova Scotia. He was the son of 

James and (Lawrence) Redden. James 

Redden was from Ireland, but the Lawrences 
were English. Patrick Redden is still living 
in Aylesford, Nova Scotia, and is over eighty 
years of age. His occupation has been that of 
farming. His wife died some years ago. To 
them six sons and three daughters were born, 
all of whom are living, except one. Our sub- 
ject was educated in his native country, and 
learned the carpenter's trade at home. For one 
summer he followed the ocean, coasting along 



the United States coast. In 1860, he came to 
the United States, and worked at his trade in 
different places for some 3'ears, and in January, 
1868, settled on his present fruit farm and be- 
gan its improvement. He gives his entire at- 
tention to fruit-growing, and his farm is in an 
excellent state of cultivation. He is also inter- 
ested in a sheep ranch in Butler County, Kan. 
Mr. Redden had never taken out his full nat- 
uralization papers till 1882. He does not hold 
to either political party. April 9, 1867, he was 
married in Pulaski County to Miss Margax-et 
Castle. She was born in Ohio April 16, 1844, 
to John and Rhoda (Wynans) Castle. He was 
born in Maryland, she in Ohio. (See sketch of 
D. H. Winans.) Both parents now dead, she 
dying in Bond County- , 111., when Mrs. Redden 
was small ; he in this county in the spring of 
1883. They had moved to Bond County when 
Mrs. R. was small, and it was there she was 
reared. Mr. Castle came to Ohio when small, 
and during life he followed school-teaching, 
carpentering and farming. Mr. and Mrs. R. 
have four children — Otis, David, Martha and 
Minnie. 

A. B. ROBERSON, fruit-grower, P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, is a native of Wilkes County, N. C, born 
April 24, 1835. His father, James Roberson, was 
born in Wilkes County, N. C, February 19, 
1808, where he was reared, educated and mar- 
ried. In 1842, with his family, he emigi'ated 
to Pulaski County, 111. He died May 10, 
1852. His wife (subject's mother) Mar}- (Wal- 
lis) Roberson, was born in Iredell Count}-. N. 
C, November 14, 1812, and is now living. Of 
the six children born to them, three are now 
living, A. B. Roberson being the oldest child. 
He was reared on the farm, and the death of 
his father, together with the poor school facili- 
ties, deprived him of the opportunit}' of receiv- 
ing anything but a limited education. After 
his father's death, he became the main support 
of the famil}^, and remained at home until he 
was twenty -five years of age, when he married 



VILLA RIDGE PRECINCT. 



295 



Oeorgiana Timmons, a native of the county, 
and a daughter of George and Lucinda (Conor) 
Walters. She died May 11, 1868, leaving 
two children, viz.: George C. and Mary L. He 
married a second time Mrs. Susan S. Pierce, by 
whom he had one child, Susan Bertha. On the 
7th of February, 1875, he married his present 
wife, Miss Amanda J. Essex. Mr. Roberson 
has always been engaged in farming and fruit- 
growing, and is now the owner of 140 acres of 
well-improved land. He has filled many of the 
offices of the county, is an enterprising and 
self-made man, bearing a good reputation. In 
connection with his farm, he is engaged in the 
mercantile business. 

MICHAEL ROCHE, farmer, P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, was born in Ireland in 1822, to Richard 
and Margaret (Jones) Roche, both born in Ire- 
land. When our subject was sixteen years of 
age, they came to the United States, and came 
to Pulaski County, October, 1839. On the 29th 
of October of the same year they both died, 
and are buried in the Shiloh burying grounds. 
Our subject did not come to this county with 
his parents, but remained in New York for some 
years, and while there served an apprentice- 
ship in learning the molder's business. In 1 848 
he came to Illinois, and taught school the first 
winter at the old Shiloh log church. The next 
summer, he farmed, but in the winter went to 
St. Louis and worked at his trade, then came 
back to this county and finished two miles for 
I. C. R. R. Since that, he has been engaged in 
farming, and has been very successful. He 
now owns 160 acres of land, about 100 being 
in cultivation. He was married in Albany, N. 
Y., July 26, 1847, to Ellen Murphy. They 
have three children living — Margaret, now Mrs. 
Joe Miller ; James, at home, and Anna, at- 
tending school at Notre Dame. Our subject is 
a member of the Catholic Church, and got 
Father McCabe, the first priest, to come to 
Southern Illinois. 

B. A. ROYALL, M. D., Villa Ridge. 
Among the practitioners of materia medica in 



Pulaski County, none are more deserving of 
an honorable mention in this work than Dr. 
B. A. Royall, the subject of this sketch. He is 
the second child of a family of nine children 
born to Joseph and Mary (Arnold) Ro3'all, both 
natives of Vermont, who were removed to 
Tennessee when quite j'oung, by their parents, 
and where they were married. The mother 
died when our subject was quite young ; and 
the father died in Pulaski County, 111., August 
9, 1882. B. A. Royall was born in Carroll 
County, Tenn., on the 27th of September, 
1849; here he spent his early life, assisting to 
till the soil of his father's farm, and receiving 
such an education as could be obtained in the 
common schools. In 1868, he began the study 
of medicine with Dr. Goshorn, of Dyersburg, 
Tenn., and continued with him until he entered 
Rush Medical College of Chicago, attending 
the cour.ses of 1870-1871. At the close of the 
course of lectures in the latter year, he came 
to Villa Ridge, and engaged in the practice of 
his chosen profession. The Doctor has built 
up a large and lucrative practice, and as a 
ph3'Sician and gentleman stands high in the 
esteem of his fellow-men. In Pulaski County, 
111., November 26, 1871, he married Miss Sarah 
J., daughter of George W. and Sarah J. (Ken- 
nedy) Bankson, who were early settlers of the 
county, emigrants from Tennessee. Mrs. Roy- 
all was born in Pulaski County, 111., and is the 
mother of two children — Lilly and Stella. In 
connection with his practice of medicine, the 
Doctor finds time to oversee his beautiful fruit 
farm, which contains 140 acres of good land. 
He is an active member of the A., F. & 
A. M. and Knights of Honor. Politically, he 
is identified with the principles of the Demo- 
cratic party. 

B. H. SCHEIRICK, fruit farmer, P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, was born in Lancaster Countj', Penn., 
February 1, 1833, to Henry and Margaret 
Scheirick, both of whom were born and died in 
Pennsylvania. They were parents of four sons 



398 



BIOGRAPHICAl^. 



and two daughters. In 1865 our subject came 
West, settling first in Ohio, but shortly after- 
ward came to Villa Kidge, and remained in the 
village for two years, then to his present fruit 
farm. By trade he is a coach-maker, serving 
an apprenticeship of three 3'ears, then worked 
under instructions for a year longer. He was 
married in Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Metzger. 
She was also born in Lancaster County, Penn. 
Mr. and Mrs. Scheirick have two sons and two 
daughters. In politics, he is Republican. When 
first coming to his farm it was all in woods, but 
by his energ}^ and industry he has made a suc- 
cess, and has his farm in good state of cultiva- 
tion. Strawberries, grapes, sweet potatoes, etc., 
receive his attention. 

T. N. TAYLOR, teacher, Villa Ridge, was 
born in Owensboro, Ky., January 1, 1858, 
son of Thomas and Maria (Norris) Taylor. 
They were both born in Ohio, and he was a 
relative of President Taylor. By trade he was 
a carpenter, but had engaged in the saw-mill 
business before his death, which occurred in 
1864, in Massac County, 111. She died in Hick- 
man, Ky.. in 1862. They were the parents of 
five children, four of whom are still living, two 
daughters and two sons. The daughters both 
reside in New Orleans. Our subject and his 
brother, Gleorge Z., in this county. George Z. 
is ship carpenter on the United States boat, 
" John N. McCombe," but his family resides in 
Mound City. Our subject, the youngest of the 
famil}^, was educated in the high school of Me- 
tropolis, III., and then, instead of selecting some 
mechanical pursuit, as almost all his relatives 
have done, he chose the profession of teacher, 
and for several years taught school in John- 
son County, 111., and then began a classical 
course at the Southern State Normal, at Car- 
bondale. He attended for three years, and has 
taught two successful years in this (Pulaski) 
County, one year being Principal of the Villa 
Ridge Schools. In 1882 he again returned to 
the Normal to complete his course, but his 



health failed, and he had to abandon it for the 
time. For two seasons, he has represented the 
fruit commission firm of Ender& Meyers, of 
Chicago, at this point. He is member of Me- 
ridian Lodge, No. 94, I. 0. of G. T.; also Mound 
City Lodge, No. 250, I. 0. 0. F. He is Repub- 
lican in politics. 

E. M. TITUS, merchant and fruit-grower, 
was born in Auburn, Cayuga Co., N. Y., 
January 2, 1829, son of G. W. and Jerusha 
(Sutphin) Titus. They were natives of Middle- 
sex County, N. J., both born in 1800. After 
marriage they moved into New York. In 1839, 
they moved to Franklin Count}^, Ohio, where 
they died, she in 1844, he in 1862. The}' were 
the parents of four sons, three of whom still 
survive, the other being killed by Indians in 
Oregon. I. S. is a physician in San Francisco, 
the other, A. R., is a cabinet-maker, in Michigan. 
For some years, our subject was engaged in the 
distilling business in Ohio. In 1855, he went 
to California, where he was engaged in mining, 
but in 1860 he came to Cairo, 111., and was in 
the wholesale grocery house of Trover & Miller. 
In 1867, he located in Villa Ridge, and engaged 
in the general merchandise business, and has 
been here since, having different partners in 
business. In 1877, Mr. E. J. Ayers bought an 
interest in the store, and has continued since. 
They carry a complete general stock of about 
$10,000, with annual sales reaching $30,000. 
Mr. Titus has been Postmaster of Village Ridge 
since March 1, 1873. In Ohio, in 1854, he was 
married to Christina Montgomery. She was 
born in Coshocton Co., Ohio, to John and Mar}- 
(Markley) Montgomery, both of whom are na- 
tives of Ohio and still living. Mr. and Mrs. 
Titus have five children, viz.: John, Frances, 
Mary, Seth and George. He is member of I. 
0. 0. F. In politics, is Republican. Mr. Titus 
resides about two and one-half miles east of 
Villa Ridge, where he has a fruit farm, having 
eighty acres, about one-half being in fruit and 
vegetables. 



VILLA RIDGE l^RECINCT. 



297 



ROBERT WELSEN, farmer, miller, etc., 
P. 0. Villa Ridge, was born in Saxony, 
German}^, February 28, 1832, son of^Gott- 
helf and Regina Welsen. The father was 
a farmer in Saxon}^, and was raised and 
died there. They were the parents of thir- 
teen children, our subject being the youngest, 
and the only one of the family to emigrate to 
America. He received his education in the 
high schools of his native country. In 1850, 
he came to the United States, to New Orleans, 
■ then New Albany, Ind., where he worked in a 
foundry and learned the trade. July 10, 1857, 
he came to Mound Cit}^, and worked at his 
trade for a short time, but soon quit and engaged 
in other business for himself. Since 1860, he 
has been engaged in saw and grist mill busi- 
ness in Missouri, in Mound City, and since 
1873 at his present location. He is also en 
gaged in farming, his farm contains eighty 
acres, and lies one-half mile north of Villa 
Ridge. At New Albany, Ind., April 22, 1855, 
he was married to Margaret Vogle. She was 
born in Bavaria, April 13, 1834, to Wolfgang 
and Kate Vogle. He died in the old country. 
Mrs. Welsen came to America with her mother 
in 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Welsen have three chil- 
dren — Emma, John F. and Flora. They were 
reared in the Lutheran Church. 

H. H. WIETING, fruit-farmer, P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, was born in Hanover, German}', Novem- 
ber 10, 1821, to Gearhard and Deborah Wiet- 
ing. They were born and lived in the same 
State of which our subject was a native, and 
both died there, at the age of sixty-three years. 
His occupation was that of farmer. They were 
the parents of eight children, only three of 
whom are still living, our subject being the 
OTa\y one in America ; one sister came also, but 
she has been dead many j-ears. Mr. Wieting 
was reared on a farm, and educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native country. At the 
time he was twenty years of age, eleven out of 
every hundred were exempt from the army, 



and our subject drew one of the exemption 
tickets, so did not have to sei've any time in the 
army. In 1847, he came to the United States, 
and settled in Pulaski County, 111., and this 
State has been his home since. In making the 
trip, he was eight weeks on the water, coming 
to New Orleans, then up the river to Caledonia. 
November 11, 1873, he came to his present 
farm. It had been let go down and thrown out, 
but Mr. Wieting has now put it in a good state 
of cultivation. His farm contains eighty-three 
acres, fifty of which are in cultivation. Straw- 
berries receive most of his attention. Novem- 
ber 11, 1849, he was married in this county to 
Mary Sowers. She was a native of North 
Carolina, daughter of David Sowers, one of the 
early settlers of the county. She died August 
11, 1851, leaving one child, which died in in- 
fancy. October 14, 1852, he was married to 
Pheba Essex, she was born in North Carolina. 
(See sketch of Joseph Essex.) Mr. and Mrs. 
Wieting have three children dead and two liv- 
ing — Mary Ann, Lovina and Nancy deceased, 
Joseph H. and Susie, the living. Mr. W. and 
family are members of the Shiloh Baptist 
Church. 

D. H. WINANS, fruit-farmer, P. 0. Villa 
Ridge, was born in Piqua, Miama Co., 111., 
September 20, 1825, to John and Louis (Hand) 
Winans. Both were born in Newark, N. J., 
and were married previous to moving to 
Ohio. They died in Ohio, he, in 1833 of 
the cholera, she at the age of eighty-four 
years. They were the parents of seven chil- 
dren, four of whom still survive. He by trade 
was a boot and shoe maker. Our subject, who 
is the youngest of the family, received his edu- 
cation in Piqua, Ohio, and while in Illinois 
learned the marble business. In the fall of 
1847, he come to St. Louis, and in spring of 
1850, started in the marble business in Green- 
ville, 111., and carried on a shop till 1864, when 
he went to Cairo, where he remained till 1881, 
then came to his present farm, but his family 



•298 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



had preceded him to the farm two years. As 
he has stock on hand, he still works some at 
the marble business. His farm contains 126 
acres, on this he cultivates fruits. December 20, 
1853, he was married in Carlyle, 111., to Ellen 
L. Norton. She was born in Bond County, 111., 
to Augustus and Sarah (Scott) Norton (both de- 
ceased). Mr. and Mrs. Winans have seven 



children — Alice H., William L., John D., Mary 
E., David H., Josie M. and Walter S. He is 
member of the I. 0. 0. F., Alexander Lodge, 
No. 224, of Cairo. He had joined the order 
before coming west, also belongs to the Cairo 
Encampment, and to the Villa Ridge Pat- 
rons of Husbandry. He is Republican in 
politics. 



GEAND OHAII^ PEECINCT. 



JAMES A. C. ALLEN, physician. New 
Grand Chain, is a native of Piince Edward 
County, Va., born July 23, 1827, a son of Sims 
and Margaret (Calhoun) Allen, both natives of 
Virginia. The father was a farmer, and was a 
man of great talents for one of no profession. 
He was well versed in the literature of the day, 
and was favored with comparative great 
wealth. His death occurred in 1870, at which 
time he was eighty-four 3'ears old. He was in 
the war of 1812. His wife, by whom he had 
five children, died early, when our subject was 
small, and he subsequent!}- married Sally 
(Vaughn) Whitehead. James A. C. Allen, the 
subject of these lines, in his younger days was 
quite feeble in health, which circumstance per- 
mitted only an occasional attendance in the 
old subscription schools of his native county. 
Engaging in farming pursuits imparted new 
vigor to his frame, and his health was thereby 
greatly improved. Leaving Virginia about 
1850, he traveled considerably for his health 
also, and in August, 1853, he located in Union 
County, 111. Previous to leaving his old home, 
however, he had commenced the study of medi- 
cine under M. A. Bentley, M. D., of New York, 
who also removed to Illinois, and the two ac- 
cidently met, neither one knowing that the 
other had wandered so far West. The two 
practiced together for a year or so, Dr. Bent- 



ley dying in 1854 ; the same year our subject 
went to Williamson County, 111., where he was 
engaged in the practice of his profession for a 
period of ten years, during which time he 
farmed some, also being the owner of two 
farms. In this county, he was married, No- 
vember 22, 1854, to Sarah E. Todd, a daugh- 
ter of John W. and Mahala (Phillips) Todd, 
natives of Tennessee. About 1864, he re- 
turned to Union Count}-, where he remained 
until 1873, at which date he came to Pulaski 
County, and has since resided here. He has a 
farm of eighty acres, besides his residence in 
Grand Chain. His family consists of three 
children — John S., born December 29, 1855 ; 
Margaret V., April 19, 1858, and James E., 
January 26, 1862. The Doctor is a member 
of the A., F. & A. M., Saline Lodge, No. 336. 
Politically, he is a Democrat. 

THE BARTLESON FAMILY. John Bar- 
tleson was born in Virginia about 1801. He 
was a tailor by trade, and was thus engaged 
in Lancaster, Penn., at an early age. It was 
here or somewhere in the immediate vicinity, 
that he became acquainted with Mary W.. 
Chapman, and shortly afterward married her. 
From information gleaned from the most 
authentic resources, it appears that the only 
known i-elative that John Bartleson had, was a 
half-brother by the name of James Bartleson, 



GRAND CHAIN PRECINCT. 



299 



t was much the same case with his wife. She 
was the only child of Ambrose Chapman, 
and being left an orphan at an early age. was 
raised b}- her grandmother, at whose death she 
was left without a relative within her knowl- 
edge. After their marriage, the happy twain 
removed to Ohio, and very soon afterward lo- 
cated in Stark County, where a part of their 
large family was raised. They removed to 
Morgan County, of the same State, and re- 
sided there 'for a few years. In 1843, they 
came ^est, by river, settling in Pulaski 
County, where their two youngest children were 
born. In all. there were thirteen children, viz., 
Edwin, who now lives in Missouri ; A. C, 
Robert and William, twins ; Amanda (de- 
ceased), Eliza S., James. Warren K., Aratus, 
Mary J., an infant (deceased), Alonzo (de- 
ceased), and John W. John Bartleson and his 
two eldest sons, were in the Mexican war. 
The father was killed at the battle of Buena 
Vista. The report of his death nearly broke 
the heart of the one by whom he was most 
dearly loved. She was left a widow, with 
twelve children, the j'oungest of whom was 
born while his patriotic father was fighting 
for his country. But it was not long before 
the ringing tones of the bugle were heard 
again throughout the land. This time, we were 
divided against ourselves. President Lincoln 
called for those who would uphold the stars 
and stripes, who would fight for union and for 
liberty. Nobly, gloriously, did she respond to 
the nation's call for aid ; no less than eight no- 
ble sons did she send to the front, to give their 
lives if necessary, for that of the country, to 
which their father before had given his all. 
Two went out as Captains of companies. 
Seven of the eight returned. Alonzo died in 
Cairo. Mary W. Bartleson passed away Jan- 
uary 4, 1868, loved and respected by all. 

A. C. BABTLESON, proprietor Oaktown 
Saw Mills and farmer, Oaktown, was born De- 
cember 6, 1827, in Stark County, Ohio, the sec- 



ond child born to John and Mary W. (Chap- 
man) Bartleson. He received but a meager 
education in the schools of Morgan County, 
Ohio, his parents removing there when he was 
small. At the age of ten years, he was hired 
out to a man to work on a farm, and was thus 
engaged for six months, receiving but $3 per 
month for his services. In 1843, he came to 
Pulaski County with his parents, and he now 
owns the old homestead on which they first 
settled. He has given most of his attention 
during life to farming pursuits. He now owns 
over 2,000 acres of land in this count}' and 
80 acres in Massac Count}'. Most of this he 
runs himself, and part he rents. In 1871, he 
built, in connection with other parties, his pres- 
ent saw-mill, which gives employment to from 
fifteen to forty men. He owns several build- 
ings surrounding the mill, which are used as 
dwelling houses by his employes. He also 
runs a general store at Oaktown, and also the 
post oflSce; and is also freight agent of the Wa- 
bash Railroad at this point. In 1849, he was 
married to Nancy Kitchel, who died in 1852 
the mother of two children, one living — John 
F., born in 1850. He was married a second 
time in 1862 to Susan M. Wilson, a daughter 
of William W. Wilson, of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. 
Bartleson are the parents of six children, five 
of whom are living — Wilson W., George A., 
Mary A., Nancy L. and Hugh B. In June, 
1846, our subject and father enlisted in the 
Second Illinois Infantry, in the Mexican war. 
The father was afterward elected Lieutenant of 
the company. He was killed at the battle of 
Buena Vista. Augustus served out his year of 
enlistment, and returned home in Jul}', 1847. 
In 1853, he went to California, and was engaged 
in mining, etc., until 1857. He is a member of 
A. F. & A. M., Grand Chain Lodge, No. 660. In 
1858, he was elected SheriflT, and served two 
years. He was re-elected to the same position 
in 1862, and served a like period. In politics, 
he is a Democrat. He has a residence and a 



300 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



small fruit farm in Villa Ridge, where he re- 
sides a part of the year. 

ROBERT B. B ARTLESON, of Bartleson & 
Lipe, grocers, New Grand Chain, was born in 
Stark County, Ohio, March 31, 1829, a twin 
brother to William. His early schooling was 
limited. He received what little he did get in 
Morgan County, his parents removing to that 
county when he was small. He came with his 
parents to Pulaski County in 1843, and took 
up farming for an occupation. In 1852, he 
made a purchase of land, and up to 1878 he 
was engaged in farming. At the latter date, 
he sold out and went to Kansas, returning a 
year later, and in March, 1880, went into the 
family groceiy business, in which he has since 
been engaged. In May, 1881, he took in Frank 
D. Lipe as a partner. In August, 1862, Mr. 
Bartleson enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. Nimrao. 
He served a few months in this regiment, in 
Company K. The remaining eleven companies 
were arrested at Holly Springs, and while they 
were under arrest Company K went into the 
Ninety-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The 
company was afterwai'd transferred to the 
Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Infantr}-, whose 
depleted ranks were filled up by many from 
the old One Hundred and Ninth. They were 
mustered out in July, 1865. May 9, 1852, sub- 
ject was married to Eliza A. Youngblood, a 
daughter of Absalom Youngblood, of Pulaski 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Bartleson are the par- 
ents of seven children, six of whom are living 
— Augustus A., Viola J., Mary E., Missouri M., 
Robert B. and Harry. Mr. Bartleson is a 
member of the K. of H., and, with his wife, of 
the K. & L. of H. In political affairs, he votes 
for whom he considers the best man. He is 
the owner of Bartleson's Hall and building, and 
also a residence and other property in New 
Grand Chain. 

WILLIAM BARTLESON, farmer, P. 0. 
New Grand Chain, was born in Stark County, 



Ohio, March 31, 1829, a twin brother to Rob- 
ert. He received his first schooling in Morgan 
County, Ohio, where his parents had removed 
when he was small. With them he came to 
what is now Pulaski County, in 1843, and 
started out for himself some time afterward as 
a farmer. He was united in marriage in 1851, 
to Elizabeth Hale, a daughter of Richard and 
Drusilla (Matthews) Hale. Her mother was 
akin to the old Matthews families injMississippi, 
including Gov. Matthews and others who were 
prominent in the early history of that State. 
She died in March, 1882, at the advanced age 
of eighty-nine years. Mr. and Mrs. Bartleson 
are the parents of eight children, four of whom 
survive — Amanda C, Jennie, Cora and Will- 
iam. In 1857, Mr. Bartleson sold out his prop- 
erty here and removed to Texas, where he was 
engaged in farming and general work. He re- 
turned two years later, but in the spring of 
1860 moved to Duquoin, 111., where he resided 
for nine years. Here he enlisted in Company 
A, Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Col. 
M. K. Lawler. They did heavy fighting at 
Fort Donelson, and were afterward at Pitts- 
burg Landing and Vicksburg. At Fort Don- 
elson he received a slight wound, a ball pass- 
ing through his right ear from the front, mak- 
ing a narrow escape for himself; He served 
out his three years of enlistment, and was mus- 
tered out at Little Rock, x\rk., in July, 1864, 
and returned to Duquoin. In 1870, he re- 
moved back to Pulaski County, and purchased 
his present place, which is situated on the banks 
of the Ohio River, a stretch of several miles of 
which is visible from his residence. He be- 
longs to the A., F. & A, M., and also K. & L. 
of H. In politics he votes the Republican 
ticket. 

JAMES BARTLESON, farmer, P. 0. New 
Gi'and Chain, was born February 2, 1834, in 
Morgan Count}', Ohio. He received a little 
schooling in that count}', and coming with his 
parents to what is now Pulaski County, in 



GRAND CHAIN PRECINCT. 



301 



1843, he attended the schools here and also 
two winter terms in Vienna, Johnson Co., 111. 
In the spring of 1857, he went to Perry County, 
111., and was engaged as a teacher in the 
schools of that county, and here he was mar- 
ried October 1, of the same year, to Sarah 
Steers, a daughter of John and Sally (Tharp) 
Steers. After his marriage, he taught two. win- 
ter terms east of Duquoin, and then in the fall 
of 1859 removed to Blairsville, Williamson Co., 
Ill, where he taught a seven months' term. 
During the following summer he was engaged 
in brick-making, and had engaged a school for 
the next winter, but the civil war was then 
brewing, and the Republicans and Democrats 
were becoming somewhat hostile toward each 
other. The affairs of the Board of School 
Directors were manipulated Democi'atically, so 
to speak, and it was soon discovered that 
there was no need for any Republican teachers 
whatever. Mr. Bartleson moved back to Pulaski 
Count}', where his services were desired, and 
he taught for two winter terms. He enlisted in 
August, 1862, as First Lieutenant in Company I, 
Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantr}', Col. 
Dolling. They did valuable service throughout 
the Mississippi campaign, and were mustered out 
August, 1865. At Vicksburg, he was promoted 
to the Captainc}' of his company, and served 
two ^ears as such. During the war, he had 
traded his farm in this county for seventy acres 
of his present place, which now consists of 
190 acres, which are given to general farming. 
He taught school several terms after his return 
from the service, and was also in partnership 
with "W. I. Steers, engaged in the mercantile 
business for a short period in Old Grand 
Chain. Mr. and Mrs. Bartleson are the parents 
of nine children, seven of whom are living — 
John W. and Z3'lpha, the two oldest, are both 
deceased, James W., Luella M., Ida E., George 
G., Sally M., Frederick A. and Elsie G. Mr. 
Bartleson is a member of the A., F. & A. M.; 
K. of H., K. & L. of H., a. T. and G. A. R.. 



and with his wife and daughters members of 
Christian Church. In politics, he is a Repub- 
lican, and also gives his support to the temper- 
ance cause. During the winters of 1855-56 
and 1856-57, he was engaged in trade, boating 
on the Mississippi. In the summer of 1853, 
his brother, A. C, who was with him in New 
Orleans, took the yellew fever and had nearly 
succumbed to the disease when they had 
reached Caledonia, upon their return. 

WARREN K. BARTLESON, merchant and 
miller. New Grand Chain, was born December 
20, 1835, in Morgan County, Ohio. He obtained 
his early education in his native county, and 
his parents removing to Pulaski County when 
he was eight years old, he continued his 
studies here. He was raised on the farm, and 
has given a large share of his attention to 
farming, but during his life has been engaged 
in various occupations. In Jul}', 1861, he en- 
listed in the First Illinois Cavahy ; but Com- 
pany H, to which he belonged, was never in 
the regiment; the latter was captured, and 
afterward paroled, and b}^ an order of War 
Department, was mustered out at St. Louis, 
Mo Mr. Bartleson was among the first 
federal troops to enter Memphis after its sur- 
render, and was at the bombardment of Fort 
Madrid, and entered it the morning after its 
evacuation. He returned home, and Ma}- 10, 
1863, was united in marriage to H. Amelia 
Porter, born March 16, 1846, a daughter of 
David and Tirzah (Vandeveer) Porter. Mr. 
and Mis. Bartleson are the parents of seven 
children, four of whom are living — Sarah M., 
born September 8, 1864 ; Charles W., October 
16, 1867 ; Marcus D., August 13, 1870, and 
John F., July 27, 1872. After the war, Mr. 
Bartleson engaged in stock-dealing and farm- 
ing, and shortly afterward went to merchan- 
dising, which he followed from 1864 to 1870. 
In 1872, he moved to his present place, and 
built a fine residence the following year. He 
owns several hundred acres of land in the pre- 



302 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



cinet. He was one of three to lay off New 
Grand Chain. They built a depot in which he 
merchandized from 1873 to 1876. In the fall 
of 1877, he went to Texas, and for six months 
ran a general store at Hatchings. Upon his 
return to New Grand Chain, he purchased a 
half interest in the Pulaski flouring mills, and 
a few years later became its sole owner. In 
the spring of 1883, in company with J. R. Por- 
ter, his brother-in-law, he purchased the store 
of J. W. Gaunt, and they have since run it. 
The}' carry a general stock, and opposite the 
store have a warehouse filled with a line of 
coffins, wagons, etc. Mr. Bartleson is a mem- 
ber of the A., F. & A. M., Grand Chain Lodge, 
No. 660, and also the Good Templars, May- 
flower Lodge, No. 144. He is Democratic in 
politics. 

GEORGE W. BRISTOW. physician, New 
Grand Chain, is a native of Jackson County, 
Ind., born July 31, 1833, the eldest son of Will- 
iam and Malinda (Hays) Bristow. The father 
was born near Lexington, Ky. He was a con- 
servative rather than a progressive man. In 
early life he showed especial aptitude in hand- 
ling tools, and for many jears he labored as a 
mechanic. He was a man to whom new ideas 
and new inventions amounted to nothing until 
their merits had been practically demonsti'ated, 
at which times he was pi'epared to give them a 
hearty welcome. In later years, he preached 
the Gospel. He had long been an active mem- 
ber of the Christian Church, and in that faith 
he passed away in 1849. He had been mar- 
ried three times, his first wife being a Miss 
Lewis, who died about 1828, the mother of 
three children. His second wife, the mother of 
our subject, died in 1840. She was the mother 
of five children, three of whom are living — G. 
W., F. W. and F. B. His third wife was Phoebe 
Gibson, widow of Hiram Gibson. She died in 
1854, the mother of two children. William 
died in Paducah, Ky., in 1861, a member of an 
Illinois Regiment, and Sarah C, the wife of 



William Maxwell, of Joplin, Mo. The subject 
of these lines I'eceived his early education in 
the common schools of Perry Countv, III., 
whence he had gone to live with friends, his 
mother having died when he was small. In 
1848, he went to St. Clair County, 111., where he 
served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's 
trade, at which he worked about three jears. 
In 1853, he returned to Perry County, and as- 
sisted in the building of a large freight depot 
on the Illinois Central Railroad, and he also 
taught several terms of school, and also at- 
tended school himself in the winter. In Feb- 
ruary, 1857, he was united in matrimony to 
Mary J. Bartleson, born March 18, 1839, a 
daughter of John Bartleson, a sketch of whom 
will be found elsewhere. In 1861, he com- 
menced the study of medicine under the instruc- 
tion of J. R. Covington, of Grand Chain, III., 
and shortly afterward engaged in practice, 
which he has continued to the present time. 
He gives his attention also to farming. He 
has a farm of 105 acres, in which he raises 
sweet potatoes and strawberries in great abun- 
dance, having a crOp of the former this year 
that exceeds 2,000 bushels. June 6, 1882, his 
house was burned to the ground, but with his 
characteristic enterprise, the building of a new 
residence was commenced at once, and com- 
pleted the same year. Dr. and Mrs. Bristow 
are the parents of nine children, five of whom 
are living — John D., born Januar}^ 5, 1865 ; 
George 0., October 18, 1866 ; Henry C, Decem- 
ber 18, 1867 ; James F.,November 4, 1869, and 
Samuel A., November 22, 1871. The Doctor 
filled the office of Justice of the Peace 
at Grand Chain, from 1874 to 1877. He is 
a charter member of the A., F. & A. M., 
Grand Chain Lodge, No. 660 ; was master of 
Lodge three terms, and delegate to Grand 
Lodge at Chicago one term. He is also a mem- 
ber of K. of H. and K. & L. of H., and is 
medical examiner to the latter body. In pol- 
itics, he is a Republican. 



GRAND CHAIN PRECINCT. 



3 



WILLIAM P. COURTNEY, physician, New 
Grand Chain,was born October 30, 1821 , in Chris- 
tian County, Ky., and was the eldest child born 
to John T. and Malinda (Harrison) Courtney, 
he, a native of Culpepper County, Va., and she 
of Woodford County, Ky. The father was 
principally engaged as a merchant in Hopkins- 
ville, Ky. He was a man who stood high in 
popular esteem, had filled many offices, and 
was known as a gi-eat collector, being uncom- 
monly proficient in the latter capacity. He 
died about 1837. His wife, who was a relative of 
Gen. Harrison, survived him a long time. She 
departed from this life in 1876, being about 
eighty j'ears of age. She was the mother ^f a 
large family of children. William P. Court- 
ney', the subject of this sketch, first went to 
school in Trigg County, Ky., where his parents 
had removed when he was about seven years 
old. He supplemented his early schooling by 
an attendance at the Hopkinsville Academy, 
for a period of about nine years. He com- 
menced the study of medicine at an early age, 
under the tutorship of Dr. Webber, of Hop- 
kinsville. This he supplemented by a course 
of study under Thomas Lindley, M. D., and in 

1859, he attended the Ohio Medical College at 
Cincinnati, since which time he has been con- 
stantly engaged in practice. Previous to the 
war, he had been engaged in the mercantile 
business in Kentucky and Missouri, which re- 
sulted disastrously. The war itself entailed 
upon him heavy losses in Southern propert}', 
and his only resources at command were his 
characteristic energy and perseverance, which, 
however, proved equal to the emergency. In 

1860, he had removed to Illinois, and locating 
in Metropolis, Massac County, he was engaged 
in practice up to 1869, at which date he came to 
bis present place, which consists of forty acres 
of land, and a fine residence. He has been 
married three times, his first wife being Bettie 
Kelley, who died in Jul}^, 1867, the mother of 
four children, three of whom are living — James 



C, Augusta and Irene. His second wife was 
Mary M. Houston, and his present wife Susan 
Renner. The Doctor is a member of the A., F 
& A. M., Grand Chain Lodge, No. 660. Poli- 
tically, he is a Democrat. 

GEORGE W. ELLENWOOD, farmer, P. 0. 
New Grand Chain, was born in Pulaski County, 
III, January 16, 1845. His parents, John D. 
and Mary E. EUenwood, both died when he 
was small. They were natives of East Ten- 
nessee, and their married life had been blessed 
with nine children, only two of whom survive 
— Rebecca and George W. The former married 
a Mr. Coughman, who died in New Orleans 
of yellow fevei-. By him she has two children, 
G. W. and Charlie. George W., the subject of 
these lines, obtained what little education the 
common schools of the county afforded. He 
chose farming for an occupation, and has al- 
ways been thus engaged. In July, 1862, he 
responded to the nation's call for patriots/and^ 
cast his lot with the Eleventh Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, Col. Coates. He servefl^three years, 
was through the Vicksburg campaign, etc., and 
was mustered out in July, 1865, at Springfield. 
In March, 1867, he wedded Malinda E. Yocum, 
a daughter of William J. and Mary Ann Yo- 
cum. This union has been blessed with five 
children — Florence M., James F., Charlie E., 
Amine B. and George W. Mr. EUenwood is a 
member of the K. of H., and also, with his wife, 
of the Good Templars and also K. & L. of H. 
Both are members of the Christian Church. 
Politically, he is a Republican. He has a 
farm of fifty acres, which is devoted largely to 
the raising of sweet potatoes. 

JAMES W. ESQUE, farmer, P. O. New 
Grand Chain, is a native of Pulaski County, 
111., born February 14, 1851, the eldest child 
of Booker and Eliza S. (Bartleson) Esque. The 
father died about 1853, and the mother is now 
the wife of N. P. Tarr, of this precinct. Booker 
Esque was a tailor by trade, but in late years 
he gave his attention to farming. There were 



304 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



two children in the family — J. W. and J. E. 
The former received his education mostly- in 
Duquoiu, 111., where his parents moved when 
he was about four years old. He returned to 
this county about 1868, and engaged in farm- 
ing. In 1879, he purchased eighty acres, which 
constitutes his present place. He also owns 
two separators and an engine, with which he 
does threshing throughout the country. He was 
married, March 27, 1873, to Martha S. Boyd, a 
daughter of G-eorge W. Boyd, of this county. 
The union has been blessed with four children, 
three of whom survive — Ettie, Maud and Ches- 
ter B. Mr. Esque is a member of the A., F. & 
A. M., and also K. of H. In November, 1881, 
he was elected to a constabulary position to 
serve a period of four years. He is Democratic 
in politics. His brother, John E., was educat- 
ed also in Duquoin, and most of his life has 
been engaged in clerking. He clerked for his 
step-father in Duquoin, and afterward was for 
five years with the wholesale house of CO. 
Patier & Co., Cairo. In partnership with H. 
Winter, he went into the general merchandise 
business in Carmi, 111., and was thus engaged 
two years. He then came to Oakwood, this 
count}', and has since been in the employ of 
his uncle, A. C. Bartleson. He is a Republican 
in politics. He married Elizabeth Hilbourn, 
and has one child living, Rosamond. 

EZEKIEL FIELD, farmer, P. 0. New Grand 
Chain, was born in Davis County, Ky., Febru- 
ary 19, 1840. His parents were natives of the 
same State. His father, John Field, was a 
farmer by occupation, and he died in 1853. 
His wife, Nancy (Allen) Field, married a sec- 
ond time — W. H. Hoskinson, who is living in 
Tennessee. She died in 1868. Mr. Field's 
parents had seven children, our subject being 
the only one living. He received but a meager 
education, and for several years lived in Ken- 
tucky and Indiana. He came to Pulaski County 
with his step-father, and has since resided here. 
The latter purchased about 200 acres of land. 



which Mr. Field afterward bought of him. He 
now has about 1,000 acres, part of which he 
rents. February 19, 1860, he married Malinda 
B. Metcalf, a daughter of Thomas F. and Jane 
A. (Graham) Metcalf, and by her has had nine 
children, six of whom are living — Curtis, Stan- 
ton E., Lillie, Ishmael, Indiana and Chalmer O. 
Mr. Field is a member of the A., F. & A. M., 
Grand Chain Lodge, No. 660, and also K. of 
H., and K. & L. of H. He votes the Repub- 
lican ticket. 

JOSEPH W. GAUNT, stock and grain 
dealer, New Grand Chain. The growth and 
prosperity' of a whole country, or even a small 
hamlet, depend largely, if not altogether, upon 
the character of the men who make up its 
population. While nature gives to some local- 
ities special advantages over others, the gen- 
ius and enterprise of man ofttimes turns the 
scales to the advantage of the least favored in 
this direction. Hence we now see large and 
prosperous cities throughout our land, which 
in the days of their infancy were compelled to 
struggle against the gi'eatest of natural disad- 
vantages, are now the centers of the trade 
world, and are connected with points in all 
directions b}' rail, water and telegraph. The 
little village which suddenly springs up in the 
wilderness, requires the tenderest of care. It 
has no churches, schools, mills, stores, or any- 
thing which would kindly sa}- to it. Thou shalt 
live and prosper. The enterprise and energ}' 
of its citizens are loudly called for, and the re- 
sults of the eainiest endeavors of those who re- 
spond thereto are plainly seen in its near fut- 
ure. The subject of this sketch, Mr. Joseph 
W. Gaunt, a portrait of whom will be found 
elsewhere in this work, is a man whose life has 
been made up of ambition, industry and perse- 
verance. The village of New Grand Chain 
owes two-thirds of her present buildings to his 
enterprising efforts in her behalf, and he has 
otherwise contributed largely to her success 
and material growth. He is a Kentuckian by 



GRAND CHAIN PRECINCT. 



305 



birth, Hopkins County, that State, being his 
native county. He was born May 23, 1827, to 
Thomas and Maria (Mott) Gaunt, both of whom 
were natives of Virginia. The}' had been 
raised together as children, one's father having 
married the other's mother. Thomas Gaunt 
was a carpenter by trade, but in after years 
was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died 
in 1847. He participated in the battle of New 
Orleans, under Jackson. His wife had died 
some years previously. Their married life had 
been blessed with ten children, five of whom 
yet survive — John M., Joseph W., Christopher, 
Ambrose G. and R. M. Our subject obtained 
some schooling in his native county, and his 
parents, when he was young, removing to Pu- 
laski Count}', 111., permitted him to attend the 
schools here for some time. He chose farm- 
ing for an occupation in early life, and was 
thus engaged for several years. Boating upon 
the river afterward claimed his attention for 
about six years, and about 1861, he went to 
merchandising in Old Grand Chain, and was in 
the business for some time. He took in his 
brother as a partner and the business was con- 
tinued, until a disastrous fire swept away 
everything in 1865. Having no insurance, 
they sustained a total loss. They built 
another store, however, and the business was 
continued by them until their disposal of it 
shortly afterward to Bartleson & Steers, when 
our subject retired from active business for 
awhile. When the railroad was built, he came 
to New Grand Chain and erected a large store, 
and also shortly afterward a fine residence. 
He re-engaged in merchandising and continued 
it until March, 1883, at which date he sold out 
to Bartleson & Porter, since which he has been 
interested in various enterprises, and at present 
gives his attention to stock and wheat, which 
he buys for the market. He also owns several 
pieces of land, in all about 285 acres. He was 
first married to Caroline Hall, who bore him 
five children, two of whom are living — Maria 



and Geogianna. The former married R. B. 
Brown, and the latter T. E. Berry. His second 
marriage was with Margaret Ray, widow of 
Calvin Ray, of Kentucky. His third marriage 
was with Addie Copeland. This union has 
been blessed with three children, two of whom 
are living— Fred and Joseph. Mr. Gaunt is a 
member of the K. of H., and also the Good 
Templars. Politically, he is a Democrat. 

AMBROSE G. GAUNT, farmer, P. 0. New 
Grand Chain, was born in Hopkins County, 
Ky., June 13, 1834, a son of Thomas and 
Maria (Mott) Gaunt (see sketch of Joseph W. 
Gaunt elsewhere). He obtained his early 
schooling in Pulaski County, his parents re- 
moving here when he was small. At the age 
of about twelve years, he went to Iowa, and for 
four or five years was engaged in farming in 
Delaware County, that State. He returned to 
Pulaski County, and has since resided here. 
His farm consists of 1 06^ acres, which are given 
to farming in its various branches. He was 
married. May 20, 1855, to Sarah H. Youngblood. 
a daughter of Absalom and Fannie (Hall) 
Youngblood. Mr. and Mrs. Gaunt are the 
parents of seven children, six of whom are liv- 
ing — W. A., Thomas C, Charlie, Margaret E., 
Robbie and Seth F. Mr. Gaunt is a member of 
the K. of H., and, with his wife, of the Christian 
Church. He has been a Republican in polities 
since the war. His oldest son, W. A., was 
elected Justice of the Peace in November, 1881. 
to serve four years. He married Maggie Fel- 
lenstein, and has one child — Callie. 

JOHN W. GAUNT, farmer, P. 0. New 
Grand Chain, was born in Pulaski County, III, 
September 24, 1850. His parents, James M. 
and Mary A. (Steers) Gaunt, were both natives, 
of Kentucky. The father was a son of Thomas 
Gaunt, who came from Virginia. He was a 
carpenter by trade, and afterward engaged in 
merchandising and farming. At diflferent times 
he run general stores at Old Grand Chain, for 
several years. He burned out in April, 1865. 

T 



306 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



He died at the age of fifty-four years, October 
21, 1875. He was in the Mexican war, and was 
a Christian man, universallj' esteemed by all 
who knew him. His wife is still living, and 
resides with our subject. She is the mother of 
seven children, five of whom survive — Sarah 
J., John W., Annie M., Mary M. and James 
H. The early schooling of our subject was ob- 
tained in the common schools of this county. 
He afterward attended the Southern Illinois 
College at Carbondale, 111., and in the winter 
of 1870-71, took a business course at the 
Evansville Commercial College, Indiana. In 
his early life he assisted his father in merchan- 
dising and farming, and at the latter's death 
he took charge of the home place, which now 
consists of ninety-seven acres, which is given 
to general farming. In politics, Mr. Gaunt is 
a Republican. 

NATHAN D. KISNER, engineer, New 
Grand Chain, was born in Marion County, W. 
Va., July 3, 1851, the eldest child of William 
and Nancy J. (Williams) Kisner, both natives 
of the same State. William Kisner was a tiller 
of the soil, and he departed this life in 1861. 
His wife, who since his death has been married 
twice, is still living in the county. The parents 
had three children— N. D., Mary C. and George 
W. When he was about two years old, our 
subject's parents removed to Posey County, 
Ind., and here he first went to school, but ob- 
tained his education mostly' in White Countj^, 
111., where they went in 1858. At sixteen years 
of age he went to Evansville, Ind., and served 
a four years' apprenticeship at the machinist 
trade under W. M. Hileman. He afterward 
worked for about four years at his trade in 
West Tennessee. He removed to Pulaski 
County, 111., and went to farming, purchased 
fifty acres of land, which he still owns, in 
Ohio Precinct, which is now operated by his 
brother, George W. Mr. Kisner came to New 
Grand Chain, and January 1, 1883, took charge 
of the engine and machinery of Bartleson's 



flouring mill at this place, which position he 
still fills. March 24, 1874, he married Nancy 
E. McAllister, a daughter of James Y. and 
Amanda McAllister. Five children have blessed 
this union, four of whom are living — Cora, 
Leona, Gusty E. and James E. Mr. Kisner is 
a member of the A., F. & A. M., Grand Chain 
Lodge, No. 660. Politically, he is a Democrat. 

FRANK D. LIPE (Bartleson & Lipe, gro- 
cers). New Grand Chain, is a native of Hawkins 
County, Tenn., born January 27, 1837, a son of 
William E. and Francis (Bishop) Lipe. The 
father was a farmer. He died in 1856, aged 
fifty-five years. His wife survived him until 
1862, when she passed away at the age of 
about fifty years. The parents were blessed 
with a large family, only three of whom are 
living — Eliza, Rufus and Frank D. The only 
education the latter received in early life was 
picked up by himself. ■ For many years up to 
the time of the war, he was engaged in flat- 
boating on the Mississippi. In August, 1861, 
he enlisted in the service, and the following 
year was mustered into Stewart's Battalion, 
and a year later, into the Fifteenth Illinois Cav- 
alry. They were at Shiloh, Corinth, etc., and did 
valuable service in Tennessee. Mr. Lipe was mus- 
tered out at Springfield in October, 1864. He was 
married, in 1866, to Nancy A. McGee a daughter 
of Hugh McGee, of this county. He has a farm of 
eighty acres, which is given to general farming. 
In May, 1881, he entered into partnership with 
R. B. Bartleson, and they carry a general line 
of family groceries. Mr. Lipe is a member of 
the A., F. & A. M., K. of H., K. &. L. of H. 
and G. A. R. He is a Republican in politics. 

JUDGE HUGH McGEE, farmer, P. 0. New 
Grand Chain, was born July 26, 1817, in Chris- 
tian County, Ky., the eldest child of Benjamin 
and Nancy (Armstrong) McGee. The father 
was a native of Sumner County, Tenn., and was 
a farmer by occupation. He was a man who 
was held high in popular favor, and he was 
elected one of the first County Commissioners. 



GRAND CHAIN PRECINCT. 



307 



of the county. He had served several years as 
Justice of the Peace in Kentucky, and alto- 
gether he was an uncorainon man, one who 
took active interest in local affairs and enter- 
prises calculated for the public good. He was 
born June 24, 1794, and died about 1849. His 
wife was born December 6, 1800, and died in 
1852. Thirteen children blessed their wedded 
life, only three of whom survive — Hugh, F. M. 
and A. W. Our subject's early schooling was 
attained in the schools of his native county, 
and his parents, removing to Graves Count}', 
same State, when he was about ten years old, 
he attended school a little there. He gave 
his attention to farming from the first, and has 
always been thus engaged. He came to what 
is now Pulaski County in December, 1837, and 
made preparation for the reception of his par- 
ents, who followed him a couple of months 
later. In 1842, Mr. McGee purchased forty 
acres where he now resides, and he has now 
160 acres, which are given to general farming. 
He has bought and sold several pieces of land 
during his residence in this county. His house 
burned to the ground on the morning of Sep- 
tember 18, 1881, and the inmates barely es- 
caped with their lives. The savings of many 
years were devoured by the fire fiend in a few 
moments. He finished a new residence in the 
fall of 1882. In 1862, he was elected to the 
position of Associate Judge of Pulaski County, 
and served three years with Judge Hofl['ner as 
other associate. He was re-elected to the same 
position in 1873, and served four years. Away 
back in 1844, he was elected to fill the office of 
Justice of the Peace, and with the exception of 
a period of four years, he served continuously 
up to the election in November, 1881. He has 
also filled man}' minor offices. He was first 
married to Sarah Ward, who died in 1846, the 
mother of three children, two of whom are liv- 
ing — James H. and Nancy A. His second 
wife was Harriet E. Metcalf She died in 1864. 
and was the mother of seven children, three of 



whom are living — Ann E., Hester M. and Sa- 
rah E., all of whom are married. He wedded 
his present wife Amanda, May 7, 1865. She 
is the daughter of Robert and Isabel (Mc- 
Quaid) Elliott. Two children have blessed 
this union, Hugh L. and Nellie. Mr. McGee 
is a member of the A., P. & A. M., Grand Chain 
Lodge, No. 660. Politically, he is a Repub- 
lican. 

JAMES A. METCALF, farmer and <;ov- 
ern.-nent light- keeper, P. 0. New Grand Chain, 
is a native of Calloway County, Ky., born 
December 19, 1833, the eldest child of 
Thomas F. and Jane A. (Graham) Metcalf, 
both of whom were natives of the same State. 
The father was a tiller of the soil, and he died 
in 1869. His wife survived him until July, 
1882. The married life of the old couple wa& 
blessed with a family of ten children, three of 
whom are living — James A., Robert E. and Ma- 
linda B. Our subject got a little early school- 
ing in his native county, and in his younger 
days he assisted his father on the home farm. 
He came to Pulaski County, 111., in 1852, and 
remained until 1867, engaged in carpentering 
and farming. At the latter date, he moved to 
Lyon County, Ky., and lived here until the 
spring of 1870, engaged in clerking. He moved 
to Crittenden County, Ky., at the latter date, 
and here farmed until returning to Pulaski 
County in the spring of 1883. He has a farm 
of fifty-five acres on the river front, right below 
which is Renard's Landing, and at this point 
he has charge of the Government lights. July 
2, 1862, he married Nancy J. Gray, a daughter 
of Nathan 0. and Minerva B. (Holeraan) Gray. 
Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf are the parents of nine 
children, six of whom are living — John F., 
Nathan G., Otho M., Nancy E., Joseph 0. and 
Myrtie. Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf are members of 
the Universalist Church, and in politics he is a 
Greenbacker. 

ROBERT E. METCALF, farmer, P. O. New 
Grand Chain, was born in Calloway County. 



308 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



October 23, 1849, a son of Thomas F. and 
Jane A. (Grraham) Metcalf (see sketch of J. A. 
Metcalf elsewhere). Robert came to Pulaski 
County with his parents in 1852, and here re- 
ceived his early education. He took up farm- 
ing for an occupation, and has always been thus 
eno;aged. His present farm consists of 160 
acres, which is given to farming in its various 
branches. He is also the proprietor of a port- 
able saw-mill, which he intends to move around 
and do custom work in this line. He was mar- 
ried in 1872 to Elizabeth A. Ranney, a daugh- 
ter of William Ranney (deceased). This union 
has been blessed with one child — William W., 
born in 1875. Mr. Metcalf is a member of the 
A.. F. & A. M., Grand Chain Lodge, No. 660, and 
also K. of H. In November, 1881, he was elected 
to the office of Justice of the Peace, to serve 
four years. Politically, he is a Democrat. 

RICHARD MOORE, farmer, P. 0. New 
Grrand Chain, is a native of Lake County, Ohio, 
born in 1835, a son of Robert and Fannie (Dear- 
born) Moore, both natives of New Hampshire. 
The father was a cooper by trade, and he died 
about 1840. His wife survived him until 187U, 
when she passed away at the age of seventy- 
six years. Thirteen children blessed the wed- 
ded life of the old folks, five of whom are liv- 
ing — George, Jane, Matilda, Samuel and Rich- 
ard. When the latter was about four years 
old, his parents moved to Pulaski County, and 
here obtained what education the schools of 
this county afforded, having to go five miles to 
the schoolhouse, which was a rude, primitive 
structure. Before the war broke out he was 
engaged at flat-lsoating on the Mississippi, do- 
ing the piloting most of the time. In August, 
1861, he enlisted in the Thirty-first Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, Col. John A. Logan. They 
participated in the siege of Vicksburg, and 
other engagements in the lower countr}-, and 
was mustered out at Atlanta, Ga., in 1865. He 
returned home, and in June, 1866, he was mar- 
ried to Mary J. Hughes. The union was blessed 



with nine children, eight of whom are living — 
Fannie, James H., Gibson H., Andrew, Hiram, 
Robert and Henry (twins), and Flora. In 1866, 
Mr. Moore purchased eighty acres of land, 
which subsequent additions have increased to 
300 acres. He engages in farming in the vari- 
ous branches. He gives a great deal of atten- 
tion to stock dealing and raising. He is a mem- 
ber of the A., F. & A. M., Grand Chain Lodge, 
No. 660, and alsoK. of H. Politically, he is a 
Democrat. 

JOHN S. SMITH, farmer, P. 0. New Grand 
Chain. "Uncle Johnny Smith," as his numerous 
friends familiarly call him, is one of those 
good old souls that are a blessing to the whole 
country. He is really a native of Pulaski 
County, having first beheld the light of daj' at 
Big Spring or what was otherwise called the 
" Dicky Brown place," near where Wetaug is 
now located. At the time of his birth, the 
country was Alexander and Johnson Counties, 
and his birthplace was within the boundaries 
of the former. He was born April 18, 1819, 
to William and Annie (Tellus) Smith, he a 
native of North Carolina, and she of Ten- 
nessee. The father was a natural mechanic, 
and about 1831 he was employed as ship-car- 
penter on Ohio River boats. He was engaged 
in farming pursuits in later years. He was a 
son of John C. Smith, of North Carolina, who 
served in the Revolutionary war. For a period 
of three or four years during his life, John C. 
was engaged in piloting boats from old Fort 
Wilkinsonville to the Chalk Banks, a distance 
of about seven miles down the Ohio River, 
which at the point mentioned was seri- 
ously obstructed by rapids, rocks, etc., which 
only a skilled pilot could get a boat through. 
He was at one time very wealthy, owning 320 
acres of land in Hopkinsville, K}'., and the 
city now stands on his land. Hearing that 
Illinois was a veritable paradise, he sold out and, 
coming to old Fort Wilkinsonville, he invested 
his all in horses, intending to raise them to 



GRAND CHAIN PRECINCT. 



309 



make his fortune. All of them died but an old 
black stud. He lost his wife and many or his 
children, and becoming disheartened, he went 
to Arkansas, where he lived on green meat for 
several months, and here he lost another child, 
and finally had to leave the country by order 
of the Indian Agents. Our subject's parents 
were married about October, 1814, and the 
mother died about 1826. They were blessed 
with six children, two of whom are living, 
John S. and Jane. Our subject went to school 
in this county. After his father's death, he 
lived with his uncle, Nicholas Smith, in Ken- 
tucky, until the latter died. He then lived 
with his grandfather two years, when he died. 
John had made him a good crop of corn, and 
at his death he instructed his administrator to 
allow John one-half of the crop, which he did, 
and it netted $55. With this amount of 
cash, our subject determined how much of an 
education he could receive. He went and 
boarded with a man by the name of Atherton, 
and by working Saturday's, he was enabled to 
attend school considerably. His school bill was 
$10 and board bill $50. He made some more 
crops, went to Arkansas to visit some "' rich kin" 
that he had heard of, but shortly afterward 
returned and rented more ground and engaged 
in farming. In 1839, he came to the " Nation," 
built a good house, stable, etc., when some in- 
dividuals endeavored to enter him out. A man 
was hired to whip him out of the house, and 
John came near shooting him ; five years of 
court trouble ensued, John finall}' coming out 
victorious. In 1846, he went with an uncle, 
Isom Smith, to Texas, and to make the stoiy 
short, nearly starved to death. He returned, 
bought and sold several tracts of land, and 
finally settled on his present place, which now 
contains sixty acres, which is given to general 
farming. He was first married, April 13, 1848, 
to Amanda Bartleson (see sketch of the Bartle- 
son family), who died April 29, 1849, the 
mother of one child, Amanda. He was 



married a second time, March 9, 1851, to 
Rosanna (Mangold) Forker, who died August 
5, 1879. His present wife, Polly (Karraker) 
Dry, he married April 18, 1880. Botii are 
members of the Christian Church. In politics, 
he was a Democrat up to Lincoln's second 
election, since which he has been a Republican. 
NATHANIEL P. TARR, farmer, P. 0. New 
Grand Chain, was born June 24, 1824. in 
Adams County, Ohio. His parents, Joseph 
and Catharine (East) Tarr, were natives re- 
spectivel}' of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The 
father was a carpenter b}' trade, and in late 
years was engaged in farming. He died 
near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1873, at the 
age of seventy-six years. His wife died 
about 1840, of what the physicians called the 
"unknown" fever. The father was married 
a second time, to a Widow Parsons, who had by 
her previous husband a son by the name of 
Charles F. Parsons, who is now in the livery 
business in Iowa. Our subject's parents were 
blessed with eleven children, six of whom sur- 
vive — Thomas W., Levi A., Nathaniel P., John 
S., Mar}" and Martha. Nathaniel P. received 
his early education in the common schools of 
Richland and Hamilton Counties, Ohio, and he 
afterward attended Oberlin Institute at Lorain. 
He afterward went to Bucyrus, Ohio, where he 
was engaged for some time in teaching school, 
and clerking in stores. He then came to Pu- 
laski County, and resided a j'ear in Mound Cit}, 
after which he moved up in the " nation ;" after 
two years there he removed to Duquoin, 111., 
where he lived about twelve years. Here he 
ran a grocery and provision store. August 26, 

1862, he enlisted in the Eighty-first Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, Col. J. DoUins. He was 
taken sick at Humboldt, Tenn. ; was taken 
to hospital, and finally discharged February 17, 

1863. He was first married to Barbai-a Stew- 
art, who died about 1852, leaving two sons J. S. 
and C. W., who live in Cleveland, Ohio. He 
was married a second time, to Elizabeth Stew. 



310 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



art, a sister of first wife. She died in 1854. 
He afterward married Eliza S. Esque, born 
May 2, 1832, widow of Booker Esque, and 
daughter of John and Mary W. (Chapman) 
Burtleson. This union has been blessed with 
lour children — Augustus W., Mary S., Flora 
B. and David W. Mr. Tarr is a member of the 
G. A. K, Grand Chain Lodge, No. 217. In 
politics, he is a Republican. 

JOHN WEAVER, County Treasurer and 
Assessor, New (rrand Chain. The public affairs 
of a single county, as well as those of a 
State or the country at large — though of less 
magnitude — require, nevertheless, nearly as 
much abilty and quite as much honesty in the 
successful management thereof. Abilit}' and 
integrity are two pre-requisites which, when 
possessed by the same individual, assure the 
public, who ma\' favor him with positions of 
the highest trust, that the duties thereof will 
be ably and faithfully discharged. It is a fact 
greatly to be deplored that many of our public 
men do not possess both of these essential 
characteristics to any creditable extent. Their 
abilities on the one hand may be remarkable, 
while their integrity of purpose on the other 
may be justly questioned and vice versa. The 
people understand this, and so it is that they 
are loath to part with the services of one who 
possesses the necessary qualifications of which 
we speak, and this is plainly shown by the tenac- 
it}' with which they cling to them. The sub- 
ject of these lines, Mr. John Weaver, a portrait 
of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume, 
though comparatively a young man, has been 
prominently and largely identified with the 
public interests of Pulaski County ; elected, in 
1873, to the responsible position of County As- 
sessor and Treasurer, he has served continuously 
€ver since, having been many times re-elected. 
The duties of impartially distributing the ex- 
penses of the county upon her citizens, and the 
duties pertaining to the proper handling of her 
funds, he has faithfully discharged for manj^ 



years, with an eye single to the interests of the 
people as a whole. Upon the services of such 
a man, the public assume to have a claim, as is 
clearly indicated by the contents of the ballot- 
box year after year. Mr. Weaver is an lUi- 
noisan by birth, Johnson County, this State, be- 
ing his native county. He was born June 27, 
1843, the 3'oungest child born to Barnett and 
Nancy N. (Madden) Weaver, he a native of 
Pennsylvania and she of Kentuck3\ The 
father was a carpenter by trade, but in later 
yeai's engaged in farming pursuits. He died, 
as did his wife also, when John was only about 
six years old. Their union had been blessed 
with eight children, five of whom still survive. 
Charlotte T., wife of Dr. J. B. Ray, of Franklin 
County, this State ; Barnett ; Catharine, wife of 
Matthew Hood, of Union County, III. ; Jasper 
N. and John. The latter being left an orphan 
at a tender age, went to live with his brother- 
in-law in Johnson County, and there obtained 
what little education was afforded by the early 
schools. He continued his studies at Duquoin, 
111., and afterward attended a select school in 
Johnson County, which numbered about seventy- 
five scholars, all of whom, with the exception of 
a few, enlisted in the Union service when the 
war opened. August 22, 1861, our subject 
joined Company F, Thirty-first Illinois Volun- 
tary Infantry, Col. J. A. Logan. They did 
valuable service at Belmont, Fort Donel- 
son, Corinth, Vicksburg and Atlanta, near 
which latter place Mr. Weaver was discharged, 
his time of enlistment having expired. He 
came to Pulaski County and attended school 
a year, and was afterward for five years en- 
gaged in teaching in this county. In 1867, he 
wedded Esther H. Youngblood, a daughter of 
Absalom and Margaret (Daniel) Youngblood. 
Five children have blessed this union, four of 
whom are living — James H., Margaret M., 
Frank and Frederick twins. Besides his otfi- 
cial duties, Mr. Weaver has farming interests 
to look after, having in the county about five 



OHIO PRECINCT. 



311 



hundred acres of land, which he is putting into 
condition for stock-raising. He is a member 
of the I. 0. O. F., and also K. of H. Politically, 
he is a Republican. 

GEORGE W. YOAKUM, farmer, P. O. 
New Grand Chain, is a native of East Ten- 
nessee, born in October, 1833, a son of Peter 
and Sarah (Stinnette) Yoakum, natives of the 
same State. The parents had ten children, 
only two of whom survive — George W., and 
Eliza. Mr. Yoakum received his education in 
the schools of Pulaski County, his parents re- 
moving here when he was about a year old. 
In 1853, he married Juliette M. Cooper, a 
daughter of John L. and Sarah (Copeland) 
Cooper. Mr. and Mrs. Yoakum are the parents 
of nine children, seven of whom are living — 
William J., James F., Eliza I., George D., 
Sheridan J., Electa I. and Warren D. M. Mr. 



Yoakum has a farm of 117 acres. He is a 
member of K. of H., Grand Chain Lodge, No. 
2,085. He and wife are members of the United 
Brethren Church, and in politics he is a Re- 
publican. James F. Yoakum was born Sep- 
tember 30, 1856. He obtained his early edu- 
cation in the schools of this county, and after- 
ward attended the high school at Arlington, 
Ky., and still later Lebanon College, 111. He 
is a Republican in politics, is a member of the 
K. of G. R., Arlington Castle, No. 43, also of 
the A., F. «fe A. M., Grand Chain Lodge, No. 
660, also of the G. T. Olmsted Lodge, No. 143. 
For several years he has studied for the min- 
istry, and is a local preacher in the Methodist 
Church. He has in late years been engaged in 
teaching school, both in Kentuck}' and in 
Pulaski Countv. 



OHIO PEEClJSrOT. 



M. T. B AGBY, farmer, P. 0. Olmsted. Of 
the men in this county who came here with- 
out means and who by their energy and shrewd- 
ness have gained a good farm, we count him 
whose name heads this sketch. He was born 
October 12, 1834, in Lewis County, Ky. His 
father, Willis Bagby, was born in 1800 in Ken- 
tucky, and died in 1849 in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
He was a farmer and riverman by occupation, 
running from Lewis County, Ky., to Cincinnati, 
Ohio. The grandfather of our subject, Robert 
Bagby, was a native of Virginia, and died 
in 1828 in Lewis County, Ky. He had eight 
children, who are all living, except one. The 
mother of our subject, Mary Thompson, was 
born in 1799 in Kentucky ; she died July 27, 
1849, in Lewis County, Ky. She was the 
mother of nine children, of whom seven are now 



living. Her parents were James and Nancy 
Thompson, of Kentucky. Our subject was edu- 
cated in Minerva, Mason Co., Ky., and Ash- 
land, Boyd Co., Ky. In 1857, he went to 
Augusta, Schuyler Co., 111., where he taught 
school one-half year, and the next year taught 
in Pike County, 111. Returning to Kentucky, 
he taught school one year, and then went to 
school one-half year in the Ashland College, 
Kentucky. After the war broke out, he farmed 
one year, and then came to Pulaski County, 
where he again taught school, after which he 
clerked three months for G. F. Meyer, and then 
kept a grocery store in Caledonia one year. 
In 1868, he bought a farm of 200 acres for 
$4,000, and has farmed ever since. In 1881, 
he bought 150 acres of land for $1,000, which 
cost the former owner almost $5,000. Our sub- 



ai2 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



ject was married August 1, 1863, in this county, 
to Mrs. Anna C. Ayers, born January 21, 1839, 
in this count}'. She was a daughter of James 
M. Timmons, a fine old man, and a native of 
South Carolina. Her mother, Nancy (Echols) 
Timmons, was a native of Union County, 111., 
and is yet living in Olmsted. Mrs, Bagby is 
religiously connected with the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. She is the mother of five chil- 
dren now living — Mathew H., born January 18, 
1 867 ; Susie and Nancy are twins, they were 
born February 28, 1870 ; Burton, born Novem- 
ber 4, 1872, and James, born July 7, 1875 ; 
Emmet R. and Agnes are deceased. Mr. Bagby 
has been Justice of the Peace for fotlr years. 
He came to this county with $1.50, but is to- 
day classed among our wide-awake, well-to-do 
men. 

R. T. CALVIN, farmer, P. 0. Olmsted. In 
writing the annals of history, it has always 
been necessary to try to perpetuate the lives of 
self-made, energetic men who have benefited 
the country by their honesty and industry, 
who have tried to promote the public welfare 
as well as their own, and we know of no man 
who deserves more credit than he whose name 
heads this sketch. Our subject was born April 
23, 1823, in Sussex County, N. J. He is a son 
of Nathaniel Calvin, a native of New Jersey, 
where he died, and a miller by occupation. 
He participated in the war of 1812, and was 
one of the prominent men of his count3^ The 
mother of our subject was Sarah (Kitchen) Cal- 
vin, born in New Jersey, where she died, leav- 
ing five children, of whom our subject is the 
onlj one now living. He was educated in the 
common schools of New Jersey, working night 
and morning for his board. Afterward, he 
learned the carpenter trade. At the age of 
eighteen, he went to Harrison, Ohio, where he 
was engaged as contractor on the White Water 
Canal. After four years of successful toil, he 
came to Mound City, in 1857, whither he was 
drawn by the " Emporium " boom. There he 



was a contractor for grading and building the 
levee, landing and marine ways. In March of 
the following year, he moved his familj^ on to a 
farm of 170 acres, which he mostly improved. 
He has now a good farm of 370 acres, with ex- 
tensive buildings. Mr. Calvin was joined in 
matrimony in September, 1853, in Harrison, 
Ohio, to Miss Angle Rifner, born December 5, 
1828, in Harrison, Ohio, daughter of Peter and 
Elizabeth (Rockafellar) Rifner, Peter Rifner, 
a soldier in the Indian war of 1811, being com- 
missioned b}^ Gen. Harrison as the commander 
of a company. Mrs. Calvin is the mother of 
five children now living — Hiram, born May 31, 
1854, married Gussie Boren, and is now a mer- 
chant in St. Francis, Ark.; Lizzie, born Janu- 
ary 18, 1856, wife of James Barber ; Martha, 
born July 10, 1859 ; Line, born January 22, 
1861, and Sallie, born December 22, 1865. 
Mrs. Calvin is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. Calvin is an I. 0. 0. F. and A., 
F. & A. M. In politics, he has been identified 
with the Democratic part3^ 

R. M. CARNS, merchant, Olmsted. Of the 
young business men who have identified them- 
selves with Pulaski County, we recognize him 
whose name appears above. He was born April 
1, 1846, in this count}'. His father, John 
Cams, was a native of Tennessee. He is well 
remembered b}' our older citizens, and died 
in this county. His wife, Eliza J. Smith, is yet 
living. She is a native of South Carolina and 
is the mother of nine children— Dorcas Caster, 
John W. (deceased, a soldier in our late war), 
Julia A. (deceased), Daniel S., William H., 
Elizabeth (deceased), Robert M. (our subject), 
Kate F. Steele and Thomas A. (deceased). Our 
subject was educated in this county, where he 
assisted in tilling its bountiful soil till Septem- 
ber, 1864, at the age of seventeen, when he 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-sixth 
Illinois Volunteer Regiment, serving till the 
close of the war, when he clerked for Judge 
Smith till his election as Constable and his ap- 



OHIO PRECINCT. 



813 



pointment as Deputy Sheriff, in which capaci- 
ties he served two years. He was also elected 
County Coroner. In May, 1870, he was mar- 
ried here to Miss Nannie Peai'son, born May 
19, 1853, in Amei"ica, Pulaski Co., 111. She 
was a daughter of Joseph A. and Nancy 
(Fields) Pearson, the former a native of Vir- 
ginia, and the latter of Kentucky. Mrs. Nan- 
nie Cams is the mother of four children, viz.: 
Erdine, born October 2, 1871; Maud, born 
February 12, 1873 ; Allen J., born March 9, 
1875, and Claude, born October 4, 1879. Mr. 
R. M. Cams was a farmer for about ten years 
after his marriage. In 1882, he came to Olm- 
sted, where he is now engaged in the mercan- 
tile business. In 1882, he was elected Justice 
of the Peace, but resigned the same year. In 
politics, he has identified himself with the 
Democratic part)'. 

SAMUEL T.'CHITTICK, carpenter, Olm- 
sted, was born August 11, 1833, in Halifax, 
Nova Scotia, son of Samuel Chittick, a native 
of the County Enniskillen, in the North of Ire- 
land. He was an apothecary by occupation ; 
he is now a farmer in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
The mother of our subject was Charlotte Pryor, 
a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she 
died. She was the mother of eleven children 
now living — Samuel T. (our subject), Isabella 
McLean, William L., Charlotte White, John, 
Martha Chapman, David, Mary Ann, Joseph, 
Francis J., and Benjamin. Our subject was 
educated in private schools in Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, where he learned the carpenter's trade, 
being apprenticed to David Calder, a Scotch- 
man. After he had learned his] trade, he trav- 
eled extensively through the United States. 
During the war, he was a contractor and builder 
in Lancaster, Dallas Co., Tex. He served fif- 
teen months in the Confederate army, and after 
being taken prisoner at the last Corinth fight, 
he took the oath of allegiance at Cairo, 111. He 
then worked at his trade in Cairo and Mound 
City, in which latter place he was married to 



Mrs. Emily E. Bagby, a native of Kentucky. 
She was a daughter of Hiram Horsley, a farmer 
and a native of Virginia. She was the mother 
of six children now living — Alice Bagby, pres- 
ent wife of Henry Hileman, a native of Union 
County, 111.; Charlotte, Samuel T., William L., 
Hiram and Edith. Mr. Chittick is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church South ; also 
a Master Mason, Lancaster Lodge, Texas. 
He has filled school offices. Has a farm 
of eighty acres, and in politics is a Demo- 
crat. Mrs. Chittick is also religiously con- 
nected with the Methodist Episcopal Church 
South. 

JAMES Y. CLEMSON, merchant, Olmsted. 
Among the enterprising men of Pulaski County, 
who, by their own exertions, have carved out 
their way in the world, accumulating wealth 
and at the same time benefiting their country 
and their fellow-men, is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch, and whose portrait ap- 
pears in this volume. He was bom in Edwards- 
ville. 111., March 20, 1821, and is a son of Eli 
B. Clemson, a native of Pennsylvania, and of 
German descent. The latter was mainly self- 
educated, and entered the United States Army 
at an early age, in which he received the posi- 
tion of Second Lieutenant. He was afterward, 
for bravei-y and ability, promoted to First 
Lieutenant in the First Regiment of Infantr}', 
his commission bearing the signature of 
Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United 
States. He was afterward promoted to Lieu- 
tenant Colonel in the Sixteenth Regiment 
of Infantry, his commission in this case 
being signed by President James Monroe. He 
participated actively in our second war with 
Great Britain, and afterward was stationed at 
St. Louis and at Fort Osage. He arose from 
Second Lieutenant successively to First Lieu- 
tenant, Major, Lieutenant Colonel and to 
Colonel. When the war-clouds were all dispelled 
from our country's horizon, he laid aside the 
sword and took up the implements of peace. 



314 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



but afterward bore an honorable part in the 
Black Hawk war. He located in Lebanon, 
St. Clair Co., 111., and for a time operated a 
line of stage and mail coaches between Vin- 
cennes and St. Louis. He then went Carlyle, 
when he embarked in merchandising, and in 
1832 moved to Carrolton, 111., and again en- 
gaged staging, running a line of mail and pas- 
senger coaches between Springfield and St. 
Louis. His wife, Ann Maria Oliver, of En- 
glish descent, and a native of Nova Scotia, 
died in June, 1833 of epidemic cholera, leaving 
four children. He then went East to New Jer- 
sey, where he left his children (except subject) 
to be educated. The}- were Henry A., James 
Y. (subject), Frederick W. and Mary C, the lat- 
ter and our subject being the only two now 
living. The eldest son, Henr}', was an 
officer in the United States Navy, and was 
lost during the siege of Vera Cruz (in Mex- 
ican war), when the United States brig 
" Somers '" capsized in a squall, and to the lost 
of the ill-fated vessel the Grovernment after- 
ward erected a monument in the navy-yard at 
Annapolis, Md. Col. Clemson, after his return 
from the East, in 1836, located in Pulaski 
Count}', and again married. His second wife 
was Mrs. Esther Riddle, the widow of Capt. 
James Riddle, the founder of the towns of 
America, 111., and of Covington, Ky. By his 
second marriage he had two children, Aaron B. 
and Theodosia B. Col. Clemson now engaged 
in farming ; he also kept the post office and 
acted as County Clerk. He was one of the 
projectors of the town of Napoleon, in this 
county, not a vestige of which now remains to 
show where it stood. He was also agent of 
the Winnebago Land Company, and was 
long identified with Col. Henry L. Webb and 
Col. Justus Post. He died in 1842 in this 
county ; he was one of the leading men of his 
day, and esteemed by all who knew him. Our 
subject, Mr. J. Y. Clemson, spent his youth in 
Caledonia (this county), and at the age of 



fourteen years entered McKendree College, 
at Lebanon, 111., where he remained for four 
years and then returned home. He after- 
ward went to Texas, remaining some two 
years engaged in merchandising, and then 
went to New Orleans and followed boating 
for about six jears. He then returned home 
and again entered the mercantile business, 
and after four years took command of the 
snag-boat A. H. Sevier, in the employ of the 
Grovernment. After about three years, he re- 
tired from the river and again engaged in 
merchandising and in the manufacture of 
furniture at Mound City, until 1861, when 
he entered the service of the United States as 
second master on the gunboat St. Louis 
in participating in the battles Forts Henry and 
Donelson, and in the battle of Columbus 
In 1862, he resigned on account of ill health, 
and returned home, where he has since re- 
mained engaged in mercantile pursuits. He is 
a large land owner, having about 800 acres, 
and one of the most beautiful homesteads in 
the county. He was married November 25, 
1849, in Caledonia, to Miss Henrietta Mc- 
Donald, born August 7, 1832, in Circleville, 
Ohio. She is a daughter of Richard and 
Mary J. McDonald, the former a native of 
Canada and of Scotch descent, the latter of 
Ohio and of German descent. She is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Clem- 
son is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
and of Cairo Commandery of Knights Tem- 
plar, also of the Episcopal Church. In pol- 
itics, he is a Democrat. 

JUDGE J. M. DAVIDGE, lawyer and farm- 
er, Olmsted, a native of Hopkinsville, Ky., 
born August 31, 1816. His father, Rezin Da- 
vidge, was a native of Maryland, where he was 
reared and educated and subsequent!}' admit- 
ted to the bar, and engaged in the practice of 
his profession. He was a prominent man of 
his county, and was Circuit Judge and Judge 
of the Court of Appeals of Kentuck}'. He was 



OHIO PRECINCT. 



315 



•at one time possessed of a considerable wealth, 
and at all times had the esteem and confidence 
of his fellow-men. He died in 1861 at Hop- 
kinsville, Ky. His father was a native of En- 
gland. The mother of our subject, Elizabeth 
(Bell) Davidge, was a native of Virginia. She 
died at Princeton, K\'., in 1827. She was the 
mother of the following living children : Mrs. 
Mary 0. Fry, of Louisville, K}'.; Reason, of 
Princeton, Ky., and James M., our subject. 
He was reared and educated at Hopkinsville, 
Ky., and with his father and his partner, T. C. 
Lander, studied law, and in 1838 was admitted 
to the bar. In the fall of 1839, he came 
to Illinois and located at Golconda, and 
afterward removed to Vienna, where he re- 
mained four years. In October, 1843, he 
came to Pulaski County and was appointed 
€lerk of the Circuit Court, and served until 
1860. From 1848 to 1861, he held the office 
■of County Clerk. In 1861, he was elected 
Judge of the Count}' Court. He was Postmas- 
ter of Caledonia for over fifteen years. He is 
still engaged in the practice of his profession, 
and in connection is engaged in farming. He 
was married in Johnson Count}', 111., in 1840, 
to Miss Nancy Ladd, a native of the same 
■county. She was born February 29, 1824, and 
died September 21, 1877, in Pulaski County. 
She was a daughter of Rev. Milton Ladd, a 
prominent man who represented Johnson 
County in the Senate. She was the mother of 
the following children : Mary, James, Charles. 
Cornelia and Nanzy. He was married a sec- 
ond time, to Mrs. Minerva Riddle, widow of 
Dr. H. D. Riddle, a son of James Riddle, the 
founder of Covington, Ky., and America, 111. 

MRS MINERVA DAVIDGE, Olmsted, was 
born September 10, 1833, in Harrison County, 
Ind. She is a daughter of Jacob Musselman, 
a native of Indiana. He was a millwright in 
earl}- life, but the last part of his life he has 
been mostly merchandising, keeping a drug 
store the la^t eight years that he was in active 



business. He is yet living in Metropolis, 111., 
where he was engaged in business. The 
mother of our subject was Sarah (Anderson) 
Musselman, a native of Knox County, Ind. 
She died September 25, 1875, in Metropolis. 
She was the mother of nine children, of whom 
six are now living — Daniel, Charles M., Elvira 
Durff, Jennie Deavers, Sarah Cheek and Mi- 
nerva, our subject, who was educated in Indi- 
ana. She married Dr. Henry D. Riddle, a na- 
tive of Covington, Ky., and a son of Capt. 
James Riddle. The Doctor was a man of good 
abilities and extraordinary energy. He lived 
a useful life and died October 15, 1871. He 
was the father of eight children, of whom five 
are now living — Mary, wife of B. F. Echols ; 
Henry, Sallie, Minnie M. and Jennie D. Our 
subject was married a second time to Judge 
James M. Davidge. Mrs. Davidge is religious- 
ly connected with the Presbyterian Church. 

W. F. HARMAN, farmer, P. 0. Olmsted, 
was born October 4, 1836, in Campbelltown, 
Lebanon Co., Penn., son of John M. Harman 
of Wittenberg, Germany, born 1797 ; he died in 
1864 in Campbelltown, Penn., was a merchant 
and came to the United States in 1811, with his 
father, Martin Harman. The mother of our 
subject was Christiana Brown, born in 1800, in 
Lebanon County, in Londonderry Township, 
Penn. She died in 1875 in Dayton, Ohio, 
daughter of Philip and Barbara (Settly) Brown 
of German descent. She is the mother of six 
children now living — Gabriel B., Philip M., 
William F., our subject, Catherine, Christiana, 
Mary Rockey. Our subject was educated in 
Palmyra, Penn. ; learned the tailor trade, and 
followed it for twenty years at Palmyra. Then 
came to Pulaski County in 1878, where he has 
farmed ever since, identifying himself with the 
county in general. He is also Superintendent 
of the Sunday school, and he and wife are 
members of the Church of God. He has 260 
acres of good land, all in one farm, with good 
buildings. He was married November 11, 



316 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



1863, in Palmyra, Penn., to Miss Sally E. 
Bracht, born in Lancaster County, Penn., 
March 16, 1843 ; she is a daughter of Samuel 
and Anna (Albright) Bracht, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania, farmers. She is the mother of two chil- 
dren — Seymour H., born November 14, 1864, 
and Stella M., born September 14, 1866. In 
politics, he is identified with the Democratic 
party. 

WILLIAM M. HATHAWAY, physician, 
Olmsted, is a native of Peterboro, Madison 
Co., N. Y. He is a son of Peter Hathaway, 
born 1790, in Morristown, N. J. ; he died 1856, 
in Waterloo, N. Y. He was a glass cutter by 
occupation. The mother of our subject was 
Elizabeth Stevens, born in 1796, in Wales ; she 
died in 1868, in Pulaski County. Her father 
was Stephen Stevens, a mason by trade. She 
was the mother of nine children. Our subject 
was born July 24, 1824 ; he received a common 
school education in Oneida County, N. Y. Af- 
ter taking an academic course, he prepared for 
college at Geneva, N. Y., and then attended 
the Geneva College, after which he attended 
medical lectures at Ann Arbor, Mich., where 
he graduated m 1870, having, previous to 
that, practiced medicine for thirteen years, hav- 
ing taken his first course in 1855. After 
graduating, he returned to Caledonia, where he 
had first settled in 1857. He has followed his 
noble profession most of the time till the pres- 
ent day. He was elected County Superintendent 
of Schools in 1863, serving two years. Ten 
years after that, he was elected for a term of 
four years. In 1878, he removed to Chicago, 
where he practiced his profession for two 
years, returning to Caledonia in 1881. Our 
subject was married in the spring of 1856, at 
Auburn, N. Y., to Myra Johnson, born July 
19, 1832, in Enfield, N. H., daughter of James 
and Eliza (Goodhue) Johnson, both natives 
of New Hampshire. Mrs. Hathaway is the 
mother of four children now living — George W., 
born October 13, 1859 ; Frank B., born Febru- 



ary 17, 1863 ; Jessie E., born February 7, 1866, 
and Julian C, born May 30, 1868. Mr. 
Hathaway is a member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity, Caledonia Lodge, No. 47. In politics, 
he has been identified with the Republican 
part}'. 

GEORGE W. HIGGINS, merchant, Olm- 
sted, born August 28, 1847, in Wheeling, W. 
Va., son of Bernhard Higgins, a native of 
Wheeling, W. Va., where he died 1881. He 
was a saddler by occupation. He was a soldier 
in our late civil war. The mother of our sub- 
ject is Ann J. (Rankin) Higgins, a native of 
County Tyrone, Ireland. She is yet living 
at Cleveland, Ohio. She is the mother of 
seven children, viz.: Thomas H., William A., 
Eliza A. (deceased), Martha B. (wife of Rev. 
J. Hall), George W., Benjamin F. and Mary J. 
(wife of Rev. B. Smith, New Lisbon, Ohio. The 
oldest son, Thomas H., is a photographer, Will- 
iam A. is a sign painter, and Benjamin F. is a 
local editor on the Wheeling Journal. Our 
subject was educated in Wheeling, W. Va. In 
early life, he clerked on the Silver Moon 
steamer, running between Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
Memphis, Tenn. He was on the river for 
seven years, and then in 1872 he came to Cale- 
donia, Pulaski County, where he was married, 
in the same year to Miss Mollie Clerason, who 
died April 1, 1879, leaving two children, viz.: 
Ben M., born March 5, 1873, and Mollie C, de- 
ceased. April 26, 1882, he was married a sec- 
ond time to Miss Nannie Olmsted, born July 
16, 1862. She is a daughter of George E. 
Olmsted, a son of Rev. Ed Olmsted. Her 
mother was Sallie (Timmons) Olmsted, whose 
mother, Nancy Timmons, is yet living, and 
may be classed among our pioneers. Our sub- 
ject entered in partnership with James Y. Clem- 
son in June, 1872, keeping a general merchan- 
dising store at Olmsted, Pulaski Co., III. He 
is also Postmaster, and in politics he is identi- 
fied with the Democratic part3\ Mrs. Higgins 
is a member of the Episcopal Church. 



OHIO riiECINCT. 



317 



MARCUS L. HUGHES, deceased, whose por- 
trait appears in this work, deserves to be remem- 
bered as one of the most enterprising and practi- 
cal farmers and business men of Pulaski County. 
Of busy men, he became about the busiest, 
not for a greed of gain, but because he had an 
instinct of activity and a fondness for business. 
He was born in Caledonia, Pulaski County, 
February 11, 1848 ; was educated at Notre 
Dame, graduating from that institution Febru- 
ary 1, 1866, after which he began farming on 
his own account, and not only became a prac- 
tical farmer, but engaged largely in stock- 
raising. His farm was the model farm of Pu- 
laski County, and everything about shows not 
onlj' refinement but good judgment. He was 
married in Mound City, 111., September 17, 

1878, to Mrs. Mary E., widow of Dr. William 
Anonett, and a daughter of P. W. Stophlett. a 
native of Ohio. This union was blessed with 
two children, viz.: Marcus L., born August 11, 

1879, and Edgar, born February 21, 1881. Mr. 
Hughes did not take an interest in outward 
forms of religion, but led practically a good life. 
His friendships were many, his acquaintances 
numerous, and his taking away in December, 
1881, was widely regretted by all among whom 
he was known. He was a son of William A. 
and Sarah Hughes, who were among the earl}^ 
settlers of Pulaski County. He was born 
March 25, 1818, and died February 8, 1873 ; 
she was born November 30, 1825, and died 
October 25, 1854. They are the parents of 
three children. 

R. M. JOHNSON, farmer, P. O. Olmsted, 
was born February 24, 1842, in Morgan Count}-, 
Ky., son of John P. Johnson, a farmer by occu- 
pation, a native of Virginia, yet living in Olm- 
sted. His father was Elijah Johnson, a native 
of Virginia. He died in Kentucky. The 
mother of our subject was Mary (Day) John- 
son, born in Kentuck}'. She is yet living in 
Olmsted, being the mother of nine children — 
Richard M., our subject, John, Henry. Fannie, 



James and Alfred; Jefferson, Kelc}^ and George 
are deceased. Our subject received a common 
school education in Lewis County, Ky., where he 
spent his early life in tilling the soil and steam- 
boating, about six falls and winters, on the Ohio 
River. Tn 1864, he came to Pulaski County, 
where he has been engaged in various occupa- 
tions, viz.: First, farmed one year, and then for 
the next five j^ears engaged in the mercantile 
business, and then once more went to farming. 
He now owns about 200 acres of land in this 
county. He is a self-made man, such as we 
generall}' find among our more energetic, wide- 
awake farmers. He was joined in matrimony 
December 29, 1868, in Caledonia, to Miss Isora 
L. Trahern, born July 30, 1850, in Union 
County, 111. She is a daughter of Morgan and 
Sarah B. (Gayne) Trahern, natives of Tennes- 
see. Mrs. Isora L. Johnson is the mother of 
four children — Flora B., born August 13, 1870; 
Joseph S., born April 13, 1873 ; Richard and 
Marcus are deceased. Mrs. Johnson is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Johnson 
is a member of the A., F. & A. M. fraternity. 
Grand 'Chain Lodge, No. 660. He now fills 
the ofHce of Constable and School Director. In 
politics he has been identified with the Repub- 
lican party. 

B. F. MASON, farmer and lumberman, P. 
0. America. Of our self-made men in this 
county who have aided in developing its re- 
sources, and whose example in life is worthy 
of imitation, we must count him whose name 
heads this sketch. Mr. Mason was born Feb- 
ruary 5, 1828, in Union County, Ind., where he 
was also educated. He is a son of Adam Ma- 
son, born December 23, 1795, in Pennsylvania, 
near Brownsville, a farmer bj' occupation. He 
died February 20, 1876, in this State. The 
mother of our subject was Sallie (Youse) Ma- 
son, a native of Penns3-lvania, born July 26, 
1800. She died December 15, 1840, in Browns- 
ville, Ind. She was the mother of six children, 
of whom two are now living — William Y., a 



318 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



farmer in Iowa, and Benjamin F., our subject, 
wlio was a contractor of public works for about 
three years in Indiana. In 1855, he moved to 
Warren County, 111., where he was a tiller of 
the soil till 1865, when he sold out and came to 
Pulaski Countj^, where he bought land and now 
owns 2,200 acres of land, of which about 800 
acres lay in Johnson Count}'. ■ This is the fruit 
of a successful business career, and is showing 
what industry, energy and honest dealing, with 
good resources of a country, can do. On his 
arrival in this county, he paid some attention to 
the lumber business, and in 1871 he bought a 
portable saw mill, which he operates to the 
present day, cutting from $8,000 to $10,000 
worth of lumber per year, cutting principally 
for the railroad companies. His home farm 
consists of 600 acres of good land, which was 
wild woods when he first came here, but now he 
has excellent buildings unrivaled by any in the 
county. Our subject has been no office-seeker 
nor politician, but has devoted his attention to 
the development of the resources of Pulaski 
County, with splendid success. He was joined 
in matrimony' August 15, 1850, in Franklin 
County, Ind., to Miss Elizabeth Campbell, born 
November 19, 1832, in Franklin County, Ind. 
She is a daughter of Hugh and Lucinda (Ross) 
Campbell, both natives of Pennsylvania. Mrs. 
Mason is the mother of eight children now liv- 
ing — Sarah E. Mangold, Alice E. Full, Oscar M., 
born April 1, 1859 ; Hughey A., born January 
3, 1862 ; Charles H., born June 1, 1864 ; Will- 
iam C, born February 9, 1869 ; Mary E., born 
May 26, 1871, and RosaS., born November 18, 
1873. Mr. and Mrs. Mason are people who 
enjoy the esteem and confidence of all with 
whom they come in contact. 

JUDGE HENRY M. SMITH, Olmsted. 
Of the men in Pulaski Count}' who stand high 
among their fellow-men, who have filled almost 
all the higher offices and whose character as a 
man, Judge or politician is unimpeached, we 
take great pleasure in recognizing him whose 



name heads this sketch. Judge Smith is a 
true t3'pe of our pioneers, whose honest, rugged 
faces are fast disappearing. The many office.s^ 
he has held speak for themselves and show that 
intelligence, uprightness, honesty and justice- 
are appreciated the world over. The father of 
our subject, Daniel Lee Smith, was a native of 
Virginia. He merchandized in South Carolina 
and farmed in this county, to which he came 
in 1830, and where he died in 1857. The 
mother of our subject, P]lizabeth (Hampton> 
Smith, was a native of South Carolina. She 
died in 1858 in this count}'. She was the 
mother of eight children, of whom five are now 
living — Eliza J. Carnes ; Elizabeth Carnes ; 
Henry M., our subject ; James G. and Julia 
Smith. Our subject was born May 3, 1820, 
in Newberry District, S. C, where he went to 
school about three years, after which he at- 
tended the schools of this county, walking five 
miles to and from school. He then worked on 
his father's farm till 1842, when he went to 
Lower Caledonia, where he worked for Capt. 
Hughes till 1844, when he was elected Sheriff 
of Pulaski County. He served four years, and 
in 1852 was elected Judge of the County 
Court, serving one year, when he resigned and 
studied law with Judge John Dougherty. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1857. in Caledonia, 
where he practiced law, also all over Southern 
Illinois, and has followed the calling of his no- 
ble profession ever since. In 1860, he was 
elected Circuit Clerk of Pulaski County, serv- 
ing eight years. In 1872, he was elected State's 
Attorney, serving four years. He was elected 
County Judge to fill a vacancy in 1879, and in 
1882 he was elected to the same office for a 
term of four years. He is an active member 
and Senior Warden of the Caledonia Lodge, 
No. 47, A., F. & A. M. The Judge has beeiv 
interested in the tilling of the bounteous soiit 
of Pulaski County, and now owns a fine farm 
of 530 acres of laad in this county. He has 
also been identified with the mercantile- busi- 



WETAUG PRECINCT. 



319« 



ness of the country ever since 1863, when he 
started a general store in Caledonia, which 
burnt down in May, 1883. He now runs a 
general store in Olmsted, near his country resi- 
dence. The Judge has been married four 
times. His present wife is Mrs. Sarah Little, 



whose maiden name was Swain. She is the 
mother of Bettie Muffitt, Henry M., Belle M. 
and Myra B. The Judge's second wife, Sarah 
A. Burton, was the mother of three children — 
Alice M., Hulda E. and Frank P. 



WETAUG PEEOIJSrOT. 



GEORGE P. BIRD, Superintendent of We- 
taug Mills, Wetaug, is a native of Ballard 
County, Ky., born September 29, 1860, a son of 
John H. and A^irginia J. (Ward) Bird. The 
parents had two children, George P. being the 
only one living. Their mother is the present 
wife of Capt. W. A. Hight, of Wetaug. The 
subject of these lines obtained his first school- 
ing in La Salle Count}^ 111., and at Cape Girar- 
deau, and he afterward attended the College of 
the Christian Brothers at St. Louis, Mo. In 
1877, he came to Wetaug, and worked in the 
flouring mills of this place. Three years later, 
he assumed the superintendency of the mills, 
which position he still holds. He was married. 
May 2, 1880, to Eliza A. Topping, born in 
1860, a daughter of James Topping. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bird are the parents of one child — Bertha 
G., born April 4, 1881. In politics, Mr. Bird 
is a Republican. 

JAMES B. COTTNER, physician, Wetaug, 
is a native of Union Count}', 111., born August 
3, 1828, a son of David and Catharine (Miller) 
Cottner, both of whom were natives of Stod- 
dard County, Mo. The father was a farmer. 
He moved to Union County in 1827, and died 
shortly afterward. He was a son of Frederick 
Cottner, a native of North Carolina. The 
mother of our subject died March 4, 1869, 
aged sixt3^-three years. She was a daughter 
of Nicholas Miller, of North Carolina. The 
parents were blessed with four children, James 



B. being the only one living. The mother was 
married a second time, to Matthew Anderson, by 
whom she had four children, one living — Isaac. 
The subject of these lines received what little 
education was afforded by the subscription 
schools of his native county. He first took up 
farming as an occupation, but living in the 
Mississippi bottoms, where there was a great 
amount of sickness, his attendance at the sick- 
bed was often required. Becoming more and 
more acquainted with the several remedies 
generally administered in various cases, and 
showing a special aptitude for his new work, 
he soon discovered that he could not both 
farm and doctor, so constantly were his serv- 
ices demanded in the latter direction. He 
therefore gave up farming, and bent all his en- 
ergies to the prosecution of his medical studies, 
and, for a period of thirty-one years, has been 
engaged in constant practice. He removed to 
Ullen, 111., and afterward to Wetaug, in 1877, 
where he has since resided. He was married, 
Januar}' 29, 1861, to Julia A. Scott, born Jan- 
uary 29, 1837, a daughter of Benjamin and 
Mary Ann Scott. Dr. and Mrs. Cottner are 
the parents of two children, one of whom is 
living— Mary C, born February 29, 1863, the 
wife of James M. Anderson, a merchant in 
Wetaug. In March, 1864, our subject enlisted 
in the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, Col. Lynch. They 
did active service in Mississippi, Alabama and 
Louisiana,^ and were mustered out at Spring- 



320 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



field, 111., July 2, 1865. In polities, the Doctor 
votes the Republican ticket. 

CHARLES W. HARTLINE, farmer, P. 0. 
Dongola, is a native of Rowan County, N. C, 
born August 27. 1833, a son of Henry and 
Sophia (Kesler) Hartline, both natives of same 
county. The father was a blacksmith and 
farmer, and he died when subject was about 
twelve years old. The mother died in 1881, 
aged seventj^-three years. The parents were 
blessed with seven children, three living — 
Alexander, Mary and Charles W. The latter 
received his earl}' education in the subscription 
schools of Union County, his parents having 
removed when he was about six years old. 
He afterward went a little in Pulaski Count}'. 
He started in life as a farmer, and farming has 
since been his occupation. He has now 192 
acres, which are given to general farming. He 
was first married in 1862, to Mar}- Ann Meyers, 
a daughter of John Meyers. By her he had 
one child — John, born September 4, 1864. 
Mrs. Hartline died in November, 1864. He 
was married a second time April 7, 1867, to 
Susan Casper, born January 1, 1835, a daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Eliza (Mowery) Casper. By 
her he has four children, three living — Minerva 
E., born March 29, 1869 ; Amy L, born Janu- 
ary 14, 1870, and Martha A., born August 16, 
1874. Subject and wife :ire members of Ger- 
man Reform Church. In politics, he is a 
Democrat. 

SAMUEL C. HARTMAN, farmer, P. 0. 
Wetaug, is a native of Davie County, N. C, 
born October 22, 1834^ a son of Charles and 
Elizabeth (Cruse) Hartman, both natives of 
Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer ; he 
moved to Bond County, 111., when Samuel was 
about seventeen years old, and a year later to 
Texas, where he remained two years. They 
returned to Union County, 111., and purchased 
330 acres of land, which he farmed for several 
years. He died at the advanced age of eighty- 
seven years. The mother died about 1863, 



aged about sixty-three years. The parents 
had a family of nine children, seven of whom 
are living — James, Alexander, Elam, George. 
Mary, Sammie C. and Sarah. Our subject re- 
ceived his early education in the subscription 
schools of his native county ; he has always 
been engaged in farming. About 1868, he 
came to Pulaski County, and purchased 140 
acres of land which is his present place. He 
engaged in general farming. He was first 
married to Elizabeth Hileman, who died about 
1867. By her he had three children, two of 
whom are living — Sarah Ann, born February 
15, 1862, and Mary Alice, born March 14, 
1864. He was married a second time to Re- 
becca Hileman, who died January 8, 1873. 
June 12, 1873, he married his present wife, 
Mary'j. Cline, born November 22, 1849, a 
daughter of Alfred and Catharine (File) Cline. 
By her he had four children, two living— John 
E., born July 29, 1878, and Homer 0., born 
September 25, 1880. Mr. Hartman and wife 
are members of the Lutheran Church. He 
votes the Republican ticket. 

CAPT. W. A. HIGHT, merchant, etc., We- 
taug. When we study the history of self made 
men, persevering industry and energetic effort 
seem to be the great secret of their success. 
What is usually termed genius has little to do 
in the success of men in general. It is rather 
a matter of experience, sound judgment and a 
determined power of will. Such, in a measure, 
were the characteristics of the man whose 
name stands at the head of this sketch, and 
whose portrait appears elsewhere in this vol- 
ume. He came of an old Virginia family, 
and possesses in an eminent degree that court- 
esy and genuine hospitality for which the true 
gentlemen of the Old Dominion are everywhere 
noted. He was born in Richmond, Va., Janu- 
ary 27, 1820. His parents were Robert and 
Mary (Davis) Hight, the former a farmer who 
took a leading part in the afl'airs of his com- 
munity. During his long and active life, he 



WETAUG PRECINCT. 



321 



was identified with many movements calculat- 
ed to promote* the prosperit}- and welfare of 
the people and the neighborhood in which he 
lived. He served in the war of 1812, and was 
a great admirer of Gen. Jackson, and accepted 
him as his particular political patron saint. He 
died in May, 1871. at the age of about seventy- 
nine years. His wife survived him but one year, 
and died at the age of seventy-four years. 
The}' were the parents of eight children, of 
whom but four are now living — William (our 
subject), Emeline, Parlee and Robert M. The 
early education of our subject was attained in 
the old-time subscription schools near Nash- 
ville, Tenn., whence his parents removed when 
he was quite small. He afterward accompanied 
an uncle to Missouri, and while there attend- 
ed the St. Mary's school some two years. He 
then rejoined his parents, who had, in the 
meantime, removed to Union County, 111. Here 
he attended school for about three years, com- 
pleting his education. At an early age, he 
launched out into the world, with a brave 
heart and a strong arm, and firm in the deter- 
mination to carve out his own way to fortune. 
His grand aim was to become a warehouse 
boy, and to gratify this laudable ambition he 
engaged to cut cord-wood, as the first step 
toward the realization of his dreams, and when, 
some time affcerwai'd, he went to Grand Tower, 
HI., where he received the position of clerk in 
a store, the full fruition of his hopes was at- 
tained. He remained in Grand Tower for five 
years, and then went to Jonesboro, where he 
opened a store on his own account, which he 
operated for some two years, and then took in 
a partner. For about a year the firm was 
Hodges & Hight. In 1844, he, in company 
with Daniel Hileman, removed to Pulaski 
County, and located on the Jonesboro & 
Caledonia road, about twelve miles south of 
Jonesboro. Here thej- carried on a general 
store until 1861, at which time Mr. Hight pur- 
chased the interest of his partner, and has since 



continued the same business. In 1859, before 
the retirement of Mr. Hileman, they removed 
to a point convenient to the railroad, which 
had been built since the commencement of 
their business intercourse, and which is still 
Mr. Hight's location. In 1876, Mr. Henry 
Mowery was taken in as a partner, and the 
present firm is Hight & Mower}-. During his 
business life, Mr. Hight has been engaged in 
various enterprises, in all of which his keen 
sagacity and sound judgment have carried 
through successfully. He owns near four 
thousand acres of land, over two thousand 
acres of which lie in Pulaski County, and the 
remainder in Johnson County. He made a 
donation recently of about six hundred acres 
to the Catholic order of Benedictine. In 1877, 
he completed a fine flouring mill, known as the 
Wetaug Mills. They contain four run of buhrs, 
and do a large and profitable business. He 
also has the management of the Wetaug saw 
mills, and is interested in a number of other 
business enterprises in diflerent parts of the 
country. He is at present one of the County 
Commissioners of Pulaski County, and is a Re- 
publican in politics. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, and belongs to Caledonia 
Lodge, No. 47. Mr. Hight has five children 
living — Alexander, Arnette, Alice, Adelia and 
Josephine. As a business man, Mr. Hight 
ranks among the first in the county. He is 
decided, yet kind ; firm and resolute, 3'et in- 
dulgent, and an open-hearted, generous and 
true friend to all who win his trust and con- 
fidence. 

JUDGE CALEB HOFFNER, farmer, P. 0. 
Wetaug, is one of the old and respected resi- 
dents of Pulaski County. He came from 
Rowan County, N. C, where he was born May 
11, 1814. His parents, John and Catharine 
(Powles) Hoffner, were natives of the same 
county. The father was a tiller of the soil. He 
died in 1841. His noble wife survived him until 
1879, having passed her nintey-first birthdav. 



322 



BIOGRAPHICAL ; 



The union of the old couple was blessed with 
ten children, only three of whom are living — 
Catharine, Sophia and Caleb. The latter re- 
ceived the meager education that the old sub- 
scription schools of Union and Pulaski Coun- 
ties afforded, his parents having removed from 
North Carolina when he was about six years 
old. He assisted his father on the home farm 
in early life, but becoming desirous of more 
active fields of operation, he sought life on the 
Mississippi, and from about 1836 to 1844 he 
was engaged at trafficking in produce between 
Cairo and New Orleans. He returned at the 
latter date, and located in Pulaski County, 
where he has since resided. His present farm 
consists of 300 acres, about one half of which 
is in systematic cultivation. He was united 
in marriage in 1838 to Amelia Knupp, born 
November 18, 1818, a daughter of Daniel and 
Elizabeth (Powles) Knupp. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hoffner are the parents of six children, two of 
whom are living — Amy, wife of William T. 
Freeze, of Mound City, and Henry A. In 
1861, our subject was elected Associate Judge 
of Pulaski County, and he served a term of 
four years. He was re-elected to the same 
position in 1869, serving a like period. He is 
a man who has always held an enviable posi- 
tion in popular esteem, having administered 
the affairs of over twenty estates. He is a 
man who strives for good churches, good 
schools, good roads, and he always takes a 
deep interest in all enterprises calculated for 
the good of the people. In politics, he has 
been a Republican since the organization of 
that party. 

JOHN H. LENTZ, farmer, P. 0. Wetaug, is 
a native of Alexander County, EL, but moved 
to Pulaski County when he was quite small. 
He was born January 10, 1835, a son of John 
Jacob and Catharine (Clutts) Lentz, both na- 
tives of Rowan County, N. C. The father was 
a tailor by trade, and afterward a farmer, and 
died August 14, 1868, aged seventy-four years. 



The mother died January 21, 1870, aged about 
seventy-three years. The parents were blessed 
with eight children, three of whom are living 
— Paul, Peny and John H. The early educa- 
tion of the latter was received in the old sub- 
scription schools of Pulaski County, and he 
has alwa3-s been engaged in farming. He has 
120 acres of land, mostly in cultivation. He 
was first married in 1861, to Malinda Hartraan, 
a daughter of Peter and Sarah Hartraan. She 
died December 10, 1878. By her he had 
seven children — Mary A. E., born October 24, 
1862; George E., May 1, 1864; James F., 
August 3, 1867 ; Lewis E., September 17, 
1869 ; Eflae L., June 21, 1871 ; Henry H., 
August 11, 1874, and Chloe M., September 11, 
1878. He was married a second time to Ma,Yy 
J. Eton, who died May 30, 1881. Mr. Lentz 
is a member of the Lutheran Church. In poli- 
tics, he is a Democrat. 

JOHN McINTOSH, farmer, P. O. Wetaug, 
is a native of Pulaski County, 111., born De- 
cember 25, 1851, a son of George W. and 
Elizabeth (Hoflfner) Mcintosh, he of English 
descent, and she a native of North Carolina. 
The father was a farmer, and died March 26, 
1875. His wife died in December, 1875. The 
parents had seven children, three of whom are 
living — Levi, John and Henry W. Subject's 
early education was received in the common 
schools of this county, and he has always been 
engaged in farming. He now has 115 acres of 
land, which are given to general farming. He 
was married in 1873 to Mary E. Beaver, a 
daughter of Moses and Annie Beaver. Mr. 
and Mrs. Mcintosh are the parents of two chil- 
dren — Willie, born September 1, 1874, and 
Arminda, July 23, 1877. Subject and wife are 
members of the Lutheran Church. In politics, 
he is a Democrat. 

ELI MOWERY, farmer, P. 0. Dongola, is a 
native of Alexander County, 111., born April 5, 
1849, a son of David and Elizabeth (Dillow) 
Mowery, he from Rowan County, N. C, and 



WETAUG PE^CINCT. 



323 



she of Union County. The parents are both 
living. The}' were blessed with ten children, 
seven of whom are living — Eli, Polly A., Ma- 
linda J., George W., Melia L., David W. and 
Edward C. The early education of subject 
was received in the common schools of Pulas- 
ki County ; he has always been engaged in 
farming. He was married, November 18, 1869, 
to Amanda J. Cruse, born February 23, 1849, 
a daughter of Peter M. Cruse. Mr. and Mrs. 
Mower}' have five children — Peter H., born 
October 7, 1870 ; Lewis E., October 25, 1872 ; 
Addie E., March 5, 1875 ; Clara D., February 
20, 1878, and Cora A., February 10, 1881. 
Mr. Mowery has now IGO acres, which are given 
to general farming. He and wife are members 
of the German Reformed Church. In politics. 
he is a Democrat. 

SAMUEL C. PEELER, farmer, P. 0. We- 
taug, is a native of Union County, 111., born 
October 7, 1851, a son of Jesse and Mary 
(Crite) Peeler. The father is a native of North 
Carolina, and is a substantial farmer in Union 
County, 111. He has been married three times, 
his first wife, the mother of the subject of these 
lines, having died about 1855. His second 
wife was a Mrs. Loekman, and his third Mary 
Miller. The parents of Samuel C. were blessed 
with three children, two of whom are living. 
The former received what little education the 
common schools of Union County afforded. 
He took up farming for an occupation, and 
has always been thus engaged. In October. 
1877, he purchased his present farm, which 
consists of eighty acres. He was married in 
March, 1877, to Martha M. Lackey, a daughter 
of Joel and Lucinda Lackey, and now has a 
family of three children — Charlie, born Febru- 
ary 26, 1878; Ora L., born July 26, 1879, and 
Essie J., born February 4, 1882. Mr. Peeler 
and wife are members of the Lutheran Church. 
In politics, he votes the Republican ticket. 

THOMAS J. PEELER, farmer, P. 0. 
Wetaug, is a native of Pulaski County, 111., 



born June 1, 1861, a son of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth (Lackey-Meyers) Peeler, he from North 
Carolina and she from Tennessee. The father 
was a farmer, a son of Anthony Peeler, and 
was first married to Nancy Sowers, who died 
September 13, 1852. By her he had a large 
family, only one of whom is living — Louvina. 
The father died February 26, 1876. The 
mother is still living. She was the widow of 
John Meyers, and daughter of Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Barker) Lackey. The early educa- 
tion of our subject was received in the com- 
mon schools of Pulaski County. He started 
in life as a farmer, assisting his father on the 
home farm up to the time of the latter's death. 
He now has 157 acres, which are given to 
general farming. He 'was married. May 9, 
1881, to Laura Richey, born January 5, 1862, 
a daughter of Eli and Eliza (Hileraan) Richey. 
In politics, Mr. Peeler is a Republican. 

BENJAMIN C. PRUETT, general railroad 
and express agent, Wetaug, was born in Mar- 
ion County, 111., September 29, 1851, a son of 
Jarrett W. and Susan M. (Corwin) Pruett ; he 
is a native of Virginia, and she of Kentucky. 
They are farmers, and are living in Kinmundy, 
111., and are the parents of eight children, six 
of whom are living — Francis A., Meredith M., 
Elizabeth J., Benjamin C, Rosa M. and Bur- 
well S. The common schools of his native 
county afforded our subject a fair education, 
and his early life was spent in assisting his 
father on the home farm. About 1877. he 
commenced learning telegraphy and genei'al 
railroading at Kinmundy, 111., and in Septem- 
ber. 1880, took charge of the office at Wetaug, 
which position he still retains. He has charge 
of the telegraph, express and freight depart- 
ments. He is noted for his many genial quali- 
ties, and is held in popular esteem by all. He 
married Nellie B., born January 16, 1862, a 
daughter of Frederick G. and Rebecca J. 
(Nalley) Ulen, residents of Pulaski County. 
Mr. Pruett is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., Don- 



324 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



gola, No. 343. Politically, he is a Republican. 

DAVID RICHEY, farmer, P. 0. Wetaug, 
was born in Rowan County, N. C, November 
28, 1810, the eldest child of Philip and Catha- 
rine (Walker) Richey, natives of same county. 
The father was a farmer ; was in the war of 
1812, and died in August, 1816. The mother 
died about 1857. They had two children, 
David being the only one living. The mother 
was married a second time to George Lingle, 
by whom she had seven children, six of whom 
are living. David received a limited education 
in his native count}', and at sixteen years of 
age he started out for himself He clerked in 
his uncle's stoi'e for five years, and was vari- 
ously engaged till coming West in the latter 
part of 1835. He located where he at present 
resides. He was married, January 16, 1839, to 
Elizabeth Sowers, a daughter of Henry and 
Sarah (Linker) Sowers. She died March 26, 
1876. the mother of seven children, three of 
whom are living — Eli M., Mary Ann and Dan- 
iel S. Mr. Richey has filled man}- offices ; is 
a member of the Lutheran Church, and is Re- 
publican in politics. 

DANIEL S. RICHEY, farmer, P. 0. We- 
taug. was born May 30, 1847, a son of David 
Riche}', a sketch of whom will be found else- 
where. He received his early education in the 
common schools of Pulaski County, and has 
always been engaged in farming. He married 
Susan S. Rendleman, a daughter of D. H. 
and Catharine (Hunsaker) Rendleman, and has 
a family of six children — Effie L., Marcus L., 
Albert A., Viola V., Lillie 0. and Lyman A. 
Mr. Richey has eighty acres of land, and en- 
gages in general farming. He and wife are 
members of the Lutheran Church. In politics, 
he is a Republican. 

RICHARD B. SOWERS, farmer, P. 0. We- 
taug. was born November 14, 1830, in Rowan 
County, N. C, a son of John, born January 12, 
1804, and Elizabeth (Durham) Sowers, natives 
of same county. The father was a farmer, and 



was married a second time to Jane Durham, a 
sister of his first wife. She is still living. The 
father died January 28, 1876, and the mother 
of our subject about 1847. The parents were 
blessed with a large family, four of whom are 
living— R. B., Eli, Sarah and Elizabeth. The 
subject of these lines received his early school- 
ing, which was limited to the old-fashioned 
schools in his native count}', and he afterward 
attended a little in Pulaski County, his parents 
having removed from North Carolina when he 
was about nine years old. In early life, he 
served a three-year apprenticeship to the black- 
smith's trade, and afterward ran a shop in Cob- 
den, 111. He was married, July 22, 1852, to 
Catharine M. Rendleman, born October 8, 1833, 
a daughter of D. H. and Catharine (Hunsaker) 
Rendleman, both of whom are living. Mr. and 
Mrs. Sowers are the parents of twelve chil- 
dren, nine of whom are living — Mary A., born 
November 18, 1858 ; John F., July 18, 1860 ; 
Ellen, August 31, 1862 ; Sarah C, October 1, 
1866 ; Martin L., December 27, 1868 ; Lydia A„ 
April 12, 1870 ; Jacob A., March 18, 1872 ; 
Drake H., June 26, 1874, and George W., Octo- 
ber 15, 1877. In the spring of 1861, Mr. Sow- 
ers moved to his present place, where he has 
160 acres of land. He engages in the various 
branches of farming. August 11, 1862, he en- 
tered the Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infan- 
try, Col. DoUins, and afterward Col. A. J. Smith. 
He was captured at Brice's Cross Roads, and 
lay in Andersonville and other prisons for 
nearly six months. He afterward rejoined his 
regiment at Montgomery, Ala. Mr. Sowers 
and family are members of the Lutheran 
Church. Politically, he is a Republican. 

FREDERICK G. ULEN, farmer, P. O. 
UUin, 111., was born June 19, 1831, in 
Greenup County, Ky., a son of Samuel and 
Margaret Ann (Thompson) Ulen. He was 
born in Wheeling, W. Va., December 5, 1798, 
a son of Benjamin and Catharine (Carpenter) 
Ulen, he a native of Holland, and she born 



WETAUG PRECINCT. 



325 



in Hagerstown, Md. Samuel Ulen was a shoe- 
maker and saddler by trade, and later a 
farmer. He was a great politician, and cast 
the second vote in Pulaski County. His 
father had willed him, amongst other effects, 
nine negroes, which Samuel set at liberty. 
He moved to Missouri, and then to Alexan- 
der County in 1846, and in 1851, to Pulaski 
County. He was in the war of 1812, and died 
in 1867. His wife died shortly afterward. 
They were blessed with thirteen children, five 
of whom are living — Hamilton C, F. G., B. L., 
Matthew and Thomas J. Our subject's early 
education was received in his native county, 
and he afterward went to school in Mis- 
souri and also in Pulaski County. He 
remained with his father ; engaged in farm- 
ing until his marriage, which occurred 
October 30, 1853. He wedded Rebecca J. 
Nalley, born May 30, 1831, a daughter of 
Walter and Sarah (Garner) Nalley, he from 
Virginia, and she from Kentucky. Mr. and 
Mrs. Ulen are the parents of eleven children, 
eight of whom are living — Mary A., born Sep- 
tember 4, 1854 ; James A. and William A., 
twins, born September 13, 1859 ; Nellie B., 
January 16,1862; Sarah, August 16, 1865; 
Samuel, May 28, 1867 ; Daniel M., March 22, 
1870, and Frederick J., July 20, 1872. In 
1854, Mr. Ulen purchased 200 acres of land in 
Union County, since which he has bought and 
sold several pieces in the three counties. He 
now has 105 acres, which are given to general 
farming. He and wife are members of the 



Methodist Church, and politically he is a 
stanch Republican. 

JAMES WEBSTER, proprietor Wetaug 
Saw Mills, is a native of Scotland, born June 
18, 1830, a son of William and Mary (Peter) 
Webster, both natives of the same couutr}-. 
The father was a stone-cutter. He died in 
1842, aged fifty-two j^ears. The mother died 
March 8, 1883, aged eighty-four years. The 
parents were blessed with eight children, seven 
of whom are living — Jeannette, Elizabeth, 
James, William, Ann, Mary and Charles. Our 
subject received but a meager education in his 
native country. He learned the trade of his 
father. He came to America in 1852, and for 
five years was engaged at building bridges, etc., 
for the Illinois Central Railroad Company, 
since which he has followed saw-milling. He 
ran mills above Mound City for about thirteen 
years, at Oaktown, 111., nine years, and also at 
Mill Creek. The Wetaug Mills, of which he is 
the present proprietor, has a large capacity, 
and employs several hands. Mr. Webster 
has been married three times, his first wife 
being Emma J. Wethington, who died in 1861. 
By her he had three children, all of whom 
are deceased. His second marriage occurred 
June 19, 1863. He wedded Emma Morris, 
who died in 1877. Two children are living of 
this marriage — Emma and Mary. He married 
Ellen Spires November 8, 1879. She was the 
widow of Charles Spires, and daughter of N. 
M. Farrin. Mr. Webster is a member of the 
A. F. & A. M., Mound City Lodge. In politics, 
he is a Democrat. 



326 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



ulli:n^ peeoinot. 



GEORGE T. ADAMS, mill superintendent, 
Ullin, was born in Athol, Worcester Co., Mass., 
March 13, 1835, and was a son of Timothy and 
Laura (Twitche) Adams, the father being a dis- 
tant I'elative of President John Quincy Adams. 
There were three children — Rosanna, wife of 
Dutton De Wood, of Pana, 111.; Achsah, wife 
of Emory Gage, of Athol, Mass., and our sub- 
ject, George T., who received his education at 
the schools of New Salem, Mass., and then 
went to a door and sash manufactory in his 
native town. In that mill he remained until 
1857. and then came to Pulaski County, where 
he worked in a mill owned by Dutton DeWood. 
After remaining in that location four years, he 
returned to his native town. At the latter 
place he also remained four years ; then in 1865 
came back to Pulaski County and commenced 
working in James Bell's mill, where he now 
acts as General Superintendent. Mr. Adams 
was married, February 24, 1866, to Mrs. Jen- 
nie R. Morford, nee Mangold, who was born in 
Pennsylvania. This lad\' is the mother of four 
children by her present husband, one of whom 
is now living — R03', born February 24, 1873. 
Mrs. Adams is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Our subject is a member of 
Dongola Lodge, No. 581, A., F. & A. M.,and of 
the American Legion of Honor. In politics, is 
a Republican. 

JON. T. ADKINS, farmer, P. 0. Ullin, was 
born in Marion County, Ala., March 15, 1853. 
He was the eldest of six children, and was the 
son of Robert and Margaret (Andetond) Adkins. 
When subject was six years old, his parents 
moved to Tishomingo County, Miss., and there 
he was permitted to attend school some. His 
father was a strong Union man, left the South 
at the breaking-out of the war and came to 



Memphis, Tenn., where, Februar}- 4, 1863, he 
joined the Fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantiy, 
Company I, Capt. Ward. He remained in act- 
ive service until stricken by a congestive chill 
while in camp at Bowling Green, Ky., and died 
August 9 of the same year. Our subject's 
mother remained in Mississippi until the spring 
of 1865, and then came to Illinois, where she 
settled in Dongola Precinct, Union Countj'. 
Here subject was permitted to go to school 
some also. In 1873, he came with his mother 
to his present farm, and on becoming of age 
assumed control of it. He novy owns eighth- 
acres in Section 24, Town 14, Range 1 west. 
Of this sixty acres are in cultivation. Mr. Ad- 
kins was married, Februar3^ 4, 1869, to Miss 
Harriet Pruit, a daughter of Jonathan and 
Elizabeth (Johnson) Pruit. This lady died 
April 7, 1869, and he was married the second 
time, October 4, 1871, to Amanda Brown, a 
daughter of Simeon and Margaret Brown. 
This lady was the mother of one child, an infant, 
born September 5, 1873, which died four days 
afterward. Mr. Adkins is a member of the 
Democratic party, and attends the Corinth 
Baptist Church. 

A. W. BROWN, merchant, Ullin, was born 
in Wabash County, Ind., December 26, 1848 ; 
is a son of Ephraim and Elizabeth (Birds) 
Brown, both natives of Pennsylvania. He was 
the fifth of twelve children, and received but a 
common school education in the schools of his 
county. At the age of fifteen, he started out 
for himself and went first to Buchanan, Ber- 
rien Co., Mich., where he worked on a railroad, 
and then after a year's visit at his native 
town, he came to Ullin, 111. Here he first 
acted as sawyer in Morris, Rood & Co.'s mill; 
remained with them three years, then worked 



ULLIN PRECINCT. 



337 



in James Bell's mill as setter ; next he opened 
a saloon which he ran for about three j-ears, 
and then embarked in the mercantile business. 
He now carries a stock of about $3,000. He 
has a farm of forty acres, located in Section 15, 
Town 14, Range 1 west, and is also engaged 
quite extensively in buying and selling lumber. 
Mr: Brown was married October 13, 1870, to 
Alice James, a daughter of Samuel and Eliza 
(Garust) James. She is the mother of three 
children — Bertie, Lela Grertrude and Maude. 
Our subject is a member of the Mound City 
Lodge, K. of H., No. 1847, and in politics votes 
the Democratic ticket. 

W. H. HICKS, hotel-keeper, Ullin, is a son 
of Angus and Sallie (M3-ers) Hicks, and was 
born in Jessamine County, Ky., November 16, 
1842. In the spring of 1849, his father moved 
to Pekin, 111., and after a short residence there 
came to Bloomingtou, 111., where our subject 
received his education. In 1856, his father 
again moved, and this time he came to Ullin, 
where he is still living at the ripe age of 
eight3--two. The son, after helping his father 
for a short time on his farm, went into the 
lumber and shingle business. In 1870, he went 
to Terre Haute, Ind., where he engaged in the 
lumber business for a number of j'ears. From 
that point, he went to Frankfort, K}'., where he 
acted as agent for Archer McKeen & Co., of 
Terre Haute ; also acted as agent for this firm 
all through the South and West. In 1879, he 
came to Ullin, and has since acted as head saw- 
yer for James Bell, In 1882, he also commenced 
running a boarding house. Mr. Hicks was mar- 
ried, June 29, 1870, to Miss Anna E. Culver, a 
daughter of John Culver, of Detroit. She is 
the mother of one child. Bertha Ma}^ born 
May 23, 1875. Subject enlisted in the One 
Hundred and Forty-fourth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, September 24, 1864, and remained 
out until August, 1865. In politics, he is a 
Democrat. Mr. Hicks is also agent of several 
hundred acres of good land in Pulaski precinct. 



RICHARD HICKMAN, merchant, Ullin, 
was born in Preston, Union Co., 111., May 10, 
1851, the youngest of five children, and the son 
of George and Louise (Tingle) Hickman. When 
subject was six years of age, his father moved 
to Cairo, and after a year's residence at that 
point came to Ullin, where he has since resided. 
Our subject received his education in the 
schools of Pulaski Count}-, and then commenced 
clerking in James Bell's store at Ullin. He is 
now acting as manager for that institution. Mr. 
Hickman was married December 15, 1871, to 
Nellie Tingle, a daughter of William and Isa- 
bella (McKee) Tingle, of Jasper County, Mo. 
She is the mother of two children — Frank, liv- 
ing, and an infant that died two days after 
birth. He is a member of Elco Lodge, No. 
643, I. 0. 0. F. In politics, Mr. Hickman gen- 
erally votes the Democratic ticket. 

FRED HUFFMEIER, farmer, P. 0. Ullin, 
was born in Hanover, Germany, February 1, 
1846, and is a son of Clemer and Angel Huff- 
raeier. He was educated in his native tongue, 
but since his arrival in this country has also 
acquired a knowledge of the English language. 
At the age of twenty-one, he came to this coun- 
try. Landing first at Baltimore, he proceeded 
directly to Cincinnati, where he worked in a 
varnish house. It was here that he attended 
a night school, and gained the first rudiments 
of the English language. From Cincinnati he 
went to Livingston Count}^ 111., and there fol- 
lowed farming. Leaving that point at the end 
of two 3'ears, he came to Villa Ridge, Pulaski 
County. Here he learned to make staves under 
Mr. Younghaney. He worked for this man 
three 3'ears, and then started out for himself. 
After a lapse of eight 3'ears, in which he did 
quite a successful business, he left Villa Ridge 
and came to Ullin Precinct, in 1876, where he 
bought a farm of 120 acres, in Section 24, 
Town 14, Range 1 west. Of this, about eighty 
acres are in cultivation. He still follows his 
trade some. IMr. Huffmeier was married, De- 



328 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



cember 24, 1874, to Ferbin Adkins, a daughter 
of Robert and Margaret (Andetond) Adkins. 
She has been the mother of two children, both of 
whom are now dead. He is a member of the 
Lutheran Church. In politics, he generally 
votes the Republican ticket. 

J. L. LENTZ, farmer, P. 0. Ullin. The 
father of our subject, Pa»l Lentz, was born in 
Rowan County, N. C, and was a son of Jacob 
and Catherine (Clutts) Lentz, both of German 
descent. When the father was six years old, 
his parents moved to what was then Alexander 
County, now Pulaski Count}^, and settled about 
a mile west of Wetaug. The former, as soon 
as he was able, commenced life for himself on 
a farm of forty acres in Dongola Precinct, 
Union County. There he married Elizabeth 
Crite, a daughter of George Crite, a native of 
North Carolina. This union resulted in eight 
children, six of whom are now living — S. R. 
(now in Areola, 111.), J. L. (our subject), Daniel 
(in Ullin Precinct), Tabitlia Ann (wife of H. J. 
Hudson, of Ullin Precinct), Andrew (in busi- 
ness in Areola, 111.) and Silas (farming in Min- 
nesota). J. L., our subject, was born in Don- 
gola Precinct, Union County, June 15, 1849. 
His education was received in the schools of 
his township, and at an early age he com- 
menced helping his father on the home farm. 
As soon as he was of age, at his father's re- 
quest, the son took charge of the home farm. 
In 1874, he sold the old homestead and came 
to Pulaski County, where he settled on a farm 
of 157 acres in Section 29, Town 14, Range 1 
east. Of this tract there are about 110 
acres in cultivation and four acres in orchard. 
The father is now living with his son, at an ad- 
vanced age. The mother died March 8, 1883, 
at the residence of her son. Our subject was 
married, April 27, 1871, to Julia E. Mowry, a 
daughter of Daniel Mowry. This lady is the 
mother of four children, two of whom are now 
living — Essie Olive and Paul Alexander. Mr. 



Lentz is a member of the New Hope Lutheran 
Church, and in politics is a Republican. 

J. B. McCLARAN, mill foreman, Ullin, was 
born in Corydon, Harrison Co., Ind., March 27, 
1833, and is a son of James and Agnes (Fair) 
McClaran, both natives of Pennsylvania. He 
received a slight schooling at Corj-don, but is 
mainly self-educated. As soon as he was able, 
he apprenticed himself at a saw mill at Louis- 
ville, Ky., where he remained until 1856. At 
the expiration of that year, he commenced trav- 
eling as a lumber agent for a Louisv lie firm. 
As his travels were mainly through the South, 
he was compelled to resign at the breaking-out 
of the wai', and in June, 1861, he came to 
Ullin, 111., where he remained most of the time 
since. He now acts as foreman at the mill. 
Our subject was married April 28, 1862, to 
Caroline McCleery, a daughter of Robert and 
Eleanor (Dunlop) McCleerj', of Sharon, Penn. 
This lady is the mother of four children, all of 
whom are now dead. Mr. McClaran is a mem- 
ber of the American Legion of Honor, and in 
politics is a Democrat. 

JAMES S. MORRIS, farmer, P. 0. Ullin, 
whose portrait appears elsewhere in this work, 
and who is one of the foremost men of the 
county, was born in Chester County, Penn., 
January 15, 1835. He was a son of Euos and 
Jane (Cadwallader) Morris, and the ninth of 
eleven children. The mother was a direct de- 
scendant of old Gen. Cadwallader, of Revolu- 
tionary fame. He received the education that 
the schools of his native county afforded at that 
time, and at the age of seventeen he made his 
start in life. He first went to Philadelphia, 
where he learned to be a bricklaj-er. This trade 
he followed for about eight years, first under 
his instructor, then at Bloomington, 111., next 
at Memphis, Tenn., and then at Cairo, 111., 
where he continued at this occupation until 
1862, when he opened a lumber yard and did 
business there for a number of years, under the 
firm name of Kensey & Morris. In 1870, he 



ULLIN PRECINCT. 



329 



came to Ullin Precinct, and purchased the in- 
terest of Mr. St. Leger, in the large saw mill at 
Poletown. The firm was then known as Mor- 
ris, Rood & Co., and consisted of our subject, 
E. N. Rood, of Bloomington, and J. A. P. Ten- 
E3'ck, of Williamsport, Penn. The mill is 
located about a mile west of Ullin, and is one 
of the largest in the county. This mill con- 
tinued in operation until May, 1883, when, ow- 
ing to the scarcity of timber it was compelled 
to shut down. Mr. Morris now confines him- 
self principally to farming, owning 2,800 acres 
lying in Sections 9, 19, 20, 22, 28, 29, 30, 31 
and 32, of Town 14 south. Range 1 west, and 
in Sections 5 and 6 of Town 15 south. Range 1 
west. Of this about 300 acres are in cultivation. 
In 1876, he erected a store room on his place, 
and now carries a stock of $-4,000 for the ac- 
commodation of his employes. Our subject 
was married, April 9, 1862, to Mary Jane Starr, 
a native of Mt. Pulaski, Logan Co , 111., and 
the daughter of Barton and Rebecca (Patter- 
son) Starr, the mother a native of Virginia, and 
the father of Kentucky-. She was the mother 
of four children, three of whom are now liv- 
ing — Enos, Mary and Robert. This lady died 
February 26, 1876. Mr. Morris is a member 
of Alexander Lodge, No. 224, I. 0. 0. F.. of 
Cairo, 111., and of the Presbyterian Church. 
While a resident in Cairo, he was a member of 
the Common Council, and since his advent in 
this county has served as County Commis- 
sioner. 

H. L. NICKENS, farmer, P. 0. Ullin, was 
born in Wilson County, Tenn., July 27, 1827, 
and is a son of Samuel and Martha (Holton) 
Nickens. He was the fifth of nine children, 
four of whom are now living — Harvey, E. C. 
G., Hannah and H. L. The first named is a 
resident of Marshall County, Tenn., and the 
others of Ullin Precinct. Subject received his 
education in the schools of his native county, 
and then worked on the home farm until 
seventeen, when he commenced life for himself 



as a rafter down the Duck River, and thence to 
the Tennessee, and then on to New Orleans. 
In this connection he followed the river for 
about twelve years. In 1857, he came to Pu- 
laski County, and settled near his present home. 
He now owns 100 acres in Section 23, Town 
14, Range 1 west, of which about sixty acres 
are in cultivation, and eight in orchard. Mr. 
Nickens was married, August 13, 1862, to Mrs. 
Phcebe Ann Brown, nee Ellsworth, a native of 
Indiana. This union resulted in one child — 
Everett Holton, who was born June 17, 1863, 
and died the following mont}'. Subject is a 
member of the Missionary Baptist Church. 
He has served his township as Justice of the 
Peace for the last sixteen years, and in politics 
he generally votes the Democratic ticket. 

J. SHICK, lime-kiln, Ullin, was born June 
22, 1848, in Chester County, Penn. He was 
the fourth of eleven children, and the son of 
Amos and Elizabeth (Hook) Shick. He re- 
ceived his education in his native county, and 
in 1868 came West and settled in Union 
County, 111. The first work he did in this 
county was upon a farm. He did not remain 
there long, but soon commenced working for 
Finch & Shick in their lime-kiln there. With 
this firm our subject remained four years, and 
then went to Texas, where he remained until 
1879. In the fall of that year, he came to 
Ullin, and assumed control of the lime-kiln 
owned by C. Shick «fe Co., the head of the firm 
residing at Reading, Penn. There are two 
kilns, the combined capacity of which is five 
hundred bushels a day. The enterprise gives 
employment to about fifteen men. In connec- 
tion with it, there is a cooper shop where the 
barrels necessary for shipment are manufact- 
ured. Mr. Shick also owns 240 acres in Sec- 
tion 14, Town 14, Range 1 west, and of this 
about eighty acres are in cultivation. Our sub- 
ject was married, October 23, 1879, to Mary 
Elizabeth Frick, a daughter of Jacob and 
Mary Frick, deceased, but old residents of 



330 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



Union Count}-. Mrs. Shick is a member of 
the Anna Presbyterian Church. In politics, 
Mr. Shick is a Democrat. 

JOHN A. SICKLING, farmer, P. 0. Ullin. 
The earliest settler in this pi'ecinct is the man 
whose name heads this sketch. This gentle- 
man was born in Bavaria, Germany, February 
5, 1828, and was a son of Casper and Eve 
Sickling. He received an education in his 
native tongue, and has since his advent to this 
country obtained a knowledge of the English 
language. In the old country, he also learned 
the cabinet-maker's trade. August 20, 1846, 
he landed in New Orleans, and from there came 
to Columbus, Ky., where he worked on a farm 
for about eighteen months ; he then went to 
Clinton, Ky., and in that town he followed his 
trade for several years. In 1 854, he came to 
Ullin, and at first worked at the carpenter's 
trade, putting up, among other buildings, the 
hotel at that place. In 1 862, he purchased his 
present farm of 100 acres in Section 32, Town 
14, Range 1 east. Of this, there are about 
sixty acres in cultivation. He still follows his 
trade some. In 1882, he erected a store room 
on his farm, where he now carries a stock of 
about $500, supplying his neighbors with the 
necessities of life. He was married, January 7, 
1849, to Eliza Hudson, a native of Clinton, Ky., 
and a daughter of Richard and Mary (Bald- 
win) Hudson. This lady is the mother of four 
children, two of whom are now living — Matilda 
(wife of S. C. Wilson, of Ullin), and John H. 
(now farming upon part of his father's place). 
Our subject is a member of Caledonia Lodge, 
No. 47, A., F. & A. M., and in politics is a 
Republican. 

WILLIAM F. STONE, M. D., physician, 
Ullin. The leading physiciaii of this section 
of Pulaski County, and the gentleman whose 
name heads this brief sketch, was born in Pe- 
tersburg, Ind., June 23, 1845, and was a son 
of William F. and Maria (Lamb) Stone. The 
father was a native of Dresden, Saxony, and 



the mother of Indiana. Our subject received 
his education at the Oakland High School, and 
upon finishing his schooling he taught two 
years in his native county, and then clerked 
for a time in a store in his native town. In 
1866, he came to Ullin, and first worked in a 
saw mill. In 1873, he commenced reading 
medicine with Dr. A. P. Greer, who was then 
at that point, but is now in business at Elco, 
Alexander County. After three years' stud}- 
there, he supplemented that with a course of 
lectures at the American College in St. Louis. 
Graduating from that institution in 1877, he 
returned to Ullin, where he has since practiced, 
except during the winters of 1879 and 1880, 
when he attended lectures at the Medical De- 
partment of the Northwestern University of 
Chicago. He is now the only physician in that 
section, and is constantly increasing in prac- 
tice. He was married June 14, 1870, to Mrs. 
Mary McElroy, a daughter of Angus and 
Sallie (Myers) Hicks, of Ullin Precinct. The 
Doctor is a member of Dongola Lodge, No. 
581, A., F. & A. M., and Dongola Lodge, No. 
643, I. 0. 0. F. In politics, he is a Repub- 
lican. 

J. R. WILLIAMS, farmer, P. 0. Ullin, is a 
native of Murray County, Ga., and was born 
there May 26, 1856. He is a son of John and 
Margaret Williams. His education was re- 
ceived at the schools of his native State. At 
the age of eighteen, he left home and started 
out in life for himself. Making his way to Il- 
linois, he came to Anna. Remaining there 
only a short time, he came next to Pulaski 
County, where he worked on different ftxrms in 
this precinct. In 1878, he commenced to farm 
on a rented place, and in 1882 he purchased 
his present location. It is a farm of ninety-six 
acres, located in Section 25, Town 14, Range 1 
west. He has about thirty-five acres in culti- 
vation, and three in orchard. Mr. Williams 
was married, January- 2, 1881, to Mary Whir- 
low, a daughter of Alexander Whirlow, a native 



PULASKI PRECINCT. 



331 



of North Carolina. This lady is the mother of 
one child, born December 2, 1882. He is a 
member of the New Hope Methodist Episcopal 



Church. In politics, he generally votes the 
Democratic ticket. 



PULASKI PEECII^OT. 



J. L. ALDRED, farmer, P. O. Pulaski, was 
born in Switzerland County, Ind., August 19, 
1839, to Alfred G. and Harriet M. (Lyons) Al- 
dred. He was born in Ohio November 1, 1803 ; 
she in Indiana about ten 3^ears later. Her peo- 
ple had emigrated from Cincinnati, Ohio, to 
Indiana. He came to Indiana when a young 
man. They were married there about 1836. 
To them ten children were born, seven of whom 
still survive. His occupation was that of 
blacksmith, but he also farmed. -From Indi- 
ana they moved to Ohio, where they remained 
for about four- 3'ears, then, in the winter of 
1854, to this county, where he died in 1870. 
She still survives. Our subject was educated 
in common schools, then attended select school 
in Patriot, Ind., for three years. His occupa- 
tion has been that of farmer. February, 1869, 
he was married to Ellen Lackey, daughter of 
Alfred Lackey, an old settler in this county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Aldred have five children — Al- 
fred Wesley, Abbie L., Charles, Elmer and 
Laura. He came to his present farm since 
marriage. It contains 160 acres, 130 of which 
are in good state of cultivation. He is a mem- 
ber of Villa Ridge Lodge, A., F. & A. M.; is 
Democratic in politics. For one full term he 
was County Surveyor, and also served almost 
the entire term to fill out vacancy. 

A. W. LEWIS, merchant, Pulaski, was 
born in Pulaski County, near Villa Ridge, 
January 2, 1850, to Alfred E. and Sarah 
(Piercefield) Lewis. He was born February 24, 
1811, and died December 11, 1851, in this 
county. She was born April 20, 1814, and died 



November 29, 1859. They were married Janu- 
ary 2, 1831, and were the parents of eight 
children, four of whom are still living, our 
subject, being the youngest of the famil}-. 
During his life, he followed different occupa- 
tions. Being an excellent blacksmith, also 
understanding the physician's profession, and 
had also engaged in the mercantile business. 
His place of residence was also varied. He 
and wife were born in Middle Tennessee. Their 
two oldest children were born in Kentucky; 
four while living in different parishes in Louis- 
iana — one in Hines County, Miss., and our 
subject in this count}'. After her husband's 
death, Mrs. Lewis and her two sons moved to 
Missouri, where she bought a small farm, and, 
in 1858, was thei'e married to her second hus- 
band, W. W. Ward, and a short time afterward 
they moved to Alexander County, 111., where 
she died. For some time, then, our subject lived 
with his oldest sister, Mrs. Emma Ainger, near 
Villa Ridge, then with another sister, Mrs. W. R. 
Hooppaw, then with his brother, who then resided 
at Villa Ridge. Here our subject remained till 
starting out for himself His employment since 
has been various. First in a saw-mill in Cairo, 
then contracting for railroad cross ties, which 
he made at Villa Ridge. Then he engaged in 
his present business, but only as a clerk in the 
store of W. R. Hooppaw in Villa Ridge ; then as 
manager of a store in Pulaski for Mr. Hooppaw. 
The close confinement of the store room caused 
his health to fail, so he went on the road as 
traveling salesman, but only remained at that 
business for six months, when he again began 



332 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



clerking for Mr. Hooppaw in Villa Ridge ; 
then again came to Pulaski to Mr. H.'s store 
there ; then for Mr. Gr. W. Bonner, who bought 
out Mr. Hooppaw. Our subject, however, 
remained with Mr. Bonner only for a short 
time, when he borrowed money and opened a 
stock of goods in Pulaski November 27, 1875. 
His stock cost $620 ; his first day's sales 
were $11. He has steadily increased his 
business since, till now he occupies a building 
22x100 feet, one half of which is two stories- 
His average stock of goods on hand is about 
$9,000 to $10,000 ; annual sales reaching 
about $20,000 to $25,000. His stock includes 
everything in general merchandise, drugs, etc. 
Mr. Lewis has also been P. M. since being in 
the village ; is also interested in a garden farm. 
Has houses and lots which he rents in Pulaski, 
property in Villa Ridge, etc. November 13, 
1870, he was married to Miss E. F. Butler. She 
was born April 8, 1850, to L. D. and Pernina 
(Whidden) Butler. He was born in Maine, 
she in Clermont County, Ohio. He died in 
this county. She is still living. By trade he 
was a carpenter. In 1861, they moved from 
Cincinnati, Ohio, to Villa Ri(^ge. They were 
the parents of ten children, seven of whom still 
survive. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have six chil- 
dren—Everett 0., Otho 0., Eli U., Adda M., 
William G. and Myrtle May. In politics, Mr. 
Lewis has ever been Republican. 

DR. E. M. LOW, farmer and physician, P. 0. 
Pulaski, was born in Essex County, N. Y., July 
7, 1825, to Wilson K. and Harriet (Stone) Low, 
both of whom were born in New York. The 
ancestors of the Low family in this country 
were three brothers, who came to America in 
the English Army. One settled in Virgina, one 
in New Jersey and one in New York. The 
grandfather of our subject was in the Revolu- 
tionary war. At the age of twenty years, our 
subject enlisted in the army, and served for 
three years in the Mexican war, and during 
his service he received three wounds, and the 



scars still remain, showing how narrowly he 
escaped losing his life. January 29, 1855, he 
was married in this county to Mary A. R. An- 
yan. She was born in Obion County, Tenn., 
daughter of John Anyan, who settled in this 
State at an early date. In 1858, he settled in 
Pulaski, and followed his profession of physi- 
cian. At the commencement of the war, he 
was a strong supporter of the Government, and 
helped raise the United States flag at Pulaski 
as the troops first went through for the South. 
April 26, 1861, our subject entered the service 
of the country ; was chosen as First Lieutenant 
of the Prentice Guards. They served for three 
months. Then our subject raised a company 
for the Ninth Illinois Infantr}, and was made 
Captain of Company G. He served in that ca- 
pacit}' till the spring of 1863, when he was pro- 
moted to the office of Major of the Fifty-fifth 
United States Colored Infantry ; served till 
June 1, 1864, and then was promoted Lieuten- 
ant Colonel of that regiment. February 28, 
1865, he resigned on account of physical disa- 
bility. June 10, 1864, he had received a se- 
vere wound in the left arm. When the Doctor 
entered the service, his wife quit housekeeping 
and went to Cairo, and for three months gave 
her time and money toward the care of 
the sick, not receiving any recompense in 
a money value. Since coming from the 
army, the Doctor has given most of his atten- 
tion to farming, but practices to some extent. 
Although the Doctor and wife never have had 
children of their own, they have reared two 
sons and two daughters, and have the third boy 
now rearing. In politics, the Doctor is and 
always has been a stanch Republican. 

S. J. MOORE, farmer, P. 0. Pulaski. Among 
the more active, upright, and highl}' respected 
citizens of Pulaski Precinct is Mr. S. J. Moore, 
whose name heads this sketch. He was born 
on the 3d of June, 1836, to John and A. M. 
(Wallace) Moore. The elder Moore was born 
in Edinburgh, Scotland ; was twice married, 



PULASKI PRECINCT. 



333 



his marriage to Miss Wallace occurring when 
he was sixt}' years of age ; he emigrated to 
America and settled in Iredell Count}', N. C, 
and there followed the occupation of a planter, 
and was Judge of the same county ; he died at 
the age of ninety three years. S. J. Moore was 
reared on the farm, and educated in the com- 
mon schools. In 1851, he emigrated to Illinois 
and settled in Union Count}^, and engaged in 
farming. He was for three years the station 
agent for the Illinois' Central R. R. Co. at 
Makanda, and was afterward transferred to 
Mound Cit}' Junction, where he acted as opera- 
tor and agent for the company. In 1865, he 
resigned his position and went to Ozark Mount- 
ains, Mo., for the benefit of his health, and re- 
mained there nearly two years, when he re- 
turned to Pulaski County and engaged in the 
railroad tie trade in the employ of Porterfield 
Bros., who were at the time furnishing ties 
for the South Division of the Illinois Central 
Railroad. He afterward engaged in the saw- 
mill business for one 3'ear and sold his mill to 
H. H. Porterfield. He then again resumed his 
position as telegraph operator, working for 
different companies through the State, and was 
agent and operator at Pulaski Station for 
about ten years, resigning his position in April, 
1880, when he went to Leadville, Colo., and 
remained for a few months. For the last three 
^•ears. he has been giving his attention to his 
farm and timber business ; his farm contains 
320 acres of land. He is also a breeder of fine 
stock. In 1861, he married Miss Martha A. 
Ardery, who died in 1862. In 1865, he mar- 
ried a second time, Miss Cynthia A. Littlejohn, 
who has borne bim six children, viz.: Ida, Will- 
iam A., Franklin, Ada, John and Burd. Mr. 
Moore is an active member of the A., F. & A. 
M.. at Cairo, and a stanch Democrat. 

PAT MULLEN, farmer, P. 0. Pulaski, 
was born September 1, 1833, on an English 
man-of-war, between Bermuda and Jamaica. 
His father, who held a position in the English 



Navy, died when our subject was small, leaving 
a widow and two sons. Our subject was 
mostly raised in Ireland and educated there. 
In 1853, he came to America, and began at 
railroading in New York, Ohio and Illinois. 
For a number of years, he worked as common 
laborer and then as boss. He came to this 
count}' on the first passenger coach over the 
Illinois Central Railroad, and, with the exception 
of about six months, has liv(id here since. For 
nine years he was foreman on the section at Pu- 
laski. When coming to this country, he was a 
poor boy, but applied himself to work, and used 
economy, and so has made a good property. 
During the time he was section boss, he bought 
eighty acres of woodland, and in 1866 moved 
on to it, first in a little shanty, but in 1867 built 
his present residence. His farm now consists 
of 160 acres, about ninety of which are in a 
good state of cultivation. He gives most of 
his attention to raising of grain, stock, etc., 
but also raises some fruits. In 1857, he was 
married in this county to Sarah J. Smith. She 
was raised in this county, and died October 4, 
1873. The result of this union was the follow- 
ing-named children : Annie, Catherine, Marga- 
ret, Lizzie, Sarah and two deceased. Up to 
the time of the war, he was Democratic in 
politics, but has since been Republican. He 
was one of the few loyal men who raised the 
stars and stripes as the first soldiers passed 
through Pulaski for the South. He contrib- 
uted his time and money toward raising Com- 
pany C, Thirty-eight Illinois Infantry, and his 
brother, James Mullen, was chosen Second 
Lieutenant, entering November 11, 1861. He 
was afterward promoted to First Lieutenant, 
then to Captain of the same company. Then 
was commissioned First Lieutenant of the 
First Regiment of United States Veteran En- 
gineers, serving till September 26, 1865; then 
was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn. 

F. M. SPENCER, station agent, operator, 
Pulaski. The subject of this sketch was born 



334 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



October 24, 1856, in Wisconsin, to E. T. and 
Sarah J. (Ta^ior) Spencer. He was born in 
New York, but she in Canada, and was reared 
in Vermont. He was reared in Broome Co., N. 
Y., and his father still lives there at about the 
age of eighty-seven years. In 1862, our sub- 
ject with his parents came to this county, and 
have resided here since. B3' trade, his father 
is a millwright, but has kept the family on a 
farm most of the time. Both of the parents 
are still living, and have two sons and two 
daughters living. Our subject was educated 
in the common schools of this county. In 
1876, he began clerking in a store in Pulaski, 
where he remained for four years. August, 
1880, he began learning telegraphing at this 
office. He studied here for four months, then 
began work at Mound City Junction, and re- 
mained in that place till August, 1881, when 
he was sent to Odin, but four months later he 
was returned to the office at Pulaski, and has 
remained since, attending to the company's 
work here, operator, station agent, express 
agent, etc. Ma3' 23, 1883, he was married to 
Miss Tillie Hildebrant. She was an orphan 
girl, but had lived here since childhood. In 
politics, Mr. Spencer is a Republican, as his 
father and o-rand father also are. 



WILLIAM M. STRINGER, farmer, P. 0. 
Pulaski, was born in Livingston Count}', Ky., 
January 3, 1845, to William and Mary String- 
er, both of whom still survive, residing in this 
county. They have two sons and three daugh- 
ters now living. When our subject was about 
nineteen years of age, his parents moved to 
Missoui'i, where they remained till Jul}-, 1862,^ 
then came to this county, and have been here 
ever since. His opportunities for an education 
were very limited, not getting to attend more 
than five months during his life. His occupa- 
tion has always been that of farmer, and he 
has been successful in his chosen vocation. 
September 28, 1869, he was married in this 
county to Mary Jane Kelly. She was born 
in this county, daughter of Rev. M. B. Kelly, 
a minister in- the Seventh-Day Baptist denom- 
ination. Mr. and Mrs. Springer have four chil- 
dren living — Francis M., Nancy Louisa, Annie 
and L. H. In 1869, he settled on his present 
farm, which contains 120 acres, seventy of 
which are in a good state of cultivation. He 
gives his attention to general farming, fruit 
and vegetable growing. When first beginning 
for himself, it was by days' work. By energy 
and industry, he has made a good farm. He 
and wife are members of the Seventh-Day Bap- 
tist Church. In politics, he is Republican. 



BURKYILLE PRECIKOT. 



DR. JAMES H. CRAIN, of Burkville Pre- 
cinct, was the pioneer of a considerable immi- 
gration to Pulaski County, from Clark County, 
Ohio, of Grains, Minnichs, Wilsons, Millers, 
Fearnsides, Dillers, Hogendoblers, Shirachs, 
Davidsons and Leidichs, who now constitute a 
considerable and influential part of the popula- 
tion. The Doctor was descended from pio- 
neers to the New World, from the British 
Islands, and from pioneers to Kentucky and 



Ohio, from Pennsylvania and Virginia, who 
had participated in the war for independence, 
and in the Indian wars of the period. He thus 
inherited through a long line of ances- 
try a spirit of investigation, allied to a love 
of the beautiful in every sense. He also 
inherited a taste for horticulture, and was early 
employed in its pursuit, so that when tempo- 
rarily diverted from the pursuit of his profess- 
ion — by a poisoned wound — which disabled 



BURKVILLE PRECINCT. 



835, 



him, he sought a new home which should unite 
the beauties of nature with probable horticult- 
ural capabilities of wide range. To test the 
horticultural capabilities of this new home was 
the work to which the Doctor now addressed 
himself with untiring energy, and after twenty- 
eight years of carefully directed observation, 
finds the region unfavorable to many desirable 
fruits. This is especially true of winter apples, 
apricots, plums, and all the smooth-skinned 
fruits, except the grape, which is profitably 
grown in large quantity, and in considerable 
variet}'. These experiments, though costing 
the Doctor (and many who were misled by his 
early and temporar}' successes) great loss, will 
prove no disparagement to the county, as the 
minor fruits and berries are generally success- 
ful, and are largely grown, while wheat and 
clover are proving the basis of great wealth to 
the countr}'. In this long, and in many in- 
stances, painful course of experience, the Doc- 
tor has at no time lost his zeal for investigation, 
but has widened and extended his views into 
eveiy department of natural science, and finds 
nature everywhere producing worlds and sys- 
tems whereon beauty is developed in man}^ 
varied forms for the gratification of ra3'riads of 
sentient creatures, for he with Wordsworth be- 
lieves — 

"That Nature never did betray 
The heart that loved her." 

And that Nature's work is to present the condi- 
tions requisite to individual experience, and in- 
dividual pain and pleasure, in wide diversity. 
W. R. GRAIN, farmer. Among the more 
active, upright and highly respected citizens 
of Pulaski County, who have carved out a suc- 
cessful career bj' their own indomitable energy', 
is Mr. W. R. Grain, whose name heads this 
sketch. Commencing life a poor man, he 
has, b}' his honesty, industry and econom}-, 
succeeded in accumulating a good property. 
He was born in Springfield, Ohio, September 
29, 1834, where he was reared and educated. 



In 1858 with father came to Illinois and settled 
in Pulaski County, and engaged in farming. In, 
the fall of 1862, he enlisted as a private in 
the late civil war, serving in Company I of the 
Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and 
when he was mustered out of the service held 
the rank of First Lieutenant. He was in the 
following engagements : Port Gibson, Raymond, 
Jackson, Champion Hill, Black River, Siege of 
Vicksburg, Red River. Gun Town, Blue River, 
Nashville and Fort Blakely. After the war. 
he returned to his home in Pulaski County, 
and again engaged in farming. He is now the 
owner of 340 acres of good land, and is con- 
sidered one of the most practical farmers of 
the county. On the 2d of February, 1862, he- 
was married to Miss Mary A. Spence. a daugh- 
ter of William J. and Christie Ann Spence. 
Mrs. Crain is a native of Pulaski County, born 
March 2, 1844. This union has been blessed 
with the following children : James L., War- 
ren C, Emma, Alma, Lewis F., Mary and Will- 
iam R. Mr. Crain is an active member of the 
A. F. & A. M., Villa Ridge Lodge, No. 562. 
Politicall}', he is a Republican, and has served 
the people in the office of County Commis- 
sioner for five years, Justice of the Peace for 
twelve years, and besides many of the minor 
offices. 

SAMUEL SPENCE, merchant and Ameri- 
can Express Agent, Junction, was born in the 
city of New York February 8, 1836, and is a 
son of Samuel and Deborah W. (Stimost) 
Spence. He, a native of Scotland, was born 
September 22, 1788. He learned the carpen- 
ter's trade in Scotland, and worked at the same 
there and at St. John, New Brunswick, 
and also in New York City. He was also for 
a time engaged in navigation. He came West 
to Pulaski County, 111., in 1838, and here died 
in 1852. His wife, subject's mother, was born 
in St. John, New Brunswick, December 28, 
1796, and died in Pulaski County, 111., March 
11, 1859. She was the mother of twelve chil- 



336 



BIOGRAPHICAL: 



dren, three of whom are now living^— James I., 
Mrs. Helen S. W. Newsom and Samuel Spence, 
the subject of this sketch. His earl}- life was 
spent at home, assisting to till the soil of the 
home farm, and receiving a limited education 
in the schools of Pulaski County. At eighteen 
years of age, he left home and embarked on his 
career in life by working on the Ohio River, 
continuing the same for two years, and engaged 
in clerking for different individuals in the mer- 
cantile business until 1870, when he engaged 
as a book-keeper and operator for the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company. He is at the pres- 
ent time engaged in the mercantile business at 
Mound City Junction, doing a large and lu- 
crative business. He has been twice married. 
His first wife was Miss Nancy Murphy, a na- 
tive of this county. She died January 26, 
1 863, leaving three children, of whom but one 
is now living — Clara 0., born February 18, 
1859, now the wife of M. F. Perks, a stock- 
dealer of Villa Ridge, 111. His present wife 
was Sarah A., daughter of John W. and Sarah 
(Berget) Richards. Mr. Spence is the owner 
of a farm containing 120 acres. He is an act- 
ive member of the A., F. & A. M., a Repub- 
lican in politics, and has held the office of Jus- 
tice of the Peace for several years. 

HON. H. H. SPENCER, farmer, P. 0. Mound 
City, Burkville Precinct. In the annals some- 
times of a county the important event in that 
history is the coming of a certain individual, 
because in that one life is more of importance 
to the growth, development and reputation of 
his adopted county than perhaps all the other 
men in it. The man of strong character, origi- 
nal mind, and great enterprise, and who can 
conceive and execute great designs in the 
development of the industries and the advance- 
ment of the entire community in which he lives, 
is a person of inestimable worth. He is one of 
the promoters of civilization — an architect who 
forms and creates the arts and sciences among 
the people, which advances man and surrounds 



him with the joys and comforts of civilized 
life. Among the rush of people to a new coun- 
tr}^ such men are always the rare and few. But 
when an individual does come it never should 
be forgotten that his history is the true history 
of his count}' and people. To build up the arts 
and sciences, trade manufactures, agriculture 
and general industries among the people ; to 
point the way to great commercial and manu- 
facturing enterprises, and thereby cause school 
houses, churches, factories, farms, villages 
and towns to spring into existence, bring- 
ing with them the culture, comforts and 
splendid advantages of a ripened civiliza- 
tion, is to achieve victories surpassing those of 
war and empire, and whose cheering and benign 
influences endure and bless the people long 
after their originator has "joined the silent 
multitude " and is peacefully sleeping where 
" the dead and beautiful rest." Thus the 
world has the benefits of great individual 
worth, and the examples of lives whose 
good effects endure forever. It is our high- 
est duty and privilege to cherish and per- 
petuate the good name and great life work of 
these true and peaceful benefactors of mankind, 
for the study and contemplation of the youths 
of the coming generations. The story of such 
lives— their humble beginnings slow toiling up 
the steep of life, and the blessings their enter- 
prise and energy scattered along the pathway, 
and the final crown of success, will prove the 
most valuable lessons, and the most useful 
monitors that we can transmit to our children. 
And of all the people who have spent the ac- 
tive part of their lives here, we know of none 
whose history tells a better moral than of Hon. 
H. H. Spencer, whose name heads this sketch. 
He was born at Whitney Point, Broome Co., N. 
Y., on the 17th of November, 1832. He is the 
son of Jason Gr. Spencer, born about 1801, in 
New York, a mechanic by occupation, who is 
yet living. His father was Nehemiah Spencer, 
a native of New Hampshire, and of English 



BURKVILLE PRECINCT. 



337 



descent. The mother of our subject was Polly 
Ticknor, a native of New York, where she died. 
She was the mother of eight children — Elias, 
Neheniiah, Angeline, Ruth A., Henry H. the 
subject of this sketch, Sarah, Laura (deceased), 
and Mary. Our subject spent his early life at 
home, assisting to till the soil of his father's 
farm, and I'eceiving such an education as the 
common schools of his native county afforded. 
At fifteen years of age, he left his home and 
embarked on life's rugged pathway' as a hired 
hand in a mill at Olean. on the Allegheny 
River, where he remained till the summer of 
1852, when he came West and located at Bloom- 
ington, 111., and there worked in a saw mill. 
In 1855, he came to UUin, Pulaski Co., 111., 
where he worked in a mill until the spring of 
1856, when he bought an interest in a sawmill 
at Ullin, which he removed after one year to a 
place three miles east of Villa Ridge, and oper- 
ated the same until the spring of 1861, when 
he sold his interest, and built him a large and 
commodious residence on his farm, where he 
now resides. In 1862, he again embarked in 
the saw mill business, building a mill two miles 
northeast of Puluski, on the Cache River, which 
he conducted successfuU}- until 1872, when he 
sold it. Since then his time has been chiefly 
occupied in looking after his real estate inter- 
ests. When he came to this county he had $20, 
but although poor in purse, he was rich in per- 
severance and experience, and possessed a 
strong will and great energy. He has now 
practically retired from active life, engaged in 
superintending his farms. He has over 2,000 
acres of land in this county, the fruit of a suc- 
cessful business career. The people have shown 
the confidence put in him by electing him to 
different offices. In 1875, he was elected Sher- 
iff of Pulaski County, and served two years. 
In the fall of 1878, he was elected Representa- 
tive of the Fifty-first Senatorial District of Illi- 
nois, serving two years. He also filled many 
of the minor offices, too numerous to mention. 



In politics, Mr. Spencer has been identified with 
the Republican party, and his was one of the 
seven votes cast for Fremont in this county in 
the year 1856. Of late his sympathies are 
with the Free Trade movement. Mr. Spencer 
was joined in matrimony September 12, 1855, 
in Bloomington. 111., to Miss Eleanor T. Gould, 
a native of Dexter, Me., born October 15, 1833. 
She is the mother of the following children — 
Frank, born June 19, 1856, he married Miss 
Abbie Ent, who has borne him one child — 
Frank ; Edgar, born August 26, 1858 ; Ella, 
born September 19, 1860, the wife of John W. 
Titus, they have one child — Henr}- Titus ; 
Flora, born April 8, 1862 ; Zena, born Novem- 
ber 2, 1864 ; Louisa H., born March 20, 1869. 
Mrs. Eleanor. T. Spencer died May 29, 1878. 
HENRY S. WALBRIDGE, lumberman, 
Junction. One of the substantial and en- 
terprising citizens of Burkville Precinct is 
Mr. Henry S. Walbridge, the subject of this 
sketch. He was born in Bennington, Vt., on 
the 1st of January, 1821. His father, Elipha- 
let Walbridge, was a native of New Y'ork, 
where he died in about 1827. Sally (Strong) 
Walbridge, subject's mother, was a native of 
Vergennes, Yt., born January 8, 1801. After 
the death of Mr. Walbridge, she married Prof. 
D. D. Tuthill, of Edenton, S. C; she was the 
mother of nine children, of whom four are now 
living — Henry S., the subject of this sketch ; 
Egbert E. Walbridge ; Mrs. Mary E. (Tuthill) 
Pierson, and Richard S. Tuthill, a prominent 
lawyer of Chicago. Henry S. Walbridge was 
educated in New Y^ork and Southern Illinois, 
principally under the instruction of his step- 
father. He has been chiefly engaged in the 
saw mill business, and was one of the first 
who used the circular saw in Southern Illinois, 
the great lumber region of the State. He first 
engaged in the business in Jackson County, 
111., in 1845, and continued the same in dif- 
feernt parts of the State with marked suc- 
cess until 1883, when he sold his mill, which 



538 



BIOGRAPHICAL : 



was located at Bnrkville. He ma}- now be 
classed among the reth'ed men of Pulaski 
Count}^ eojo^nng in the latter years of his 
life those comforts and pleasures which ever 
result from honesty, industry and economy-. 
Mr. Walbridge has been twice married, first to 
3Iiss Rebecca J. Phelps, who died leaving four 
children, of whom Mrs. Sally Hawkins is now' 



living. His second was Matilda Green, a native 
of Ohio. She died in Pulaski County, III., in 
1861, leaving two children as the result of 
their union — Eliza B. and Charles H.. who 
married Miss Hattie D. Ent. Mr. W. is an 
active member of the Masonic fraternity, and 
an ardent Republican, and during the war did 
srreat service in organizing the •' Union League." 



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